Best time to visit Nanaimo

Nanaimo is a city of two halves. July scores 89 and December scores 21 — a 68-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. The good window runs June to September — 4 months within ten points of the best.

August is the warmest month at 24.3 °C and December the coolest at 6.3 °C — a 18 °C spread across the year. 11 nights a year dip below freezing.

There is a real wet season here. January, March, November and December carry the rain — up to 19 wet days in a month — while July to August drop as low as 6. That 13-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Nanaimo, and it moves further than the temperature does.

Daylight runs from 8.2 hours in winter to 16.2 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are July, August, June. The one to think twice about is December. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight and crowd levels.

Nanaimo month by month