Weather in Port-Vila in December

Shoulder season. December sits in between. You will get good days and you will lose some. You should expect rain on 19 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

December ranks 8 of 12 in Port-Vila: past the worst of the year but short of September, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 19 days, 4 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average December reaches 30 °C; the day barely swings — 1.1 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 29.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 24.2 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 56 mm — roughly 40% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 27 mm in the driest year against 340 mm in the wettest, around an average of 139 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind sits around 19.2 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 79%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 26.7 °C in November, 27.6 here, 28.1 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December is at or near the longest days of Port-Vila's year: 13.2 hours of daylight, holding steady all month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 27.5 °C in December — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. The sea peaks at 28.8 °C in February and bottoms out at 25.2 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

December in Port-Vila versus nearby

If Port-Vila is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Nouméa is a better bet in December — within a degree on temperature, 7 days less rain. Nadi is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days more rain.

So: December is a compromise. September is 19 points better and is what Port-Vila is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Port-Vila

See all twelve months in Port-Vila, or where else to go in December.