Weather in Ródos in December

Shoulder season. December sits in between. You will get good days and you will lose some. Highs average 16.7 °C, lows 13.9 °C, and rain falls on 13 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

December ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Ródos's year. May is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 40 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

This is wet-season rain: 13 wet days and 6 genuinely heavy ones, which in this climate means concentrated downpours rather than all-day grey. The pattern is usually a clear morning and a loud afternoon, so front-load the day and stop fighting the 3pm hour. Pack for 16.7 °C days and 13.9 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 2.7 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 21.6 °C and the coldest night fell to 5.4 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 76 mm — roughly 47% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 5 mm in the driest year against 296 mm in the wettest, around an average of 161 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind sits around 17 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity is unremarkable at 71%.

How December sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 3.7 °C cooler than November, with January dropping another 1.8 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip. Rain has already shifted: 5 days more than November had.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Ródos's year — 9.7 hours of daylight against 14.6 at midsummer, holding steady all month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 17.9 °C in December — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 26.6 °C in August and bottoms out at 15.9 °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 Ródos versus nearby

If Ródos is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Antalya is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain. İzmir is close enough to be a coin toss — 3.2 °C cooler, 2 days less rain.

So: December is a compromise. May is 34 points better and is what Ródos 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 Ródos

See all twelve months in Ródos, or where else to go in December.