Where to go in September

September is one of the even months — the shoulder seasons line up on both sides of the equator, so the list below spans 15 northern and 9 southern destinations. That makes it one of the better months for going somewhere unusual rather than somewhere obvious. On the scoring used here, the strongest single destination in September is Port Said — 26.6 °C, rain on 0 days, and 100 out of 100.

Against August, the map has moved: Agadir (+35), Sevilla (+35) and Beijing (+30) improve most sharply on August, while Broome (-27), Goiânia (-25) and Mount Isa (-21) fall away fastest. Those are the places where a fortnight's difference in your dates changes the trip.

Depending on what you are actually after in September: for heat with low odds of rain, Sevilla at 33 °C across 4 wet days, for the driest month outright, Hurghada with 0 rain days and for mild rather than hot, Debrecen at 24 °C with 8 rain days.

Every strong destination this month is also in its own high season, which is the trade September asks you to accept: the weather is not the constraint, the price is.

Ranked on a 0–100 score combining temperature, rain days, heavy-rain days and humidity, computed from NASA POWER daily data 2001–2020. Capped at three cities per country so the list stays useful rather than becoming one coastline.

Best September destinations

1. 1 Port Said Egypt Drier than the rest at 0 wet days, 26.6 °C.
2. 2 Irvine United States Drier than the rest at 0 wet days, 23.4 °C.
3. 3 Arequipa Peru 26.1 °C and notably dry air at 35% humidity.
4. 4 San Francisco United States 24.5 °C, lows of 13.4 °C, rain on 1 day.
5. 5 Johannesburg South Africa 25.4 °C and notably dry air at 39% humidity.
6. 6 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Spain 24.3 °C, lows of 21.9 °C, rain on 2 days.
7. 7 Airlie Beach Australia 26.3 °C, lows of 19.4 °C, rain on 3 days.
8. 8 Santiago Chile 23.3 °C and notably dry air at 49% humidity.
9. 9 Mackay Australia 23.7 °C, lows of 20.9 °C, rain on 3 days.
10. 10 Kalgoorlie Australia 24 °C and notably dry air at 51% humidity.
11. 11 Firá Greece 23.6 °C, lows of 21.5 °C, rain on 3 days.
12. 12 Spokane United States 23.9 °C and notably dry air at 54% humidity.
13. 13 Funchal Portugal 22.8 °C, lows of 20.4 °C, rain on 4 days.
14. 14 Faro Portugal 25.7 °C, lows of 19.2 °C, rain on 3 days.
15. 15 Lima Peru Drier than the rest at 0 wet days, 28.7 °C.
16. 16 Córdoba Argentina 25.7 °C and notably dry air at 53% humidity.
17. 17 Tangier Morocco 25 °C, lows of 20.3 °C, rain on 4 days.
18. 18 Málaga Spain 25.2 °C, lows of 21.3 °C, rain on 4 days.
19. 19 Valladolid Spain 26.2 °C and notably dry air at 55% humidity.
20. 20 Ankara Turkey 27.5 °C and notably dry air at 51% humidity.
21. 21 Gqeberha South Africa Cooler than most of this list at 20 °C — the option if heat is the thing you are avoiding.
22. 22 Lisbon Portugal 22.3 °C, lows of 17.7 °C, rain on 5 days.
23. 23 Kayseri Turkey 28.2 °C and notably dry air at 47% humidity.
24. 24 Konya Turkey 27.8 °C and notably dry air at 44% humidity.

Where to avoid in September

• Akureyri Iceland Highs of 4.9 °C, and 13 nights below freezing.
• Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt 28 days above 35 °C — the month is the problem, not a heatwave within it.
• Dubai United Arab Emirates 29 days above 35 °C — the month is the problem, not a heatwave within it.
• Phoenix United States 26 days above 35 °C — the month is the problem, not a heatwave within it.
• Trujillo Peru 28 days above 35 °C — the month is the problem, not a heatwave within it.
• Mexicali Mexico 28 days above 35 °C — the month is the problem, not a heatwave within it.
• Al Ain City United Arab Emirates 30 days above 35 °C — the month is the problem, not a heatwave within it.
• Tromsø Norway 19 rain days, 4 of them heavy.

Other months