Best time to visit Shenzhen

Shenzhen is a city of two halves. December scores 92 and July scores 44 — a 48-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. 5 of the twelve months sit within ten points of the best, so there is more than one right answer.

July is the warmest month at 30.7 °C and January the coolest at 20.1 °C — a 10.6 °C spread across the year. Around 91 days a year top 30 °C, concentrated in July and the months either side.

There is a real wet season here. May to August carry the rain — up to 22 wet days in a month — while January, February, October, November and December drop as low as 4. That 18-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Shenzhen, and it moves further than the temperature does.

The sea is comfortable for swimming in March to December — 29.3 °C at its warmest against 20.3 °C at its coldest. The water peaks a month or two after the air does, so the best swimming falls later in the year than the best weather. Daylight runs from 10.8 hours in winter to 13.5 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

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

Shenzhen month by month