Best time to visit Sydney

Sydney has no real season. The best month scores 86 and the worst 72, a spread of just 14 points, so the honest answer to "when should I go" is whenever the flights are cheapest. 9 of the twelve months sit within ten points of the best, so there is more than one right answer.

January is the warmest month at 25.7 °C and July the coolest at 16.4 °C — a 9.3 °C spread across the year.

There is a real wet season here. January to March carry the rain — up to 13 wet days in a month — while July to September drop as low as 6. That 7-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Sydney, and it moves further than the temperature does.

The sea is comfortable for swimming in January, February, March, April, May and December — 24.1 °C at its warmest against 18.7 °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 9.9 hours in winter to 14.4 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are September, October, May. The one to think twice about is June. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight, sea temperature and crowd levels.

Sydney month by month