Best time to visit Wanaka

Wanaka is a city of two halves. February scores 77 and July scores 31 — a 46-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. The good window runs January to March — 3 months within ten points of the best.

February is the warmest month at 20.8 °C and July the coolest at 7.4 °C — a 13.4 °C spread across the year. It never reaches 30 °C in an average year, which takes heat off the list of reasons to avoid any particular month. 17 nights a year dip below freezing.

There is a real wet season here. May, August, September and October carry the rain — up to 17 wet days in a month — while February drops as low as 12. That 5-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Wanaka, and it moves further than the temperature does.

The sea peaks at just 17.1 °C, which is wetsuit territory even at its warmest — a coast to look at rather than swim in. Daylight runs from 8.8 hours in winter to 15.5 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are February, January, March. 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.

Wanaka month by month