Tower Bridge over the Thames

Guides

When to visit

Pick a season. Or a rainy day.

Choose a season

London all year

Pink cherry blossom in a London park March – May Spring Blossom, fresh air and Chelsea in bloom. Roses in bloom in a London park June – August Summer Long days, open-air shows and the river. Autumn colours in a London park September – November Autumn Golden parks, theatre nights and cosy pubs. Christmas lights over Regent Street at night December – February Winter Lights, panto and fires in historic pubs.
Visitors with umbrellas on Westminster Bridge in the rain Any month Rainy day Museums, markets and matinees, all under cover.

Month by month

The year at a glance

  1. Jan Cold Cosy
  2. Feb Cold Quiet
  3. Mar Cool Blooms
  4. Apr Mild Blossom
  5. May Mild Chelsea
  6. Jun Warm Trooping
  7. Jul Warmest Wimbledon
  8. Aug Warm Carnival
  9. Sep Mild Mellow
  10. Oct Cool Leaves
  11. Nov Chilly Lights
  12. Dec Cold Christmas

Feel is a general guide only. London weather changes fast, so pack layers in any month.

Compare the months

London weather and daylight, month by month

There is no single best month for London: it depends on whether you want long light evenings, the fewest showers or the lowest chance of a cold day. The table below puts the averages side by side so you can choose. Temperatures, rain and sunshine are Met Office long-term averages for 1991-2020 at the Greenwich, Observatory station[1]. They describe a typical month, not a forecast for your dates.

On those averages, July is the warmest month (a mean daily high of 23.8°C) and January the coldest (8.5°C). November is the wettest by total rainfall (60 mm) and July the driest (36 mm). July has the most sunshine, about 209 hours across the month. Daylight runs from about 7 h 51 in mid-December to about 16 h 37 in mid-June: we calculate it from London's latitude, so it is ours, not a Met Office figure. Further north the swing is bigger: in Inverness it is about 6 h 37 in December and 18 h 00 in June.

Bank holidays are listed because shops, museums and transport can run differently on them and popular places get busier. The dates come from GOV.UK[2]. School holidays also make sights busier; they vary by council, so check the school term dates on GOV.UK. We do not publish crowd scores, because we have no reliable source for them.

London (Greenwich, Observatory): Met Office 1991-2020 averages, with calculated daylight on the 15th of each month
MonthAvg highAvg lowRainDays with 1 mm+ rainSunshineDaylight, LondonDaylight, InvernessBank holidays (England)Read more
January 8.5°C 3.4°C 44 mm 10.5 44 h 8 h 19 7 h 16 Fri, 1 Jan 2027 Where to go in January
February 9.2°C 3.2°C 40 mm 9.2 66 h 9 h 50 9 h 15 None Where to go in February
March 12.1°C 4.7°C 37 mm 7.9 110 h 11 h 50 11 h 47 Fri, 26 Mar 2027; Mon, 29 Mar 2027 Where to go in March
April 15.3°C 6.0°C 39 mm 8.1 153 h 13 h 51 14 h 19 Fri, 14 Apr 2028; Mon, 17 Apr 2028 Where to go in April
May 18.6°C 9.1°C 44 mm 7.9 199 h 15 h 41 16 h 42 Mon, 3 May 2027; Mon, 31 May 2027 Where to go in May
June 21.4°C 12.0°C 49 mm 7.8 199 h 16 h 37 18 h 00 None Where to go in June
July 23.8°C 13.9°C 36 mm 7.1 209 h 16 h 06 17 h 16 None Where to go in July
August 23.3°C 14.1°C 53 mm 8.2 198 h 14 h 31 15 h 10 Mon, 30 Aug 2027 Where to go in August
September 20.3°C 11.6°C 52 mm 7.9 141 h 12 h 29 12 h 35 None Where to go in September
October 15.8°C 9.0°C 58 mm 10.3 100 h 10 h 29 10 h 05 None Where to go in October
November 11.6°C 6.1°C 60 mm 10.6 58 h 8 h 46 7 h 52 None Where to go in November
December 8.8°C 3.8°C 51 mm 10.2 50 h 7 h 51 6 h 37 Fri, 25 Dec 2026; Mon, 28 Dec 2026 Where to go in December

Bank holidays shown are the next occurrence of each from the current month, from the GOV.UK list bundled at build time. Check the official list before you book.

Beyond London

Warmest and driest places in Britain, by month

If your dates are fixed, the place can still change. This table uses the same Met Office averages for one station in each of the 41 areas we cover and names the warmest and the driest of them in each month. The month pages explain the full ranking, dated events and the outdoor checks behind each suggestion.

Warmest (highest average daily high) and driest (lowest average rainfall) of the regions we cover
MonthWarmestDriestLongest daysMonth guide
January Devon (9.7°C) Newcastle and Gateshead (46 mm) Cornwall (8 h 29) January
February Devon (9.7°C) Cambridge (36 mm) Cornwall (9 h 56) February
March Windsor (11.7°C) Cambridge (33 mm) Cornwall (11 h 51) March
April Windsor (15.0°C) Cambridge (38 mm) Orkney (14 h 27) April
May Windsor (18.4°C) Newcastle and Gateshead (42 mm) Orkney (17 h 01) May
June Windsor (21.6°C) Canterbury & Kent (45 mm) Orkney (18 h 28) June
July Windsor (23.9°C) The Jurassic Coast (41 mm) Orkney (17 h 40) July
August Windsor (23.4°C) Windsor (53 mm) Orkney (15 h 22) August
September Windsor (20.2°C) Newcastle and Gateshead (45 mm) Orkney (12 h 37) September
October Portsmouth and Southampton (15.9°C) Newcastle and Gateshead (55 mm) Cornwall (10 h 33) October
November Devon (12.5°C) Cambridge (53 mm) Cornwall (8 h 55) November
December Devon (10.3°C) Cambridge (49 mm) Cornwall (8 h 03) December

Month-by-month weather for each region

Each page shows temperature, rain, sunshine, daylight, what to pack and bank holidays for every month.

See also when to go, all regions, where to go each month and seasonal guides.

Sources

  1. Met Office: Greenwich, Observatory location-specific long-term averages (1991-2020), and the matching Met Office station page for each region, read on 25 October 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
  2. GOV.UK: UK bank holidays.

Rules, fares and times change. These official pages have the current details (links checked on ).

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