Best Destinations to Visit Each Month of the Year

Planning your next trip abroad can be difficult. While many will simply give into the image of a white-sand beach and an azure blue ocean, choosing the holiday that is just right for you is not straightforward, and with so many excellent deals and destinations to choose from how can you be sure that you’ll be getting the most out of your next adventure? We at MoneyTransfers.comare here to help, and we’ve looked at the factors that make up a great holiday, from the amount of sunshine to the possibility of rain, as well as the all-important average daily spend in the destination. We then weighed up all of these considerations to identify, for each month of the year, the holiday that offers the very best possible combination of travel conditions:

January: Bangkok

Bangkok is a cacophony of noise and excitement where bright temples mingle alongside sprawling night markets. Here you can sample some of the world’s best street food, like the fragrant-spiced khao gang. The temperatures are at their best in January, with a cooling, dry air bringing welcome relief after the north-east monsoon; averaging out at 26.5°C, it is warm but not uncomfortable, and just right for exploring the city on foot. January is typically the high season in Bangkok, but while flights are priced to reflect demand, accommodation and day-to-day costs in the city are relatively inexpensive.

February: Mexico City

Vibrant Mexico City is the best place in the world to spend a dreary February and almost guaranteed to lift your spirits. While we at home in the Northern Hemisphere have to contend with rain showers, dark evenings and the possibility of snow, temperatures sit between 7.1°C and 22.9°C in Mexico City, which makes for an altogether more balmy experience. The average daily costs are relatively high at $111, but stick to Mexico City’s incredible street-food scene and you will spend much less, with a filling taco lunch costing just $2.00. Should you be tempted to splurge, a hot air balloon ride over the Teotihuacan is one for the bucket list.

March: Cape Town

With Table Mountain resplendent in blooming red, pink and yellow disas, March is said to be one of the best months to visit Cape Town. South Africa is just heading out of its summer season and the temperatures are much more palatable, sitting in the range 14.2°C to 25.4°C. With 292.2 hours of sunshine, March is all about the balmy days and cooler evenings. During your stay be sure to visit the Victoria and Albert Waterfront to enjoy a chilled glass of wine from one of Cape Town’s many wineries. With your average daily spend coming in at $80 USD, you can probably afford to make it a couple.

April: Tokyo

We can’t mention April in Tokyo without mentioning cherry blossoms, and nor would we want to. The pretty pink flowers are everywhere in Tokyo this time of year, from flavouring your morning coffee to decorating your shinkansen. One of the nation’s favourite pastimes in April is hanami, which sees locals enjoy scenic picnics under the sakura. On average, you’ll find you spend around $130 USD a day in Japan, although it is possible to eat well for relatively little, so those on a budget need not be deterred. Two of the city's ramen shops boast Michelin stars, and if you don’t mind the queues you can enjoy Michelin-starred fare for under $10 USD.

May: New York

New York, New York, so good they named it twice, and in the month of May there’s nowhere in the world better to be. Temperatures range between 12.2°C and 21.6°C, which is ideal for strolling through Central Park and viewing some of some of the film locations from your favourite movies. At 256.6 average hours of sunshine, the evenings are still light enough for beating the queues at the Empire State building and gazing at the welcoming panorama of the city’s skyscrapers. With an average 11.1 days of rain wet weather is a possibility, but there are plenty of shops to duck into.

June: Copenhagen

Copenhagen is beautiful in the summer and with an impressive 260 average hours of sunshine, locals and tourists alike flock to the man-made beaches, surrounding the scenic canals, or stroll Tivoli Gardens chatting amiably well into the evening. Temperatures sit between 11°C and 19°C, with just 45mm of precipitation over an average of 11 days, which is unexpected given its location on the North Sea. Many tourists see June as the perfect month to enjoy one of Denmark’s favourite pursuits – cycling! Although for the more sedentary, the Little Mermaid, Legoland and Nyhaven are all worth taking a trip too.

July: Medellin

Medellin may be known as the City of Eternal Spring, but heading into July the mercury really starts to rise and average temperatures can reach up to 27.6°C. Although it may be warm, you can’t go to Colombia and not try the local coffee, so be sure to stop in at Choto’s Café at least once during your stay. Choto is a local street-artist and his café inspires change in the once notorious Communa 13. With 119 mm of rain and an average of 17 days of precipitation, there’s no escaping the weather and this is inevitable in many tropical destinations. After just a short stroll through the Jardin Botanico, famed for its roaming giant iguanas, you’ll see that rain has its benefits, bringing all the beautiful flowers into bloom.

August: Rio de Janeiro

For many, August is the ultimate beach month and nowhere does the beach quite like Rio. Copacabana is of course the city’s most famous beach, with locals clamouring to play volleyball against the backdrop of Sugarloaf Mountain. You’ll also want to visit Ipanema though; both are so spectacular that they’ve had songs named after them. Brazilians would regard August as the middle of winter, but with Rio sporting temperatures in the range 18.9°C to 25.6°C, those more accustomed to the northern hemisphere will definitely think it feels like summer! In August, the city sees 199.7 hours of sunshine and precipitation is usually in the form of light rain which occurs on 42% of the days with rainfall.

September: Paris

While Rio’s beaches have inspired songs, Paris in the autumn has inspired poetry and what could be more quintessentially French than that? The average daily temperature of 16.6°C may have helped to set Paris out as the perfect destination in September, but it’s the turning leaves framed by the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower that really helps the city to stand out. Paris has long been synonymous with fashion, and visiting during the Paris Fashion Week in September is the best way to see the city in all its chic glory. While the average daily cost is $165, if you time you visit with the first Sunday in September you’ll be able to visit a smattering of French museums and art galleries for free, including Le Louvre and Le Musee d’Orsay.

October: Barcelona

Some say that Gaudi’s impressive monuments look even better in the autumn-haze, their vivid colours flanked by a backdrop of reds and yellows. The Spanish say that autumn is a time for feasting and chestnut stalls begin to pop up throughout the city, which can feel a little odd when the temperatures of up to 22.1°C mean that it is still balmy enough to enjoy al fresco tapas on Las Ramblas. Football season is in full swing in October, and if you’re lucky your stay might coincide with a game at Spotify Camp Nou, the largest football stadium within Europe and home to FC Barcelona.

November: Sydney

Australia is in the midst of its winter holidays come November, but with temperatures of between 16.3°C and 23.8°C it’s more akin to summer in the northern hemisphere. Despite boasting 241.8 average hours of sunshine, the Australian city is still very much in its low season which means lower prices, minimal crowds and no queues for attractions. One of November’s most popular events is Bondi’s Sculpture by the Sea, which turns the Bondi to Tamarama Coastal Walk into a free sculpture park. With its iconic white sails, no trip to Sydney would be complete without a visit to Sydney Opera House, which hosts more than 1,600 performances a year. If you don’t have time to catch a performance, make sure you visit the Opera Bar for some of the best views and cocktails in town.

December: Dubai

With an average daily spend of $240 USD, Dubai is one of the places where people go to splash the cash. Opulence is everywhere from sleek sports cars on every corner to ATMs designed to dispense real gold bullion bars. December is the high season, but people tend to head to the malls, and with more than 65 to choose from you should have no problem escaping the hordes if you so desire. Thanks to its desert-location Dubai averages only 2 days of rainfall in December, and with temperatures ranging between 15.4°C and 26.2°C, the weather is ideal whether you’re heading for a day on the beach or planning to explore sites such as Burj Khalifa on a city sightseeing tour.

Jonathan Merry, travel expert at MoneyTransfers.com was pleased to see such a wide range of countries covering every continent.

It’s clear that every continent has its draws, and while it’s easy to fall into a rut of visiting the more traditional holiday resorts every year, this list opens up so many more possibilities. People may not in the past have considered Medellin in Colombia due to its chequered history, but the city has spent decades repairing itself, and the country now attracts millions of tourists from around the world who are drawn to its pristine rainforests and beaches.

Jonathan Merry, travel expert at MoneyTransfers.com

Methodology and sources

In order to determine the best possible destination for each month of the year we studied a range of different factors. We then selected the city that had, in each month, the best possible combination of these factors for the duration of that period.

The factors that were taken into account were:

Weather

We used https://worldweather.wmo.int/ to collect data for both the median daily maximum and the minimum temperature, as well as the mean total rainfall and rainy days. The source of each country's data is their own Meteorological Institute’s records.

Sun Data

Wikipedia was used to ascertain the average hours of sunshine per month for a list of destinations worldwide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_sunshine_duration

The list of sources for each destination can be found on the Wikipedia page.

Costs and Seasons Data

For each destination, we ensured that we were using the most up-to-date available information on the average prices for accommodation, food and transportation.

The main source of this data was Nomadic Matt's Travel Site which contains a series of regularly updated travel guides with a breakdown of prices for each destination.

We also used Nomadic Matt to collect our data on seasons as their travel guides indicated when the high season or low season for travel took place.

It was a combination of all these factors, which helped us to determine which destinations were the best possible places to spend that month.