Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in Guangzhou is from January, November, December. — consistent weather climate
⛈Hot & rainy
| Score | 88 | 85 | 69 | 48 | 27 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 25 | 79 | 91 | 92 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Mild | Mild | Humid | Rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Humid | Pleasant | Mild |
| Temperature | 12–20°C | 13–21°C | 17–24°C | 20–27°C | 23–30°C | 26–31°C | 26–33°C | 26–32°C | 25–31°C | 21–28°C | 18–25°C | 12–20°C |
| Feels like | 9–19°C | 11–20°C | 17–25°C | 21–30°C | 27–34°C | 31–37°C | 32–39°C | 31–38°C | 29–37°C | 22–31°C | 17–26°C | 9–18°C |
| Precipitation | 55mm 7 days | 69mm 9 days | 129mm 16 days | 228mm 17 days | 317mm 24 days | 374mm 27 days | 237mm 22 days | 362mm 26 days | 246mm 20 days | 106mm 9 days | 44mm 6 days | 31mm 4 days |
| Sunshine | 6.8h ☀︎ 63% | 6.2h ☀︎ 54% | 4.6h ☀︎ 39% | 5.7h ☀︎ 45% | 5.9h ☀︎ 45% | 5.8h ☀︎ 43% | 8.4h ☀︎ 63% | 6.9h ☀︎ 53% | 8.7h ☀︎ 71% | 8.6h ☀︎ 74% | 7.6h ☀︎ 69% | 7.2h ☀︎ 67% |
| Wind | NE · 18 km/h | NE · 18 km/h | E · 18 km/h | SE · 18 km/h | SE · 17 km/h | S · 17 km/h | SE · 17 km/h | SE · 15 km/h | NE · 15 km/h | NE · 18 km/h | NE · 17 km/h | N · 19 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 68% | 73% | 78% | 80% | 83% | 85% | 82% | 85% | 82% | 71% | 70% | 62% |
| Day length | 10.9h | 11.4h | 12.0h | 12.7h | 13.2h | 13.5h | 13.4h | 12.9h | 12.3h | 11.6h | 11.0h | 10.7h |
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Conventional travel wisdom crowns December as Guangzhou's prime month, but January quietly steals the title by trading away a negligible fraction of dry air for a city that has suddenly emptied its frenetic, high-season avenues.
Guangzhou does not pause easily. Anchoring an unbroken urban constellation of seventy million souls across the Pearl River delta, this ancient southern mercantile capital usually operates at an overwhelming sensory pitch. For over two millennia it has absorbed traders, cargo, and foreign concessions, leaving behind a metropolis layered with banyan-shaded colonial arcades, soaring glassy towers, and the perpetual clatter of dim sum parlours. Most guidebooks will tell you to visit in December, seduced by the crispest autumn-winter skies. They miss the real secret: January delivers nearly the exact same brisk, immaculate southern winter air, but drops the relentless tourist pack and trade crush, handing you a rare, unhurried city.
If you look purely at rainfall gauges and thermometer highs, December looks like perfection. But travel is lived on the pavement, not on a spreadsheet, and January is where the real magic happens. High temperatures hover around twenty degrees, the humidity that suffocates the city for half the year vanishes entirely, and apparent temperatures feel like an invigorating eighteen degrees. Most crucially, the autumn crush of trade expos and high-season tourism breaks. You can walk through the European facades of Shamian Island without jostling shoulder-to-shoulder, or climb through Yuexiu Park in light knitwear without breaking a sweat.
February maintains that crisp, comfortable coolness, but the calendar turns volatile with Chinese New Year celebrations. If your trip aligns with the Spring Festival, the city bursts into a frenzy of red lanterns and open-air flower markets, perfumed with kumquat trees and blossoms. It is visually intoxicating, though you must contend with regional transit shutdowns, sudden restaurant closures, and a sharp spike in domestic crowds before the city settles back into its rhythm.
By March, the dry winter air collapses into southern China's notorious damp. Moisture seeps out of the stone paving along Beijing Road, low cloud blankets the skyline, and sunshine drops to a miserly trickle. Temperatures climb into the mid-twenties, but the apparent temperature runs hotter as the air thickens into a perpetual greenhouse mist.
April and May open the sluice gates. Rainfall totals double, then nearly triple, with torrential downpours regularly overwhelming the street drains. These are not refreshing afternoon showers; they are heavy, tropical deluges that will derail an itinerary anchored in outdoor wandering. April and May also see the arrival of the spring session of the colossal Canton Fair, an international juggernaut that fills the transport networks, crowds transit hubs, and charges the city with a purely commercial, transactional intensity. Unless you are here to broker international supply chains, May in particular is a month to avoid: oppressive humidity, frequent cloudbursts, and mounting crowds make exploration an endurance test.
Guangzhou's summer is a relentless tropical furnace. From June through September, daytime temperatures sit above thirty degrees, but the dense, vaporous air makes it feel closer to forty. June opens with the thunder of the Dragon Boat Festival, where sleek wooden boats slice through the Pearl River amidst driving rain and cheering riverbank crowds. The energy is sensational, but stepping away from the riverbank means walking straight into a wall of wet heat.
The most striking contradiction of Guangzhou's calendar arrives in August. By all environmental measures, it is tied for the absolute worst time to set foot in the city: drenching cloudbursts deliver over three hundred millimetres of rain, typhoons threaten the delta, and the muggy air feels suffocating before midday. Yet August registers the single highest crowd volume of the year, inundated by domestic summer family travel. Watching tour groups trudge through the sweltering stone paths of Baiyun Mountain in drenching August squalls is proof of how blindly people plan their holidays. Do not join them. If you must be here in late summer, delay until September, when the Mid-Autumn Festival brings intricate lantern displays, evening mooncakes, and the very first hints that the summer storm season is losing its grip.
October flips the switch. The skies clear into luminous, pale blue, rainfall drops sharply, and the evening breeze off the Pearl River turns delightfully temperate. The city wakes up to the outdoor life: night markets flourish, riverside promenades fill with families, and the autumn run of the Canton Fair brings a polished, cosmopolitan bustle back to the financial quarters.
November and December represent Guangzhou at its most photogenic. In November, the Guangzhou International Light Festival illuminates the city's architectural skyline with colossal public art, while the Guangzhou International Food Festival celebrates the endless breadth of Cantonese gastronomy in delightfully dry, mild weather. December offers textbook-perfect weather—crisp, virtually rainless, and ideal for the runners tackling the Guangzhou Marathon. Yet this perfection comes at a price. December is crowded, hotels fill rapidly, and the city hums with high-season friction. Enjoy it if you must, but remember: wait just a few weeks until the calendar flips to January, and you will have this brilliant, cool, subtropical capital almost entirely to yourself.