Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in Nanjing is from April, May, October. — consistent weather climate
🌦Humid
| Score | 20 | 31 | 65 | 82 | 76 | 53 | 18 | 24 | 76 | 83 | 69 | 33 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Cold | Cold | Cold | Mild | Humid | Rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Humid | Pleasant | Mild | Cold |
| Temperature | 0–8°C | 1–10°C | 7–16°C | 12–21°C | 17–26°C | 21–29°C | 25–31°C | 25–32°C | 20–28°C | 14–22°C | 8–17°C | 1–10°C |
| Feels like | -4–4°C | -2–7°C | 4–14°C | 10–21°C | 17–27°C | 24–32°C | 29–37°C | 30–37°C | 23–30°C | 13–22°C | 6–15°C | -2–6°C |
| Precipitation | 59mm 10 days | 53mm 8 days | 71mm 8 days | 89mm 8 days | 118mm 9 days | 213mm 13 days | 265mm 18 days | 142mm 12 days | 117mm 10 days | 72mm 8 days | 44mm 7 days | 32mm 6 days |
| Sunshine | 5.8h ☀︎ 57% | 6.4h ☀︎ 58% | 6.9h ☀︎ 57% | 7.3h ☀︎ 56% | 7.2h ☀︎ 52% | 6.7h ☀︎ 47% | 7.0h ☀︎ 50% | 9.6h ☀︎ 72% | 8.2h ☀︎ 67% | 6.9h ☀︎ 61% | 6.6h ☀︎ 62% | 6.8h ☀︎ 67% |
| Wind | NE · 15 km/h | NE · 16 km/h | E · 17 km/h | E · 17 km/h | SE · 17 km/h | SE · 16 km/h | SE · 16 km/h | E · 15 km/h | NE · 15 km/h | NE · 15 km/h | NE · 15 km/h | NE · 14 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 73% | 72% | 70% | 71% | 72% | 77% | 82% | 78% | 78% | 75% | 74% | 71% |
| Day length | 10.3h | 11.0h | 12.0h | 13.0h | 13.8h | 14.2h | 14.0h | 13.3h | 12.4h | 11.4h | 10.5h | 10.1h |
Plum Blossom Hill (Meihuashan) bursts into thousands of blooming plum trees, drawing huge crowds of photographers and fa…
The area around the Confucius Temple and Qinhuai River is transformed with elaborate illuminated lantern displays for we…
The osmanthus groves around Linggu Temple bloom and fill the air with their distinctive sweet fragrance, drawing local v…
Every standard guide steers travelers to autumn in Nanjing, but that advice sets you up to share the former imperial capital with overwhelming crowds; April delivers virtually identical crisp, leafy perfection with elbow room to spare.
As a seat of dynastic power across ten regimes and the modern republican capital until 1949, Nanjing carries a weight unlike anywhere else in the Yangtze River Delta. Its wide, plane-tree-arched avenues and ancient stone ramparts give it an unhurried grandeur that neighboring Shanghai has long paved over. Yet travelers routinely miscalculate when to experience this majesty. Conventional wisdom insists that autumn is the only time worth booking. What standard guides forget to mention is that the autumn foliage craze turns the city into a bottleneck. The true masterstroke is arriving in early spring, when the city shakes off winter, the crowds have vanished, and the streets belong to those who stroll them.
April is the singular month when Nanjing feels effortless. The daytime air sits at a balmy 21 degrees, the plane trees unfurl fresh canopies over the boulevards, and the entire city lives outdoors without fighting for footpath space. While the autumn crowds are legendary, April remains astonishingly calm, giving you unhindered access to the monumental sweep of Purple Mountain and the quiet stone pathways of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.
May begins to turn up the warmth, bringing early whispers of subtropical heat and brief afternoon rains that clear as quickly as they arrive. Even so, late spring remains thoroughly walk-friendly. Circling the broad perimeter of Xuanwu Lake on foot or hiring a skiff at dusk offers gentle breezes before summer locks the basin in humidity. If you want the version of Nanjing where ancient walls, green hills, and relaxed urban life coexist seamlessly, April through early May is your window.
Nanjing's historic reputation as one of China's classic 'furnaces' is entirely earned. Come June, the Meiyu plum rains arrive in full force, drenching the city in relentless, heavy downpours that turn walks into humid endurance tests. By July and August, the rain eases slightly into sudden bursts, but the apparent heat regularly climbs into the upper thirties, thick with relentless river basin moisture that rarely breaks even after midnight.
Yet paradoxically, domestic summer tourism surges through August. Visitors pack the stone steps of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum under an unrelenting midday sun, queueing shoulder-to-shoulder on blazing granite plazas. Unless your itinerary leaves no choice, avoid high summer. If you must go, confine your explorations to shaded temple forests at dawn or evening cruises drifting past the lighted pavilions along the Qinhuai River.
September provides immediate relief as the furnace switches off. The transition is marked by the Linggu Temple Sweet Osmanthus Festival, when ancient woodland groves perfume the surrounding valley with an intoxicating, honeyed fragrance. September days are warm and the evenings genuinely cool, creating a tranquil interlude before the madness begins.
October undoubtedly offers textbook weather—dry air, blue skies, and comfortable warmth. But you will pay for that perfection in sheer human density. By November, autumn fervor reaches its fever pitch; it is the busiest month of the entire year, as tens of thousands descend simultaneously to photograph the golden ginkgoes and deep-red maples draping Purple Mountain. What looks like serene historic contemplation in photographs is, in reality, a gridlocked shuffle. October's marginal meteorological edge over April simply cannot compensate for the suffocating throngs.
From December through February, a damp, grey chill grips the Yangtze. Temperatures hover just above freezing, and the lack of central heating across the region means the cold settles deep into old wooden halls and stone alleys. Yet winter holds dramatic rewards for those willing to dress in thick woolens. During the Qinhuai Lantern Festival in January and February, the riverbanks around the Confucius Temple ignite with hundreds of towering, illuminated silk lanterns, casting fiery crimson reflections across the dark water.
By late February and March, the chill begins to soften as the Nanjing International Plum Blossom Festival gets underway. Plum Blossom Hill erupts in vast swathes of pink, magenta, and white blossoms against a brooding winter sky. It can get intensely busy on weekends with photographers, but a quiet weekday morning among the blooming groves feels like wandering through a classical ink wash painting.