When to visit
Pyongyang?

Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.

Pyongyang
Pyongyang · North Korea

The best weather in Pyongyang is from May, September, October. — consistent weather climate

Climate score
October
81

Excellent climate

🌥Mild

Temperature
8–18°C
Cold nights — bring layers
Feels like
6–16°C
Dry
Precipitation
57mm
Heavy downpours · 5 days
Sunshine
8.3h
Partly cloudy
Humidity (%)
71%
Dry
Annual Climate Analysis
Temperature, Rain & Feels Like
Rain
Actual Temp
Feels Like
-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
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Flights to Pyongyang

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Monthly Overview
Score232537738071464580812822
ClimatePolarPolarColdColdCool & rainyRainyRainyRainyHumidMildColdPolar
Temperature-9–0°C-6–4°C-1–11°C5–18°C11–23°C17–27°C21–29°C22–29°C16–25°C8–18°C1–10°C-7–1°C
Feels like-14–-5°C-11–-1°C-5–7°C2–15°C10–22°C17–28°C24–33°C25–33°C17–27°C6–16°C-3–6°C-12–-3°C
Precipitation15mm
3 days
20mm
4 days
34mm
4 days
55mm
5 days
110mm
8 days
152mm
10 days
280mm
18 days
275mm
19 days
112mm
7 days
57mm
5 days
65mm
6 days
26mm
4 days
Sunshine7.8h
☀︎ 80%
8.4h
☀︎ 78%
9.3h
☀︎ 78%
9.6h
☀︎ 72%
9.7h
☀︎ 68%
9.7h
☀︎ 65%
7.5h
☀︎ 51%
8.2h
☀︎ 60%
9.0h
☀︎ 72%
8.3h
☀︎ 75%
6.8h
☀︎ 67%
7.2h
☀︎ 76%
WindNW · 16 km/hNW · 18 km/hW · 19 km/hW · 19 km/hSW · 19 km/hSW · 16 km/hS · 16 km/hS · 14 km/hNE · 14 km/hN · 15 km/hN · 16 km/hNW · 16 km/h
Humidity (%)57%58%63%62%67%74%82%83%77%71%69%60%
Day length9.8h10.7h12.0h13.2h14.3h14.9h14.6h13.7h12.4h11.2h10.1h9.5h
Events & Festivals
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day of the Sun
Mass Games (Arirang)
Pyongyang Marathon
Events & Festivals
  • Day of the SunholidaySignature event
    April· 500k+ visitors

    North Korea's most important holiday marks the birthday of founder Kim Il-sung with mass parades, synchronized dance per…

  • Mass Games (Arirang)cultural
    August, September, October· 500k+ visitors

    A vast synchronized gymnastics and artistic performance staged at May Day Stadium, combining tens of thousands of perfor…

  • Pyongyang Marathonsports
    April· 5k+ visitors

    One of the few sporting events in North Korea open to foreign amateur runners, this annual race starts and finishes at K…

The story of the seasons in Pyongyang

Pyongyang fills to capacity during the biting chill of midwinter and the sodden heat of midsummer, leaving its most comfortable, clear-skied months in spring and autumn as the rare moments when the city is genuinely pleasant to explore.

Visiting Pyongyang is an encounter with a city rebuilt from post-war ashes on a scale calculated to dwarf the individual. Its broad, symmetrical boulevards trace the bends of the Taedong River, framed by massive neoclassical monuments, pastel residential towers, and wide ceremonial spaces designed for monumental choreography. It is one of the oldest urban centers on the Korean Peninsula, yet almost nothing you see today is older than seven decades. The atmosphere here is controlled and deliberate, and the experience of walking its open avenues shifts radically with the seasons. While state itineraries and commemorative tours crowd the calendar around midsummer heatwaves and freezing winter commemorations, Pyongyang is at its most lucid and habitable when the continental air turns crisp in autumn and mild in early spring.

Spring Awakening and Pageantry

April brings the city out of its long, sub-zero freeze. Temperatures lift into the teens, willow trees begin to bud along the embankments of the Taedong River, and the dust of the dry continental winter gives way to clear, sunny skies. It is a period when Pyongyang feels lively and animated, driven by high-profile civic occasions. The Pyongyang Marathon loops through central avenues and over the river bridges, beginning and ending to deafening roars inside Kim Il-sung Stadium. For a brief few hours, the usual decorum yields to a relaxed public cheer as local spectators line the curbs.

Shortly after, the Day of the Sun transforms the capital into a kaleidoscope of mass synchrony. Immense choreographed dances spread across central plazas, parades march past monumental facades, and evening fireworks illuminate the granite pylons of the Juche Tower. The city is decorated to its absolute limits, and while authorized itineraries are rigid and streets are tightly stewarded, the sheer visual energy is striking.

By May, the air turns genuinely warm, climbing comfortably into the twenties. The gardens around Moran Hill fill with families enjoying rare afternoon picnics, singing to portable accordions under pine boughs. Rainfall remains modest, skies stay bright, and walking between the grand concrete vistas is easy before the heavy summer moisture sets in.

The Summer Monsoons and the Humid Spectacle

Summer in Pyongyang is an arduous test of endurance. By late June, the East Asian monsoon arrives in full force, dragging thick tropical moisture up from the south and colliding with continental heat. July and August are swampy, overcast, and relentlessly drenched. Sudden downpours dump massive sheets of rain within minutes, churning the brown waters of the Taedong River and turning expansive paved plazas into steaming mirrors.

Despite the punishing heat index—which regularly feels well into the mid-thirties—July draws an enormous volume of visitors. Moving through the city under these conditions means shifting between air-conditioned tour coaches and stifling outdoor squares where wide concrete expanses radiate intense ambient heat. Long outdoor speeches and ceremonial visits become genuinely draining.

Late summer does bring one staggering visual draw: the Mass Games (Arirang). When staged, this overwhelming display of synchronized gymnastics and human mosaic card stunts fills the vast interior of May Day Stadium. Tens of thousands of performers move as a single organism under soaring stadium lights. It is a spectacle without equal on earth, but you will experience it in thick, heavy August air that rarely cools down even after dark.

The Golden Window: Stable Skies and Autumn Air

September breaks the back of the summer monsoon. The deluge drops off sharply, the oppressive humidity drains from the river basin, and Pyongyang enters its finest stretch of the year. Daytime conditions are warm and buoyant, allowing you to walk the paths of Moran Hill or wander down to the water’s edge without breaking a sweat.

October is the singular best month to be in the capital. The weather is virtually flawless: crisp mornings, clear blue skies, virtually no rain, and daytime air that hovers at a comfortable, brisk coolness. Trees across the city turn fiery shades of crimson and gold, softening the severe concrete lines of the skyline. The Mass Games often continue their autumn run through this period, offering the chance to take in the evening stadium performances without the drenching humidity of summer.

Crucially, October experiences a notable dip in overall tour congestion compared to the summer and winter peaks. Monuments are quieter, movement through key sites is smoother, and the city reveals a rare, contemplative quietude beneath its grand arches and expansive avenues.

The Siberian Deep Freeze

Winter in Pyongyang is raw, unforgiving, and dominated by bone-chilling Siberian air masses that plunge temperatures deep below zero. The Taedong River freezes along its shallows, winter winds whip across wide-open avenues with nothing to block their path, and apparent temperatures regularly feel far colder than the thermometer suggests. Gray concrete dominates the landscape, and outdoor touring requires heavy thermal layers and constant resilience.

Curiously, December represents the single busiest month on the city's tourism calendar. High-level anniversary delegations, year-end state tours, and official winter groups flood into the capital, filling the central guesthouses and motorcades despite the hostile cold. Moving through monumental outdoor complexes in December means battling penetrating drafts that numb exposed skin within minutes.

January and February offer little relief, maintaining bitter cold and dry, whistling gales. March begins the thaw, but it is a muddy, transitional month of bare branches and gray skies. Unless you are drawn specifically by winter political anniversaries, the deep freeze offers the harshest conditions of the year for very little seasonal reward.

What to do

Things to do in Pyongyang

Top sights and attractions to build your days around once you know when to go.

Places from Wikidata and Wikipedia.

Tours & tickets in Pyongyang
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Frequently asked questions

What is the best time to visit Pyongyang?

The best time to visit Pyongyang is October, May, September, April, June, with temperatures between 5 °C and 27 °C. The best month is October. October is low season.

What is the weather like in Pyongyang?

Pyongyang has a climate with an overall score of 5.1/10. Annual temperatures range from -9 °C to 29 °C.

What is the hottest month in Pyongyang?

The hottest month in Pyongyang is July, with average highs of 29 °C and lows of 21 °C.

What is the rainiest month in Pyongyang?

The rainiest month in Pyongyang is July, with an average of 280 mm of precipitation.