Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in Solothurn is from July, August, September, but considering flight prices and crowds, the best months to visit are May, September, October. — consistent weather climate
🌥Mild
| Score | 9 | 18 | 32 | 52 | 70 | 74 | 77 | 77 | 79 | 60 | 17 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Cold | Cold | Cold | Cold | Cool & rainy | Humid | Humid | Humid | Mild | Cold | Cold | Cold |
| Temperature | -1–5°C | 0–8°C | 2–11°C | 5–15°C | 9–18°C | 14–23°C | 16–26°C | 15–25°C | 11–21°C | 7–16°C | 3–9°C | 0–6°C |
| Feels like | -5–2°C | -3–5°C | -1–8°C | 2–13°C | 8–18°C | 14–24°C | 16–27°C | 16–26°C | 11–20°C | 6–15°C | 0–7°C | -3–3°C |
| Precipitation | 107mm 18 days | 72mm 13 days | 81mm 14 days | 92mm 15 days | 144mm 19 days | 129mm 16 days | 106mm 13 days | 102mm 12 days | 85mm 12 days | 86mm 12 days | 94mm 14 days | 103mm 15 days |
| Sunshine | 3.6h ☀︎ 40% | 5.7h ☀︎ 55% | 7.5h ☀︎ 63% | 9.7h ☀︎ 71% | 9.2h ☀︎ 61% | 11.5h ☀︎ 73% | 12.4h ☀︎ 80% | 10.8h ☀︎ 76% | 9.5h ☀︎ 76% | 6.4h ☀︎ 59% | 4.0h ☀︎ 42% | 3.5h ☀︎ 41% |
| Wind | W · 13 km/h | W · 13 km/h | NW · 14 km/h | N · 13 km/h | NW · 12 km/h | NW · 11 km/h | NW · 11 km/h | NW · 11 km/h | NW · 11 km/h | W · 11 km/h | W · 12 km/h | SW · 12 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 85% | 79% | 75% | 72% | 76% | 74% | 70% | 73% | 77% | 84% | 88% | 88% |
| Day length | 9.0h | 10.3h | 11.9h | 13.6h | 15.1h | 15.9h | 15.5h | 14.2h | 12.6h | 10.9h | 9.4h | 8.6h |
| Tourist Crowds | Low season | Shoulder season | Low season | Low season | Shoulder season | High season | High season | High season | High season | Shoulder season | Low season | Low season |
Switzerland's leading showcase for Swiss and regional cinema fills the town's cinemas and historic halls for a week each…
A standard forecast will urge you toward the crisp calm of September, but late spring in May is when Solothurn truly earns its keep, trading a few passing showers for a town humming with riverfront life and open-air momentum.
Set against the limestone wall of the Jura mountains where the green sweep of the Aare slows into wide bends, Solothurn looks less like northern Switzerland and more like an aristocratic French enclave dropped onto the plain. Between the sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries, the ambassadors of the French crown held court here, leaving behind an intensely preserved, pedestrian-only sanctuary of pale limestone facades, Italianate grandeur, and Baroque symmetry. Conventional travel advice points you toward early autumn, when the days are dry and the summer day-trippers have receded. But that calculation misses the emotional rhythm of the town entirely. Solothurn is built around the water and its limestone streets, and it is in May—when the outdoor cafes sprawl to the river's edge and the city wakes from winter lethargy—that the Baroque stage set finally comes alive.
If you look purely at dry statistics, September seems spotless: mild afternoons, minimal rainfall, and quieter alleys. Yet walking through Solothurn in September can feel like catching the final act of a play after the principal actors have retired. May, by contrast, delivers the electrical charge of arrival. The breeze rolling down off Weissenstein carries the clean scent of thawed mountain pine, and the town throws open its shuttered windows.
Yes, May brings bursts of Atlantic rain that drench the cobblestones, but these are sudden downpours rather than the stubborn, gray ceiling of November. An afternoon storm clears out just as fast, leaving the golden limestone steaming in the sun while locals reclaim tables along the banks of the Aare. What you gain in trade is the sheer vitality of the city at its peak social moment: market stalls laden with regional produce, riverbanks lined with bicycles, and an easy, outward-facing buzz that autumn simply cannot replicate.
By July and August, Solothurn adopts a Mediterranean cadence. The afternoons push into true summer heat, radiating off the flags and pale stone facades of the old quarter until walking the alleys mid-afternoon feels heavy. The antidote is the river. Life relocates entirely to the banks of the Aare, where residents drift through the current with waterproof bags, drying off on the sunny lawns before heading back into town for chilled white wine as the light softens.
While July and August see a welcome dip in overall bustle compared to the peak spring rush, the heat is real, punctuated by dramatic late-afternoon thunderstorms that roll in suddenly from the crest of the Jura. Summer is for travelers who want long twilight evenings, swimming between centuries-old bastions, and a relaxed, unhurried pace where nobody rushes anywhere before dusk.
September offers the most settled weather on the calendar. The rains ease, the air turns crystalline, and hiking the high ridgelines of Weissenstein gives you razor-sharp views that stretch across the Swiss plateau toward the distant Alps. The afternoons are warm enough to sit outside without a jacket, yet the oppressive humidity of midsummer is gone.
The trade-off is emotional: the town settles into an introspective, domestic routine. The riverbanks empty out, the waters run too cold for spontaneous swimming, and by October the foliage turns amber across the Jura slopes. October is a lovely, melancholy month for architectural enthusiasts who want the Baroque alleyways entirely to themselves, but you must be prepared for the town to close in early as the evenings chill.
Winter in Solothurn can be harsh and unyielding. From November through March, cold dampness settles over the river plain, often trapping a stubborn blanket of low fog against the mountains for days on end. Temperatures hover close to freezing, and the Baroque grandeur that looks so luminous in the sun can feel austere and gray under heavy cloud.
There are, however, two sharp spikes of intense activity. In January, the Solothurn Film Festival takes over the historic halls and screening rooms. For a week, the small pedestrian center fills with filmmakers, critics, and film lovers arriving from across Switzerland, turning an otherwise dark, freezing month into a cozy, intellectually charged festival town. Then, in February, the city suddenly packs to its absolute capacity for its traditional celebrations—a thunderous, revelrous burst of noise and costumed gatherings that completely defies the freezing damp. Unless you are coming specifically to immerse yourself in the film festival or the raucous winter festivities, midwinter is Solothurn's most punishing season, best left to those who do not mind dark, mist-shrouded afternoons.
April is the transition month where Solothurn shakes off its winter coat, though not without friction. One afternoon will deliver warm sunshine that hints at the coming summer, coaxing the first chairs out onto the squares, while the next brings biting winds off the snow-dusted Jura and sharp showers that send everyone ducking under Baroque arcades.
Visitor numbers swell rapidly as Swiss day-trippers return to wander the pedestrian streets, but outdoor living remains a gamble. It is an exhilarating time to watch the natural landscape burst into green along the Aare, but it lacks the settled, sun-warmed confidence that makes May the undisputed champion of the local calendar.