What's on around the world in January

In January, 2175 seasonal things are on across 1198 destinations: 207 natural spectacles, 1016 seasonal conditions, 156 festivals and cultural dates, 512 mass holidays and 284 hazard seasons. The seasons doing the most work this month: Christmas & New Year, Off-season shutdown and Dry season. Every entry links to that place's full January climate breakdown.

Things to travel for

Blossom, foliage, whales, the light itself — the short windows worth booking a month around.

  • 🇮🇳 Bengaluru

    Lalbagh Republic Day flower show

    14–26 JanFestival

    The Glass House at Lalbagh is packed with a themed floral build for the fortnight to Republic Day.

    Source: karnatakatourism.org

  • 🇵🇹 Albufeira

    Almond blossom in the barrocal

    15 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Nature

    The almond groves in the hills behind the coast flower before anything else opens, which is the one argument for a hire car here in winter.

  • 🇵🇹 Faro

    Almond blossom

    15 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Nature

    The groves in the hills north of the city flower before the season starts, and the back roads around Loule and Estoi are the place to see it rather than the coast.

  • 🇵🇹 Lagos

    Almond blossom

    15 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Nature

    The groves inland towards Barao de Sao Joao flower before anything reopens, and the cliff path to Ponta da Piedade is at its best in the same weeks.

  • 🇯🇵 Okinawa

    Hikanzakura cherry blossom

    15 Jan – 20 Feb (usually)Nature

    Okinawa's cherry is the deep pink hikanzakura and it opens in January, two months before the mainland.

  • 🇵🇹 Tavira

    Almond blossom

    15 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Nature

    The groves in the hills behind the town flower in late winter, usually peaking in the first half of February, on the same weeks the orange trees in the streets are still full of fruit.

  • 🇳🇴 Tromsø

    The sun comes back

    20–23 JanFestival

    The sun clears the mountains on 21 January for the first time since November and the town marks it with sun buns and people standing on the bridge at noon.

    Source: visittromso.no

  • 🇪🇸 Palma

    Almond blossom

    25 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Nature

    The plain behind the city goes white and pink for about a month in late winter, usually peaking in the first half of February.

  • 🇹🇭 Chiang Mai

    Wild Himalayan cherry on the hills

    20 Dec – 31 Jan (usually)Nature

    The pink blossom on Doi Inthanon and the ridges towards Doi Ang Khang comes out in the coldest weeks of the year, which are also the only weeks the air up there is clean.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇹🇭 Khao Sok

    Rafflesia in bloom

    1 Jan – 15 Mar (usually)Nature

    The world's largest single flower opens in the forest above the park headquarters for three to five days at a time in the dry months.

  • 🇹🇿 Ngorongoro

    Calving on the Ndutu plains

    1 Jan – 15 Mar (usually)Nature

    The herds drop most of their calves on the short-grass plains at Ndutu, in the conservation area's western corner, and the predators concentrate on them.

  • 🇯🇵 Okinawa

    Humpback whales off Zamami

    1 Jan – 31 Mar (usually)Nature

    Humpbacks calve in the shallow water round the Kerama islands from the new year, and the boats out of Naha and Zamami run daily through the season.

    Source: visitokinawajapan.com

  • 🇮🇳 Pondicherry

    Olive ridley nesting

    1 Jan – 31 Mar (usually)Nature

    Olive ridleys come ashore on the beaches north and south of town through the first months of the year.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • Charlotte Amalie

    Humpbacks on the north drop

    15 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Nature

    Humpbacks pass north of the islands on the way to and from the Silver Bank, and are sometimes seen from the ferries or off the north drop.

  • 🇳🇦 Etosha National Park

    Flamingos on the pan

    15 Jan – 30 Apr (usually)Nature

    When the pan floods properly, flamingos and pelicans arrive in numbers on water that is bare salt the rest of the year.

  • 🇲🇦 Merzouga

    Flamingos on Dayet Srji

    15 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Nature

    In a wet winter the seasonal lake west of the dunes fills and flamingos and waders drop in on their way north.

  • 🇺🇸 Napa

    Mustard season

    15 Jan – 20 Mar (usually)Nature

    Wild mustard fills the rows between bare vines from mid-January and is usually best in February.

    Source: visitnapavalley.com

  • Providenciales

    Humpbacks in the Columbus Passage

    15 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Nature

    Humpbacks funnel through the deep passage between the Caicos and Turks banks on their way to and from the Silver Bank.

  • 🇩🇴 Punta Cana

    Humpback whales in Samana Bay

    15 Jan – 31 MarNature

    Thousands of North Atlantic humpbacks calve in Samana Bay, and the environment ministry opens and closes the watching season by decree each year.

  • 🇩🇴 Samaná

    Humpback whales in the bay

    15 Jan – 30 MarNature

    Thousands of North Atlantic humpbacks calve and court in the bay and the season is fixed by law from 15 January to 30 March.

    Source: visitdominicanrepublic.com

  • 🇹🇿 Serengeti

    Wildebeest calving

    15 Jan – 15 Mar (usually)Nature

    Close to half a million calves drop in a three-week burst on the short-grass plains around Ndutu, and every predator in the ecosystem is there for it.

  • 🇵🇹 Sintra

    Camellia season

    15 Jan – 20 Mar (usually)Nature

    The nineteenth-century estates were planted for winter, and the camellias at Monserrate and in the Pena park flower from January.

  • 🇪🇸 Tenerife

    Almond blossom

    20 Jan – 15 Mar (usually)Nature

    The groves around Santiago del Teide and the mountain villages come out from late January and the almond blossom trail runs into March, which is the island's one genuinely seasonal sight.

    Source: webtenerife.co.uk

  • 🇺🇸 San Francisco

    Plum and magnolia blossom

    25 Jan – 15 Mar (usually)Nature

    The earliest blossom of any big American city: plum in January, magnolia through February, weeks before the east coast has thawed.

  • 🇿🇲 Livingstone

    Devil's Pool season

    15 Aug – 15 Jan (usually)Opening

    The rock pool on the lip of the falls only opens once the river has dropped, usually from the middle of August until the rains put it back under.

    Source: livingstoneisland.com

  • 🇸🇦 AlUla

    Dark-sky season

    1 Oct – 31 Mar (usually)Nature

    AlUla keeps its skies dark deliberately, and the cool half of the year gives the steady, dust-free nights.

  • 🇦🇷 El Calafate

    Flamingos on Laguna Nimez

    1 Oct – 31 Mar (usually)Nature

    The reserve on the edge of town fills with Chilean flamingos, black-necked swans and upland geese through the southern spring and summer.

  • 🇬🇧 Isle of Wight

    Brent geese and winter waders

    1 Oct – 15 Mar (usually)Nature

    Dark-bellied brent geese arrive from the Siberian coast onto the harbours at Newtown, Bembridge and the Yar, with godwits and curlew on the same mud.

    Source: rspb.org.uk

  • 🇸🇨 Praslin

    Hawksbill nesting

    1 Oct – 28 Feb (usually)Nature

    Hawksbills come up the beaches on Praslin and Curieuse through the southern summer, and unusually for turtles they do it in daylight.

  • 🇵🇹 Tavira

    Waders on the Ria Formosa

    1 Oct – 31 Mar (usually)Nature

    The lagoon fills with wintering waders from October: flamingos on the salt pans, spoonbills, avocets and the resident storks nesting on every chimney by February.

  • 🇨🇱 Torres del Paine

    Flamingos on the lagoons

    1 Oct – 31 Mar (usually)Nature

    Chilean flamingos work Laguna Amarga and the shallow lakes by the eastern gate through the southern summer, with condors on the thermals above the same road.

  • 🇬🇧 Bournemouth

    Winter waders on Poole Harbour

    15 Oct – 10 Mar (usually)Nature

    Avocets, black-tailed godwits and brent geese pack the mudflats at Arne and Brownsea through the cold months, and the hides are busiest on a falling tide.

    Source: rspb.org.uk

  • 🇷🇺 Kaliningrad

    Amber after the storms

    15 Oct – 31 Mar (usually)Nature

    Autumn and winter gales tear amber out of the seabed and throw it up with the weed at Yantarny and Pionersky.

  • 🇺🇸 Santa Cruz, California

    Monarch butterflies

    15 Oct – 15 Feb (usually)Nature

    Tens of thousands of monarchs cluster in the eucalyptus grove at Natural Bridges from mid-October, hanging in a shape that looks like dead leaves until the sun hits them.

    Source: parks.ca.gov

  • 🇺🇸 Monterey

    Monarchs at Pacific Grove

    20 Oct – 28 Feb (usually)Nature

    Monarchs cluster in the eucalyptus at the Pacific Grove sanctuary from late October to about the start of March, peaking around the turn of the year.

  • 🇬🇧 Bournemouth

    Fossil hunting season

    1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually)Nature

    Winter storms cut into the Jurassic Coast cliffs west of here and turn out ammonites onto the beach at Charmouth and Lyme.

    Source: charmouth.org

  • 🇬🇧 Brighton

    Starling murmurations

    1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually)Nature

    Tens of thousands of starlings turn over the Palace Pier at dusk through the winter before dropping into the ironwork to roost.

  • 🇱🇰 Colombo

    Blue whales off Mirissa

    1 Nov – 15 Apr (usually)Nature

    The boats run out of Mirissa, three hours south, from November to April, and December to March is when the sea is calm enough to see anything.

  • 🇦🇺 Exmouth

    Turtle nesting and hatching

    1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually)Nature

    Green and loggerhead turtles nest on the Jurabi beaches through the summer and the hatchlings run from January.

  • 🇵🇹 Faro

    Winter birds on the Ria Formosa

    1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually)Nature

    The lagoon on the city's doorstep holds flamingos, spoonbills and thousands of waders through the winter, and the boardwalk at Ludo is walkable from the airport road.

…and 167 more in this group. Open any destination's page for its own month-by-month calendar.

The state of the place

Monsoon, dry season, lifts open, sea warm enough — what the weather is actually doing.

  • 🇰🇪 Nairobi

    Dry-season game viewing

    1 Jan – 28 FebSeason

    The short break between the two rainy seasons.

  • 🇨🇦 Niagara Falls

    Icewine harvest

    1 Jan – 10 Feb (usually)Season

    The grapes for icewine are left on the vine and picked at night once it holds below minus eight, usually in January.

    Source: niagarawinefestival.com

  • 🇧🇪 Bruges

    Canal boats laid up

    5 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Closure

    The half-hour canal trips run daily from March to mid-November.

    Source: visitbruges.be

  • 🇺🇸 Destin

    Snowbird season

    5 Jan – 28 FebSeason

    Long-stay visitors from the Midwest and Canada take the condos by the month and the beaches are otherwise empty.

  • 🇫🇷 Paris

    Winter sales

    7 Jan – 3 FebRule

    The state fixes the dates: four weeks of legally regulated discounting from the second Wednesday of January.

    Source: economie.gouv.fr

  • 🇯🇵 Karuizawa

    Deep winter quiet

    10 Jan – 28 FebSeason

    A good share of the summer-house restaurants and galleries shut after New Year and do not reopen until Golden Week.

  • 🇮🇳 Chennai

    Pongal

    13–17 Jan (usually)Holiday

    Four days of harvest holiday.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇮🇳 Hyderabad

    Sankranti

    13–16 JanHoliday

    The harvest holiday empties the city as Telugu families go back to their villages for three days.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇮🇳 Pondicherry

    Pongal

    14–17 JanHoliday

    The Tamil harvest festival is four days of closed shops, kolam on every doorstep and sugarcane stacked outside the temples.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇮🇳 Leh

    Chadar trek on the frozen Zanskar

    15 Jan – 20 Feb (usually)Opening

    The Zanskar river freezes hard enough to walk for a few weeks in deep winter, and permits and a registered agency are required.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇮🇳 Rishikesh

    Winter fog on the road up

    15 Dec – 31 Jan (usually)Hazard

    The plains between Delhi and Haridwar go under dense fog for days at a stretch in the cold weeks, and the overnight trains and buses run hours late.

    Source: mausam.imd.gov.in

  • 🇮🇳 Varanasi

    Winter fog

    15 Dec – 31 Jan (usually)Hazard

    Dense plains fog settles over the river for weeks and takes the flights and the trains with it, with delays measured in hours rather than minutes.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇵🇪 Arequipa

    Andean rainy season

    1 Jan – 31 Mar (usually)Season

    The rain comes as heavy late afternoons rather than all day, and it puts cloud into the Colca in the mornings.

  • 🇳🇿 Auckland

    Sea warm enough to swim

    1 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Season

    The gulf beaches and the harbour are properly swimmable from January into April, and the water is at its warmest well after the school holidays have emptied them.

  • 🇬🇧 Bournemouth

    Seafront out of season

    1 Jan – 20 Mar (usually)Season

    The beach huts are boarded and the seafront kiosks and cafés cut their hours or close for the winter.

    Source: bcpcouncil.gov.uk

  • 🇪🇸 Girona

    Calcot season

    1 Jan – 31 Mar (usually)Nature

    Charred spring onions eaten by hand with romesco, in farm restaurants out towards the Emporda.

  • 🇫🇮 Helsinki

    Sea ice and winter swimming

    1 Jan – 20 Mar (usually)Season

    The avanto — a hole cut in the ice beside a sauna — is what a Helsinki winter is actually for, and the public places are busiest now.

  • 🇵🇪 Lima

    Beach season on the south coast

    1 Jan – 31 MarSeason

    The overcast lifts and Lima decamps to the beach towns south of the city at weekends.

  • 🇮🇩 Lombok

    Rinjani trails closed

    1 Jan – 31 MarClosure

    The park office shuts all six routes up the volcano for the wettest quarter every year, on landslide and lightning grounds, and reopens them in April.

    Source: en.tempo.co

  • 🇦🇷 Mar del Plata

    Sea just about warm enough

    1 Jan – 15 Mar (usually)Season

    The water is only really swimmable in January and February, and it stays that way into early March once the crowds have gone.

  • 🇱🇰 Nuwara Eliya

    Western quality season

    1 Jan – 15 MarSeason

    Cold nights and dry days on the western slopes give the year's most prized picking, and the factories run it separately.

  • 🇮🇹 Rome

    Artichoke season

    1 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Nature

    The romanesco comes into the markets after Christmas and stays until spring; it is the one thing every trattoria in the ghetto and Testaccio is judged on.

  • 🇲🇵 Saipan

    Dry season

    1 Jan – 15 May (usually)Season

    The trade-wind months, when the rain comes in short bursts rather than by the day and the lagoon on the west side is at its clearest for snorkelling and diving the Grotto.

  • 🇨🇱 San Pedro de Atacama

    Altiplanic winter

    1 Jan – 15 Mar (usually)Season

    Storms build over the altiplano through the southern summer, heaviest in February, and the roads up to El Tatio and the high lagoons are shut for a day or two when they do.

  • 🇳🇦 Sossusvlei

    The desert rains

    1 Jan – 31 Mar (usually)Season

    Rain here is a handful of storms rather than a season, but a big one cuts the Sesriem road, runs the canyon and puts grass on the dune streets within a week.

  • 🇨🇦 St. John's, Newfoundland

    Winter storm season

    1 Jan – 31 Mar (usually)Hazard

    This is among the snowiest and windiest cities in the country, and a single storm shut it entirely for a week in 2020.

    Source: weather.gc.ca

  • 🇹🇹 Tobago

    Dry season

    1 Jan – 31 MaySeason

    January to May is the dry half: the tracks into the rainforest reserve stay passable, the water over Buccoo Reef clears, and the Atlantic side calms down enough to swim.

  • 🇹🇷 Antalya

    Football winter camp season

    5 Jan – 15 Mar (usually)Season

    More than 1,500 clubs from twenty-odd countries take over the Belek resort belt for mid-season camps.

    Source: turkiyetoday.com

  • 🇺🇸 Clearwater

    Snowbird season

    5 Jan – 31 MarSeason

    Long-stay visitors from the northern states and Canada fill the condos and the early-evening restaurant tables from January.

  • 🇨🇭 Davos

    Fluela Pass closed

    5 Jan – 30 Apr (usually)Closure

    The high road east over the Fluela is gazetted shut from early January, later than most Graubunden passes since it was the main winter link before the Vereina tunnel opened, and the Engadine is reached by the car train through Vereina instead until the road clears in April or May.

    Source: de.wikipedia.org

  • 🇬🇱 Ilulissat

    Dog sledding season

    5 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Season

    This is the largest sledding district in Greenland and the teams work once the bay ice takes, roughly January to April.

  • 🇺🇸 Nantucket

    Off-season shutdown

    5 Jan – 10 Apr (usually)Closure

    Most restaurants, shops and hotels close for the winter and the ferry timetable thins to a handful of crossings.

    Source: steamshipauthority.com

  • 🇨🇦 Ottawa

    Rideau Canal Skateway

    5 Jan – 5 Mar (usually)Season

    Almost eight kilometres of frozen canal is ploughed into something people commute to work on.

    Source: ncc-ccn.gc.ca

  • 🇨🇦 Winnipeg

    Frozen river trail

    5 Jan – 5 Mar (usually)Season

    The Assiniboine and the Red are ploughed into a skating trail from The Forks, several kilometres long in a good freeze, with warming huts commissioned from architects each year.

    Source: theforks.com

  • San Marino

    Winter quiet on the rock

    7 Jan – 15 MarClosure

    Once the Christmas market comes down the coaches stop, half the souvenir shops shutter and the towers and museums drop to winter hours.

    Source: visitsanmarino.com

  • 🇲🇾 Cameron Highlands

    Driest weeks of the year

    15 Jan – 15 Mar (usually)Season

    The clearest stretch for the mossy forest trails and the Gunung Brinchang road, when the cloud lifts off the ridge for whole mornings rather than an hour.

  • 🇨🇷 La Fortuna

    Dry season and clear Arenal

    15 Jan – 30 Apr (usually)Season

    The best run of the year for actually seeing the cone: it is usually out at breakfast and gone under cloud by mid-morning.

  • 🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro

    Warmest sea of the year

    15 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Season

    The Atlantic off Ipanema and Copacabana holds its heat well past the summer crowds; the water is at its best in March, when the beaches have emptied.

  • 🇨🇴 San Andrés

    Driest months

    15 Jan – 30 Apr (usually)Season

    The trade winds are steady and the rain is at its lightest, which is when the water around the cays is at its clearest.

  • 🇪🇸 San Sebastián

    Cider house season

    15 Jan – 30 AprSeason

    From mid-January the sagardotegis in Astigarraga open the barrels: you eat cod omelette and chop standing up and catch cider off the barrel yourself.

…and 976 more in this group. Open any destination's page for its own month-by-month calendar.

Festivals & culture

The festivals a place is known for, and the weeks the streets belong to them.

  • 🇮🇳 Hyderabad

    Numaish

    1 Jan – 15 FebFestival

    The All India Industrial Exhibition has filled the Nampally grounds every January since the 1930s: two thousand stalls, food from every state, and half the city going at least once.

    Source: exhibitionsociety.com

  • 🇴🇲 Muscat

    Muscat Nights

    1 Jan – 5 Feb (usually)Festival

    The municipality's winter festival: markets, funfairs and stages spread across parks and beaches through January, aimed squarely at Omani families rather than visitors.

    Source: muscatdaily.com

  • 🇮🇳 Port Blair

    Island Tourism Festival

    1–20 Jan (usually)Festival

    Ten days of stages, craft stalls and food on the festival ground in town, with satellite events out on the other islands.

    Source: utsav.gov.in

  • 🇯🇵 Hakone

    Hakone Ekiden

    2–3 JanFestival

    The university relay from Tokyo to Lake Ashi and back.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇦🇹 Innsbruck

    Four Hills ski jumping

    2–5 Jan (usually)Festival

    The Bergisel leg of the Four Hills tournament lands in the first days of January, inside the city rather than out in a resort.

    Source: vierschanzentournee.com

  • 🇨🇭 Interlaken

    Harder Potschete

    2 JanFestival

    On 2 January carved wooden masks come down off the Harder and run the streets, chasing whoever is slow.

    Source: interlaken.ch

  • 🇺🇸 Las Vegas

    CES

    4–12 Jan (usually)Festival

    The tech show takes the whole convention economy for a week in early January: room rates triple, taxi queues run to an hour, and the Strip is on business hours.

    Source: ces.tech

  • 🇮🇳 Pondicherry

    International Yoga Festival

    4–7 JanFestival

    Four days of asana, philosophy and music on the seafront and at the Ashram grounds every January since 1992.

    Source: py.gov.in

  • 🇵🇦 Boquete

    Feria de las Flores y del Cafe

    7–18 JanFestival

    Ten days of gardens, bands and coffee from the fincas above town, on the fairground by the Caldera river.

    Source: atp.gob.pa

  • 🇦🇺 Canberra

    Summernats

    5–12 Jan (usually)Festival

    Four days of street machines and burnouts at Exhibition Park in the first full week of January.

    Source: summernats.com.au

  • 🇨🇴 Cartagena

    Cartagena Music Festival

    5–15 Jan (usually)Festival

    A week of classical concerts in the churches and theatres inside the walls in early January, with free open-air nights in the plazas.

    Source: cartagenamusicfestival.com

  • 🇺🇸 Denver

    National Western Stock Show

    5–28 Jan (usually)Festival

    Sixteen days of rodeo, livestock judging and a downtown cattle drive in the middle of January, running since 1906.

    Source: nationalwestern.com

  • 🇲🇽 Mexico City

    Dia de Reyes

    5–6 JanFestival

    Sweet bread shared on 6 January with a figure baked inside, and whoever finds it owes tamales in February.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇲🇹 Valletta

    Valletta Baroque Festival

    8–25 JanFestival

    Three weeks of baroque music in the buildings it was written for: St John's co-cathedral, the Manoel theatre, the auberges.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇵🇭 Cebu City

    Sinulog

    15–19 JanFestival

    The Santo Nino procession on the Saturday and the grand parade on the third Sunday shut the city centre for two days and draw crowds in the millions.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇮🇹 Florence

    Pitti Immagine trade fairs

    8–18 Jan (usually)Festival

    Menswear buyers fill the Fortezza and every good hotel in the city in the second week of January, and again in the second week of June.

    Source: pittimmagine.com

  • 🇧🇷 Salvador

    Lavagem do Bonfim

    15 JanFestival

    Baianas in white wash the church steps with scented water at the end of an eight-kilometre walk from Comercio, followed by about a million people and a great many sound trucks.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇦🇺 Sydney

    Sydney Festival

    8–25 JanFestival

    Three weeks of theatre, music and free outdoor work across the city in January, timed to the hottest, emptiest, most holiday-shaped part of the year.

    Source: sydneyfestival.org.au

  • 🇦🇹 Vienna

    Ball season

    8 Jan – 20 Feb (usually)Festival

    Several hundred balls between the new year and Lent, most run by a trade guild — confectioners, coffee-house owners, hunters.

    Source: wien.info

  • 🇵🇭 Manila

    Feast of the Black Nazarene

    9 JanFestival

    Millions of barefoot devotees pull the image through Quiapo in a procession that takes most of a day and sometimes into the night.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇯🇵 Osaka

    Toka Ebisu

    9–11 JanFestival

    A million people pass through Imamiya Ebisu over three days in the second week of January to buy bamboo charms for the year's business.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇵🇭 Boracay

    Ati-Atihan

    12–21 JanFestival

    Kalibo, the mainland gateway, gives over ten days to drumming and soot-painted street dancing before the third Sunday, and the island runs its own version after.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇺🇸 Detroit

    Detroit Auto Show

    10–25 Jan (usually)Festival

    Back in January at Huntington Place after a few years of trying it in the autumn.

    Source: detroitautoshow.com

  • 🇺🇸 Houston

    Chevron Houston Marathon

    10–20 Jan (usually)Festival

    Twenty-five thousand runners through downtown and the Heights on a Sunday in mid-January, on the one weekend the weather here is reliably good for it.

    Source: chevronhoustonmarathon.com

  • 🇵🇦 Panama City

    Panama Jazz Festival

    10–20 Jan (usually)Festival

    Danilo Perez's festival fills Ciudad del Saber and the Casco theatres for a few days each January, with free outdoor concerts and a student clinic that puts instruments on every corner.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇨🇺 Trinidad

    Semana de la Cultura Trinitaria

    10–20 Jan (usually)Festival

    The town's founding week in mid-January: concerts on the Plaza Mayor steps, exhibitions in the colonial houses, and everyone out on the cobbles after dark rather than in the bars.

    Source: ecured.cu

  • 🇦🇺 Melbourne

    Australian Open

    12 Jan – 1 FebFestival

    Three weeks of tennis in the middle of the city, and the point at which Melbourne is at its fullest and most expensive.

    Source: ausopen.com

  • 🇳🇴 Tromsø

    Tromso International Film Festival

    12–20 Jan (usually)Festival

    A week of cinema in the middle of January, including screenings outdoors in the snow.

    Source: tiff.no

  • 🇵🇱 Zakopane

    Ski jumping World Cup

    12–28 Jan (usually)Festival

    The Wielka Krokiew fills with tens of thousands of Poles for a January weekend, flares and all.

    Source: discoverzakopane.com

  • 🇮🇳 Varanasi

    Makar Sankranti

    13–16 JanFestival

    Kites over the old city all day and a dawn dip at the ghats on 14 January, the day the sun turns north.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇦🇺 Adelaide

    Santos Tour Down Under

    14–25 Jan (usually)Festival

    A week of road racing based in the city in the middle of January, with hill stages that close the Adelaide Hills roads for a morning at a time and fill every pub in Willunga.

    Source: tourdownunder.com.au

  • 🇫🇷 Avignon

    Cheval Passion

    14–18 Jan (usually)Festival

    Five days of horses at the Parc des Expositions in the middle of January, and the one week of the winter when the hotels inside the walls sell out.

    Source: cheval-passion.com

  • 🇨🇭 Davos

    World Economic Forum

    14–26 Jan (usually)Festival

    For one week in January the town is fenced, checked at the road and the railway, and every bed for thirty kilometres is taken at several times the normal rate.

    Source: davos.ch

  • 🇬🇧 Glasgow

    Celtic Connections

    15 Jan – 1 FebFestival

    Two and a half weeks of folk and roots music across twenty-odd venues in the worst fortnight of the Scottish winter, which is precisely the point.

    Source: celticconnections.com

  • 🇨🇭 Grindelwald

    World Snow Festival

    19–24 JanFestival

    Teams carve three-metre blocks of snow into sculptures in the village centre over a week in January, free to walk around, and they stand until the first warm spell takes them.

    Source: grindelwald.swiss

  • 🇮🇳 Jaipur

    Makar Sankranti kite day

    14–15 JanFestival

    The city spends the day on its roofs cutting each other's kite strings, and the old town shuts down around it.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇮🇳 Jaipur

    Jaipur Literature Festival

    14–24 Jan (usually)Festival

    Five days, free to attend if you register, and big enough that hotel rates across the city move for it.

    Source: jaipurliteraturefestival.org

  • 🇦🇹 Kitzbühel

    Hahnenkamm races

    14–27 Jan (usually)Festival

    The Streif downhill is the hardest race on the circuit and the town takes about 100,000 people for the weekend.

    Source: kitzbuehel.com

  • 🇨🇦 Montreal

    Igloofest

    14 Jan – 8 Feb (usually)Festival

    Outdoor electronic music in the Old Port across three or four January weekends, in the coldest weeks of the North American calendar.

    Source: igloofest.ca

  • 🇵🇷 San Juan

    Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastian

    14–24 Jan (usually)Festival

    Four nights that shut Old San Juan to traffic and close out the island's Christmas: cabezudos in the morning, artisans on Calle Norzagaray, and cobbles packed shoulder to shoulder after dark.

    Source: discoverpuertorico.com

…and 116 more in this group. Open any destination's page for its own month-by-month calendar.

Holidays that swamp a place

Mass holidays: full trains, closed shops, the year's dearest fortnight.

  • 🇨🇱 La Serena

    Chilean summer holidays

    1 Jan – 28 FebSeason

    This is the north's family beach and Santiago arrives for all of January and February: the Avenida del Mar is bumper to bumper and Elqui's small hotels sell out.

  • 🇺🇸 Los Angeles

    Rose Parade

    1 JanFestival

    New Year's morning in Pasadena, flower-covered floats and a hundred thousand people on Colorado Boulevard who mostly slept there.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇷🇺 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky

    Russian New Year holidays

    1–8 JanHoliday

    The country stops for the first eight days of January: offices and agencies shut, tour desks run skeleton hours, and the flights in from Moscow are booked out either side of it.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇺🇸 Philadelphia

    Mummers Parade

    1 JanFestival

    String bands, feathers and sequins up Broad Street on New Year's Day, a tradition older than the city's independence and unlike anything else in America.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇨🇱 San Pedro de Atacama

    Southern summer holidays

    1 Jan – 28 FebSeason

    Chile, Argentina and Brazil are all on holiday and the village of two thousand takes several times that.

  • 🇳🇱 The Hague

    New Year's dive at Scheveningen

    1 JanFestival

    Ten thousand people run into the North Sea at noon on 1 January in orange hats and are handed pea soup on the way out.

    Source: scheveningen.com

  • 🇪🇸 Barcelona

    Three Kings parade

    5–6 JanFestival

    The kings arrive by sea on the evening of 5 January and process through the city throwing sweets, which closes the Christmas season.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇵🇸 Bethlehem

    Greek Orthodox Christmas

    6–7 JanFestival

    The second Christmas of the season, on 6 and 7 January, with its own procession into the same square.

    Source: travelpalestine.ps

  • 🇷🇸 Belgrade

    Orthodox Christmas and Serbian New Year

    6–14 JanHoliday

    Christmas falls on 7 January and the Julian new year on the 14th, so the city takes a second run at the holidays a fortnight after everyone else.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇪🇬 Cairo

    Coptic Christmas

    6–7 JanFestival

    Egypt's Christmas falls on 7 January and is a public holiday: midnight liturgies in the Coptic churches of Old Cairo, and a quiet city the following day.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇻🇳 Hanoi

    Peach blossom for Tết

    10 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Nature

    Branches of pink đào are sold off the back of bicycles and motorbikes across the old quarter in the fortnight before the lunar new year, and families carry whole trees home on a scooter.

  • 🇺🇸 Atlanta

    King Day

    15–20 Jan (usually)Holiday

    Atlanta marks the King holiday where he was born, on Auburn Avenue, with a march and a week of events around Ebenezer Baptist.

    Source: nps.gov

  • 🇻🇳 Da Nang

    Tet

    15 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Holiday

    Restaurants and small shops shut for several days and staff go home to the countryside, while the riverfront fills for the flower street and the fireworks.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇻🇳 Ha Long

    Tet

    15 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Holiday

    Cruise operators run reduced fleets and shore restaurants shut for several days, then the domestic crowd arrives for the temple trips.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇻🇳 Hue

    Tet

    15 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Holiday

    The citadel stays open but much of the city shuts for several days, and the royal ritual programme around the Imperial City is the one time the old ceremonies are performed in public.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇻🇳 Nha Trang

    Tet

    15 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Holiday

    Small restaurants shut for several days while the beachfront hotels fill with Vietnamese families.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇻🇳 Phu Quoc

    Tet

    15 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Holiday

    The island fills with Vietnamese families and the flights from Hanoi and Saigon go at holiday prices, while the small kitchens in Duong Dong shut for several days.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇹🇷 Uludağ

    School semester break

    19–30 JanHoliday

    Turkey's two-week mid-year break is the fortnight the whole country decides to learn to ski.

    Source: meb.gov.tr

  • 🇵🇱 Zakopane

    Polish winter school holidays

    15 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Holiday

    The regions take their two weeks in rotation from mid-January to the end of February, so six weeks of school holidays land here back to back.

    Source: discoverzakopane.com

  • 🇵🇸 Bethlehem

    Armenian Christmas

    18–19 JanFestival

    The third and last Christmas, in the Armenian rite around 18 and 19 January.

    Source: travelpalestine.ps

  • 🇲🇾 Cameron Highlands

    Chinese New Year in the hills

    20 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Holiday

    Kuala Lumpur and Singapore drive up for the cool air and the single mountain road cannot take it.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇮🇳 Delhi

    Republic Day parade

    26 JanFestival

    Kartavya Path and much of central Delhi close for the rehearsals as well as the parade itself on 26 January, and security is heavy across the city for a fortnight.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇹🇭 Ko Lipe

    Chinese New Year

    20 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Holiday

    Malaysian and Singaporean visitors come in on the Langkawi ferry for the long break and the small island fills.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur

    Chinese New Year

    20 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Holiday

    Half the city drives home to Ipoh and Penang, shophouse kitchens close for days, and the malls run lion dances on loop.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇲🇾 Langkawi

    Chinese New Year

    20 Jan – 20 Feb (usually)Holiday

    Kuala Lumpur and Singapore families take the long weekend here, on top of an already full dry season.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇵🇭 Manila

    Chinese New Year in Binondo

    20 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Holiday

    The oldest Chinatown in the world does dragon dances down Ongpin and closes the streets to traffic for the day.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇲🇺 Port Louis

    Chinese New Year in Chinatown

    20 Jan – 20 Feb (usually)Festival

    Port Louis has the oldest Chinatown in the Indian Ocean and marks it properly: firecrackers down Royal Street, wax cakes sold out of the shophouses, and a lion dance through the market.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇩🇴 Punta Cana

    Virgen de la Altagracia

    20–22 JanHoliday

    The country's patron day on 21 January, and the basilica at Higuey half an hour inland takes pilgrims through the night.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇳🇿 Auckland

    Auckland Anniversary Day

    26 JanHoliday

    The Monday nearest 29 January, and the day of the anniversary regatta on the Waitemata: one of the oldest sailing events in the country and the reason the harbour is solid with boats.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇹🇼 Alishan

    Lunar New Year crowds

    25 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Holiday

    The whole of western Taiwan drives up for the holiday week.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇹🇼 Kenting

    Lunar New Year

    25 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Holiday

    Taiwan drives south for the holiday week and the single road through the strip stops moving.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇹🇼 Taipei

    Lunar New Year

    25 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Holiday

    Taipei empties as families go south and the city is briefly walkable.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇮🇸 Akureyri

    Christmas market and New Year fire

    1 Dec – 1 JanFestival

    Stalls on Radhustorg through Advent, then a bonfire on New Year's Eve before the private fireworks start.

    Source: visitakureyri.is

  • 🇨🇴 Bogotá

    Christmas lights

    1 Dec – 8 Jan (usually)Holiday

    The city strings the Septima, Monserrate and the main avenues from the start of December and buses run night circuits to look at them.

    Source: bogota.gov.co

  • 🇵🇹 Funchal

    Christmas and New Year

    1 Dec – 6 JanFestival

    The lights go on at the start of December and the New Year's Eve display over the amphitheatre of the bay is the reason cruise ships and half of Portugal are here for it.

    Source: visitmadeira.com

  • 🇮🇹 Genoa

    Christmas in the caruggi

    1 Dec – 6 JanFestival

    Lights strung the length of via Garibaldi and the old confectioners in the alleys selling pandolce and candied fruit.

    Source: visitgenoa.it

  • Gibraltar

    Christmas and Three Kings

    1 Dec – 6 JanFestival

    Main Street is lit for the month and the season runs on Spanish time: the Three Kings cavalcade on 5 January matters as much as Christmas Day, and the shops close for both.

    Source: visitgibraltar.gi

  • 🇮🇳 Leh

    Ladakhi Losar

    1 Dec – 10 Jan (usually)Festival

    Ladakh keeps its new year two months before the Tibetan one, with ibex-shaped bread, fire processions through Leh and masked dances at the monasteries.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇲🇴 Macau

    Light Up Macao

    1 Dec – 11 Jan (usually)Festival

    Projections and installations across the old squares and the Taipa houses from early December into January, tied to the handover anniversary on the twentieth.

    Source: lum.macaotourism.gov.mo

  • 🇪🇸 Madrid

    Christmas to Reyes

    1 Dec – 6 JanHoliday

    Lights on Gran Via from late November, stalls in Plaza Mayor, twelve grapes at Sol on the 31st and the Reyes cabalgata on 5 January.

    Source: esmadrid.com

…and 472 more in this group. Open any destination's page for its own month-by-month calendar.

Hazard seasons to know about

Not forecasts — the seasons in which the risk exists. Most weeks pass quietly.

  • 🇺🇸 Atlanta

    Winter ice storms

    1 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Hazard

    Once or twice a winter freezing rain shuts the interstates, the airport and the schools for a day or two.

    Source: weather.gov

  • 🇦🇷 Buenos Aires

    Summer heat and humidity

    1 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Hazard

    River-plate humidity on top of the heat, and the porteños who can afford to have gone to the coast.

    Source: argentina.gob.ar

  • 🇮🇩 Jakarta

    Flood season

    1 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Season

    The peak of the wet season is also when the canals back up and whole districts go under for a day or two.

  • 🇱🇰 Nuwara Eliya

    Ground frost at night

    5 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)Hazard

    Six degrees of latitude off the equator and still frost on the tea in the small hours.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇯🇴 Petra

    Snow and winter closures

    5 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Hazard

    Wadi Musa sits high enough to take snow in some winters, most recently in February 2024, which can shut the site for a day or two while the Siq and the Monastery steps are icy.

    Source: jordan-spirit.com

  • 🇺🇸 Washington

    Snow and ice shutdowns

    5 Jan – 28 Feb (usually)Hazard

    A few inches closes the federal government, the schools and half the museums, and freezing rain does worse to the bridges.

    Source: weather.gov

  • 🇮🇳 Delhi

    Dense winter fog

    15 Dec – 31 Jan (usually)Hazard

    Fog settles over the plain for days at a time and closes the airport in the small hours, with flights and trains running hours late into the afternoon.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇮🇳 Srinagar

    Chillai Kalan

    21 Dec – 31 JanHazard

    The forty days the valley counts as the real winter: pipes freeze, parts of the Dal ice over, and heavy snow shuts the Jawahar tunnel and grounds flights for a day at a time.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇵🇪 Aguas Calientes

    Landslides on the rail line

    1 Jan – 31 Mar (usually)Hazard

    The Urubamba runs high through the wet months and a huaico takes out a stretch of track most years, usually towards Hidroelectrica.

    Source: infobae.com

  • 🇳🇿 Auckland

    Ex-tropical cyclone season

    1 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Hazard

    One or two decaying tropical systems reach the upper North Island most summers.

    Source: metservice.com

  • 🇩🇪 Berchtesgaden

    Avalanche season

    1 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Hazard

    The Bavarian avalanche service rates these mountains daily through the winter, and the danger on steep ground climbs again as the temperature comes up from February into April.

    Source: lawinenwarndienst-bayern.de

  • 🇮🇳 Gulmarg

    Avalanche season

    1 Jan – 31 Mar (usually)Hazard

    Phase 2 and the bowls above it shut for days after heavy snow, and a local advisory goes up most mornings through the winter.

    Source: gulmargac.in

  • 🇪🇸 Fuerteventura

    Calima

    15 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Hazard

    Saharan dust blows across from Africa a few times each winter and spring, dropping visibility to a few hundred metres and occasionally grounding flights.

    Source: aemet.es

  • 🇪🇸 Lanzarote

    Calima

    15 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Hazard

    Saharan dust crosses on an easterly a few times each winter and spring, hazing the volcanoes out and occasionally closing the airport.

    Source: aemet.es

  • 🇪🇸 Las Palmas

    Calima

    15 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Hazard

    Saharan dust rides in on an easterly several times a year, most often in late winter, dropping visibility and pushing the temperature up sharply for a day or two.

    Source: aemet.es

  • 🇹🇭 Bangkok

    Upcountry burning haze

    25 Jan – 15 Apr (usually)Hazard

    Agricultural fires north and west of the city put a lid of smoke over Bangkok through the late dry season.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇺🇸 Naples, Florida

    Red tide risk

    1 Sep – 28 Feb (usually)Hazard

    Blooms of Karenia brevis drift onto this coast most often between autumn and late winter.

    Source: myfwc.com

  • 🇮🇳 Delhi

    Severe air season

    1 Oct – 31 Jan (usually)Hazard

    Emergency pollution restrictions run from 1 October: construction bans, diesel-vehicle limits and schools moved online when it escalates.

    Source: cpcb.nic.in

  • 🇦🇺 Katoomba

    Bushfire season

    1 Oct – 1 Mar (usually)Hazard

    The whole town sits inside the national park, so a bad fire week means smoke, closed tracks and, on the worst days, a closed highway.

    Source: rfs.nsw.gov.au

  • Tórshavn

    Atlantic gale season

    1 Oct – 31 Mar (usually)Hazard

    Autumn and winter lows cancel the inter-island ferries, the helicopter and the flights into Vagar, sometimes for two days together.

    Source: visittorshavn.fo

  • 🇮🇹 Turin

    Po valley smog season

    1 Oct – 31 MarHazard

    The city sits in a bowl with the Alps on three sides, and winter inversions trap particulates for days.

    Source: regione.piemonte.it

  • 🇮🇹 Venice

    Acqua alta season

    1 Oct – 15 Jan (usually)Hazard

    High water comes with the autumn tides.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇳🇴 Ålesund

    Atlantic gale season

    15 Oct – 28 Feb (usually)Hazard

    The exposed coast takes named Atlantic lows from mid-autumn, and the first thing they cancel is the ferry and the fjord sailings rather than the flights.

    Source: met.no

  • 🇯🇴 Aqaba

    Wadi flash-flood season

    15 Oct – 31 Mar (usually)Hazard

    Rain over the mountains behind town runs off bare rock and crosses the roads out to Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea.

    Source: en.wikivoyage.org

  • 🇪🇬 Dahab

    Sinai flash floods

    15 Oct – 15 Mar (usually)Hazard

    Rare and violent: a storm over the mountains sends water down the wadis and across the coast road, cutting the runs to Nuweiba and St Catherine for a day.

    Source: ema.gov.eg

  • 🇮🇪 Dingle

    Atlantic storm season

    15 Oct – 28 Feb (usually)Hazard

    Named lows come in off the ocean from mid-autumn and the peninsula takes them first.

    Source: met.ie

  • 🇿🇦 Johannesburg

    Highveld afternoon storms

    15 Oct – 15 Mar (usually)Hazard

    Storms build over the reef most summer afternoons: hail, lightning and intersections under water for an hour.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇿🇦 Pretoria

    Afternoon thunderstorms

    15 Oct – 15 Mar (usually)Hazard

    Storms come off the Magaliesberg most summer afternoons: hail, lightning and half an hour of water the stormwater drains cannot take.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇳🇴 Svolvær

    Winter gales

    15 Oct – 15 Mar (usually)Hazard

    Atlantic lows shut the mountain passes on the E10 and cancel the small-plane flights into Svolvaer for a day at a time.

    Source: met.no

  • 🇮🇳 Varanasi

    Post-Diwali smog

    25 Oct – 10 Feb (usually)Hazard

    Stubble burning upwind, firecrackers and a cold air trap put the plains under a brown haze from Diwali onward.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇮🇳 Agra

    Winter smog season

    1 Nov – 31 Jan (usually)Hazard

    Cold still air over the Doab holds in field smoke, brick kilns and traffic, and the monument can vanish from the far end of its own garden before ten.

    Source: urbanemissions.info

  • 🇦🇺 Airlie Beach

    Cyclone season

    1 Nov – 30 AprHazard

    The Australian season runs November to April and the Whitsundays sit in the middle of it.

    Source: bom.gov.au

  • Aitutaki

    Cyclone season

    1 Nov – 30 AprHazard

    The South Pacific season runs November to April, with the risk highest between December and February.

    Source: safetravel.govt.nz

  • Avarua

    Cyclone season

    1 Nov – 30 AprHazard

    November to April is the South Pacific storm season, with the peak between December and February.

    Source: safetravel.govt.nz

  • 🇷🇸 Belgrade

    Winter smog

    1 Nov – 15 Mar (usually)Hazard

    Household coal and wood, old cars and a windless inversion over the confluence put Belgrade near the top of the world air-quality tables on the worst January mornings.

    Source: iqair.com

  • 🇵🇫 Bora Bora

    Cyclone season

    1 Nov – 30 AprHazard

    The South Pacific storm season.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

  • 🇦🇺 Brisbane

    Storm season

    1 Nov – 30 AprHazard

    Queensland's storm season runs November to April.

    Source: getready.qld.gov.au

  • 🇦🇺 Cairns

    Cyclone season

    1 Nov – 30 AprHazard

    November to April is the cyclone half of the year.

    Source: bom.gov.au

  • 🇯🇴 Dead Sea

    Wadi flash-flood season

    1 Nov – 31 MarHazard

    Rain falling on the highlands drains into the canyons that come down to the shore, and the valley road and every side wadi close at short notice.

    Source: wadimujibtickets.com

  • 🇿🇦 Drakensberg

    Afternoon thunderstorms

    1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually)Hazard

    Storms build over the escarpment most summer afternoons, with lightning on the tops, hail and water coming down the gullies within minutes.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org

…and 244 more in this group. Open any destination's page for its own month-by-month calendar.

Windows are the usual ones and move a little each year — lunar feasts and blossom most of all. Hazard seasons are the months in which the risk exists, not a forecast. Check a live source before booking.