Dali (Erhai) weather by month
The best time to visit Dali (Erhai) is March to May — 93/100 in April, 24°C and 6 rainy days. The best season is spring, March to May (91/100 on average).
The worst month is August at 63/100 — hot, soaked, muggy air. See August →
Updated September 2026 · climate normals from ERA5 reanalysis
Planning the wider trip? Best time to visit China →
Best season: March to May (91/100 on average) · worst August (63/100)
- Days
- 24°C
- Nights
- 10°C
- Wet days
- 6
- Sun
- 10.7 h
- Humidity
- 59%
- Daylight
- 13 h
Dali, month by month
Comfort score out of 100 for the kind of trip Dali is best for, the average high, rainy days and hours of sun a day from the climate normals, and how busy it tends to be.
What's on in Dali through the year
Festivals, natural spectacles, holidays and the seasons to watch out for — curated and sourced. The month pages carry the detail.
Crowds in Dali in April
How busy the place itself is — school and mass holidays, the months an editor tagged, and how sought-after the weather makes them. Never part of the comfort score.
Busyschool holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather(estimated)
Peak crowdsBusyShoulder seasonQuiet
Good to know before you go to Dali
Real experiences from travellers' own write-ups, quoted with a link to the original.
Getting around
A guide to Dali recommends exploring the compact old town entirely on foot, since its narrow lanes are genuinely made for wandering rather than needing wheels, but renting an electric scooter or bike for looping around Erhai Lake, where several guesthouses rent bicycles for 5-40 Yuan a day. Their accommodation tip: base yourself inside the old town walls rather than further out, since it's easy to escape the touristy core on foot when you want quiet, without losing the convenience of being centrally located.
Traveller notes on Dali
What people who have been say about the place — the year-round notes first, then month by month.
Forum posters describe April across Yunnan (Dali included) as one of the better months overall, though genuinely cold mornings and evenings persist alongside comfortable daytime warmth - temperature swings of roughly 8-18C within a single day are commonly cited, with winter-weight layers, gloves and a cap recommended for early/late hours even as daytime sportswear or a light jacket suffices. Posters name June through September as the region's rainy season, meaning April sits comfortably in the drier part of the year, with early May and late September named as similarly favorable low-rain windows. Posters note Yunnan's elevation varies significantly city to city, so conditions can shift meaningfully even within the same itinerary depending on altitude.
Yunnan forum posters generally rate October as a pleasant month for Dali - sunny and warm by day, with a light jacket needed once the sun drops in the evening. Early October can still run a bit cool and cloudy with occasional rain, a holdover from the tail end of the wet season, so several posters suggested mid-to-late October both for milder weather and to skip the crowds and high prices of China's National Day holiday week. Overall it's considered comfortable layering weather rather than either extreme.
Add your own note from Dali's card on the map.