Dar es Salaam weather by month
The best time to visit Dar es Salaam is July to September — 82/100 in July, 30°C and 7 rainy days. The best season is the dry season, June to October (78/100 on average).
The worst month is April at 47/100 — sweltering, soaked, clean air. See April →
Updated September 2026 · climate normals from ERA5 reanalysis
Planning the wider trip? Best time to visit Tanzania →
Best season: June to October (78/100 on average) · worst April (47/100)
- Days
- 30°C
- Nights
- 20°C
- Wet days
- 7
- Sun
- 10.8 h
- Humidity
- 77%
- Daylight
- 12 h

Dar es Salaam, month by month
Comfort score out of 100 for the kind of trip Dar es Salaam 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 Dar es Salaam through the year
Festivals, natural spectacles, holidays and the seasons to watch out for — curated and sourced. The month pages carry the detail.
- February
- Ramadan and Eid el-Fitr5 Feb – 22 Mar (usually)Holiday
- April
- Union Day26 AprHoliday
- June
- Sabasaba trade fair28 Jun – 13 Jul (usually)Festival
- Kusi, the south-east monsoon1 Jun – 20 Sep (usually)Season
- August
- Nane Nane farmers' day8 AugHoliday
- November
- Vuli, the short rains1 Nov – 20 Dec (usually)Season
Crowds in Dar es Salaam in July
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.
Peak crowdsSabasaba trade fair, Mid-year break in Tanzania, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it(estimated)
Peak crowdsBusyShoulder seasonQuiet
Good to know before you go to Dar es Salaam
Real experiences from travellers' own write-ups, quoted with a link to the original.
Getting around
A traveler's guide to the Dar es Salaam-Zanzibar ferry warns that the terminal itself is the trickiest part: it's genuinely chaotic, with taxi touts and porters offering to help with luggage for a tip, so she recommends arriving at least half an hour before departure and bringing a pen, since you'll need to fill out a boarding card by hand. Her other tip: book through a known operator like Azam Marine directly or online rather than from a street vendor near the port, and don't expect to buy alcohol on board since it isn't sold or allowed.
Traveller notes on Dar es Salaam
What people who have been say about the place — the year-round notes first, then month by month.
Forum posters describe January in Tanzania as hot and humid, sitting in the middle of the region's summer, with typical daytime highs in the 80sF and lows ranging from the upper 50s to low 70sF depending on location. Posters describe January as marking the end of the shorter 'vuli' rains and the start of a short, drier season that lasts a few months before heavier rains return in earnest around March, though posters note some lingering rain is still typical in January and February. Posters describe northern Tanzania specifically as often the hottest and most humid part of the country this time of year. Posters generally recommend short sleeves and light clothing for a January visit to Dar es Salaam, packing for heat and humidity as the dominant conditions.
July is winter on the Tanzanian coast, which sounds worse than it is: days near 27°C, nights around 23, and a sea still at 26°C. It sits inside the dry season, roughly June to October, and the forum describes it as sometimes cloudy but rarely raining — the best stretch of the year for beach days, snorkelling and diving, and noticeably more comfortable than the hot, humid months. Two practical notes regulars add: the coast stays warm and humid day and night whatever the "winter" label suggests, and evenings mean long sleeves — for mosquitoes rather than for warmth. The coast fills up as July goes on.
Add your own note from Dar es Salaam's card on the map.