SeasonMapKilkenny weather by month
Ireland
The best time to visit Kilkenny is June to August — 89/100 in July, 20°C and 12 rainy days. The best season is summer, June to August (87/100 on average).
The worst month is December at 53/100 — cold, rainy, clean air. See December →
Updated September 2026 · climate normals from ERA5 reanalysis
Planning the wider trip? Best time to visit Ireland →
Kilkenny, month by month
Comfort score out of 100 for the kind of trip Kilkenny 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.
| Month | Score | Tier | High | Rain | Sun | Crowds | On |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JanJanuary | 56 | D | 8°C | 12 d | 4 h | Busy | — |
| FebFebruary | 60 | C | 9°C | 13 d | 5 h | Busy | — |
| MarMarch | 66 | C | 10°C | 15 d | 7 h | Busy | — |
| AprApril | 75 | B | 12°C | 12 d | 9 h | Busy | 1 |
| MayMay | 83 | A | 16°C | 10 d | 10 h | Peak | 2 |
| JunJune | 87 | A | 18°C | 12 d | 10 h | Peak | 1 |
| JulJuly | 89 | A | 20°C | 12 d | 9 h | Busy | — |
| AugAugust | 86 | A | 19°C | 12 d | 8 h | Peak | 1 |
| SepSeptember | 78 | B | 17°C | 12 d | 7 h | Shoulder | — |
| OctOctober | 69 | C | 14°C | 13 d | 5 h | Peak | 1 |
| NovNovember | 61 | C | 10°C | 13 d | 4 h | Busy | 1 |
| DecDecember | 53 | D | 9°C | 13 d | 3 h | Busy | — |
What's on in Kilkenny 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 Kilkenny 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.
BusySummer holidays in Ireland, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it(estimated)
Peak crowdsBusyShoulder seasonQuiet
Good to know before you go to Kilkenny
Real experiences from travellers' own write-ups, quoted with a link to the original.
Visas & entry
A visitor's guide to Kilkenny notes the entire city is walkable end to end in about 20 minutes, unlike Dublin where buses and trams are genuinely necessary, making it one of the easiest "real Ireland" day trips to reach without a car, just 90 minutes from Dublin by train. Their advice for the castle itself: the self-guided ticket runs €8 versus €12 for a guided tour, but the guided option is worth the extra cost specifically for the storytelling, since the Victorian state rooms inside are more interesting with context than without.