Xiamen weather by month
The best time to visit Xiamen is March, November and December — 89/100 in December, 21°C and 4 rainy days. The best season is winter, December to February (83/100 on average).
The worst month is August at 44/100 — sweltering, soaked, muggy air. See August →
Updated September 2026 · climate normals from ERA5 reanalysis
Planning the wider trip? Best time to visit China →
Best season: December to February (83/100 on average) · worst August (44/100)
- Days
- 21°C
- Nights
- 13°C
- Wet days
- 4
- Sun
- 8.2 h
- Humidity
- 68%
- Daylight
- 11 h

Xiamen, month by month
Comfort score out of 100 for the kind of trip Xiamen 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 Xiamen 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 Xiamen in December
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 5 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather(estimated)
Peak crowdsBusyShoulder seasonQuiet
Good to know before you go to Xiamen
Real experiences from travellers' own write-ups, quoted with a link to the original.
Getting around
A guide to Gulangyu Island off Xiamen notes the ferry crossing takes just 8 minutes from downtown, with cars and bicycles banned on the island itself, making it a genuinely pedestrian-only escape unlike most of mainland Xiamen. Their practical tip: grab a physical map on arrival, since the island's layout can get confusing depending on which ferry quay you land at, and buying ferry tickets early through a travel app helps avoid the queues that build up during peak tourist hours.
Traveller notes on Xiamen
What people who have been say about the place — the year-round notes first, then month by month.
Forum posters describe rain building through May along China's southeast coast, including Xiamen, with conditions worsening further into June when thunderstorms become common. Posters consistently recommend the second week of May specifically, avoiding both the May 1st national holiday crowds and, ideally, some of the month's rain, while acknowledging there's no guarantee of dry weather even then. Posters note April can also bring real rain, so May isn't necessarily worse than the month before it. Posters generally recommend staying around Zhongshan Road in Xiamen's old town for the most authentic local food and atmosphere regardless of exact travel dates. Posters generally rate May as a workable but increasingly wet month to visit Xiamen, with the first half of the month a better bet than the back half.
Forum posters describe Xiamen's weather as genuinely pleasant even heading into the cooler months, with one comparison likening its winter conditions to a Tampa, Florida winter - well above freezing, generally comfortable, and with notably good air quality for a Chinese coastal city. Occasional cold fronts can push temperatures down by 5C or more for a few days at a stretch before things return to the milder baseline, so posters recommend packing a layer for those cooler snaps even though the overall month reads as mild. As a subtropical coastal city, Xiamen is repeatedly named among the more livable, walkable options on China's southern coast for travelers looking to avoid the harsher winters further north or inland.
Add your own note from Xiamen's card on the map.