How our travel weather ratings work

GoWhereAndWhen helps you compare seasons before planning a trip. The interactive map covers 202 country and territory records; 74 destinations have longer guides. Our scores are a planning aid, and the country guides add regional and activity context.

What a score means

Each month receives an outdoor comfort score from 0 to 100 using daytime high temperature, overnight low temperature, monthly precipitation and curated seasonal storm-risk flags. The engine favours moderate temperatures and less rain; cold nights, extreme heat, heavy precipitation and some seasonal hazards reduce the score. Its labels describe the model's preferences, not whether everyone should visit.

A low winter score can still coincide with excellent skiing. The score does not measure snow cover, beach water temperature, air quality, current safety conditions, festival quality, flight costs or hotel availability.

One reference city is not a whole country

Country colours use the representative city named in the guide. Large countries, islands with different wind exposures and mountain regions can have very different seasons. City comparison tables and regional advice provide more detail where available. Map illustrations and seasonal animations are explanatory artwork, not live observations.

Worldwide best-time map

The colour scale is fixed across countries and months. Green means higher travel weather comfort, not higher temperature. We never stretch each country to use every colour: an entirely poor-weather country can stay red, and an entirely favourable one can stay green. Scores concern outdoor sightseeing, not overall travel suitability or safety.

Switch on “Best time to visit” to colour mapped destinations on a continuous red-to-green weather comfort scale. Where several city samples exist, colours blend their scores within the same country. Interpolation is illustrative: it does not resolve mountains, microclimates or every coast. Countries with only a reference city receive one uniform colour; grey terrain has no rating. Country borders remain visible.

Australia retains its ten regional travel-season estimates from the original prototype, informed by Tourism Australia’s seasons guide. Those editorial scores differ from the temperature-and-rain model used for the city data elsewhere.

20 city climate comparisons

The featured list begins with the ten leading cities in Euromonitor’s 2025 international-arrivals ranking, followed by ten additional major destinations. The second group is not presented as verified ranks 11–20.

These 20 cities use NASA POWER daily data for 2001–2020. We average daily maximum and minimum temperatures by calendar month and average each month’s total corrected precipitation over 20 complete years, including leap days. Each city’s map panel links to its exact source request. POWER uses gridded reanalysis, not a weather station at the city centre; terrain and urban microclimates can differ. The new city scores use temperature and precipitation without country-wide storm penalties; storm exposure is not fully represented in the scores.

“Best weather” shows months within five points of that city’s annual maximum under the site’s existing comfort formula. It is a relative comparison, not a guarantee of favourable weather. No local events, entry requirements or activity seasons are inferred from this calculation.

Weather data and its limits

The current dataset contains curated monthly temperature and precipitation estimates. It does not yet identify a verified weather station, elevation, original provider and reference period for every record. Treat the values as approximate planning guidance rather than a fully sourced climatological dataset. Adding traceable official station normals is a remaining editorial priority.

Climate averages describe a long-term pattern; they cannot predict the weather on a particular travel date. Before departure, check the local meteorological service and any relevant park, trail, ferry or ski-resort operator.

Seasons, prices and crowds

The interface's high, shoulder and low categories are calculated from relative weather scores. They are not measured tourism seasons. A ski resort or Christmas-market city may be busy during a month with a low sightseeing-weather score. Compare actual rates and event dates independently.

Editorial approach and sources

The site publishes destination summaries, activity windows and regional caveats alongside the comparison tool. Specific source links appear near researched recommendations where available. Source coverage is still uneven across older guides; we do not imply that every historical statement has received a fresh review or that the site has first-hand experience in every destination.

The Austria season guidance was checked against the Austrian National Tourist Office in September 2026. For official Austrian weather averages, GeoSphere Austria publishes 1991–2020 station normals. These sources support the linked guidance; they are not claimed as the original source of every number in the site's current dataset.

Commercial links

Some booking links may be affiliate links. They are marked as sponsored in the page markup. Weather scores are calculated from the weather inputs, not commission rates. Accommodation prices and editorial internet ratings in the Philippines guide are dated reference examples, not live availability or a guarantee of service.

Browse country guides or return to the world map.