At a glance
Quietest month in Switzerland: November. Busiest: July, with about 3.1 times as many tourist nights as November. In Basel, July is warmest (average high 25.8 °C) and May wettest (98 mm of rain).
- January: 7.4%, quieter than average
- February: 8.5%, busier than average
- March: 7.5%, quieter than average
- April: 6.4%, quieter than average
- May: 7.3%, quieter than average
- June: 9.5%, busier than average
- July: 12.9%, one of the two busiest months
- August: 12.8%, one of the two busiest months
- September: 9.1%, busier than average
- October: 7.3%, quieter than average
- November: 4.2%, quieter than average
- December: 7.2%, quieter than average
quieter than average busier than average two busiest months · each month's share of Switzerland's 2025 tourist nights; an even spread is 8.3% a month
- Weather
- Coldest: January (average low −0.5 °C). Driest: February (45 mm). Month by month
- Prices
- Restaurants and accommodation in Switzerland: about 63% above the EU average in 2025. Is Switzerland expensive?
- Next
- Plan a trip with your dates
At the BaselBinningen weather station, which we use for Basel, the warmest month is July (average high 25.8 °C) and the coldest January (average low −0.5 °C), averaged over 1991–2020. The wettest month is May (98 mm of rain). Across Switzerland, the quietest month for visitors in 2025 was November.
Basel weather by month
Averages for 1991–2020 at the BaselBinningen weather station (316 m above sea level), from the WMO climate normals, next to each month's share of Switzerland's tourist nights (Eurostat, 2025) in 2025. The shares are for the whole of Switzerland, not Basel alone. These are long-term averages, not a forecast. A rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain.
| Month | Average high | Average low | Rain | Rainy days | Daylight on the 15th | Share of 2025 (Switzerland) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.1 °C | −0.5 °C | 48 mm | 9.1 days | 8 h 55 min | 7.4% |
| February | 7.1 °C | −0.1 °C | 45 mm | 8.4 days | 10 h 15 min | 8.5% |
| March | 11.8 °C | 2.6 °C | 50 mm | 8.9 days | 11 h 50 min | 7.5% |
| April | 16.2 °C | 5.5 °C | 64 mm | 9.3 days | 13 h 40 min | 6.4% |
| May | 20.0 °C | 9.5 °C | 98 mm | 11.7 days | 15 h 5 min | 7.3% |
| June | 23.7 °C | 13.1 °C | 87 mm | 10.6 days | 15 h 55 min | 9.5% |
| July | 25.8 °C | 14.9 °C | 89 mm | 10.1 days | 15 h 35 min | 12.9% |
| August | 25.3 °C | 14.8 °C | 88 mm | 10.2 days | 14 h 15 min | 12.8% |
| September | 20.7 °C | 11.0 °C | 70 mm | 8.5 days | 12 h 35 min | 9.1% |
| October | 15.4 °C | 7.6 °C | 74 mm | 10.4 days | 10 h 55 min | 7.3% |
| November | 9.2 °C | 3.2 °C | 65 mm | 10.0 days | 9 h 20 min | 4.2% |
| December | 5.7 °C | 0.4 °C | 65 mm | 11.0 days | 8 h 30 min | 7.2% |
Golden hour
Evening golden hour is our calculation for the 15th of each month of 2026: the time the sun takes to go from 6° above to 4° below the horizon (there is no official definition).
The quietest and busiest months
In 2025, November was Switzerland's quietest month (4.2% of the year's tourist nights): at Basel's station that month averages a high of 9.2 °C, a low of 3.2 °C and 65 mm of rain. July was the busiest (12.9%): average high 25.8 °C, average low 14.9 °C, 89 mm of rain. The visitor figures are for the whole country, and they do not show that the weather makes a month busier or quieter, so we do not say it does.
Similar weather, quieter: ideas for July
July was Switzerland's busiest month in 2025 (12.9% of its tourist nights). These places had an average high within 2 °C and rainy days within 3 of Basel's in July, in a different country, and July took a smaller share of its 2025 tourist nights than July did of Switzerland's:
- Graz, Austria: average high 25.6 °C, 10.4 rainy days; July was 11.6% of Austria's year.
- Frankfurt, Germany: average high 26.1 °C, 9.4 rainy days; July was 11.7% of Germany's year.
- Košice, Slovakia: average high 26.6 °C, 10.3 rainy days; July was 12.1% of Slovakia's year.
- Maastricht, Netherlands: average high 23.8 °C, 10.2 rainy days; July was 11.7% of Netherlands's year.
Weather: 1991–2020 averages at each city's weather station (World Meteorological Organization normals in Europe, Japan Meteorological Agency in Japan); a rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. “Quieter” compares a month with the rest of that place's own year. Try another month or place.
What these figures are
One weather station stands for Basel; places nearby can differ, especially by height or distance from the sea. For the rest of Switzerland, including regions and holidays, see our Switzerland page; for other places, the weather by city list and golden hour by place.
Key takeaways
- Warmest month: July (average high 25.8 °C); coldest: January (average low −0.5 °C).
- Wettest month: May (98 mm); driest: February (45 mm).
- In 2025, November was Switzerland's quietest month for visitors and July the busiest.
Sources
Weather normals from the WMO 1991–2020 dataset; daylight and golden hour are our calculations; tourism shares are the country's, from Eurostat. See how we research.
- Weather: WMO Member Nations (2023). WMO Climatological Standard Normals for 1991-2020 (NCEI Accession 0253808), version 6.6, station BaselBinningen (station ID 00006601), mean daily maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation and number of days with at least 1 mm of precipitation, normals computed from at least 24 years. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. doi:10.25921/800j-vn07. Accessed 24 September 2026. Released by NOAA under CC0.
- Daylight: our calculation of the time from sunrise to sunset on the 15th of each month of 2026 at the weather station's location, by the method of the NOAA Solar Calculator (NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, “Solar Calculation Details”, based on Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, allowing 0.833° for refraction and the size of the sun). Read it. Checked 22 September 2026. NOAA notes that calculated times can differ from what is observed.
- Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NIM, accessed 25 September 2026. Dataset last updated by Eurostat on 22 September 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests and split by guests resident in the country and abroad, January–December 2025.
Modified data: the rounding, the arrangement, the daylight, golden-hour and sea columns and the quietest/busiest comparison are ours, from the cited figures.