Sydney Luxury Travel Blog Is There A Best Season Of The Year To Visit Sydney?

When’s the best time to visit Sydney?

As local Sydney tour guides, we get asked this question quite often. And it’s a good one. When planning any international holiday, what season to go in should be the first thing to consider. 

This post will be a helpful guide as you plan your trip to Sydney. We know that you are in for a great experience, our sparkling harbour city is a massive crowd-pleaser and has so much to offer travellers of all ages. So, when you should visit?

The short answer? Any time of the year is a good time to visit Sydney

We promise you that this is no cheesy marketing tagline and that this post is not endorsed by Tourism Australia. There’s literally no bad time to visit Sydney because, unlike tropical or snowy climates, Sydney is very much a temperate climate. We can have long periods of rain at any time during the year, and we can also have stretches where we have sunshine for weeks on end. We have experienced heavy rains and extended dry conditions in recent years, so we get a bit of everything.

What is summertime like in Sydney?

Summer is the most popular time to visit Sydney as it’s the longest holiday period, has warm weather, and one very famous New Year’s Eve party featuring a spectacular fireworks display on Sydney Harbour. Summer lasts from December through to February and it can get pretty hot in Sydney. Temperatures in Sydney in summer can rise above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), and humidity can be in the 80 – 90% range. So, if you are visiting in summer, be ready for some warm days and balmy nights. The temperature can stay high at night, so if you are not used to that, ensure your hotel choice in Sydney has good air conditioning.

Summer is also the season of the classic Sydney electrical storm that usually pops up in the afternoon, claps much thunder, flashes some spectacular lightning, and is usually over within an hour.

The big upside of touring Sydney in summer is longer daylight as we have daylight saving hours during this period. This means you can expect to have daylight until after 8pm, so more time to fit sightseeing in, or to just enjoy a twilight dinner by the harbour. If the long days are the upside, then the downside is the large number of visitors. It is by far the busiest time of the year to visit, particularly pre-Christmas through to after New Year’s, so hotel and flight pricing is at peak rates.

What about the cooler months in Sydney?

Though there’s no bad time to visit Sydney, there are some benefits to visiting during the cooler months of the year. In Autumn (March through to May), Sydney’s weather is generally favourable with temperatures usually below 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit), and there’s usually a slight coolness to the air which feels great to be in.

For the international visitor, it also means it’s easier to get a Sydney hotel room at a good rate, crowds have dropped off, and the locals are all pretty happy and relaxed having got through another hot summer. And for part of autumn, you’ll still have the benefit of daylight saving hours which are in place until early April. After this time, darkness starts to set in about 5.30pm.

Autumn is a great time to be taking private guided tours of Sydney as the cooler weather can make sightseeing more comfortable. And although we don’t have a true autumn here (our native trees keep their leaves all year), it is possible to take a Blue Mountains tour in Autumn or a Southern Highlands tour and see some stunning seasonal colours due to all the exotic trees that were planted years ago.

During autumn we also typically get the most amazing sunsets of the year (and we get some great ones in Australia, in general) which is a huge bonus of being in Sydney this time of year. And that’s one of those little (and useful) details that only Sydney locals will know about.

Can we book with you for a private guided Sydney tour?

Of course you can! We provide private guided Sydney tours for discerning travellers from around the world and can cater for solo travellers through to 24 guests. Whatever time of year you visit, we’re sure you will have an amazing Sydney experience. And we can help make it even more memorable. To find out how, and for any questions you may have, feel free to get in contact with us. Happy travels 🙂