Best Time to Visit Porto (2026)

In short

• Porto is a wet city, receiving 1,146.9 mm of rain a year — about one and a half times Lisbon — and November is the wettest month at 165.9 mm.
• Porto summers are mild: August averages only 3.5 days above 30°C, against 10.2 in Lisbon, which makes Porto a good choice when the south of Iberia is hottest.
• Every month from October to March averages more than 95 mm of rain in Porto, so a winter trip needs an indoor plan for the port lodges and churches.

Go to Porto between June and September, when highs run 22.7-24.8°C and the city gets its 4 driest months. Summer stays mild, too: August averages just 3.5 days above 30°C, against 10.2 in Lisbon. Avoid October to March if the weather matters, because each of those months averages more than 95 mm of rain, and November is the wettest at 165.9 mm.

June to September, unusually for Iberia

Porto’s best season is its summer. Where Seville and Madrid are at their hottest in July and August, Porto sits on the Atlantic and stays mild.

• June averages a 22.7°C high and 33.7 mm of rain (IPMA, Porto / Pedras Rubras, 1991-2020 normals).
• July is the driest month of the year, at 16.6 mm, with a 24.3°C high.
• August averages a 24.8°C high and only 3.5 days above 30°C.
• September averages a 23.5°C high, but rainfall doubles from August to 68.2 mm.
• Summer nights stay cool: July and August lows average 15.5-15.7°C.

Of the four, June and early September are the best balance of weather and crowds. July and August are driest and warmest, and busiest.

Porto month by month, with the numbers

These are the 1991-2020 climate normals for Porto / Pedras Rubras, published by IPMA, the Portuguese meteorological institute. “Warm days” counts days reaching 25°C; “hot days” counts days reaching 30°C.

Read the rain column first. Porto’s year splits cleanly into a dry summer from June to September and a long wet season from October to April.

The rainy season in Porto

Porto receives 1,146.9 mm of rain a year, and almost all of it falls between October and April. This is the single biggest difference between Porto and Lisbon.

• November is the wettest month at 165.9 mm, followed by December (153.3 mm), January (151.0 mm) and October (148.9 mm).
• Every month from October to March averages more than 95 mm.
• Porto’s annual total is about one and a half times Lisbon’s 793.5 mm.
• The old city is steep and paved in granite, which is slippery in the rain.
• Frost is rare: the station records 1.4 frost days a year on average.

A winter trip still works, because Porto’s best half-day is indoors: the port lodges across the river in Gaia. Plan the old city for the dry spells and keep the lodges for the rain.

Rain in Porto tends to come in spells rather than all day, so a wet-season trip works best with a flexible plan: São Bento station, the cathedral cloister, the Bolhão market, the Serralves museum and the lodges in Gaia all hold up when it pours.

Porto in summer: the mild alternative

When the rest of Iberia is at its hottest, Porto is at its best. That makes it a good anchor for a July or August trip that would be hard work further south.

Figures are IPMA 1991-2020 normals. For comparison, AEMET 1981-2010 normals put Seville’s August mean high at 35.5°C and Madrid’s at 31.3°C. The two sets cover different reference periods, so the Spanish figures are a guide rather than a like-for-like comparison.

Best time for each kind of Porto trip

The right month depends on what the trip is for. These windows follow the IPMA normals.

What the calendar does to Porto

What the calendar does to Porto is the other half of when to go: weather decides half, and the busy weeks decide the rest. The other half is when the city is busiest.

• July and August are the busiest months, and the Ribeira waterfront is at its most crowded.
• September is quieter than August but still warm.
• Easter moves between late March and late April and fills the city for the week.
• November to February are the quietest months, and the port lodges are easiest to book.

Mark the night of 23 June. São João, the city’s saint’s festival, fills the streets, the riverside and the squares with grilled sardines, music and crowds until dawn, ending with fireworks over the Douro. It is the liveliest night of the Porto year and the hardest for rooms; book months ahead or avoid it.

For the rest of the trip, see how many days to spend in Porto and where to stay in Porto.

When not to book

• November for a walking trip. It is the wettest month of the Porto year at 165.9 mm, and the granite streets of the old city are slippery in the rain.
• October on the assumption that it is still summer. Rainfall more than doubles from September’s 68.2 mm to 148.9 mm.
• A July or August room right on the Ribeira if you want quiet. It is the busiest stretch of the city in the busiest months, and the terraces run late.
• A winter trip without an indoor plan. Keep the port lodges in Gaia for the wet afternoons.

Common questions

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Where to next

Things to Do in Porto
The main guide: the best things to do on both banks.

Porto in 3 Days
A three-day plan for Porto that does not sprint.

Porto Itinerary
Day-by-day plans for Porto, from one day to a full week.

Is Porto Worth Visiting?
Who Porto suits, and who it suits least.