Where to go › January

📅 Where to Go in January

55 cities in our guide are at their best in January

January splits the world neatly in two. In Europe and North America it is the quietest, coldest and often cheapest month of the year: hotel prices fall after New Year, museums are calm and you rarely queue. South of the equator it is high summer, with long beach days in Cape Town, Sydney and Buenos Aires.

It is also the heart of the dry season across much of Southeast Asia, Mexico and the Caribbean, and the most comfortable time to visit the Gulf, when Dubai and Doha are warm rather than scorching.

Top picks for January

Dubai
🇦🇪 DubaiUAEBest: November–March
Bangkok
🇹🇭 BangkokThailandBest: November–February
Rio de Janeiro
🇧🇷 Rio de JaneiroBrazilBest: December–March (Carnival), May–August (dry season)
Cairo
🇪🇬 CairoEgyptBest: October–April
Cape Town
🇿🇦 Cape TownSouth AfricaBest: October–April
Chiang Mai
🇹🇭 Chiang MaiThailandBest: November–February

What January is good for

Southern summer

Long, warm days and outdoor living, at the busiest time of year for locals too. Book accommodation early.

Cape Town · Sydney · Buenos Aires · Melbourne

Dry season in Southeast Asia

Clear skies and lower humidity in Thailand and Cambodia. Northern Vietnam is cool and can be grey.

Bangkok · Chiang Mai · Siem Reap

Winter sun without a long-haul flight

For Europeans, the Gulf and North Africa offer mild, sunny days a few hours away.

Dubai · Marrakech · Abu Dhabi

Lunar New Year

Falls between late January and mid-February. Expect celebrations and closures, and busy transport across East Asia.

Hong Kong · Taipei · Shanghai

☀️ Warm-weather picks

Cities with a tropical or desert climate that are in season in January.

💰 Good value in January

In season and easy on the budget. Estimate the cost of a trip with the budget estimator.

🌗 Quieter shoulder-season options

January is just outside these cities' best months: expect fewer visitors and lower prices, with less predictable weather.

All 55 cities in season in January

🏰 Europe 2

🏯 Asia 16

🗽 Americas 18

🦁 Africa 8

🕌 Middle East 8

🌊 Oceania 3

💡 Tip for January: European city breaks are at their cheapest in January. Pick a city with great museums and cafés, such as Vienna or Madrid, so short days and cold weather matter less.

How we choose these cities

Every city guide on GuesTheCity lists the months when we think the city is at its best, balancing weather, crowds and prices. A city appears on this page when January is one of those months. Warm-weather picks are filtered by climate, value picks by our budget rating for each city, and shoulder-season options are cities where January falls just before or after their best months.

Weather varies from year to year and festival dates move, so check the forecast and event calendar before you book. To see the full year for any city, use the best time to visit calendar, explore cities by region on the world map, or compare two options with City vs City.

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