Best time to visit Venice, month by month: weather, daylight, acqua alta, Carnival, the Biennale, the Redentore and the summer heat

💡 The Short Version: There is no single best month, so choose by what you want. April to June have mean highs of 17.6°C to 26.4°C, and September and October have 24.2°C and 18.7°C. July and August average 29.0°C and 28.6°C, with 11.7 and 9.9 days a month at or above 30°C, and the Comune’s study records no acqua alta in either. October to March is the high-water season, with the MOSE barrier raised 49 times in 2025 to 2026. Carnival runs from 23 January to 9 February 2027, the Architecture Biennale from 8 May to 21 November, the Redentore is on 17 July and the Regata Storica on 5 September. Or book a walk: the City Highlights Walking Tour with a Local Guidead is from €24 for 2 hours.

Venice month by month

Gondolas moored along the Grand Canal in the early morning. Photo: Shayantani Sarkar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Highs and lows are the mean daily maximum and minimum in °C, and rain is the monthly total in mm with the number of days with 1 mm or more. The weather is the World Meteorological Organization’s 1991 to 2020 climate normals for Venezia Tessera, the airport on the mainland edge of the lagoon about 10 km from St Mark’s (NOAA archive), so the island city may differ a little. Daylight is the length of the day on the 15th in hours, calculated for Venice’s coordinates. The sheet gives no mean maximum for March.

The weather in numbers

A vaporetto stop and a boat on a canal in winter fog. Photo: Jamie Griffin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

• Heat. July is the hottest month, with a mean daily high of 29.0°C and 11.7 days at or above 30°C; August has 9.9 days. The highest daily maximum in the record is 36.6°C, in July.
• Cold. January’s mean is 3.7°C, with about 15 nights of frost, and December has about 12. The lowest daily minimum in the record is -12.5°C, in December.
• Rain. The year adds up to 762 mm on 72.6 days. May is the wettest month by total (80 mm), then September (73 mm) and October and November (72 mm each), and January the driest (40 mm). Thunder falls on about 9 days a year, mostly between June and September.
• Daylight. From 8.7 hours on 15 December to 15.6 on 15 June. The shortest day, 21 December, runs from about 07:47 to 16:30, and the sun sets at about 16:31 on Christmas Eve and 16:36 on 31 December.
• Clocks. Italy changes on the last Sunday of October (25 October 2026) and of March (28 March 2027, Easter Sunday).

Acqua alta

The flooding season is October to March, with November the peak. The Comune’s study puts about 75% of events in October, November and December and records none in July or August. Piazza San Marco starts to flood at about +80 cm, and the MOSE barrier is raised when the forecast shows a tide above +110 cm: see acqua alta in Venice for the tide table, the sirens and the walkways.

Dates that shape a visit

• Carnival. Saturday 23 January to Tuesday 9 February 2027, with Fat Thursday on 4 February: see Venice Carnival 2027.
• Easter. Sunday 28 March 2027, with Easter Monday on 29 March.
• The Biennale. The Architecture exhibition runs from 8 May to 21 November 2027, at the Giardini and the Arsenale, closed on Mondays: see the Venice Biennale 2027.
• The Redentore. Saturday 17 July 2027, with the fireworks over the Bacino di San Marco: see the Festa del Redentore 2027.
• The Regata Storica. Sunday 5 September 2027.
• The Film Festival. Held on the Lido in early September.
• Public holidays. 1 November 2026 (Sunday), 8 December (Tuesday), 25 and 26 December, 1 January 2027, 6 January (Wednesday), Easter Monday on 29 March, 25 April (Sunday: Liberation Day and the feast of St Mark), 1 May (Saturday), 2 June (Wednesday) and 15 August (Sunday). The Madonna della Salute, on 21 November, is not a public holiday.
• New Year’s Eve. The Comune’s notice for 2025 to 2026 put the midnight fireworks over the Bacino di San Marco in front of the Arsenale, best seen from the Arsenale vaporetto stop and along the Riva degli Schiavoni, the Riva Ca’ di Dio, the Riva San Biagio and the Riva dei Sette Martiri. It said they were not visible from Piazza and Piazzetta San Marco.
• The access fee. None is in force now and none is fixed for 2027: see the Venice access fee.

Which month for what

The Zattere quay on the Giudecca Canal, with San Giorgio Maggiore across the water. Photo: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

• Walking weather. April to June and September to October: mean highs of 17.6°C to 26.4°C.
• Carnival. Late January to 9 February, with mean highs of 7.7°C and 9.3°C: wear layers.
• Long days. June, with 15.6 hours of daylight on the 15th.
• The heat. July and August: put the indoor sights in the middle of the day, as in Venice in one or two days.
• The high-water season. October to March: see acqua alta in Venice.
• Short days. December and January, with 8.7 and 9.1 hours of daylight.

Plan the rest

Where to stay in Venice compares the areas and hotels near St Mark’s Square lists the closest. Once you have your dates, Venice in one or two days and 3 days in Venice fit the sights round the closed days. Where to eat in Venice and cicchetti and bacari cover the meals, Venice food tours compares the tastings, and what to book before you go to Venice has the hours for every sight. For the way in, see Venice airport to the city and Venice public transport.