Andalusia month by month — at a glance
Hover each month for the summary. Click to pin it.
The question of when to go to Andalusia has no answer until another one is settled: which Andalusia? The region has three climatic storeys running on different clocks, and the same month can be the best of the year in one and the worst in another.
01 Six degrees in 160 kilometres
The figure that best sums this up is a subtraction. In July, Córdoba's average high is 37.1 degrees. Málaga's, some 160 kilometres away by motorway, is 31.0. Almost six degrees between two cities in the same region, all because of a mountain range in between and the presence of the sea.
That same sea does the opposite in winter. In January, Málaga has highs of 17.2 and lows of 7.9; Córdoba, 15.2 and 3.7. Water moderates in both directions: it takes the edge off summer and winter alike. The valley, without it, keeps both extremes.
Key moments at a glance
28.1 degrees and 42.4 millimetres. Comfortable heat, still-green countryside and light until very late.
An average high of 37.0 in Córdoba. The coast, meanwhile, is in its fullest and most expensive month.
25.8 degrees, a sea still warm and cities already cleared of August.
The only time of year when the mountains are in full season and the valley at its greenest.
02 The valley's calendar
For Seville, Córdoba, Jaén and Granada, the year has two good windows and one forbidden stretch. The good ones run March to May and mid-September to late October: highs between 21 and 28 degrees, moderate rain and long days. The forbidden one is July and August, with daily averages of 37 degrees and almost zero rainfall.
It is worth understanding what that July figure of 37.1 means: it is the average of the daily maximum across the whole month, not a record. The peaks run considerably higher, and Andalusia's record high, 47.3 degrees, was measured at Montoro, in the province of Córdoba, on 13 July 2017.
In the Guadalquivir valley, summer is not a season of the year. It is a shortened timetable.
03 The coast's calendar
The coastline works the other way round. Its best months are June to September, precisely when the interior becomes unliveable at midday. Málaga has 28.5 degrees in June, 31.0 in July and 31.5 in August, with virtually no rain across those months.
The detail that changes a booking is that the sea runs two months behind the air. It warms slowly through the spring and does not reach its most pleasant point until August and September; which is why September is usually a better beach month than June, whatever the air thermometer says. And why swimming in April, with highs of 21.8 in Málaga, remains an act of will.
04 The mountains' calendar
The third storey sits above 2,000 metres and resembles the other two in nothing. The Sierra Nevada ski resort, the southernmost in Europe, runs between 2,100 and 3,300 metres; it usually opens in early December and is among the last in Spain to close, around the start of May.
That opens a possibility usually sold as a feat: skiing and swimming on the same day. It is true that you can — there are some forty kilometres from Mulhacén to the sea — but an honest warning is due: in the only stretch where the two overlap, March and April, the Mediterranean is at its coldest of the year. It can be done; enjoying it is another matter.
05 Winter is not a dead season, it is another thing
The commonest mistake is treating the Andalusian winter as a spoiled version of summer. It is not: it is the season when the inland landscape is green, which only happens between November and April. Almost all of Córdoba's 572.9 annual millimetres fall in that period, and the countryside responds at once.
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What does change is the clock. In January it gets dark early and the usable day shortens, and you should count on two or three rainy days a week. In exchange, the valley cities are at their quietest of the year and prices drop noticeably.
06 How to pick the week
If the trip is about cities — Seville, Córdoba, Granada, Jaén — aim for April, May or the second half of October, in that order. If it is about the beach, June to September, and September rather than June because of the water temperature. If it is about skiing, January to March, when the snow has settled.
If you want to combine two storeys, the only stretch that genuinely allows it is late September and the first half of October: the interior is visitable at any hour, the sea is still warm and the mountains are walkable without snow. It is the week almost anyone who already knows the region would choose.
And if July or August is your only option, do not change the date: change the destination within the region. With six degrees between the valley and the coast, the smart decision is not to endure Córdoba at three in the afternoon, but not to be in Córdoba at that hour.
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