Munich month by month, at a glance
Hover each month for the summary. Click to pin it.
The months with the most sunshine hours in Munich are July, August and June, in that order. The months with the most rainfall in millimetres are June, July and August, also in that order. This is neither coincidence nor an error in the record: here summer is the wet season, because the water does not arrive as long frontal systems but as afternoon thunderstorms, and those need heat. Choosing when to come to Munich means deciding which half of that package matters more.
01 182 rain days, spread almost evenly
The 1991-2020 series gives 939.7 millimetres a year over 182 days with precipitation. Half the year, in other words. And the striking thing is not the total but the distribution: the month with the fewest rain days is April, with 13.5, and the one with the most is December, with 16.8. Three days between the best and the worst month of the year.
That changes the question. There is no point hunting for the month when it does not rain, because there isn't one: it rains roughly every other day, all year. What varies is how much water falls each time. February brings 45.5 millimetres over 14 days — drizzle; March 61.2 over 15.6; and June 120.9 millimetres over 16.7 days, nearly three times the water in barely two more rain days.
02 Summer is the wet season
June, July and August together bring 356.3 millimetres: 38 per cent of the year's water in a quarter of the calendar. They are at the same time the months of 223.7, 241.4 and 232.1 sunshine hours. The two coexist because Munich's summer rain arrives concentrated: clear mornings, heat building, a storm in mid-afternoon and a clean night again.
For a traveller that means a Munich summer is not planned like a Mediterranean one. The days are long and bright, mean daily maxima sit around 25 degrees and the beer gardens run at full capacity, but one afternoon in three will be interrupted. The practical consequence is simple: indoor plans go in the afternoon, not the morning.
Key moments at a glance
186 hours of sunshine and only 56 mm over 13.5 days: the driest month relative to its light.
19.6 °C daily maximum, 78.1 mm and 169.7 hours of sunshine. Book before the 19th.
241.4 hours of sunshine, the year's peak, and 118.9 mm of rain over 16 days.
66.4 hours of sunshine in the whole month: barely more than two a day.
03 April and September are the two months where the numbers work
Divide each month's rainfall by its sunshine hours and one month stands clearly apart: April, with 56.0 millimetres and 186 hours of light. It is the best ratio of the year by a wide margin, and it also has the fewest rain days. Its problem is temperature: a mean maximum of 15.2 degrees and a minimum of 5.3. Good for walking, not for dinner outdoors.
September solves precisely that. The light drops a little — 169.7 hours — but the rain stays contained at 78.1 millimetres and the mean maximum rises to 19.6 degrees, with minima of 10.4. It is the only month of the year with terrace temperatures, moderate water and enough light all at once.
May is the third contender: 213 hours of sunshine and 19.4 degrees, against 107 millimetres. It works well if the trip can absorb two or three genuinely wet afternoons.
04 Sixteen days that rearrange the autumn
Here comes the factor that is not in the climate table. The beer festival occupies sixteen days between late September and early October — in 2026, from 19 September to 4 October — on the open ground of the Theresienwiese, and draws around seven million visitors to a city of a million and a half.
The effect on the rest of a trip is large even if you never set foot in the grounds: scarce and expensive accommodation, packed transport at certain hours, and city-centre restaurants requiring reservations. That is why the September recommendation comes with a date attached: the first two weeks of the month are the best time of year in Munich, and from the 19th the city becomes something else. If the plan is precisely to go to the festival, book many months ahead.
05 November and December test your patience
These are the two dark months: 74.0 and 66.4 sunshine hours respectively, barely more than two hours a day in December. December also has the year's maximum number of days with precipitation, 16.8. Mean maxima are 8.2 and 4.8 degrees.
The compensation is real but irregular: the Föhn. It is a southerly wind that comes down off the Alps warming as it falls, raising the temperature by several degrees within hours even in winter and clearing the air enough that the range is visible from the city fifty or sixty kilometres away, in detail. It happens on a handful of days a year and cannot be planned; if it coincides with your trip, that is the day to be outside.
06 The honest summary
The first half of September if you get to choose. April if what matters is light and the chill does not bother you. May, June, July and August if the trip can take afternoon storms in exchange for long days. And November and December only with adjusted expectations.
What does not work is coming in search of a dry month. Munich does not have one: it rains half the days of the year, every month. The decision is not when to avoid the water, but how much falls at a time and how much light comes with it.
