The best time to visit Honolulu, Hawaii, is from April to June. Immediately following the high tourist season, these months, in our opinion, offer the ideal combination of lower prices and good weather.
The other “shoulder” tourism season in Honolulu runs from September to December, but we don’t think it’s as ideal as the springtime, as it comes with a higher hurricane risk and significantly more rain. Either will give you the benefit of avoiding large crowds and overpriced bookings, but why not have the best of both worlds?
Even with its warm, tropical climate, Honolulu experiences big changes from season to season. In our complete Honolulu weather guide below, we go through all our favorite times to travel here for an über-enjoyable holiday—and our recommendations for what to expect, broken down by season and month…
Weather in Honolulu
By season
Spring
In Honolulu, we see relatively moderate weather conditions in the spring season. The rain from the rainy season, spanning throughout the winter months, begins to taper off into the spring months.
While spring temperatures are high, they generally stay between 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The bonus? We find them less often accompanied by unbearable humidity levels. You’ll also find a bit more of a “cooling down” period at night than you will in the coming months.
Spring slots in right after Hawaii’s high tourist season, meaning we start to notice that crowds and prices begin to settle back down to more reasonable amounts. Between the comfortable temperatures, less rain, and budget-friendly fares, the spring shoulder season is one of our favorite seasons to travel to Honolulu.
Summer
Summer in Hawaii may sound like a great time to kick back and relax under a palm tree. But unless you’re used to extreme tropical climates, this really wouldn’t be our recommendation!
Temperatures in Honolulu in the summer rise up towards the 90s and are compounded with a lot of humidity. For many travelers—including us!—the summer heat and humidity can be unbearable, especially if you’re planning to spend most of your Oahu summer vacation outdoors or take on physically strenuous activities like hiking.
The other thing we’re not fans of? The summer months also make up the peak of Hawaii’s hurricane season. While this isn’t typically a major concern on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, we’d still recommend keeping it in mind when planning your holiday.
While all this might seem like it lends itself to a fairly wet stretch, the summer months—especially June, the driest month of the year—make up the bulk of Honolulu’s dry season. Hardly any rain is expected day-to-day. (It’s weird, we know.)
Fall
Like the spring, the fall season is fairly reasonably priced and we think it’s a pretty comfortable time to travel to Honolulu. The precipitation starts to pick back up, which helps to cut the humidity without pouring down in overwhelming amounts.
Fall temperatures hover in the moderate mid-80s, which, in our opinion, is the perfect “tropical” weather for the average tourist: Not-too-hot and certainly not cool by any means.
The end of hurricane season does extend into fall, but we see the majority of tropical storms occur prior to the end of September. We’d agree that it doesn’t pose a large enough risk to avoid booking your vacation during these months, especially in the later fall, but it’s always important to keep this in mind.
Winter
No need to worry about cold weather during Honolulu’s “winter” season, but we’d recommend keeping an eye on the weather forecast nonetheless. November to March makes up Hawaii’s rainy season. We could see as many as 15 days in a month calling for rain—and a whole lot of it, at that!
Surprisingly, despite having less-than-ideal weather, winter is the most popular time for tourists to head to the islands of Hawaii. Due to the overlap of school holidays, we often see families with young children visiting in droves.
If you’re traveling on a stricter budget or navigating tourist crowds isn’t your thing, we’d suggest avoiding the winter season.
Got more travel plans on the horizon? Check out our other weather & when to go guides and our Honolulu Travel Guide for more recommendations on when to visit, where to go & what to do!
By month
January
Smack dab in the middle of high tourism season, January is one of the busiest months of the year and a popular time to visit for travelers.
That said, January’s popularity has mostly to do with the desire for North American tourists to escape their own harsh winters, and a bit of spillover from Christmas and New Year getaways. Though we don’t think January in Honolulu is bad by any stretch of the imagination, it’s also not our ideal time of year weather-wise.
January is well within the bounds of Honolulu’s rainy season, with an average of 58mm falling over 14 days. Besides the rain, temperatures remain a comfortable 80°F (26°C) and dip down to a low 66°F (19°C) overnight.
Again, there’s nothing terribly wrong with the weather in January, but frankly, we know Honolulu can do better.
February
February is the coldest month of the year in Honolulu, but since the average temperature rarely dips below 66°F (19°C) throughout the night and 80°F (26°C) under the strongest afternoon sun, we think the superlative is a bit of an oxymoron.
Rain is fairly common during the month of February, but we still see tourism thriving in its peak season. This might deter you if you plan to lay down on Honolulu’s beaches all vacation long, but it rarely holds people back from visiting. From our experience, it’s not too big of an issue.
How much rain are we talking about here? About 50mm falling over 11 days.
March
Temperatures in March increase by just a couple of degrees, with average highs and lows sitting at 81°F (27°C) and 68°F (20°C), respectively. As it’s the last month of the rainy season, we’ll still see a fair amount of precipitation, though, with an average of 13 rainy days.
Though the number of days increases slightly from the month of February, the amount of rain stays practically still. We’d only expect around 51mm, with shorter, less intense showers.
March makes up the tail-end of Hawaii’s peak tourist season. We often see one last surge during school-aged families’ March Break before the volume of vacationers at Honolulu’s most popular tourist attractions tapers off, and rates at the most popular hotels in Honolulu begin to drop.
April
April is the first month of Hawaii’s dry season. With the lack of rainfall to cool things down, the temperatures start to climb slowly.
Although a couple of degrees difference might not make a huge difference now, we must warn you: In a couple of months it’ll be far too muggy to enjoy. Inching up to a high of 83°F (28°C) and a low of 69°F (20°C), April is, in our opinion, the perfect compromise between warmth and comfort for your Honolulu itinerary.
Though the number of rainy days only decreases by one (12 days) in the month of April, we’ll see that the start of Hawaii’s dry season brings a giant reduction in the amount of precipitation, with an average of just 16mm falling throughout the entire month. When you average that out, it’s barely a sprinkle during any given rainfall.
May
Increasing by a couple of degrees yet again, May comes with a balmy 85°F (29°C) daily high and stays elevated at 71°F (21°C) after the sun sets. We know this may not be ideal sleeping conditions, but it at least offers some respite from the heat overnight, which you won’t get during the height of summer.
May marks the second month of Hawaii’s dry season, continuing with April’s huge decrease in precipitation. Rainy days stay elevated at about ten, but the average amount falls a bit more down to 15mm. We’d just recommend preparing for a quick tropical shower now and again, and then you can get right back to your day in Honolulu.
If you want to laze around on Honolulu’s beautiful beaches (like Waikiki Beach or Ala Moana Beach Park) or engage in outdoor activities like tackling some popular Oahu hikes, we think May is a pretty safe choice.
June
As the average daily high climbs to 87°F (30°C) and lows hold firm at a toasty 73°F (22°C), June in Hawaii is hot and humid. If you struggle to adjust to extreme temperatures or catch any ZZZs without a significant cooldown, we don’t believe summer would be a great time for you to travel to Honolulu.
We don’t see precipitation as much of a concern when planning a Honolulu holiday in June; it’s the driest month of the year. That said, we’d advise keeping in mind that this marks the beginning of hurricane season for the Aloha State.
Hurricanes (cyclones) are not common in the Hawaiian islands, and the start of the season is pretty slow, with most tropical storms blowing through in July, August, and September. But for your safety and comfort, it’s always good to have it on your radar.
July
July in Hawaii is a daily scorcher. Averages start at 74°F (23°C) and max out at 88°F (31°C), with extreme humidity—we’d recommend proceeding with caution.
Those used to tropical climates will have no trouble adjusting to July in Honolulu. On the other hand, we’d caution that visitors from more moderate climate zones may find the heat overwhelming.
July is perhaps the “true” start of hurricane season, as one of the couple months where tropical storm occurrences are the most concentrated. Aside from the occasional storm, though, we won’t see too much rain. About 13mm over 14 days is standard for July.
August
In our experience, August is entirely too hot and humid for most travelers. In fact, August is the hottest month of the year in Honolulu, with daily highs reaching 89°F (32°C) and barely dropping to 75°F (24°C) overnight.
We’ll remind you, though, that these temperature figures don’t even take humidity into account, which is where the majority of the August heat comes from. (And it’s killer!)
Rainfall remains fairly minimal throughout the month, offering little relief from the heat and humidity, with just 14 mm falling over 13 days.
Yet another reminder: August falls smack-dab in the middle of hurricane season. If you can avoid visiting in August, you should: The month is possibly the least desirable time to travel to Honolulu we can think of.
September
September is almost as hot as August, maintaining a daily high of 89°F (32°C) and a low of 74°F (23°C). If you choose to brave these hot temperatures, we’d highly recommend bringing cool, breathable clothes and book accommodations with air conditioning—or, at the least, a really good fan!
Rain remains minimal in September, with an average of 18 mm falling over 13 days—pretty much the standard for the dry season in Hawaii.
October
Though the difference is small, October is the month when Honolulu’s temperatures begin to cool back off. With temperatures sliding down only a couple of degrees, we can expect to see daily highs to average about 87°F (30°C) and lows to be around 73°F (22°C).
October is the last month of Hawaii’s dry season, but with it comes a surprising amount of rain. Over an average of 13 days, the same as in September, the actual amount of precipitation will more than double, jumping up to 47mm.
November
Continuing on with the downturn in temperatures, November comes with highs hitting 84°F (29°C) and lows of 71°F (21°C). This might seem like a bit of a bigger difference when compared to the hottest months of the summer season, but we’ve never found that it gets too cool in Hawaii.
Comparatively, it’s a bit of a downward jump. But we still think the tropical climate will be plenty satisfying for those traveling from the north.
November is both the last month of the hurricane season and the first month of the rainy season. It’s one of the lower-occurrence months for high-intensity tropical storms, but we’d still recommend keeping in mind as you plan your Honolulu itinerary.
The biggest change in weather in November will be the increase in rain, creeping up to 61mm over 14 days.
December
We often see a huge uptick in tourist traffic to Hawaii during the month of December, but this is more circumstantial than weather dependent.
Hurricane season is now officially over, but December is the wettest month of the year, so we still see a fair amount of precipitation. Approximately 82mm falls over 15 days is the monthly average. In other words, we can expect about a 50/50 divide between rainy and sunny days.
What about the temperatures? Well, it stays nice and warm in Honolulu in December, hovering around 81°F (27°C) during peak daylight and staying around the 68°F (20°C) mark through the evening.
We believe a Honolulu vacation in December can certainly be comfortable—if a couple of rainy days spent at indoor attractions don’t bother you. Just keep in mind that you’ll be dealing with larger crowds and higher costs.
