Comfortable, dry August days in places that do not feel hotter than 26°C. 68 towns and cities that draw visitors in Africa south of the Sahara were scored in August, and 28 rate Good or better. The ten below lead, spread across the region.
The list
- 191 · IdealGrand BaieMauritius
A typical midday in August feels like 21°C, and the Easy outdoors rating averages 91 over the stretch. Good weather here runs from May to November, so there is room either side. See mid August on the map.
- 288 · IdealNanyukiKenya
Rated 88 (Ideal) for easy outdoors in August: midday feels like 20°C, with partly cloudy skies. It rates Good or better all year, not just now. Open it on the map at mid August.
- 385 · IdealArushaTanzania
Midday in August feels like 21°C under often cloudy skies, which rates 85, Ideal, for easy outdoors. Good weather here runs from April to mid November, so there is room either side. See mid August on the map.
- 479 · GoodRichards BaySouth Africa
A typical midday in August feels like 21°C, and the Easy outdoors rating averages 79 over the stretch. The good spell lasts about seven and a half months, from late April to November. Open it on the map at mid August.
- 578 · GoodDurbanSouth Africa
Midday in August feels like 20°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 78, Good, for easy outdoors. Good weather here runs from April to mid December, so there is room either side. See mid August on the map.
- 678 · GoodWindhoekNamibia
A typical midday in August feels like 18°C, and the Easy outdoors rating averages 78 over the stretch. It rates Good or better all year, not just now. Open it on the map at mid August.
- 777 · GoodKomatipoortSouth Africa
Rated 77 (Good) for easy outdoors in August: midday feels like 22°C, with partly cloudy skies. Good weather here runs from May to early September, so there is room either side. See mid August on the map.
- 872 · GoodEntebbeUganda
Midday in August feels like 26°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 72, Good, for easy outdoors. The good spell lasts about eleven and a half months, from late February to January. Open it on the map at mid August.
- 964 · GoodSwakopmundNamibia
Midday in August feels like 18°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 64, Good, for easy outdoors. Good weather here runs from late September to early September, so there is room either side. See mid August on the map.
- 1061 · GoodAntananarivoMadagascar
A typical midday in August feels like 17°C, and the Easy outdoors rating averages 61 over the stretch. Open it on the map at mid August.
Places with a guide of their own
Ranked the same way, but only among the places that have a guide of their own:
How this list is worked out
The data
Every figure comes from a decade of weather-station observations, blended into one typical year and read at midday, local solar time. Scores here are averaged in August; a city missing a reading for any part of that stretch is left out rather than scored on part of it.
The rating
Easy outdoors: A comfortable feels-like gates the score — best 16–26 °C for an easy day out (strolling, sitting out, sightseeing). Dryness matters most; strong wind knocks it back. Sun is a bonus, not required. A place is also left out when its typical readings contradict its own rating, for example a high score alongside frequent rain.
The spread
To keep one warm corner from filling the list, entries are at least 150 km apart, no more than three sit within 1,000 km of each other, and no more than three come from one country unless the list would otherwise run short.
Only places that draw visitors
Towns and cities with plenty of hotels, guest houses and holiday lets nearby for their size, or a great many of them in all, counted from Overture Maps Places, an open dataset. That keeps out places the weather favours but nobody travels to. Where two places share one resort or city, the one a visitor would name is kept.
The dotted links open the map at that place and time of year, on the same layer. The map remembers the time of day you last chose there; set it to midday to see these exact numbers.