The cities with the most weeks a year of comfortable, dry weather for being outdoors. Of 68 towns and cities that draw visitors in Australia and the Pacific, 65 have at least one Good stretch; these are the ones where it lasts longest.
The shortlist
- 1Good 27 of 36Port MacquarieAustralia
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 27 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about nine months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 32, Poor. At its best in mid October.
- 2Good 26 of 36MandurahAustralia
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 26 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about eight and a half months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 24, Poor. At its best in late April.
- 3Good 25 of 36GraftonAustralia
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 25 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about eight and a half months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 24, Poor. At its best in late April.
- 4Good 25 of 36SydneyAustralia
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 25 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about eight and a half months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 26, Poor. At its best in mid November.
- 5Good 21 of 36KerikeriNew Zealand
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 21 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about seven months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 15, Poor. At its best in late February.
- 6Good 20 of 36YeppoonAustralia
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 20 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about six and a half months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 14, Poor. At its best in late August.
- 7Good 20 of 36AlbanyAustralia
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 20 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about six and a half months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 3, Poor. At its best in late March.
- 8Good 20 of 36HamiltonNew Zealand
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 20 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about six and a half months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 7, Poor. At its best in late February.
- 9Good 20 of 36NapierNew Zealand
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 20 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about six and a half months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 3, Poor. At its best in early February.
- 10Good 20 of 36EchucaAustralia
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 20 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about six and a half months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 1, Poor. At its best in late March.
- 11Good 18 of 36TownsvilleAustralia
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 18 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about six months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 7, Poor. At its best in mid August.
- 12Good 17 of 36AvaruaCook Islands
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 17 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about five and a half months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 5, Poor. At its best in late August.
- 13Good 13 of 36Nuku‘alofaTonga
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 13 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about four and a half months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 3, Poor. At its best in early July.
- 14Good 6 of 36Port-VilaVanuatu
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 6 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about two months in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 0, Poor. At its best in mid August.
- 15Good 5 of 36SuvaFiji
Easy outdoors rates Good or better for 5 of the year’s 36 ten-day sections, about six weeks in all. Its weakest stretch still averages 1, Poor. At its best in early August.
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 across the whole year; 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.
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.