Places where the middle of winter is cool, dry walking weather rather than cold or wet. 68 towns and cities that draw visitors in Australia and the Pacific were scored in January, and 21 rate Good or better. The nine below lead, spread across the region.
Where to go
- 180 · GoodWanakaNew Zealand
Rated 80 (Good) for active outdoors in January: midday feels like 17°C, with partly cloudy skies. Good weather here runs from late September to mid May, so there is room either side. See mid January on the map.
- 278 · GoodHobartAustralia
Midday in January feels like 16°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 78, Good, for active outdoors. The good spell lasts about eight and a half months, from late September to May. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 378 · GoodNelsonNew Zealand
A typical midday in January feels like 17°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 78 over the stretch. This is not a short window: it rates Good or better all year. See mid January on the map.
- 476 · GoodTaupoNew Zealand
Rated 76 (Good) for active outdoors in January: midday feels like 19°C, with often cloudy skies. The good spell lasts about ten and a half months, from late August to June. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 572 · GoodLauncestonAustralia
Midday in January feels like 19°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 72, Good, for active outdoors. Good weather here runs from late August to mid June, so there is room either side. See mid January on the map.
- 670 · GoodPortlandAustralia
A typical midday in January feels like 19°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 70 over the stretch. The good spell lasts about eleven and a half months, from late July to early July. Rain is rare at this time of year. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 770 · GoodAlbanyAustralia
Rated 70 (Good) for active outdoors in January: midday feels like 20°C, with often cloudy skies. This is not a short window: it rates Good or better all year. Rain is rare at this time of year. See mid January on the map.
- 861 · GoodPort LincolnAustralia
Midday in January feels like 21°C under often cloudy skies, which rates 61, Good, for active outdoors. It rates Good or better all year, not just now. Rain is rare at this time of year. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 961 · GoodKerikeriNew Zealand
A typical midday in January feels like 22°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 61 over the stretch. Good weather here runs from late February to mid January, so there is room either side. See mid January on the map.
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 January; a city missing a reading for any part of that stretch is left out rather than scored on part of it.
The rating
Active outdoors: A mild feels-like gates the score — best 10–20 °C, cool enough for hiking, cycling and running. Dryness matters most, with a penalty for strong wind. 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.