Places where the middle of winter is cool, dry walking weather rather than cold or wet. 204 towns and cities that draw visitors in South Asia were scored in January, and 66 rate Good or better. The seven below lead, spread across the region.
The shortlist
- 186 · IdealPokharaNepal
A typical midday in January feels like 16°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 86 over the stretch. Good weather here runs from late November to early March, so there is room either side. See mid January on the map.
- 286 · IdealLahorePakistan
Rated 86 (Ideal) for active outdoors in January: midday feels like 13°C, with partly cloudy skies. The good spell lasts about four months, from mid November to early March. Rain is rare at this time of year. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 385 · IdealFyzābādIndia
Midday in January feels like 16°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 85, Ideal, for active outdoors. Good weather here runs from December to early February, so there is room either side. See mid January on the map.
- 483 · IdealSiwānIndia
A typical midday in January feels like 15°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 83 over the stretch. The good spell lasts about two months, from mid December to early February. It is often windy at this time of year. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 571 · GoodIslamabadPakistan
Midday in January feels like 10°C under partly cloudy skies, which rates 71, Good, for active outdoors. Good weather here runs from November to mid March, so there is room either side. See mid January on the map.
- 662 · GoodKodaikānalIndia
A typical midday in January feels like 18°C, and the Active outdoors rating averages 62 over the stretch. The good spell lasts about three months, from late December to mid March. Open it on the map at mid January.
- 762 · GoodAbuIndia
Rated 62 (Good) for active outdoors in January: midday feels like 21°C, with mostly clear skies. 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.