Best time to visit Chongqing, month by month

Which months suit you

Walking and photos: March–May, September–November. Night views and food only: any month — in summer give the daytime to the hotel and indoors, go out after dark. Lowest prices: December and January, but that is also the fog season and distant views often disappear.

Think twice before these months

• July and August: daytime highs of 34°C with humidity above 70%. You can come, but the day is arranged differently — cableway, riverside and Hongya Cave after sunset, indoors at midday.
• June: the wettest month (212 mm, 16 rainy days). Rain barely touches indoor plans and night views; it does affect open-air day trips to Wulong and Dazu.
• December and January: the least sunshine of the year (17–18 hours a month) and the most fog. Night views and food are unaffected; long views often are.
• The six 2026 holiday windows: Spring Festival 15–23 Feb, Qingming 4–6 Apr, Labour Day 1–5 May, Dragon Boat 19–21 Jun, Mid-Autumn 25–27 Sep, National Day 1–7 Oct. Hongya Cave, Ciqikou and Liziba are at their busiest with domestic visitors in these windows.

Month by month

Temperatures are daytime high / low in °C, 1991–2020 normals for the Shapingba station (China Meteorological Administration).

How a local team turns “when” into a plan

Summer: cableway, riverside and Hongya Cave after sunset; midday indoors or in the car. Winter: on a foggy day we swap the long-view stop for a close-up one; the night route stays. Holidays: we change the order on the day rather than follow the sheet. Opening and light-up times are on their own pages: Hongya Cave light-up time, Yangtze Cableway hours, when to go to Ciqikou.

Why is Chongqing called the fog city, and how foggy is it really?

Less foggy than the name suggests. In a 30-year count of national weather stations by Weather China, the China Meteorological Administration's weather service, Chongqing ranks fourth among provincial capitals for dense-fog days, behind Chengdu (48.4 days a year), Guiyang (33.2) and Ürümqi (31.5). What you will notice is the low winter sun: the Shapingba station averages 18 hours of sunshine in December and 17 in January.

Fog is a cold-season thing. Across China, December has the most fog days, then November and January, and May the fewest. A 2014 paper in the Journal of Southwest University, with authors from the Chongqing Climate Centre, found the region's fog concentrated in autumn and winter and falling since the 1990s. The city government's own profile describes the climate as short on sunshine, light on wind and heavy on cloud and fog, with 1,156 sunshine hours a year, among the lowest in China. By that 30-year ranking, Chongqing's dense-fog days come in below Ürümqi's 31.5 a year.

For your plan: fog takes the long views, from Nanshan, the cableway and the river bends, not the close ones. Hongya Cave, the old lanes and hotpot go ahead, and so does the night route. On a heavy fog day we swap the long-view stop for a close-up one. Winter days in detail: Chongqing in winter. Checked October 2026.

When is the rainy season in Chongqing, and how much rain falls each month?

May to September is the wet half of the year. Each of those months averages over 120 mm at the Shapingba station, and June is the peak: 212 mm on 16 rainy days. October is cool but still has 16 rainy days and only 47 hours of sun. December to February are the driest months, at 21–25 mm each.

Rainy days are days with 0.1 mm or more. Shapingba station, 1991–2020 normals, China Meteorological Administration. Checked October 2026.

How to read it: from May to September, and again in October, count on rain on roughly one day in two or three. Rain changes open-air day trips to Wulong and Dazu and the long views; it rarely changes museums, the lanes, hotpot or the night route. The wet months are also the warm months, so a wet day in June is a warm wet day.

What should I wear in Chongqing in each season?

Spring, March to May: a light jacket for 12–19°C mornings, a T-shirt by 19–27°C afternoons. Summer, June to August: thin clothes, a hat and a spare shirt; nights stay at 22–25°C. Autumn, September to November: layers, from 29°C days in September to 13°C nights in November. Winter, December to February: a warm coat for damp 6–14°C days and nights.

• Spring: rain picks up from April (14 rainy days) and May (16). Shoes that can get wet, and a small umbrella.
• Summer: humidity is 70–79%, and July and August are the two sunniest months of the year. Quick-drying clothes, sun cover and water; keep the walking for after sunset.
• Autumn: September is still summer wear. October is mild at 17–22°C but has 16 rainy days and 84% humidity, so a light waterproof. November needs a jacket.
• Winter: damp cold. A warm coat, and a warm layer to keep on indoors: Chongqing has no central heating, so restaurants and older buildings can feel colder than the street.

In every season, flat shoes with grip. The city is stairs and slopes.

Where do we go on a rainy day in Chongqing?

Indoors or under cover by day: the Three Gorges Museum, Chongqing Art Museum and the Raffles City Exploration Deck, then the night route as planned. The full rainy-day list, with children and older travellers in mind, is on things to do in Chongqing.

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