Malta weather and the best time to visit

A summer with no rain in it

Malta's dry season is not a figure of speech. July averages 0 mm and August 4 mm; June manages 2 mm. Nothing else in the Mediterranean basin is quite this categorical, and it shapes the island: there is no summer river, no green hillside and very little natural shade, which is why a July afternoon outdoors is harder work than 28 C sounds.

The heat itself is moderate by Mediterranean standards, because the sea moderates it. August, the hottest month, averages 29 C by day - but 25 C at night, and July 28 and 24. The island stays warm around the clock rather than spiking and cooling, which is comfortable if you are swimming and less so if you are trying to sleep without air conditioning.

April to June, and the case for September

April to June averages 18-25 C by day and is what this page picks: warm, effectively dry, and ahead of the peak. April at 18 C and May at 21 C are walking weather for Valletta, Mdina and the cliffs, which is what most of the island's sightseeing actually is.

September is the other answer and a different one. At 26 C by day and 23 C at night it is still summer, and the sea has had all of August to warm up - it is the month people who come for the water pick over July. October, at 23 C, is the last of it.

One caveat on the numbers above: these are gridded reanalysis figures, and on a small island the grid cell is mostly sea, which damps the extremes and understates winter rainfall in particular. The summer drought and the flat day-night spread are the robust part of this table; treat the winter totals as an underestimate.