Coolcation
Where it's cool in January
A coolcation, on this site, is anywhere with a mean daily high at or below 18°C. January gives you 64 of the 295 curated destinations with a ten-year record this month (of 497 curated in total). The ranking below is by low day-to-day swing, not by which is coldest.
January coolcation options on the ten-year record: 64 of 295 curated destinations with ten-year daily records sit at or below 18°C mean daily high (of 497 curated in total; the remainder do not yet have a full ten-year series for January). The list below ranks them by day-to-day steadiness, not raw temperature.
The coldest reading in the dataset for January is Churchill at -19°. The warmest still inside the cool band is Ghadames at 18°. Pack layers, not a coat.
Coolcation is defined here as mean daily high at or below 18°C. That threshold is a firm number, chosen for room-temperature comfort with a light layer. Nothing on this page describes forecasts. The averages are climate.
Displaying historical averages for the month of January.
View full interactive mapTop 10 destinations in January
1.San Francisco, United States
15°cultureAverages 15° in January with swings barely 2° either side of 15° and 9 rain days on the ten-year record. Cool without being wintry. Layers, not a coat.
2.Lisbon, Portugal
15°cultureAverages 15° in January with swings barely 2° either side of 15° and 9 rain days on the ten-year record. Cool without being wintry. Layers, not a coat.
3.Lake Titicaca, Peru
17°hikingAverages 17° in January with swings barely 2° either side of 17° and 18 rain days on the ten-year record. Cool without being wintry. Layers, not a coat.
4.Colca Canyon, Peru
13°hikingAverages 13° in January with swings barely 2° either side of 13° and 26 rain days on the ten-year record. Cool without being wintry. Layers, not a coat.
5.Ibiza, Spain
16°couplesAverages 16° in January with a 6° day-to-day spread around 16° and 4 rain days on the ten-year record. Cool without being wintry. Layers, not a coat.
6.Palermo, Italy
15°cultureAverages 15° in January with a 6° day-to-day spread around 15° and 7 rain days on the ten-year record. Cool without being wintry. Layers, not a coat.
7.Paphos, Cyprus
18°familiesAverages 18° in January with a 6° day-to-day spread around 18° and 10 rain days on the ten-year record. Cool without being wintry. Layers, not a coat.
8.La Paz, Bolivia
15°cultureAverages 15° in January with a 6° day-to-day spread around 15° and 14 rain days on the ten-year record. Cool without being wintry. Layers, not a coat.
9.Montserrat, Spain
14°hikingAverages 14° in January with a 7° day-to-day spread around 14° and 3 rain days on the ten-year record. Cool without being wintry. Layers, not a coat.
10.Babylon, Iraq
18°cultureAverages 18° in January with a 7° day-to-day spread around 18° and 3 rain days on the ten-year record. Cool without being wintry. Layers, not a coat.
Average temperatures by destination
Showing 80 of 80 destinations
| Destination | Country | Avg high | Swings | Rain days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Churchill | Canada | -19° | - | - |
| Iqaluit | Canada | -19° | - | - |
| Fairbanks | United States | -17° | - | - |
| Kanas Lake | China | -17° | - | - |
| Lake Baikal | Russia | -14° | - | - |
| Harbin | China | -12° | - | - |
| Astana | Kazakhstan | -10° | - | - |
| Mount Paektu | North Korea | -10° | - | - |
| Ilulissat | Greenland | -9° | - | - |
| Svalbard | Svalbard and Jan Mayen | -9° | - | - |
| Kazan | Russia | -7° | - | - |
| Abisko National Park | Sweden | -6° | - | - |
| Bamiyan | Afghanistan | -6° | - | - |
| Leh | India | -6° | - | - |
| Longyearbyen | Norway | -6° | - | - |
| Vladivostok | Russia | -6° | - | - |
| Yellowstone National Park | United States | -6° | - | - |
| Anchorage | United States | -5° | - | - |
| High Tatras | Slovakia | -5° | - | - |
| Kizhi Island | Russia | -5° | - | - |
| Nuuk | Greenland | -5° | - | - |
| Quebec City | Canada | -5° | - | - |
| Tadoussac | Canada | -5° | - | - |
| Moscow | Russia | -4° | - | - |
| Valley of Geysers, Kamchatka | Russia | -4° | - | - |
| Bran Castle | Romania | -3° | - | - |
| Charyn Canyon | Kazakhstan | -3° | - | - |
| Jasper | Canada | -2° | - | - |
| Qaqortoq | Greenland | -2° | - | - |
| Sapporo | Japan | -1° | - | - |
| Tromsø | Norway | -1° | - | - |
| Turpan | China | -1° | - | - |
| Vilnius | Lithuania | -1° | - | - |
| Almaty | Kazakhstan | 0° | - | - |
| Chernobyl Exclusion Zone | Ukraine | 0° | - | - |
| Kashgar | China | 0° | - | - |
| Mogao Caves, Dunhuang | China | 0° | - | - |
| Whistler | Canada | 0° | - | - |
| Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park | Belarus | 1° | - | - |
| Niagara Falls | Canada | 1° | - | - |
| Pyongyang | North Korea | 1° | - | - |
| Stockholm | Sweden | 1° | - | - |
| Curonian Spit | Russia | 2° | - | - |
| Lviv | Ukraine | 2° | - | - |
| Mount Elbrus | Russia | 2° | - | - |
| Bishkek | Kyrgyzstan | 3° | - | - |
| Great Wall of China, Mutianyu | China | 3° | - | - |
| Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon | Iceland | 3° | - | - |
| Lake Issyk-Kul | Kyrgyzstan | 3° | - | - |
| Neuschwanstein Castle | Germany | 3° | - | - |
| Sarajevo | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3° | - | - |
| Aalborg | Denmark | 4° | - | - |
| Bergen | Norway | 4° | - | - |
| Dresden | Germany | 4° | - | - |
| Mount Everest North Base Camp | China | 4° | - | - |
| Odesa | Ukraine | 4° | - | - |
| Rila Monastery | Bulgaria | 4° | - | - |
| Turkistan | Kazakhstan | 4° | - | - |
| Świnoujście | Poland | 4° | - | - |
| Cappadocia | Turkey | 5° | - | - |
| Danube Delta | Romania | 5° | - | - |
| Ketchikan | United States | 5° | - | - |
| Vienna | Austria | 5° | - | - |
| Jiuzhaigou Valley | China | 6° | - | - |
| Turin | Italy | 6° | - | - |
| Xi'an | China | 6° | - | - |
| Yosemite National Park | United States | 6° | - | - |
| Goes | Netherlands | 7° | - | - |
| Lake District | United Kingdom | 7° | - | - |
| Mount Fuji | Japan | 7° | - | - |
| Washington, D.C. | United States | 7° | - | - |
| Baku | Azerbaijan | 8° | - | - |
| Bukhara | Uzbekistan | 8° | - | - |
| Dublin | Ireland | 8° | - | - |
| Huangshan | China | 8° | - | - |
| L'Aquila | Italy | 8° | - | - |
| Lhasa | China | 8° | - | - |
| Mount Nemrut | Turkey | 8° | - | - |
| Iskanderkul | Tajikistan | 9° | - | - |
| Mont Saint-Michel | France | 9° | - | - |
Readings come from the last ten years of daily weather data, so they reflect the climate as it is now, not as it was decades ago. Data: Visual Crossing global historical archive. How we compute this
Frequently asked
- Where is reliably cool in January?
- The driest 12-18°C cool-comfort picks in January, all with a wider day-to-day spread, are: Ghadames (18°C, about 0 rain days, a 9° spread); Ghardaïa and the M'zab Valley (17°C, about 1 rain day, a 9° spread); Las Vegas (14°C, about 2 rain days, an 8° spread); Montserrat (14°C, about 3 rain days, a 7° spread).
- What counts as a coolcation in January?
- On this site, a coolcation is anywhere with a mean daily high at or below 18°C. In January that filters 64 of 295 curated destinations with a ten-year record. The warmest in-band pick is Ghadames at 18°; the steadiest day-to-day is San Francisco with a 5° spread.
- Is January the right month for a coolcation?
- It depends on where you go. In January the ten-year record puts 64 curated destinations at or below 18°C mean daily high. If that count is small, the northern hemisphere is warming and southern-hemisphere hill stations or high-latitude coasts do most of the work. If it is large, the reverse.