Good Places to Visit in July: Where to Avoid Extreme Heat and Monsoon

Good places to visit in July are, for most people, simply the places that are not 105°F and not underwater. Our shortlist from 20 years of data: San Francisco, Seattle and Calgary in North America, Paris, Prague, Zurich and Dublin in Europe, and three southern or highland options (Brisbane, Johannesburg and Quito) where July is the dry or mild part of the year. Every one of them has an average July afternoon high of 77.9°F or lower.

This list is built from the opposite direction of a normal "top destinations" article. We started by crossing off the cities with extreme heat or monsoon rain in July, then looked at what was left and asked where the weather is actually pleasant. The result is less glamorous than a beach list, and a lot more comfortable to walk around in. If you are after sand and sea instead, our companion piece on the best beaches and mild coasts in July uses a different set of cities.

Good places to visit in July: the quick-answer table

Ten cities with comfortable highs, modest rain or a clear dry spell. Celsius is in brackets, and rain is in inches with millimetres in brackets.

The pattern to notice is the low-rain, moderate-high combination. Six of the ten have 11 rainy days or fewer. The other four (Prague, Zurich, Dublin and Quito) get a bit more rain, and we explain below why each still earns its place.

What counts as too hot or too wet

Good places to visit in July start with what you leave out. We drew the line at two things: average highs above about 95°F, or a monsoon-style month with roughly 17 or more rainy days and several inches of rain. Here are the places that cross it in July.

The heat group is simple. Dubai, Phoenix and Cairo average 109.0, 105.6 and 99.7°F, and the pavement holds that heat well after sunset. The wet group is more varied. Mumbai gets 28.9 in (734 mm) of rain in the month, roughly ten times what Prague gets in the same month. Delhi is both hot and humid, with 75% humidity on top of 92.8°F (33.8°C). India's southwest monsoon usually runs from June to September, East Asia has its own rainy spell in early summer, and Central America's wet season peaks around midyear. None of these places is unvisitable. They just reward a different month.

Cool and dry on the North American coast and mountains

San Francisco

San Francisco is the strangest July on the list, and in a good way. The average high is only 68.2°F (20.1°C), with a low of 55.4°F (13.0°C), and the month brings essentially no rain (0.0 in (0 mm)). It is warm in the sun and cold in the fog, sometimes within the same block. Summer is the cool season there, and the data backs it up. Pack a jacket for July evenings and expect hazy mornings, particularly near the ocean. Skip the swimwear.

Seattle

Seattle in July is almost the opposite of its reputation. Highs reach 75.9°F (24.4°C) with just 4 rainy days and 0.7 in (18 mm) of rain, and the sun hits 12.8 hours per day. It is the cleanest weather window of the year for ferries, mountain views and outdoor dining. The trade-off is that everyone else knows it, so prices and crowds are at their highest. Book lodging well ahead.

Calgary

Calgary is the gateway to the Rockies, and July is the month when the high mountain roads and trails are most reliably open. The city averages 73.9°F (23.3°C) in the afternoon and drops to 52.5°F (11.4°C) overnight, so evenings need a sweater. Expect 11 rainy days, often short thunderstorms, and 13.5 hours of sun per day. The Calgary Stampede usually takes over the city for ten days in early July, which is great fun and also means hotels cost more and fill up. For the wider country, see the best time to visit Canada.

Mild Europe without the Mediterranean furnace

Paris

Paris in July is comfortable more often than not, with highs of 76.8°F (24.9°C) and 10 rainy days. Lows of 59.5°F (15.3°C) make for pleasant evenings outside, though older buildings can hold heat and many do not have air conditioning. Humidity is a moderate 66%. Plan indoor sights for the hottest part of the afternoon and use the long daylight, with 11.6 hours of sun, for late dinners and river walks.

Prague

Prague is slightly warmer at 77.9°F (25.5°C), and the rain arrives as a handful of storms: 2.9 in (74 mm) over 12 days. The old town is compact, so you can walk in the cooler morning and evening hours and rest in the middle of the day. It suits first-time visitors, couples and anyone who likes a city small enough to cover on foot.

Zurich

Zurich is the wettest of the Europe picks, with 5.2 in (132 mm) of rain over 15 days. We still include it because the highs are a comfortable 75.7°F (24.3°C), the lake is warm enough for swimming, and the Alps are close for day trips. The rain tends to come as thunderstorms, so keep a flexible plan and an umbrella in the bag.

Dublin

Dublin is cool, green and a little changeable. Highs average 66.6°F (19.2°C), lows 55.6°F (13.1°C), with 15 rainy days. It is a good July pick if heat is the main thing you want to avoid, but a poor one if you need guaranteed dry weather. You will see sun and drizzle in one afternoon. Dress in layers and treat the rain as part of the trip.

Where July is the dry or mild season

Seasons flip south of the equator, so July is winter in Brisbane and Johannesburg. That sounds wrong until you check the numbers.

Brisbane

Brisbane in July is dry and gentle, with highs of 68.5°F (20.3°C), lows of 50.2°F (10.1°C) and only 5 rainy days. The sun is out for 9.0 hours per day, and humidity is a comfortable 71%. It is not a swimming month for most people, but it is great for walking, riverside cafes and day trips. Sydney and Melbourne are cooler and wetter in July, so Brisbane is the easier southern winter pick.

Johannesburg

Johannesburg is dry and bright: 1 rainy day, 0.1 in (3 mm) of rain and 10.1 hours of sun. Highs are a friendly 62.2°F (16.8°C), but nights are cold, with lows near 37.4°F (3.0°C), so pack warm layers for mornings and evenings. Dry-season conditions are also why many people use it as a base for safari trips. See our South Africa timing guide for the bigger picture.

Quito

Quito stays mild all year because of its altitude, and July is part of the drier half of the year. Highs hover at 62.6°F (17.0°C) and lows at 46.2°F (7.9°C), though it still has 17 rainy days with 3.5 in (89 mm) of rain in total. Showers are usually brief, but you should be ready for them. Give yourself a day or two to adjust to the altitude before doing anything strenuous.

A few more worth a look

Some cities nearly made the cut. Amsterdam (70.5°F (21.4°C)) and Edinburgh (64.8°F (18.2°C)) are cool and comfortable, but they log 14 and 16 rainy days. Berlin is slightly warmer at 76.1°F (24.5°C) with 12 rainy days, a good alternative to Prague. Vienna (80.4°F (26.9°C)) and Budapest (82.6°F (28.1°C)) are warm enough that we would hesitate in a heatwave, though mornings and evenings are lovely. Bergen is the one to avoid in this group, with 18 rainy days and 6.8 in (173 mm) of rain.

How to choose among the good places to visit in July

• Driest bet: San Francisco, Johannesburg and Seattle all have 4 rainy days or fewer.
• Coolest: Dublin, Quito and Johannesburg stay at or below 66.6°F on average. Johannesburg and Quito get genuinely cold at night.
• First-time sightseeing: Paris and Prague, with long days and manageable temperatures.
• Outdoors and mountains: Calgary and Zurich, accepting some afternoon storms.
• Families: Brisbane and Seattle, where the weather is predictable and the days are comfortable. San Francisco works too if you do not expect beach time.
• Cheapest: We do not track fares, but Johannesburg, Quito and Prague usually cost less on the ground than Paris, Zurich or Seattle in summer.

What to pack

Layers beat everything else on this list. For San Francisco, Dublin, Johannesburg and Quito, bring a warm sweater and a windproof jacket even though it is July. For Paris, Prague and Zurich, light clothing, a compact umbrella and comfortable walking shoes are enough. Seattle and Calgary need both a sun hat and a rain layer. In Brisbane, think spring in the afternoon and a jacket after dark.

How we chose, and what the numbers mean

We used 20-year monthly averages from 2006 to 2025. A place made the list if its July highs were below roughly 85°F, its rain was either low or concentrated in brief showers, and its humidity stayed manageable. These are typical conditions, not a forecast, so a particular July can bring a heatwave to Paris or an unusually wet fortnight to Zurich. The good places to visit in July above are a shortlist, not a promise. Use the table to narrow down, then look at the forecast shortly before you book anything non-refundable. If you want help matching the weather to specific dates, try our trip planner. The weather figures come from the Open-Meteo archive.