What Is the Rainy Season in Portugal?

Coimbra, Portugal, the university city on the River Mondego, sits far enough inland that its rain is its own and not the Atlantic coast's: the district of Coimbra reaches the sea, but the city does not, so the climate that matters to a visitor is the one recorded at the city's own station. The figures below come from IPMA's 1991 to 2020 climate normals for station Coimbra / Bencanta, station number 707, at 40.2134N 8.4552W, 26.6 m altitude, version 1.0 of 2024. IPMA's normals for the Coimbra / Bencanta station show a year with two clear halves: a wet stretch from October to March and a dry stretch from June to September, with 866 mm of rain falling across the whole year. The short version of the answer is that the rainy season is late autumn and winter, it peaks in November, and it starts abruptly in October.

What Is the Rainy Season in Portugal?

The rainy season in Portugal runs from October through March, and in Coimbra it peaks in November, the wettest month of the year at 121.5 mm of rain, just ahead of October at 114.5 mm and January at 113.5 mm. The dry half of the year is June through September, and July, at 8.9 mm across the whole month, is effectively dry. These are IPMA's 1991 to 2020 normals for the Coimbra / Bencanta station, the city's own weather station.

The transition is not gradual, and that is the detail most guides miss. September still gets only 49.9 mm of rain, but one month later the October total jumps to 114.5 mm, more than double. The rain does not creep in through early autumn; it switches on. A visitor planning an October trip is planning a rainy-season trip, whatever the "sunny autumn" framing of most Portugal content suggests.

The other half of the year is genuinely dry, not merely drier. July averages 8.9 mm of rain over the whole month, falling on 1.7 days. June gets 26.0 mm, August 14.8 mm. For anyone whose main fear about Portugal is being rained on, the June to September window is close to a guarantee, and IPMA's table is the proof.

How Much Rain Does Each Month Get in Coimbra?

Coimbra's monthly rainfall, per IPMA's 1991 to 2020 normals for the Coimbra / Bencanta station, ranges from 8.9 mm in July to 121.5 mm in November, with 866 mm across the year. The wet months each carry roughly 75 to 115 mm, while the four driest months, June through September, together total less than a single wet month plus a bit more.

The table below is the full monthly picture, and it is worth reading closely rather than skimming, because two rows in it contradict what most people assume about Portuguese weather.

Two patterns stand out. First, November, October and January are nearly identical in total rainfall, so the rainy season is a broad plateau, not a single bad month. Second, the rain-day column tells a different story from the rainfall column: April logs 10.6 days with measurable rain but only 84.6 mm, meaning many small, passing showers, while October's 10.3 days deliver 114.5 mm, meaning heavier falls. A rainy-season day in Coimbra is often a morning of rain and a workable afternoon, not a washout.

The city's compactness helps here. Coimbra is a place where the university hill, the Baixa and the riverside all sit within a short walk of each other, and the covered arcades and café-lined streets of the lower town give a rainy hour somewhere to go. The question of whether the city works on foot comes up often, and the honest answer for a wet week is yes, with an umbrella and sensible shoes on the steep lanes.

Is September a Rainy Month in Coimbra?

September is not a rainy-season month, but it is wetter than most visitors expect: it averages 49.9 mm of rain, nearly twice June's 26.0 mm, and its mean maximum temperature of 27.4 C is actually higher than June's 26.3 C. September is warm and relatively dry, but it is both hotter and wetter than June, which is the counterintuitive truth in IPMA's table.

This is the single most-misread row in the climate data, because an earlier draft of this very site's research got it backwards. The honest framing is not that September is dry; it is that September is the last month before the rain arrives in force. The October jump from 49.9 mm to 114.5 mm is the real story, and it means late September and early October sit on either side of a sharp line.

What September actually offers is the best trade of the year: 27.4 C mean maximum, 21.9 days reaching 25 C or more, only 5.2 rain days, and the student crowds of the new academic year spread thin enough that the Biblioteca Joanina's 50-people-per-20-minute slots are easier to book. The University's own visit pages state the Joanina is capped at 50 people every 20 minutes, and that ceiling bites hardest in July and August, not September.

What Is the Wettest Month in Coimbra?

November is the wettest month in Coimbra at 121.5 mm of rain on average, marginally ahead of October at 114.5 mm and January at 113.5 mm, and it also logs the most days with measurable rain, 11.5. The wettest stretch of the year is therefore early November through mid-December, when three of the four heaviest months line up back to back.

November rain in Coimbra is steady rather than dramatic. The 11.5 days with 1 mm or more mean roughly every third day sees some rain, and the mean maximum temperature of 18.0 C means it falls as rain, never snow: the station's record low is -4.3 C on 20 January 2017, and that is the coldest reading in three decades of records.

The upside of the wettest month is real, though. November is when the city belongs to its residents, when the fado houses and the old cafés are at their most local, and when the riverside and the university hill photograph in low, atmospheric light. Anyone weighing a wet-season visit against the alternative should read what makes the city distinctive before deciding, and the answer is not weather-dependent in the way a beach destination would be.

When Is the Dry Season in Coimbra?

The dry season in Coimbra runs from June through September, with July the driest month at 8.9 mm of rain over 1.7 days and August nearly as dry at 14.8 mm. August, not July, is the hottest month, with a mean maximum of 29.1 C and 10.9 days above 30 C on average, and the station's record high is 41.2 C, set on 7 August 2016.

The dry half of the year is also the hot half, and the two facts should be planned together. IPMA's table shows June averaging 6.2 days above 30 C and August 10.9, so the "dry" months demand a midday siesta rhythm rather than a marathon sightseeing one. Coimbra's old town is steep: the climb from the Baixa up to the Paço das Escolas is the city's defining physical effort, and in August it is best done early.

For visitors who want the driest possible week, the second half of July and the first half of August are the statistical floor of the rainfall table. For visitors who want dry and survivable, late June and early September split the difference, and September's lighter crowds make it the smarter pick of the two.

What Should You Pack for Coimbra's Rainy Season?

For Coimbra's rainy season, from October to March, the essentials are a proper umbrella, waterproof shoes with grip for the steep cobblestones, and layered clothing for mean temperatures that range from 10.1 C in January to 17.6 C in October. Rain here is frequent but rarely continuous, with the wettest months averaging 10 to 11.5 rain days, so quick-dry layers matter more than heavy waterproofs.

The city's hills change the packing calculus. Wet stone paving on the lanes up to the university is slick, and the descent from the Alta to the Baixa is steep enough that flat, grippy soles are the difference between a stroll and a slide. An umbrella that survives wind matters too, because the riverside funnels gusts along the Mondego valley.

The payoffs of a rainy-season visit are the ones the dry-season crowd never sees: the Mondego running full, the Botanical Garden in its winter green, the old-town streets empty of tour groups, and the Joanina Library's timed slots, still capped at 50 people every 20 minutes per the University's own visit pages, available at short notice rather than booked out days ahead. The trade is real, and it favours travellers who pack for weather rather than hope against it.

For a first visit in any month, a guided walk is the most weather-adaptable way to see the city, because a local guide reroutes around a downpour in a way a fixed itinerary cannot. The Coimbra Top Attractions Walking Tour covers the top sights in two and a half hours at a budget price, and the operator's live listing shows current availability.

Common Questions About the Rainy Season in Portugal

What is the rainy season in Portugal?

The rainy season in Portugal runs from October through March. In Coimbra, whose figures come from IPMA's 1991 to 2020 normals for the Coimbra / Bencanta station, the wettest month is November at 121.5 mm, followed by October at 114.5 mm and January at 113.5 mm. The rain switches on abruptly in October, when the monthly total more than doubles from September's 49.9 mm.

What is the rainiest month in Portugal?

In Coimbra, November is the rainiest month at 121.5 mm, marginally ahead of October at 114.5 mm and January at 113.5 mm. November also logs the most days with measurable rain, 11.5 on average. The fuller comparison, including how the rest of the country's weather relates to the city's, is covered in the companion page on the rainiest month.

Does it rain a lot in Coimbra?

Coimbra averages 866 mm of rain per year across 94 days with 1 mm or more, per IPMA's 1991 to 2020 normals for the Coimbra / Bencanta station. That is moderate by Atlantic-European standards, but the distribution is lopsided: nearly all of it falls between October and March, while July averages just 8.9 mm over the entire month.

Is September a good month to visit Coimbra?

Yes. September averages a mean maximum of 27.4 C, higher than June's 26.3 C, with only 49.9 mm of rain and 5.2 rain days. It is wetter than June, nearly twice as wet in fact, but the autumn rain does not arrive in force until October, when the monthly total jumps to 114.5 mm. The crowds thin in September while the weather holds.

What is the driest month in Coimbra?

July is the driest month at 8.9 mm of rain over 1.7 days, effectively dry. August is close behind at 14.8 mm, but August is the hottest month, with a mean maximum of 29.1 C and 10.9 days above 30 C on average, so June and September are the more comfortable dry options.

Does it ever snow in Coimbra?

No. Rain in Coimbra falls as rain: the mean minimum temperature in the coldest month, January, is 5.2 C, and the station's record low across the 1991 to 2020 record period is -4.3 C, set on 20 January 2017. Snow is a mountain event in the Serra da Lousã inland, not a city one.

For anything beyond the weather, from what the city is actually known for to where to base yourself, the companion pages on Coimbra Travel Guide cover it, including what makes Coimbra special, how many days you need in Coimbra, and what not to miss in Coimbra once the forecast settles.