According to Lifeguin’s travel calendar, the best time to visit South Africa is May to September and December to February. Plan 10–14 days.
Best months for South Africa
- JanuaryBest
- FebruaryBest
- March
- April
- MayBest
- JuneBest
- JulyBest
- AugustBest
- SeptemberBest
- October
- November
- DecemberBest
- Best months
- May to September and December to February
- How long to stay
- 10–14 days
- Continent
- Africa
What South Africa is best for
Big Five safaris in Kruger, scenic Garden Route drives, Cape Town, Drakensberg hiking, and Winelands dining.
- Prices
- € · cheaper than in Slovakia
Weather in South Africa by month
Monthly averages around Cape Town; the mountains and other regions can differ a lot.
| Month | Average temperature | Rain |
|---|---|---|
| January best | about 20 °C | little rain (12 mm) |
| February best | about 20 °C | little rain (9 mm) |
| March | about 19 °C | little rain (18 mm) |
| April | about 18 °C | some rain (36 mm) |
| May best | about 16 °C | some rain (48 mm) |
| June best | about 15 °C | some rain (90 mm) |
| July best | about 14 °C | some rain (78 mm) |
| August best | about 14 °C | some rain (75 mm) |
| September best | about 15 °C | some rain (39 mm) |
| October | about 16 °C | some rain (30 mm) |
| November | about 17 °C | some rain (30 mm) |
| December best | about 19 °C | little rain (12 mm) |
Sources: what a place is best for — our own travel guides and, for places we have not written about yet, research done with the help of AI (Google Gemini); weather — NASA POWER climate averages; prices — World Bank price levels (CC BY 4.0).
Good to know about South Africa
- Capitals
- Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein
- Languages
- English, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans and 8 more
- Currency
- South African Rand (ZAR)
- Time
- UTC+2
- Plugs
- Type C, D, N · 230 V
- Driving
- On the left
- Calling code
- +27
Sources: Wikidata, Unicode CLDR and the IANA time zone database.
We haven’t written about South Africa yet.