Monthly Climate
Menu

Best time to visit Kota Kinabalu

February is the best time to visit Kota Kinabalu for general sightseeing, with average highs of 28 °C and about 18 wet days.

It depends what you are going for

One month rarely wins on everything. These are the best months on each measure taken on its own.

If you want Best month On that measure
Sightseeing and walking February comfort 55/100
A beach holiday February sea 27 °C
The least cloud March 72 % average cloud cover
The least rain February 159 mm
Warmth May 29 °C
Cooler weather January 28 °C

Ranked by comfort

# Month Comfort / 100 Avg high Wet days Beach
1 February 55 28 °C 18 74
2 January 52 28 °C 22 73
3 December 51 28 °C 27 70
4 October 51 28 °C 28 68
5 November 51 28 °C 28 68
6 March 50 29 °C 21 73
7 September 50 29 °C 22 66
8 July 49 29 °C 20 65
9 August 49 29 °C 20 65
10 June 48 29 °C 22 64
11 April 48 29 °C 25 68
12 May 47 29 °C 25 64

For a beach holiday

February scores highest, with a sea temperature of 27 °C and air temperatures around 28 °C. The sea never reaches 20 °C here.

Month Sea Air Sunshine Beach score
January 28 °C 28 °C 81 % 73
February 27 °C 28 °C 76 % 74
March 28 °C 29 °C 72 % 73
April 29 °C 29 °C 73 % 68
May 30 °C 29 °C 83 % 64
June 30 °C 29 °C 86 % 64
July 30 °C 29 °C 86 % 65
August 30 °C 29 °C 85 % 65
September 30 °C 29 °C 86 % 66
October 30 °C 28 °C 88 % 68
November 29 °C 28 °C 86 % 68
December 29 °C 28 °C 85 % 70

When to think twice

May scores lowest with about 25 wet days and highs near 29 °C. That does not make it a bad month — it depends entirely on what you are travelling for. The numbers are all here; the judgement is yours.

The full year

Month Avg high Rainfall Cloud
January 28.0 °C 221 mm 81 %
February 28.2 °C 159 mm 76 %
March 28.8 °C 169 mm 72 %
April 29.3 °C 194 mm 73 %
May 29.4 °C 237 mm 83 %
June 29.3 °C 218 mm 86 %
July 29.1 °C 188 mm 86 %
August 29.3 °C 195 mm 85 %
September 29.0 °C 197 mm 86 %
October 28.3 °C 277 mm 88 %
November 28.2 °C 282 mm 86 %
December 28.1 °C 277 mm 85 %

Data sources and method

Normal period
1991–2020
Dataset version
era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: comfort score, beach score, season boundaries. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.