Monthly Climate
Menu

Best beach destinations in Africa in January: ranked by beach score

Berbera tops the list at 100 /100 in January. Ranked from 1991–2020 climate normals across 50 destinations in Africa.

Top three in January: Berbera (100 /100) , El Dibir (98 /100) , Freetown (98 /100) . Between first and 50th place the beach score differs by 21 /100.

# Destination Country Beach score Avg high Avg low Rainfall Wet days Sunshine Sea temp
1 Berbera Somalia 100 /100 27 °C 21 °C 6 mm 1 340 h 26 °C
2 El Dibir Somalia 98 /100 26 °C 22 °C 14 mm 3 340 h 26 °C
3 Freetown Sierra Leone 98 /100 28 °C 25 °C 13 mm 3 335 h 28 °C
4 Mossamedes Angola 98 /100 28 °C 21 °C 19 mm 3 366 h 24 °C
5 Praia Cabo Verde 96 /100 25 °C 20 °C 4 mm 1 316 h 24 °C
6 Conakry Guinea 96 /100 30 °C 23 °C 3 mm 1 333 h 28 °C
7 Mogadishu Somalia 95 /100 31 °C 24 °C 7 mm 1 361 h 27 °C
8 Benguela Angola 94 /100 29 °C 24 °C 40 mm 6 338 h 26 °C
9 Kismayo Somalia 93 /100 31 °C 25 °C 15 mm 1 353 h 27 °C
10 Sumbe Angola 93 /100 29 °C 24 °C 47 mm 6 314 h 26 °C
11 Port Sudan Sudan 93 /100 26 °C 19 °C 18 mm 6 298 h 26 °C
12 Serekunda Gambia 92 /100 29 °C 20 °C 2 mm 0 325 h 22 °C
13 Banjul Gambia 90 /100 30 °C 20 °C 2 mm 0 325 h 22 °C
14 Dakar Senegal 90 /100 26 °C 20 °C 2 mm 0 324 h 21 °C
15 Matuga Kenya 90 /100 30 °C 24 °C 26 mm 5 358 h 28 °C
16 Djibouti Djibouti 90 /100 27 °C 22 °C 30 mm 8 329 h 27 °C
17 Rufisque Senegal 90 /100 29 °C 19 °C 2 mm 0 324 h 21 °C
18 Ashaiman Ghana 88 /100 32 °C 25 °C 17 mm 4 338 h 27 °C
19 Bissau Guinea-Bissau 88 /100 33 °C 21 °C 0 mm 0 329 h 25 °C
20 Manéah Guinea 88 /100 32 °C 21 °C 3 mm 1 331 h 28 °C
21 Mombasa Kenya 87 /100 31 °C 25 °C 29 mm 6 355 h 28 °C
22 Abomey-Calavi Benin 87 /100 30 °C 25 °C 25 mm 7 335 h 28 °C
23 Ramiros Angola 87 /100 30 °C 25 °C 45 mm 8 335 h 27 °C
24 Jamestown Saint Helena 87 /100 23 °C 22 °C 5 mm 1 390 h 23 °C
25 Cotonou Benin 86 /100 29 °C 25 °C 30 mm 8 337 h 28 °C
26 Accra Ghana 86 /100 31 °C 25 °C 26 mm 7 335 h 27 °C
27 Dubréka Guinea 86 /100 33 °C 22 °C 3 mm 1 331 h 28 °C
28 Lomé Togo 86 /100 31 °C 25 °C 24 mm 6 340 h 27 °C
29 Saint-Louis Senegal 86 /100 28 °C 18 °C 3 mm 0 319 h 20 °C
30 Mbour Senegal 85 /100 31 °C 18 °C 2 mm 0 323 h 21 °C
31 Thiès Nones Senegal 85 /100 30 °C 18 °C 2 mm 0 323 h 21 °C
32 Lekki Nigeria 84 /100 30 °C 25 °C 30 mm 8 337 h 28 °C
33 Luanda Angola 84 /100 31 °C 24 °C 45 mm 8 335 h 27 °C
34 Thiès Senegal 82 /100 31 °C 17 °C 2 mm 0 323 h 21 °C
35 Ajegunle Nigeria 82 /100 31 °C 24 °C 32 mm 8 338 h 28 °C
36 Jomvu Kenya 82 /100 32 °C 24 °C 31 mm 6 355 h 28 °C
37 Nouakchott Mauritania 82 /100 27 °C 16 °C 2 mm 0 313 h 19 °C
38 East London South Africa 81 /100 26 °C 20 °C 76 mm 11 336 h 24 °C
39 Porto-Novo Benin 81 /100 31 °C 24 °C 30 mm 8 336 h 28 °C
40 Sekondi Ghana 81 /100 29 °C 25 °C 42 mm 11 330 h 27 °C
41 Kariega South Africa 81 /100 27 °C 18 °C 40 mm 7 364 h 21 °C
42 Somerset West South Africa 80 /100 27 °C 17 °C 22 mm 4 417 h 19 °C
43 Zanzibar Tanzania 80 /100 30 °C 26 °C 44 mm 9 359 h 28 °C
44 Mulenvos Angola 80 /100 32 °C 24 °C 50 mm 9 333 h 27 °C
45 Takoradi Ghana 79 /100 30 °C 24 °C 44 mm 11 330 h 27 °C
46 KwaDukuza South Africa 79 /100 28 °C 21 °C 105 mm 13 312 h 25 °C
47 Cape Coast Ghana 79 /100 30 °C 24 °C 40 mm 11 327 h 27 °C
48 Hurghada Egypt 79 /100 20 °C 13 °C 2 mm 0 305 h 23 °C
49 Durban South Africa 79 /100 27 °C 22 °C 93 mm 13 319 h 25 °C
50 Ebute Ikorodu Nigeria 79 /100 32 °C 24 °C 32 mm 8 336 h 28 °C

Monthly values for the month named in the ranking; only destinations with a published climate page are ranked. Download this ranking as CSV.

The same ranking one month earlier and later

December: top 5

  1. Praia 99 /100
  2. Berbera 99 /100
  3. Dakar 99 /100
  4. Mossamedes 98 /100
  5. Serekunda 97 /100

Full ranking for December

February: top 5

  1. Berbera 100 /100
  2. El Dibir 100 /100
  3. Port Sudan 100 /100
  4. Freetown 99 /100
  5. Mossamedes 98 /100

Full ranking for February

How this ranking is built

What is ranked
Our 0–100 beach score (formula on the methodology page), in January, highest first.
Period
1991–2020 climate normals: the same 30 years for every destination, so the list compares like with like.
Who is included
50 destinations in Africa with a published climate page. Neighbouring places that share a climate series are shown once.
Ties
Equal values are ordered by sea temperature.
Sources
ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis via Open-Meteo; sea temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1. Measured values are reproduced unchanged; only the ordering and the score is ours.

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: ranking order, beach and comfort scores. 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.