Guide
The shoulder-season value map
Most travel advice tells you a destination's best month. This page answers the more useful question: which destinations barely get worse when you stop paying peak prices. For every place in our climate database we scored all twelve months, then compared the peak month against the best non-peak month. What follows are the forty smallest gaps.
Smallest peak-to-shoulder gap
| Destination | Peak | Go instead | Conditions | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SantoriniGreece | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 27°C · 1 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| SevilleSpain | April (10/10) | Maymid season · 10/10 | 22°C · 14 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| SantiagoChile | January (10/10) | Februarymid season · 10/10 | 22°C · 4 mm · 28 sunny days | -0 |
| ValenciaSpain | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 27°C · 23 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| MallorcaSpain | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 27°C · 13 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| AdelaideAustralia | February (10/10) | Decembermid season · 10/10 | 20°C · 22 mm · 30 sunny days | -0 |
| Gold CoastAustralia | January (10/10) | Februarymid season · 10/10 | 28°C · 15 mm · 26 sunny days | -0 |
| Cabo San LucasMexico | April (10/10) | Maymid season · 10/10 | 26°C · 0 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| MykonosGreece | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 27°C · 5 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| AntalyaTurkey | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 31°C · 10 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| BodrumTurkey | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 30°C · 1 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| Yosemite National ParkUnited States | July (10/10) | Augustmid season · 10/10 | 14°C · 30 mm · 30 sunny days | -0 |
| RhodesGreece | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 30°C · 1 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| NaxosGreece | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 27°C · 3 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| ParosGreece | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 27°C · 1 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| ZakynthosGreece | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 30°C · 2 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| MalagaSpain | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 28°C · 2 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| FaroPortugal | July (10/10) | Augustmid season · 10/10 | 26°C · 0 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| AlanyaTurkey | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 30°C · 1 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| AmmanJordan | April (10/10) | Maymid season · 10/10 | 21°C · 14 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| JerusalemIsrael | April (10/10) | Maymid season · 10/10 | 21°C · 15 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| DjerbaTunisia | July (10/10) | Augustmid season · 10/10 | 30°C · 8 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| StellenboschSouth Africa | January (10/10) | Februarymid season · 10/10 | 21°C · 22 mm · 28 sunny days | -0 |
| BarilocheArgentina | January (10/10) | Februarymid season · 10/10 | 14°C · 15 mm · 28 sunny days | -0 |
| BurgasBulgaria | July (10/10) | Augustmid season · 10/10 | 26°C · 24 mm · 28 sunny days | -0 |
| NessebarBulgaria | July (10/10) | Augustmid season · 10/10 | 26°C · 24 mm · 28 sunny days | -0 |
| SozopolBulgaria | July (10/10) | Augustmid season · 10/10 | 26°C · 24 mm · 28 sunny days | -0 |
| SarandëAlbania | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 29°C · 9 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| OdesaUkraine | July (10/10) | Augustmid season · 10/10 | 26°C · 32 mm · 26 sunny days | -0 |
| KhivaUzbekistan | April (10/10) | Maymid season · 10/10 | 22°C · 21 mm · 29 sunny days | -0 |
| AktauKazakhstan | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 26°C · 19 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| TurkmenbashiTurkmenistan | June (10/10) | Julymid season · 10/10 | 29°C · 1 mm · 31 sunny days | -0 |
| AqabaJordan | August (10/10) | Septembermid season · 10/10 | 27°C · 4 mm · 30 sunny days | -0 |
| EilatIsrael | August (10/10) | Septembermid season · 10/10 | 27°C · 4 mm · 30 sunny days | -0 |
| Itchan KalaUzbekistan | April (10/10) | Maymid season · 10/10 | 22°C · 21 mm · 29 sunny days | -0 |
| Ala Archa National ParkKyrgyzstan | July (10/10) | Augustmid season · 10/10 | 12°C · 6 mm · 28 sunny days | -0 |
| Darvaza Gas CraterTurkmenistan | April (10/10) | Maymid season · 10/10 | 22°C · 20 mm · 30 sunny days | -0 |
| Puerto MadrynArgentina | February (10/10) | Octobermid season · 10/10 | 14°C · 10 mm · 27 sunny days | -0 |
| PucónChile | January (10/10) | Februarymid season · 10/10 | 16°C · 8 mm · 28 sunny days | -0 |
| AgadirMorocco | May (10/10) | Junemid season · 10/10 | 25°C · 7 mm · 30 sunny days | -0 |
How to use this
A gap of 0.2 means the shoulder month is effectively indistinguishable from the peak in climate terms — those are the trips to move first. A gap near 1.2 means a real, if modest, trade-off: usually a few degrees cooler or one extra rainy day a week. Open any destination to see the full twelve-month breakdown and what each month actually feels like.
Frequently asked questions
- What is shoulder season?
- The weeks either side of a destination's peak, when the weather is still workable but demand has dropped. It is destination-specific: Santorini's shoulder is May and October, Bali's is May and September, Quebec City's is late September. There is no universal shoulder month.
- How much weather do you give up in shoulder season?
- On this list, at most 1.2 points out of 10 versus the destination's own peak month — and for the top entries under 0.3. That is the point of ranking by the gap rather than by price: the destinations at the top are the ones where travelling off-peak costs you almost nothing in conditions.
- How are the price tiers decided?
- Each month is tagged low, mid or peak for that destination based on its own demand pattern, so a mid-tier month in an expensive city is not compared against a mid-tier month in a cheap one. Only non-peak months are eligible for this list.
More guides: all guides