Climate and average weather in Santiago de Compostela

In Santiago de Compostela, the summers are warm, fairly dry, and mostly clear and the winters are cool and partly cloudy.

Best: early June to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Santiago de Compostela typically varies from 6°C to 23°C, and is rarely below 1°C or above 27°C. August is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Santiago de Compostela for warm-weather activities is from early June to late September.

Hottest
Aug
23°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Nov
151 mm
Driest
Jul
30 mm
Rain / yr
1184 mm
139 wet days
Daylight
8.8–15.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
257 m
42.9°N
Clearest
Aug
49% cloud

Santiago de Compostela is city in Spain.

Air quality
Good
PM2.5 9.7 µg/m³ · 2019

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Santiago de Compostela weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around early June to late September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Santiago de Compostela, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 3.6 months, from June 11 to September 26, with daily high temperatures above 20°C. The hottest month of the year in Santiago de Compostela is August, with an average high of 23°C and low of 14°C.

The cool season lasts 3.6 months, from November 18 to March 6, with daily high temperatures below 13°C. The coldest month of the year in Santiago de Compostela is January, with an average low of 6°C and high of 11°C.

Days typically run about 7°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan116
Feb126
Mar147
Apr158
May1810
Jun2012
Jul2214
Aug2314
Sep2113
Oct1811
Nov148
Dec126

Average hourly temperature in Santiago de Compostela

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on August afternoons, near 23°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Santiago de Compostela weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan11° / 14113.99.22.5
Feb12° / 10011.610.23.0
Mar14° / 10612.111.63.9
Apr15° / 11514.413.14.1
May18° / 10°9213.114.45.2
Jun20° / 12°548.715.16.5
Jul22° / 14°305.914.87.5
Aug23° / 14°447.213.87.4
Sep21° / 13°699.112.36.7
Oct18° / 11°14013.510.85.2
Nov14° / 15115.39.53.5
Dec12° / 14213.88.92.8

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Santiago de Compostela gets about 1184 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.0 months, from around Oct 6 to Mar 6, peaking in November at about 52% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 20.

November is the wettest month by volume, with 151 mm over about 15 wet days; July is the driest, with 30 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 3 · 52%Jul 20 · 16%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4514
Feb4112
Mar3912
Apr4814
May4213
Jun299
Jul196
Aug227
Sep319
Oct4514
Nov4915
Dec4514

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Santiago de Compostela collects about 1184 mm of rain across 139 wet days — roughly 99 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. November is the wettest month with 151 mm, while July is the driest at just 30 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 37% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1411001061159254304469140151142
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan14114
Feb10012
Mar10612
Apr11514
May9213
Jun549
Jul306
Aug447
Sep699
Oct14014
Nov15115
Dec14214

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Santiago de Compostela, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around June 4 and lasts for 4.1 months, ending around October 5. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 59% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 6 and lasts for 7.9 months, ending around June 3. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 70% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 26 · 61%Nov 7 · 29%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan3268
Feb3565
Mar3763
Apr3466
May3664
Jun4555
Jul5644
Aug5941
Sep4951
Oct3763
Nov3070
Dec3268

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 18, brings about 15 h 12 min of light; the shortest, around December 17, only 8 h 48 min — a swing of roughly 6 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan9.29:086:19
Feb10.28:416:56
Mar11.67:557:33
Apr13.16:598:09
May14.46:178:44
Jun15.16:009:09
Jul14.86:149:06
Aug13.86:458:31
Sep12.37:207:37
Oct10.87:556:43
Nov9.58:346:04
Dec8.99:055:56

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Santiago de Compostela averages about 8 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 5 and 13 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.2 months, from around May 29 to Oct 4. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 13 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is November, down near 5 sunny days — about 57% fewer than the August peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightAug 1013 daysNov 65 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan6Gloomy
Feb6Gloomy
Mar8Gloomy
Apr6Gloomy
May7Gloomy
Jun9Mixed
Jul12Mixed
Aug13Mixed
Sep10Mixed
Oct7Gloomy
Nov5Gloomy
Dec6Gloomy

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Santiago de Compostela, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.8 months, from around June 13 to October 5. The muggiest month is August, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 30% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 6 to June 12, and January is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 1 · 100%Aug 15 · 69%humiddrycomfortablecomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan99100
Feb100000
Mar100000
Apr98200
May861310
Jun553871
Jul2257201
Aug1952282
Sep4045150
Oct692740
Nov91800
Dec98200

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Wind in Santiago de Compostela is steady company: average speeds sit near 13 km/hlight breeze — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeJan 6 · 15 km/hSep 15 · 12 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan15light breeze
Feb14light breeze
Mar14light breeze
Apr14light breeze
May13light breeze
Jun13light breeze
Jul13light breeze
Aug12light breeze
Sep12calm
Oct13light breeze
Nov14light breeze
Dec14light breeze

Best time to visit Santiago de Compostela

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Santiago de Compostela throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around mid September, Santiago de Compostela is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Santiago de Compostela for general outdoor tourist activities is from early June to late September, with a peak score in the last week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 22 · 7.7

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan2.6poor
Feb3.0poor
Mar3.9fair
Apr4.2fair
May5.2fair
Jun6.5good
Jul7.5good
Aug7.4good
Sep6.6good
Oct5.2fair
Nov3.5poor
Dec2.8poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Santiago de Compostela for hot-weather activities is from early July to mid September, with a peak score in the last week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 27 · 5.8

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Santiago de Compostela, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around August (highs near 23°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 11°C), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In August, Santiago de Compostela sees daytime highs around 23°C and nights near 14°C. Worth packing: light clothes and sun protection. About 7 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Santiago de Compostela

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea at the nearest coast (about 47 km away) is warmest in August at about 17°C and coldest in February near 13°C.

The water stays below 20°C all year — cool enough that most swimmers want a wetsuit.

12°14°16°18°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcool
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan14Bracing
Feb13Bracing
Mar13Bracing
Apr14Bracing
May15Bracing
Jun16Cool
Jul17Cool
Aug17Cool
Sep17Cool
Oct16Cool
Nov15Cool
Dec14Bracing

UV index (midday) in Santiago de Compostela by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Santiago de Compostela peaks around July 15 at about 8 (very high) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 22 at about 1 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 8 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighVery highHighModerateLowJul 15UV 8Dec 22UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan2Low
Feb2Moderate
Mar5Moderate
Apr6High
May7High
Jun8Very high
Jul9Very high
Aug8Very high
Sep6High
Oct4Moderate
Nov2Low
Dec1Low

Average hourly UV index in Santiago de Compostela

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in July the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 5 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan00
Feb00
Mar4.50
Apr6.52
May7.53
Jun85
Jul85
Aug7.54.5
Sep60
Oct3.50
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free day

Santiago de Compostela is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan940
Feb960
Mar990
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov990
Dec960

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Santiago de Compostela banks about 1,249 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

05001,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar16
Apr45
May114
Jun187
Jul249
Aug263
Sep211
Oct134
Nov30
Dec0

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Santiago de Compostela receives about 3.9 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 1.3 and 6.4 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around Mar 18 to Sep 22. The brightest month is July, averaging about 6.3 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 1.4 kWh/m² — roughly 78% less than the July peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJul 146.4 kWhDec 251.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan1.5Dim
Feb2.5Moderate
Mar3.7Moderate
Apr4.8Bright
May5.7Bright
Jun6.3Intense
Jul6.3Intense
Aug5.5Bright
Sep4.3Bright
Oct2.7Moderate
Nov1.7Dim
Dec1.3Dim

Where is Santiago de Compostela?

Santiago de Compostela sits at 42.9°N, 8.5°W, 257 m above sea level, in Spain. The nearest listed city is Teo, 10 km away.

What Santiago de Compostela looks like

Topography around Santiago de Compostela

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Santiago de Compostela.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Santiago de Compostela has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 332 m around an average of 265 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 519 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,174 m.

The land around Santiago de Compostela is covered by trees (48%), artificial surfaces (29%) and grassland (22%) within 3 km, trees (64%) and grassland (24%) within 16 km, and trees (45%), water (30%) and grassland (21%) within 80 km.

3 km
332 m
16 km
519 m
80 km
1,174 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Teo 10 km · Ribeira 18 km · A Estrada 22 km · Vilagarcía de Arousa 36 km · Boiro 38 km · Carballo 39 km · Lalín 43 km · Culleredo 47 km

Spain travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / F
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 65% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$38,627
2025
Happiness
6.5 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
99%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
0.7
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
3.9
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 540
Religion
Roman Catholic 58%atheist 16%agnostic 11%non-believer 11%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Santiago de Compostela (42.8805°, -8.5457°, elevation 257 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).