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Best Time to Visit Las Vegas

Month-by-month weather, crowds, costs, and activities — find your perfect travel window.

Best months October, and March to April
October is the one month the city and the desert around it are both at their best: 27°C days, dry skies and the low light that makes the red rock country an hour outside worth the drive. March and April are the near-equal alternative earlier in the year, cooler for hiking and warm enough for the pools to open. Both are peak-priced, and October is expensive for conventions rather than holidays, which reverses the usual midweek advice.
<5° 5–12° 12–18° 18–24° 24–30° 30°+ Recommended months

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October, and the numbers are not close. Afternoons average 27°C, nights sit near 15°C, rain runs to about two days and the monsoon is finished, which makes it the one month where the city and the desert around it are both at their best. April is the near-equal alternative in the first half of the year, and March is better still if the trip is really about hiking. The honest counterweight is that October is expensive for an unusual reason: a heavy convention calendar rather than a holiday one, which means midweek is exactly when the delegates are here and the weekend can be the cheaper booking. If value matters more than comfort, late January, February and the second half of August are the cheapest stretches the city sells, and each is cheap for a different reason.

Las Vegas Month by Month

MonthTemperatureRainy DaysCrowdsBudget / DayBest For
January5–15°C3 daysMedium-High$140–400Hikers, Live Music & Solo Travellers
February7–17°C4 daysMedium$120–320Couples, Nightlife & Deal Hunters
March10–22°C3 daysHigh$170–450Hikers, Groups & Live Music
April14–26°C2 daysHigh$165–430Couples, Families & Photographers
May19–31°C1 dayHigh$160–430Festivals, Nightlife & Groups
June24–37°C0 daysMedium-High$130–340Pool Season, Couples & Nightlife
July28–40°C3 daysMedium$115–290Families, Nightlife & Deal Hunters
August27–39°C2 daysMedium$110–285Solo Travellers, Food & Nightlife
September22–35°C2 daysMedium$120–310Pool Season, Deal Hunters & Couples
October15–27°C2 daysHigh$170–440Hikers, Photographers & Food
November9–20°C2 daysMedium-High$145–380Hikers, Culture & Solo Travellers
December4–14°C3 daysHigh$165–480Families, Live Music & Festivals

How to Choose Your Month

If you want the sweet spot

October. It holds 27°C days and 15°C nights with the driest sky of the year behind it, the red rock country an hour outside the city is at its peak, and walking the Strip after dark is pleasant rather than an ordeal. The one adjustment is to check the convention schedule before fixing dates, because it drives the rate card more than the weather does.

If you want the desert

March, or November. March is cooler for a long trail and occasionally leaves the desert briefly green after a wet winter; November is quieter and just as comfortable, with the trade being much shorter daylight. Both beat October on solitude and lose to it on light.

If you want the best value

The second half of August, or late January. August empties as the American school year restarts and the last ten days are among the quietest on the Strip. Late January is the fortnight after the technology convention leaves, and it is the cheapest comfortable week of the year rather than the cheapest week outright.

If you want the pool

May through September, with May and September as the value ends of it. The dayclub season runs at full strength through the summer, which is the one thing Las Vegas does better in July than in any other month. Everything else about July is worse.

If you want the city at maximum spectacle

The last week of December. The resorts compete on holiday displays, the Strip closes to traffic on New Year’s Eve and the fireworks launch from several casino rooftops at once. It is also the most expensive week the city sells, and it is cold enough that dressing for the photographs rather than the temperature is a real mistake.

If you want to avoid crowds entirely

Midweek in mid-February, or the fortnight after the January convention. The weekend-to-midweek gap in Las Vegas is larger than the gap between most months, so choosing the right day of the week does more work than choosing the right season. October is the exception, where the pattern reverses.

Skip these windows for price and crowds: Avoid July and August if any part of the plan is outdoors, and avoid the desert entirely in those months beyond first light. Beyond the heat, four specific stretches are worth planning around rather than into: the first full week of January, when the technology convention fills the city and lifts rates several times over; the middle weekend of March, when the college basketball tournament fills every sportsbook in town; Thanksgiving week in late November; and the Christmas to New Year stretch, which is the most expensive week of the year and the one where nearly everything worth eating at moves to a fixed menu. None of those weeks is bad in itself. They are simply weeks where you pay a great deal for a city that is busier than usual.

Worst Time to Visit Las Vegas

July, and the figure that matters is a mean rather than a record.

The average daily high is 40°C. That is not the hottest day of a typical July, it is the ordinary one, so a run of afternoons above forty is a normal month rather than a heatwave. The overnight low sits near 28°C, which means the city does not cool between days and the early-morning walk that rescues most hot destinations does not work here.

The dryness makes it worse rather than better in one specific way. Humidity is low enough that sweat evaporates before you notice it, so the discomfort that normally tells a person to stop and drink arrives late or not at all. Heat exhaustion in Las Vegas tends to surprise people who did not feel especially hot.

When it is still worth going. July is the cheapest month of the year and the discount is real, not cosmetic. If the trip is a pool, a show and a dining room, the city is built precisely for that and the heat is something you cross between air-conditioned spaces rather than something you endure. It is only the wrong month if you wanted to be outdoors, and no amount of planning changes that.

Las Vegas Season by Season

March – May

Spring

Spring is the best weather Las Vegas gets and the most expensive way to buy it, which is not a coincidence. The season opens at a comfortable 22°C in March and closes at 31°C in late May, so it is a window closing rather than a plateau.

For anyone who came for the desert, the early part is the peak of the year: cool enough for a long trail, and briefly green after a wet winter. The city half of the season peaks later, as the pools open through April and the dayclub calendar arrives.

The one complaint the season reliably earns is wind. March and April are the breeziest months here, and an afternoon that feels mild in the shade can be genuinely unpleasant on an exposed ridge.

June – August

Summer

Summer is the season the city was engineered around. Afternoons run from 37°C in June to 40°C in July, the nights barely drop below 27°C, and almost everything on offer happens indoors, underground or in water.

What it buys is money. This is the cheapest stretch of the Las Vegas year, because the weather does the work a low season usually needs a recession for, and the pool scene it produces is genuinely the best in the country.

September – November

Autumn

Autumn is a window opening, which makes it the mirror of spring rather than its equivalent. September is still summer in everything but name at 35°C, and the heat usually breaks somewhere in its last ten days.

What follows is the best month of the year. October brings 27°C days, a dry sky and the low light that makes the red rock country an hour outside the city photograph the way it never does in July.

November settles quieter and cooler, mild by day and genuinely cold after dark, and it is arguably the better hiking month of the two. The trade is daylight: by the end of it, an afternoon on a trail needs watching.

December – February

Winter

Winter is the season Las Vegas is pleasant to be outside in, which after forty degrees is not a small claim. Days reach about 15°C, nights fall to 5°C, and the dry air makes the evenings feel sharper than the number suggests.

It also contains the widest price swing of the year, sometimes a fortnight apart. The Christmas to New Year stretch and the first half of January are the most expensive days the city sells; the weeks either side of them are among the cheapest.

Events Worth Planning Around

The dated reasons to pick one month over another. Each has its own page with where to watch, what it costs and how to get there.

Seasonal Guides

Browse Every Month

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the best time to visit Las Vegas?

October, on the numbers, and it is not a close call. Afternoons average 27°C with nights near 15°C and about two days of rain, which is the best combination the Las Vegas year produces, and the desert around the city is at its peak at the same time. April is the near-equal alternative in the first half of the year. Both are peak-priced, and October is expensive for an unusual reason: conventions rather than holidays.

What is the worst time to visit Las Vegas?

July, and the number that matters is a mean rather than a record. The average daily high is 40°C, so a run of afternoons above forty is an ordinary July. Nights hold near 28°C, so the city never cools between days. It is only genuinely the wrong month if you wanted to be outdoors: July is also the cheapest month of the year, and for a pool, a show and a dining room the city is built precisely for it.

What is the cheapest month to visit Las Vegas?

July and August are the cheapest outright, and the second half of August is the best of them because the American school year restarts and the Strip empties. If you want cheap and comfortable rather than cheap and forty degrees, the answer is the fortnight after the January technology convention leaves, or midweek in mid-February.

Is Las Vegas cheaper midweek?

Substantially, and the weekend-to-midweek gap is larger than the gap between most months, so choosing the right day does more work than choosing the right season. October is the exception and it reverses the rule: the month is expensive because of its convention calendar, which means midweek is exactly when the city is full and the weekend can be the better rate.

When is the best time to hike near Las Vegas?

March, October and November, with March the coolest for a long trail and October the best for light. Red Rock Canyon sits about 27 kilometres west and Valley of Fire roughly 80 kilometres north-east, and both are comfortable in those months and dangerous in July. In winter the limit is daylight rather than heat: the sun goes early and desert temperatures fall fast once it does.

How much does the room rate actually cost in Las Vegas?

More than the rate you booked, and predictably so. Almost every property on the Strip adds a compulsory resort fee per night that the advertised price excludes, and room tax runs at 13.38% inside the main resort corridor. On a cheap summer rate those two together are a large proportion of the total, which is why a July booking often looks better before checkout than after it.

What is the worst time to visit Las Vegas?

July, and the figure that matters is a mean rather than a record. The average daily high is 40°C. That is not the hottest day of a typical July, it is the ordinary one, so a run of afternoons above forty is a normal month rather than a heatwave. The overnight low sits near 28°C, which means the city does not cool between days and the early-morning walk that rescues most hot destinations does not work here.

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