Best Time to Go to Los Angeles: A Guide by Goal

The best time to go to Los Angeles depends on what you want from the trip. Spring and fall give mild days and little rain. Summer gives the warmest beach days and the highest hotel prices. Winter is cooler and wetter, and it is a good season for whales. This guide uses the National Weather Service averages for downtown Los Angeles from 1991 to 2020, so every number below is an average and not a forecast.

What is the best time to go to Los Angeles for each goal?

Match your goal to the months in this table, and you have your answer. The weather numbers are the downtown averages from NOAA's monthly climate normals.

Key Takeaway For most visitors the best months are April, May, October and November, with highs between 72.4°F and 78.6°F and under 0.8 inches of rain a month.

What is Los Angeles like in spring, from March to May?

Spring is mild and gets drier every month. Downtown averages a 69.9°F high in March, 72.4°F in April and 73.7°F in May. Rain drops from 2.23 inches in March to 0.69 in April and 0.32 in May.

April and May are the easy choice if you want to be outside all day. Nights are cool at 54.8°F to 58.1°F, so pack a light jacket for the evening. March can still bring a wet day, so keep one indoor plan ready.

Spring is also the end of the gray whale season. NOAA says gray whales can be seen migrating north along the West Coast from mid-February to May. The whale section below shows how to plan a trip around that.

What is Los Angeles like in summer, from June to September?

Summer is the warmest and driest season, and it is the best time for beach days. The average high is 77.2°F in June, 82.0°F in July, 84.0°F in August and 83.0°F in September. Rain is close to zero, from 0.00 inches in August to 0.13 in September.

Days are long and the ocean is the plan. A good example is the Santa Monica group surf lesson, a 2-hour lesson with board and wetsuit, from €66.76 per person. It is run by Cali-Adventures.com and meets at 20 Bicknell Ave in Santa Monica. The listing says children under 12 are not suitable, and it showed free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead for a full refund on 22 October 2026. Read its own terms before you book. The listing says it is for up to 12 people, and tips are not included. It is rated 4.8 from 530 reviews on GetYourGuide. The lesson includes the instructor, an 8 or 9 foot board, a wetsuit and storage, and the listing says it suits beginner and intermediate surfers.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 22 October 2026.

Is the lesson worth it, or should you try on your own? Do it on your own if you only want sand and sun, because the beach is free. Book the lesson if you want to stand on a board, since the €66.76 includes the board, a wetsuit and an instructor. Renting gear and learning alone would be a guess.

If you would rather not take a lesson, the free sand at Santa Monica and Venice Beach works on any summer day. We did not find an official ocean temperature, so we do not give one. Expect it to feel cooler than the air. Traffic is worst on weekday freeways. The Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board puts the morning rush at roughly 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and the evening rush at around 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and later, in its guide to driving in Los Angeles. Leave for the coast outside those hours, and call the real-time highway conditions line, 800.427.7623, before you go.

Pro Tip Book hotels earlier for July and August. In our price data these are the most expensive months, so a flexible date can save more than any other change.

What is Los Angeles like in fall, from October to November?

Fall is warm in October and mild in November, with rain still light. The average high is 78.6°F in October and 72.9°F in November. Rain is 0.58 inches in October and 0.78 in November, a little more than the summer months.

Fall is a very good time for a first visit. You get beach weather early in the season and cooler sightseeing days later. Hotels are also cheaper than in summer, as the price section below shows. We found no tour prices by season. Each tour here shows one "from" price as of 22 October 2026, so we cannot say if tours cost less in the off season.

What is Los Angeles like in winter, from December to February?

Winter is the coolest and wettest season, but it is still mild. Highs are 67.4°F in December and 68.0°F in both January and February. Lows fall to between 48.2°F and 50.0°F.

Rain is the main thing to plan around. February averages 3.64 inches, January 3.29 and December 2.48. Those three months bring most of the year's 14.25 inches. After rain, beaches can carry water quality warnings, so check before you swim.

Winter is a good season if you care more about price than sun, and it suits indoor sights and whale watching. For a day-by-day look at January, see the month-by-month weather table in our January weather guide.

The best month to visit Los Angeles is the one that matches the plan you made, not the one with the nicest average.

When are hotels cheapest in Los Angeles?

Yes, hotels in Los Angeles are cheaper in the off season: late fall and winter cost the least and summer the most. Price changes the answer to whether Los Angeles is expensive to visit, because the same room costs more in the busy months. In the 2026 Los Angeles Travel Cost Study, the median price of a 4-star hotel room per night for two adults on Google Hotels, read in October 2026, was $119 in November, the cheapest month, and $160 in July, the priciest.

So yes, Los Angeles is cheaper in the off season for hotels: November is the cheapest month and July the priciest. No official page gives tour prices by season, so we cannot say the same for tours. The gap between the cheap and the busy months is the main reason to avoid July and August if your budget is tight. See our guide on where to stay in Los Angeles to compare areas once you pick a month.

How crowded is Los Angeles by month?

Summer is the busiest season for hotels, with July the priciest month in our price data, but no official source counts visitors month by month, so we cannot give a beach crowd level. Hotels cost the most in July and August, and November to January is the quietest stretch. No official page gives a beach crowd number for summer, so we cannot rate the beaches. The only crowd fact we can state is for roads: summer or not, weekday freeways are busiest from about 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., per the tourism board.

Crowds also depend on the place and the day. Popular spots like the beaches are busier on dry weekends, and rain days push people toward museums and studios. We did not confirm an official crowd calendar for Universal Studios Hollywood, Disneyland or other attractions, and each operator publishes its own on its own site.

When is the best time to see whales near Los Angeles?

Whale watching near Los Angeles runs all year, and the best time depends on which whale you want. Harbor Breeze says it runs whale and dolphin trips every day of the year, and it lists a winter gray whale season and a summer blue whale season on its Long Beach whale watching page. It does not say which months count as winter or summer.

NOAA gives the timing for gray whales. It says that in the fall, gray whales migrate south, and that from mid-February to May they can be seen migrating north along the U.S. West Coast, in its gray whale profile. For blue whales, NOAA says they likely feed during summer off the West Coast.

Our count of GetYourGuide listings on 22 October 2026 found 8 whale watching trips near Los Angeles, from €32.63 to €195 per person.

The Long Beach whale and dolphin watching cruise lasts 2.5 hours, from €42.73 per person. The operator is Harbor Breeze, and the listing says educators from the Aquarium of the Pacific are on board. The listing showed free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead for a full refund on 22 October 2026. The operator is the company that runs the boat, so read its own terms before you book. The meeting point may vary with the option you choose, according to the listing, so check it before you go. The listing gives no group size. It is rated 4.5 from 1,049 reviews on GetYourGuide. The trip includes educators, a crew with 30 years of experience, inside and outside seating and toilets, and the listing says the boat is wheelchair accessible and that its Long Beach ticket booth validates parking, although parking itself is not included. Food, drinks, tips and parking are not included.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 22 October 2026.

If you prefer a smaller boat, the Newport Beach whale watching adventure takes up to 15 people on a 2-hour cruise, from €75.22 per person. It is run by Newport Landing Cruises and meets at 309 Palm St in Newport Beach, south of Los Angeles. The listing says children under 5 are not suitable. It also showed free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead for a full refund on 22 October 2026. It is rated 4.9 from 329 reviews on GetYourGuide. Binocular rental and drinks cost extra, and the listing says pregnant women and people with back problems should not book it.

Is a whale tour worth it, or should you go on your own? Whales swim out at sea, so a boat is the practical way to see them. Whale tours show their own price, so there is no cheaper off-season fare to wait for in our data. Pick the bigger boat for the lower price, or the 15-person boat if you want a smaller group.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 22 October 2026.

Once you know your season, the guide to long beach whale watching shows how the trips compare.

What are the limits of this guide?

The numbers are 30-year averages from one downtown station, so a single year can be much wetter, drier or hotter, and the coast, valleys and mountains differ from downtown. The tourism board describes "abundant sunshine" but publishes no count of sunny days, and we did not confirm one. We also did not confirm an ocean temperature, a visitor count by month or a date range for the summer and winter whale seasons that the operator names. The hotel figures come from one reading of Google Hotels and show asking prices, not what every guest paid.