Kilimanjaro

Choosing Your Season for Kilimanjaro

Published August 18, 2026

What Is the Best Time to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro?

Because Mount Kilimanjaro sits so close to the equator, the area has no extreme winter or summer. Instead it cycles between dry and wet seasons, so the warmest, driest months generally make the best window for a climb. Safety is always the main concern, since the risks of climbing rise sharply when the weather turns bad. Rain, mud, snow, ice, and cold can take a heavy toll on the body, and good weather also improves your odds of reaching the summit. The trade-off is that the mountain sees more foot traffic during these periods.

The table below shows how temperature, cloudiness, precipitation, and crowds compare from month to month.

Month	Temperature	Precipitation	Cloudiness	Crowds
January	Warm	Medium	Low	High
February	Warm	Medium	Low	High
March	Moderate	High	Medium	Low
April	Moderate	High	High	Low
May	Moderate	High	High	Low
June	Cold	Medium	Medium	Medium
July	Cold	Medium	Low	High
August	Cold	Low	Low	High
September	Moderate	Low	Low	High
October	Moderate	Low	Medium	Medium
November	Moderate	High	Medium	Low
December	Moderate	Medium	Medium	Medium

Recommended

Good

OK

Not Recommended

You can climb Kilimanjaro all year, but it is wiser to go when precipitation is least likely. The dry seasons run from the beginning of December to the beginning of March, and again from late June to the end of October. These stretches offer the best weather, which also makes them the busiest months (high season). We schedule our group climbs to line up with the dry season.

January through mid-March brings the warmest months, with clear skies in the mornings and evenings. Clouds and brief showers can roll in during the day. The long rainy season lasts from the end of March to early June. We do not recommend climbing then unless you are an experienced backpacker who has trekked in similar conditions, because it can get very wet and heavy clouds may limit visibility. On the plus side, the crowds are gone. From mid-June to the end of October the mountain is usually a little colder but drier. The short rainy season stretches from the beginning of November to the beginning of December, with afternoon rains common and clear skies in the mornings and evenings.

Keep in mind that the rains are unpredictable and can arrive early or linger past their usual dates. You might get mostly dry weather during the rainy season, and you might just as easily meet heavy rain during the dry season.

Some climbers like to summit under a full moon.

Seeing the summit of Kilimanjaro and its magnificent glaciers lit by a full moon is an absolutely breathtaking sight, and that alone leads some climbers to time their trek around this monthly event. There is a practical reason too: a bright moon and a clear sky improve your visibility all the way up, and above all during the summit attempt.

Here are the full moon dates:

Month	2020	2021	2022	2023
January	10	28	18	7
February	9	27	16	5
March	9	28	18	7
April	8	27	16	6
May	7	26	16	5
June	5	24	14	4
July	5	24	13	3
August	3	22	12	1, 31
September	2	21	10	29
October	2, 31	20	9	28
November	30	19	8	27
December	30	19	8	27

If you want to summit on a full moon, a 7-day climb should begin 5 days before the full moon date. You do not need to reach the top on the exact date to benefit from the moonlight, since summiting the day before or the day after helps as well. Every month during the dry season we run several group climbs with full moon summits, and these dates are usually the first to fill up, well in advance.

If you would rather have a quieter climb, skip the full moon altogether, because those dates draw many climbers. Another way to dodge the crowds is to start on an "off" day. Most climbers set out on a Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, on routes lasting 6 to 7 days. Many of our clients climb with the full moon and many without, and they are equally happy with either itinerary.

Go whenever you like, but go sooner rather than later.

Mount Kilimanjaro is special because, even though it lies so near the equator, it wears a crown of ice. Its glaciers have been here for more than 11,000 years. They once reached a depth of over 300 feet (100 m) and stretched 6,500 feet (2,000 m) out from the summit. Global warming and long-term climatic cycles, however, have been vaporizing the ice at an alarming rate, and some scientists estimate that the ice cap on Mount Kilimanjaro will be gone completely by 2050. If you are thinking about the climb, do yourself a favor and make it sooner rather than later, because the glaciers are something you do not want to miss.