What feels like both a million years ago and just yesterday, we lived in Cairo, Egypt for a year. (That’s us two cuties - far left and far right - and our dear, late friend Troy in Giza in front of the pyramids in 2000 with our guides. I guess white socks were a thing then). We moved to Cairo from Phoenix, Arizona. Both cities are located in deserts, have notoriously huge dust storms, mild winters, and little rain fall. But we were incredibly surprised to find that Phoenix was significantly hotter than Cairo. And that’s gotten worse over time.
I highly recommend the BBC’s Why 'best time to visit' no longer applies. It discusses that what were once considered peak or ideal seasons are becoming less reliable. Travelers are now needing to be more flexible, adjusting itineraries based on evolving weather trends—like unpredictable rainfall, shifting monsoons, challenges with air quality, or unexpected temperature swings—and preparing for more dynamic planning rather than relying on historical patterns or deals published by travel companies. “Stanford researchers, for instance, have found that warming trends may be making even short-term predictions less dependable. Why then, is this reality often missing from travel advice and planning?”
Excellent question. Something we are certainly paying more attention to as we plan our own full time travels. In the spirit of trying to share the best information to help you with your own travel planning, here are places we are interested in traveling to (mainly capital cities, but you can extrapolate from there for other locations) when the weather is in the 75 degree range in January, February, and March. We’ve also included how these cities rank according to Travel & Leisure’s 25 Favorite Cities in the World.
Does this mean that our list avoids rainy/monsoon seasons, air quality issues, and other weather/climate/quality of life issues? We’ve tried to account for those, but they also seem to be shifting all of the time and what is ok for us may not be ok for you. So be sure to check the latest when you make your own travel plans.
And are we taking our own advice? Yes! We will spend November and December in Chiang Mai and Bangkok and may extend through January. And we will be back in Mexico in February to finalize our permanent residence visas.
A note on the maps - I love these maps! But they aren’t ours and they were published a few years ago. Credit goes to the Lastminute.com who originally created and posted them. The information in the charts below the maps was created by us and well researched. So if you find a discrepancy, please default to the charts.
And a second note - pardon the wonky formatting below… Substack does not do tables or lists well.
January
City Country High, Low, or Shoulder Season
Mendoza Argentina High
Canberra Australia High
Sydney Australia High
Nassau Bahamas High
Siem Reap Cambodia High
Havana Cuba High
Mumbai India High
Agra India High
Luang Prabang Laos High
Vang Vieng Laos High
Merida (T&L #25) Mexico High
Oaxaca (T&L #21) Mexico High
Puerto Vallarta Mexico High
Windhoek Namibia Low
Muscat Oman High
Jeddah Saudi Arabia High
Cape Town (T&L #17) South Africa High
Johannesburg South Africa High
Chiang Mai (T&L #2) Thailand High
Abu Dhabi UAE High
Dubai UAE High
Miami, Florida United States High
Key West, Florida United States High
Montevideo Uruguay High
Danang Vietnam Low
Hoi An (T&L #6) Vietnam Shoulder
Lusaka Zambia Low
Harare Zimbabwe Low
February
City Country High, Low, or Shoulder Season
Sydney Australia High
Nassau Bahamas High
Santiago Chile High
Jaipur (T&L #5) India High
Vang Vieng Laos High
Puerto Vallarta Mexico High
Windhoek Namibia Low
Dakar Senegal High
Johannesburg South Africa High
Abu Dhabi UAE High
Dubai UAE High
Miami, Florida United States High
Key West, Florida United States High
Montevideo Uruguay High
Hoi An (T&L #6) Vietnam High
Danang Vietnam Low
Lusaka Zambia Low
Harare Zimbabwe Low
March
City Country High, Low, or Shoulder Season
Buenos Aires Argentina Shoulder
Sydney Australia Shoulder
Nassau Bahamas High
Cairo Egypt Shoulder
Puerto Vallarta Mexico High
Windhoek Namibia Low
Dakar Senegal Shoulder
Johannesburg South Africa Shoulder
Taipei Taiwan Shoulder
Miami, Florida United States Shoulder
Key West, Florida United States High
Montevideo Uruguay Shoulder
Lusaka Zambia Low
Harare Zimbabwe Low
Did we miss any of your favorite cities to travel to in the first three months of the year? Have you already planned to travel in early 2026? Where are you heading? Please let us know in the comments!
Access to the full spreadsheet will be available for our paid subscribers. Please message us and we can send you the link.
This is part 2 of a 5 part series on where to go when to catch 75 degrees. You can find our first post here: Chasing 75 Degrees - the top 25 cities around the world with the best weather. Next post, where to go in April, May, and June!
These are terrific maps and suggestions. And I love the idea of a five-part series. I'm already eager for the next installment.
We usually go to Medellin and Bogota in February or March to escape the allergy season in Madrid and to see family. I don't see Medellin on your list, the city of eternal spring, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it either. It's fun with lovely weather, good food and music, worthwhile museums, ever better speciality coffee shops, and zillions of beautiful tropical plants but it's not for the faint of heart.
Speaking of unpredictability, this year we escaped allergy season by going to New Zealand and Australia perhaps shoulder season and when we returned to Madrid, pollen hadn't even erupted. The climate change induced rains postponed the trees waking up until April, just as we arrived home.
Another great post! Thanks.
The map visuals help gauge the ideal travel times a lot. Thanks for sharing!