Best time to visit Chatham Islands

New Zealand · Oceania

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Chatham Islands

Tap a month for its page

Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Go in Feb, Mar or Nov — these months score within a whisker of each other; 18C max, 10 rainy days. Oct is the next best.

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Month by month

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	18°	13d	80%	10.7h	okbusy	busier than usual
Feb	18°	10d	79%	9.9h	sweet spot busy	busier than usual
Mar	17°	11d	80%	8.3h	sweet spot	17C max, 11 rainy days
Apr	15°	12d	80%	6.8h	ok	15C max, 12 rainy days
May	14°	10d	80%	5.8h	ok	14C max, 10 rainy days
Jun	12°	10d	79%	5.2h	ok	12C max, 10 rainy days
Jul	11°	12d	81%	5.5h	ok	11C max, 12 rainy days
Aug	11°	14d	81%	6.2h	ok	11C max, 14 rainy days
Sep	12°	14d	80%	7.9h	ok	12C max, 14 rainy days
Oct	13°	12d	80%	9.1h	ok	13C max, 12 rainy days
Nov	15°	11d	82%	9.7h	sweet spot busy	busier than usual
Dec	17°	13d	81%	10.0h	okbusy	busier than usual

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at Waitangi, the islands' town, 17 km from the airport (CHT): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest from November to February; quietest in March, May, June, July and September.

Then and now

Chatham Islands's December days now average 16.9°C, 2.9°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 12 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	15.1°	15.5°	15.3°	14.1°	12.7°	11.2°	10.3°	10.2°	10.3°	11.1°	12.4°	14.0°
2017–26	17.7°	18.0°	16.9°	15.4°	13.7°	12.1°	11.3°	11.3°	12.1°	12.8°	15.1°	16.9°
Change	+2.6°	+2.5°	+1.6°	+1.4°	+1.0°	+0.9°	+1.1°	+1.2°	+1.7°	+1.7°	+2.7°	+2.9°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

How far Chatham Islands is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type I plugs at 230 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the New zealand dollar. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Everything for New Zealand: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — Cards and contactless (called paywave) work almost everywhere; a few small shops take only New Zealand cards, so carry a little cash. Some shops add a surcharge for credit or contactless payments, which must be clearly shown.
UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
Tipping — Not expected, even in restaurants; prices include service. Rounding up a taxi fare is fine.

Getting around Chatham Islands

Apps — Rides: DiDi, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: Messenger, Text messages (SMS), WhatsApp.

There is no bus or taxi service. You can probably arrange for your accommodation provider to pick you up at the airport. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Chatham Islands, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

Emergency — 111 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (13)

Chatham Islands in pictures

DSIR archive 1 10 Chathams Islands expedition Feb Mar 1981 by T Crosby, G Ramsay — i

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Schist formations, Kaingaroa, Chatham Islands — i

M Newman, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Chatham Islands is like

The Chatham Islands (Rekohu in the indigenous Moriori language and Wharekauri in Māori) are the eastern-most islands in New Zealand. They lie 860 km east of Christchurch, in the middle of the "Roaring Forties". Steeped in culture and history, these islands are at the edge of civilisation. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Scenery ranges from sandy beaches to swampland, lakes and rivers to ocean vistas, and from the cliffs to the hills. The landscape is made up of fern, pasture and forest. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: There is plenty to do on the Chatham Islands, and the islands have some of the most spectacular scenery in New Zealand. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: The only way for visitors to get to the Chathams is by scheduled or chartered air service to Tuuta Airport. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Chatham Islands, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Chatham Islands

Also in New Zealand

Nearby

Kind of place

Chatham Islands is in New Zealand, Oceania. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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