Best time to visit Isles of Scilly

United Kingdom · Europe

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

The year in Isles of Scilly

Tap a month for its page

Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Go in May–Aug — these months score within a whisker of each other; 17C max, 6 rainy days. Sep is the next best.

Plan this trip

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Flights

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Where to stay

Things to do

Car hire

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Things to do in Isles of Scilly

Abbey Gardens Impressive botanical garden with a range of Mediterranean and sub-tropical plants…
The Garrison The Spanish Armada was defeated in 1588, but they might come back for revenge…
Cromwell's Castle This coastal gun tower was built by Oliver Cromwell in 1651-1652 on a promontory to…
King Charles's Castle A ruined artillery fort, probably built circa 1550 in the reign of King Edward VI…
Bant's Cairn Burial Chamber dates from the Bronze Age…
Harry's Walls These are the walls of an unfinished artillery fort built to the east of the harbour in…
Isles of Scilly Museum This museum, opened in 1967, displays the history of the islands.

Tours and tickets in Isles of Scilly

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Isles of Scilly), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	10°	14d	77%	4.3h	avoid	10C max, 14 rainy days
Feb	10°	13d	80%	5.6h	avoid	10C max, 13 rainy days
Mar	10°	11d	80%	7.5h	ok	10C max, 11 rainy days
Apr	11°	8d	81%	10.1h	ok	11C max, 8 rainy days
May	13°	6d	85%	11.7h	sweet spot	13C max, 6 rainy days
Jun	15°	7d	85%	11.6h	sweet spot	15C max, 7 rainy days
Jul	17°	6d	85%	11.7h	sweet spot busy	busier than usual
Aug	18°	7d	83%	10.8h	sweet spot busy	busier than usual
Sep	17°	9d	82%	8.7h	good	17C max, 9 rainy days
Oct	15°	12d	82%	6.6h	ok	15C max, 12 rainy days
Nov	13°	16d	79%	4.7h	avoid	13C max, 16 rainy days
Dec	12°	17d	80%	3.7h	avoid	12C max, 17 rainy days

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

Weather read at Hugh Town, St Mary's: 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 in July and August; quietest in February, October, November and December.

Then and now

Isles of Scilly's February days now average 10.5°C, 1.5°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 9 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	10.0°	9.0°	9.6°	9.9°	11.8°	14.1°	16.5°	16.9°	15.9°	14.0°	11.8°	10.9°
2017–26	10.4°	10.5°	10.3°	11.1°	12.9°	15.3°	17.3°	17.7°	16.7°	14.8°	12.8°	11.5°
Change	+0.4°	+1.5°	+0.8°	+1.2°	+1.0°	+1.2°	+0.8°	+0.7°	+0.8°	+0.8°	+1.0°	+0.6°

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

Fly into LON, then drive. The flights under Where to book are to LON.

LON	the drive is not measured yet
ISC	the drive is not measured yet

The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.

How far Isles of Scilly is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type G plugs at 230 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Pound sterling. Everything for United Kingdom: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — Contactless cards and phones work almost everywhere, and some places no longer take cash. Small shops and pubs may set a card minimum of about £5.
UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
Tipping — 10 to 15% in restaurants for good service, unless a service charge is already on the bill. Rounding up a taxi fare is usual but not expected.

Getting around Isles of Scilly

Apps — Rides: Bolt, FreeNow, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WhatsApp.

Walking is ideal for the area around Hugh Town, from the Garrison to the west to Old Town to the east. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Isles of Scilly, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

Emergency — 999 or 112 (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 (48)

Isles of Scilly in pictures

Watermill Cove July 2026 01 — i

ArildV, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Church street July 2026 01 — i

ArildV, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Passing Stoney Island, Isles of Scilly geograph.org.uk 3396621 — i

Peter Trimming, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Isles of Scilly, The Mare geograph.org.uk 7590683 — i

David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Isles of Scilly Scilly Rock geograph.org.uk 8391064 — i

David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Isles of Scilly is like

The Isles of Scilly (Cornish: Enesek Syllan) is a small archipelago of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, 25 miles (40 km) off the coast of Cornwall at the south-western tip of the United Kingdom. The main island, and obvious base for visitors, is St Mary's. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Isles of Scilly Museum, Church Street, St Mary's TR21 0JT. Easter-Sep Mon-Fri 10AM-4:30PM; Sat 10AM-noon; Oct-Good Fri Mon-Sat 10AM-noon. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: Boat trips: check the notice boards at Hugh Town quay or the St Mary's Boatmen's Association for what's available. On the Off Islands, check with the local boat company. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: Not on Sunday you won't: no ferry, no flights, so Sunday newspapers arrive Monday. The exception is if flights or ferries have been cancelled by weather. More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe: The islands are nearly crime-free. The biggest dangers are probably from bicycle theft or from the odd rowdy group of drunken pub-goers in the evening. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Isles of Scilly, 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 Isles of Scilly

Also in United Kingdom

Nearby

Kind of place

Isles of Scilly is in United Kingdom, Europe. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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