When to visit Scalea: the year, month by month
When the sea is actually warm enough
Twenty degrees is the line most people draw: below it a swim is a decision, above it is a pleasure. On this stretch of coast the water crosses that line in June and stays above it into late October.
The table below is the multi-year average, so a given year can run a degree either way. What it will not do is surprise you: the Tyrrhenian warms slowly and cools slowly, which is why late September still swims like August, and late May does not.
| Month | Air, day | Sea | Rainy days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11 °C | 15 °C | 8 |
| February | 12 °C | 14 °C | 8 |
| March | 14 °C | 14 °C | 8 |
| April | 18 °C | 16 °C | 10 |
| May | 21 °C | 19 °C | 7 |
| June | 26 °C | 23 °C | 5 |
| July | 28 °C | 26 °C | 4 |
| August | 29 °C | 27 °C | 4 |
| September | 24 °C | 25 °C | 7 |
| October | 21 °C | 22 °C | 8 |
| November | 16 °C | 20 °C | 9 |
| December | 12 °C | 17 °C | 10 |
The heat, and the rain nobody warns you about
August days average 29 °C at the peak, July 28 °C. That is hot but not Sicilian: the sea breeze arrives most afternoons and the nights drop to about 20 °C, which is the part that matters for sleeping.
Rain is the number people get wrong. Summer here is genuinely dry — 26 mm across the whole of July, four rainy days. Then November arrives with 188 mm, the wettest month of the year by a wide margin. Autumn in Calabria is not a long mild season; it turns fast.
Crowds and prices
Scalea has an off-season and a season, with very little in between. From mid-July the town fills with Italian families, and the two weeks around Ferragosto on 15 August are the peak of the year: full beaches, full restaurants, full car parks.
Our own prices follow the same curve, because everyone's do: 90 € a night from October to May, 100 € in June, July and September, 120 € in August. The gap between a September week and an August week is 140 € for the same apartment and warmer sea in August by less than two degrees.
Month by month, briefly
May — 21 °C in the air, 19 °C in the water. Everything is green, the town is empty, the sea is for the determined. Good for walking, driving the Riviera dei Cedri and paying low-season rates.
June — the month we would pick. Sea at 23 °C, air at 26 °C, five rainy days all month, and the crowds have not arrived yet.
July — hot and busy, but still short of the August peak. Driest month of the year.
August — warmest sea of the year at 27 °C, and the most people. Book months ahead or do not come at all.
September — the quiet favourite. The water is still 25 °C, warmer than June, the schools have gone back and the prices drop on 1 September.
October — sea still 22 °C, air 21 °C, but 125 mm of rain and shorter days. Half the beach bars close mid-month.
November to April — the sea is out of the question and many seasonal places are shut. Come for the mountains, the villages and the quiet, not for the beach.
When not to come
November, if you want anything from the coast. It is the wettest month of the year, the beach season is over and a good part of the town is closed until spring. It is the one month we tell people to skip.
Questions we get asked
Can you swim in Scalea in May?
You can, but the water averages 19 °C — cool enough that most people swim briefly rather than spend the day in the sea. From June it averages 23 °C.
Is September a good time for Scalea?
It is the best value of the year. The sea is still 25 °C, warmer than in June, the summer crowds are gone and nightly rates drop from the August level.
What is the hottest month in Scalea?
August, averaging 29 °C in the afternoon and about 20 °C at night, with the sea at 27 °C.