May
Wk 19–21
Best balance of weather comfort and space: crowd level around 27 out of 100, weather comfort near 54.
- Crowd level
- 27–28
- Comfort
- 51–56
Photo by Pascal Bullan on Unsplash
Ireland
Best time to visit Northern and Western
When is it busiest here, and when is it quietest? The answer runs week by week through the region's own year, from official EU overnight-stay statistics.
Busiest week
AugustCrowd level 100
Wk 32 · 470,414 overnight stays
Quietest weeks
JanuaryCrowd level 0–1
Wk 2–4 · measured against the region's own year, not against other regions
Sweet spot
MayCrowd level 27–28
Wk 19–21 · a good balance of weather comfort and crowd level
Warmest month
16 °CComfort 60
July · around 125 mm of rain in the month
Crowding Index 1.1 · As of 06/08/2026 · Crowding score 0–100, season-relative
Northern and Western (Ireland) is quietest in January: across Wk 2–4 the crowd level runs from 0 to 1 out of 100. The busiest single week falls in August (Wk 32), at 100 out of 100 with roughly 470,414 overnight stays. Calculated from open official data; the values are modelled, not counted.
When is Northern and Western busy, when is it quiet?
Click a week. The panel on the right explains why it is busy or quiet.
Weather profile
Weather comfort is an absolute scale (0 = poor, 100 = ideal) and a second axis next to the season-relative crowd level.
JanuaryØ 3
FebruaryØ 13
MarchØ 19
AprilØ 29
MayØ 29
JuneØ 52
JulyØ 69
AugustØ 95
SeptemberØ 44
OctoberØ 35
NovemberØ 23
DecemberØ 21
Colour = season-relative crowd levelBar = weather comfort (Sun & warmth), absolute 0–100
Why this week?
May · Wk 19
Crowd level27/100 · fairly quiet
quietbusy
Weather comfort13/100 · Sun & warmth
-16 % versus the region's annual average.
- Contributing months
- May (100 %)
- Overnight stays/week
- 182,331
- School-holiday pressure (source markets)
- 1 % of source markets on school holidays · -2 % crowding from holidays
- Region range
- 75,224–470,414 (avg 218,190)
- Base years
- 2022, 2023, 2024 (excluding 2020, 2021)
v1: Crowd-Score aus der Eurostat-Basisschicht (Übernachtungen), moduliert vom global (ungewichtet) gemittelten Schulferien-Druck der Quellmärkte – der Quellland-Mix liegt für dieses Ziel-Land nicht vor. Season-relativ zur Region. Event-Schichten folgen.
Plan your trip
Pre-filled with the next date in week 19.
DestinationNorthern and Western
Travel datesPick a week in the calendar
FlightSearch flights (opens in a new tab)
StayFind stays (opens in a new tab)
ActivityExplore activities (opens in a new tab)Ad · commission link
Photos: Johny Goerend · reisetopia · Dino Reichmuth on Unsplash
The travel year in Northern and Western, month by month
The year as a table to read and to cite: crowd level for every month, plus weather comfort and temperature from the climate normals.
| Month | Crowd level0–100, season-relative | Weather comfort0–100, profile “mild” | Avg temperature |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3 | 22 | 5 °C |
| February | 13 | 24 | 6 °C |
| March | 19 | 27 | 7 °C |
| April | 29 | 37 | 9 °C |
| May | 29 | 53 | 12 °C |
| June | 52 | 59 | 14 °C |
| July | 69 | 60 | 16 °C |
| August | 95 | 59 | 15 °C |
| September | 44 | 53 | 14 °C |
| October | 35 | 42 | 11 °C |
| November | 23 | 31 | 8 °C |
| December | 21 | 24 | 6 °C |
The crowd level is season-relative: 100 is the annual peak of Northern and Western itself, not the busiest destination in Europe. The figures say when it is quiet here — not where it is quieter than elsewhere.
Weather comfort 0–100 from the climate normals, profile “mild” – the same profile as the recommendation above, not the selection in the calendar. A “–” means the data for that month is missing.
Index 1.1 · As of 06/08/2026
The windows worth catching
Three windows from the model, weighing crowd level against weather comfort.
September
Wk 37–39
A quieter choice in the other half of the year: crowd level around 41, weather comfort near 52.
- Crowd level
- 39–44
- Comfort
- 49–55
August
Wk 32–34
The region's peak: crowd level around 99 out of 100. Only if the dates are fixed.
- Crowd level
- 98–100
- Comfort
- 59–60
Northern and Western compared with Europe
How dense it gets here measured against Europe — on the one figure that lets two destinations be compared.
- Crowd density in Northern and Western
- 8.46
- European median
- 11.80
overnight stays per km² and week
overnight stays per km² and week
Furthest from the median: May, at 0.5× the value. Closest to the median: December, at 0.9× the value.
Mean across 12 months, weighted by their weeks. This density compares destinations with each other. The crowd level in the table above compares Northern and Western with itself. The two figures are never combined.
Index 1.1 · As of 06/08/2026
Climate through the year
Average temperature with day/night range and precipitation across the twelve months.
- Avg temperature
- Day/night range
- Precipitation
| Month | Avg temperature (°C) | Day avg (°C) | Night avg (°C) | Precipitation (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 5 | 5 | 5 | 81 |
| Feb | 6 | 6 | 5 | 85 |
| Mar | 6 | 7 | 6 | 114 |
| Apr | 9 | 9 | 8 | 110 |
| May | 11 | 12 | 10 | 70 |
| Jun | 14 | 14 | 13 | 100 |
| Jul | 15 | 16 | 14 | 125 |
| Aug | 15 | 15 | 14 | 126 |
| Sep | 13 | 14 | 12 | 112 |
| Oct | 10 | 11 | 10 | 122 |
| Nov | 8 | 8 | 7 | 108 |
| Dec | 6 | 6 | 6 | 117 |
The band shows mean daytime to nighttime temperature. Precipitation shown as monthly total (mm). Typical monthly value (climate normal), not a forecast. Generated using Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2025.
How sunny?
Average daily solar energy across the twelve months. The higher the value, the sunnier.
2.6 kWh/m²/Tag
Annual average
May
Sunniest month
| Month | Solar irradiance (kWh/m²/day) |
|---|---|
| Jan | 0.6 |
| Feb | 1.3 |
| Mar | 2.4 |
| Apr | 3.8 |
| May | 4.9 |
| Jun | 4.8 |
| Jul | 4.2 |
| Aug | 3.6 |
| Sep | 2.6 |
| Oct | 1.5 |
| Nov | 0.8 |
| Dec | 0.5 |
Mean daily solar irradiance in kWh/m²/day (≈ peak-sun-hours equivalent). Typical monthly value (climate normal), not a forecast. Generated using Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2025.
Directly reachable from
Destination airports of Northern and Western and every European departure airport with a direct connection to them.
Destination airports
Select a destination airport to see the direct departure airports.
“Directly reachable” means a direct connection exists according to our sources. We do not show a live timetable. Availability and flight days can vary by season and airline.
Data sources: direct connections from Wikipedia (“Airlines and destinations”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, aggregated and modified by us), cross-checked with Eurostat, Destatis and the UK Civil Aviation Authority; airport data from OurAirports (Public Domain). The derived connection data is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Data as of: August 2026
Frequently asked questions about the best time to visit Northern and Western
Short answers on timing, weather and getting there, all from the data on this page.
When is the best time to visit Northern and Western?
- The best time to visit Northern and Western is May (Wk 19–21): in this window the crowd level is low at around 27 out of 100 and weather comfort is good at about 54 out of 100.
When is Northern and Western quietest?
- January (Wk 2–4) is the quietest time in Northern and Western. Crowd levels there sit at 0–1 out of 100, the lowest across the year.
When is Northern and Western busiest?
- Northern and Western is busiest in August (Wk 32) with around 470,414 overnight stays in the peak week.
What is the weather like in Northern and Western and when is it warmest?
- It is warmest in Northern and Western in July with an average of 16 °C and around 125 mm of rain in the month.
How do you get to Northern and Western?
- Northern and Western is reachable via 2 destination airports with direct flights, including Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC) and Donegal Airport (CFN).
All figures are approximations derived from open data (crowd level from Eurostat overnight stays, climate from Copernicus/ERA5-Land), not measurements.
Quiet travel windows across Europe, once a month
The Crowd Report names the emptiest weeks of the coming months — for every region, not just this one. Free, unsubscribe any time.
Back to the map
v1 approximation, calculated from Eurostat overnight stays. Day tourism and cruises (Venice, Dubrovnik …) are still missing, so we show these destinations as quieter than they are. The crowd score is a model-based forecast, not a measurement.