Where to go in September? Quieter places in Europe and Japan

TL;DR

Of the 35 European countries we cover, September carried the smallest share of the year's 2025 tourist nights in Ireland (7.5%), Sweden (7.5%), Estonia (7.8%), Finland (7.8%) and Luxembourg (7.8%). It was not the quietest month in any of them. In Japan, it was the quietest in none of 47 prefectures. It was not the busiest month anywhere we cover.

How we picked the quieter places

For each country and prefecture, we took its 2025 nights at tourist accommodation and worked out what share fell in September. If a place's visitors were spread evenly, each month would carry 8.3% of its year. A share below that means September was quieter than that place's average month; above it, busier.12

This compares each place with itself, not places with each other: a low share is a quiet month for that place. For how each year looks in full, open the country or prefecture page.

Europe in September: all 35 countries, quietest share first

In 7 of the 35 countries, September carried less than an average month's share (8.3%) of 2025's tourist nights.1

European countries by share of 2025 tourist nights in September
CountryShare of 2025 nights in SeptemberCompared with an average monthBusiest monthQuietest month
Ireland
7.5%
BelowAugustJanuary
Sweden
7.5%
BelowJulyJanuary
Estonia
7.8%
BelowJulyJanuary
Finland
7.8%
BelowJulyApril
Luxembourg
7.8%
BelowJulyJanuary
Austria
8.1%
BelowAugustNovember
Belgium
8.2%
BelowJulyJanuary
Hungary
8.4%
AboveAugustJanuary
Lithuania
8.4%
AboveJulyJanuary
Norway
8.4%
AboveJulyJanuary
Latvia
8.5%
AboveJulyFebruary
Denmark
8.6%
AboveJulyJanuary
Serbia
8.6%
AboveAugustFebruary
Slovakia
8.6%
AboveAugustMarch
France
8.7%
AboveAugustNovember
Czechia
8.8%
AboveAugustJanuary
Netherlands
8.9%
AboveAugustFebruary
Poland
9.0%
AboveAugustJanuary
Romania
9.1%
AboveAugustMarch
Switzerland
9.1%
AboveJulyNovember
Malta
9.2%
AboveAugustJanuary
Germany
9.9%
AboveAugustJanuary
Slovenia
9.9%
AboveAugustNovember
Liechtenstein
10.2%
AboveAugustNovember
Portugal
10.4%
AboveAugustJanuary
Spain
10.5%
AboveAugustJanuary
Italy
10.9%
AboveAugustNovember
Bulgaria
11.0%
AboveAugustNovember
Iceland
11.0%
AboveJulyDecember
Albania
12.3%
AboveAugustFebruary
Croatia
12.5%
AboveAugustJanuary
Cyprus
12.9%
AboveAugustJanuary
Türkiye
13.0%
AboveAugustFebruary
Montenegro
13.2%
AboveAugustJanuary
Greece
14.9%
AboveAugustJanuary

Where was September the quietest month of the year?

In 2025, September was not the quietest month in any of our 35 European countries or 47 Japanese prefectures.12

Where was September the busiest month?

In 2025, September was not the busiest month in any of our 35 European countries or 47 Japanese prefectures.12

Japan in September: every prefecture

Japan's figures come from a sample survey, and the gaps between prefectures are often smaller than its sampling error, so we list the prefectures alphabetically rather than ranking them.3

Show all 47 prefectures' share of 2025 guest nights in September
Japanese prefectures, share of 2025 guest nights in September
PrefectureShare in SeptemberBusiest monthQuietest month
Aichi8.3%AugustFebruary
Akita9.0%AugustFebruary
Aomori9.3%AugustJanuary
Chiba7.8%AugustJune
Ehime8.0%AugustJune
Fukui8.0%AugustJanuary
Fukuoka8.0%OctoberJanuary
Fukushima8.6%AugustJanuary
Gifu8.1%AugustJune
Gunma8.3%AugustApril
Hiroshima8.4%AugustJanuary
Hokkaido8.7%AugustApril
Hyogo8.2%AugustFebruary
Ibaraki8.4%AugustJanuary
Ishikawa7.7%NovemberJanuary
Iwate8.4%AugustDecember
Kagawa7.9%AugustFebruary
Kagoshima7.9%NovemberJune
Kanagawa7.0%AugustFebruary
Kochi9.2%AugustJanuary
Kumamoto8.3%OctoberJune
Kyoto8.4%MayFebruary
Mie7.4%AugustFebruary
Miyagi8.4%AugustJanuary
Miyazaki6.7%AugustJune
Nagano8.8%AugustApril
Nagasaki7.3%AugustJanuary
Nara8.0%MayJanuary
Niigata8.2%AugustApril
Oita7.3%MarchJune
Okayama7.7%AugustJanuary
Okinawa8.9%AugustJanuary
Osaka8.5%AugustFebruary
Saga7.9%AugustFebruary
Saitama8.0%AugustFebruary
Shiga8.7%AugustFebruary
Shimane8.8%AugustFebruary
Shizuoka7.7%AugustJune
Tochigi8.5%AugustFebruary
Tokushima8.0%AugustJanuary
Tokyo8.1%DecemberFebruary
Tottori7.7%AugustFebruary
Toyama8.7%AugustJanuary
Wakayama7.8%AugustFebruary
Yamagata8.5%AugustApril
Yamaguchi7.8%AugustJanuary
Yamanashi8.8%AugustFebruary

What is the weather like in September?

Of the 28 European capitals we have weather for, Nicosia has the highest average high in September (34.0 °C) and Reykjavik the lowest (11.4 °C), averaged over 1991–2020.4 We do not yet publish weather for Albania, Greece, Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland, Lithuania and Malta.

Average weather in September at one station per European country, 1991 to 2020, warmest first
Station city (country)Average highAverage lowRainRainy days
Nicosia (Cyprus)34.0 °C19.4 °C11 mm2.8 days
Podgorica (Montenegro)28.4 °C17.0 °C147 mm7.3 days
Madrid (Spain)26.9 °C15.5 °C24 mm3.5 days
Rome (Italy)26.7 °C16.0 °C65 mm6.0 days
Ankara (Türkiye)26.5 °C13.1 °C17 mm3.2 days
Bucharest (Romania)25.0 °C10.7 °C60 mm4.9 days
Belgrade (Serbia)24.3 °C14.1 °C59 mm6.8 days
Sofia (Bulgaria)23.3 °C10.9 °C53 mm6.0 days
Budapest (Hungary)23.1 °C13.3 °C46 mm5.6 days
Zagreb (Croatia)22.6 °C11.8 °C104 mm8.7 days
Ljubljana (Slovenia)21.8 °C11.7 °C160 mm9.3 days
Paris (France)21.5 °C13.0 °C45 mm7.5 days
Bratislava (Slovakia)21.2 °C11.9 °C74 mm7.5 days
Vienna (Austria)21.1 °C12.0 °C64 mm7.4 days
Prague (Czechia)20.1 °C9.9 °C42 mm7.6 days
Vaduz (Liechtenstein)20.0 °C10.8 °C106 mm10.3 days
Berlin (Germany)19.7 °C9.9 °C46 mm11.6 days
Brussels (Belgium)19.5 °C11.3 °C65 mm9.6 days
Amsterdam (Netherlands)19.2 °C11.0 °C84 mm10.9 days
Warsaw (Poland)19.1 °C9.5 °C50 mm8.0 days
Luxembourg (Luxembourg)19.0 °C10.3 °C67 mm8.6 days
Riga (Latvia)17.3 °C9.8 °C67 mm9.0 days
Dublin (Ireland)16.9 °C9.5 °C63 mm10.7 days
Stockholm (Sweden)16.6 °C10.2 °C53 mm7.9 days
Oslo (Norway)16.4 °C8.6 °C82 mm9.0 days
Tallinn (Estonia)16.1 °C8.4 °C58 mm10.1 days
Helsinki (Finland)15.4 °C9.3 °C56 mm8.6 days
Reykjavik (Iceland)11.4 °C6.2 °C87 mm15.0 days
Show September weather for all 47 Japanese prefectures
Average weather in September at one station per Japanese prefecture, 1991 to 2020, warmest first
Prefecture (station)Average highAverage lowRainRainy days
Okinawa (Naha (那覇))30.6 °C25.8 °C275 mm11.8 days
Kagoshima (Kagoshima (鹿児島))30.2 °C23.2 °C223 mm10.2 days
Kumamoto (Kumamoto (熊本))30.1 °C21.2 °C173 mm9.3 days
Kochi (Kochi (高知))29.5 °C21.4 °C398 mm11.9 days
Osaka (Osaka (大阪))29.5 °C21.9 °C153 mm9.5 days
Saga (Saga (佐賀))29.4 °C20.7 °C169 mm9.0 days
Gifu (Gifu (岐阜))29.2 °C20.8 °C243 mm11.2 days
Kyoto (Kyoto (京都))29.2 °C20.7 °C178 mm9.8 days
Okayama (Okayama (岡山))29.1 °C20.0 °C142 mm8.5 days
Hiroshima (Hiroshima (広島))29.1 °C21.1 °C163 mm8.5 days
Ehime (Matsuyama (松山))29.1 °C21.0 °C149 mm8.6 days
Aichi (Nagoya (名古屋))29.1 °C21.0 °C232 mm10.5 days
Wakayama (Wakayama (和歌山))29.0 °C21.5 °C181 mm9.4 days
Nagasaki (Nagasaki (長崎))28.9 °C21.9 °C187 mm9.0 days
Yamaguchi (Yamaguchi (山口))28.9 °C19.4 °C179 mm9.0 days
Kagawa (Takamatsu (高松))28.8 °C21.2 °C167 mm9.2 days
Nara (Nara (奈良))28.8 °C20.1 °C159 mm10.0 days
Hyogo (Kobe (神戸))28.8 °C22.6 °C157 mm9.3 days
Yamanashi (Kofu (甲府))28.6 °C19.4 °C179 mm9.6 days
Fukuoka (Fukuoka (福岡))28.6 °C21.6 °C175 mm9.7 days
Miyazaki (Miyazaki (宮崎))28.5 °C21.4 °C371 mm12.6 days
Tokushima (Tokushima (徳島))28.5 °C21.6 °C271 mm10.1 days
Shizuoka (Shizuoka (静岡))28.4 °C21.1 °C281 mm11.7 days
Oita (Oita (大分))28.2 °C20.9 °C255 mm10.2 days
Shiga (Otsu (大津))28.1 °C19.6 °C172 mm10.7 days
Mie (Tsu (津))28.0 °C21.4 °C277 mm10.9 days
Tottori (Tottori (鳥取))27.8 °C19.0 °C225 mm12.2 days
Fukui (Fukui (福井))27.7 °C19.4 °C213 mm11.4 days
Saitama (Saitama (さいたま))27.7 °C19.5 °C203 mm10.8 days
Chiba (Chiba (千葉))27.5 °C21.0 °C205 mm10.8 days
Tokyo (Tokyo (東京))27.5 °C20.3 °C225 mm11.0 days
Gunma (Maebashi (前橋))27.3 °C19.3 °C204 mm12.0 days
Kanagawa (Yokohama (横浜))27.3 °C21.0 °C242 mm11.5 days
Ishikawa (Kanazawa (金沢))27.2 °C19.9 °C232 mm12.0 days
Shimane (Matsue (松江))27.1 °C19.6 °C204 mm11.3 days
Toyama (Toyama (富山))27.0 °C19.1 °C218 mm12.2 days
Tochigi (Utsunomiya (宇都宮))27.0 °C18.8 °C217 mm12.3 days
Niigata (Niigata (新潟))26.4 °C19.0 °C152 mm11.8 days
Ibaraki (Mito (水戸))26.4 °C18.6 °C186 mm10.5 days
Nagano (Nagano (長野))26.2 °C17.2 °C126 mm9.2 days
Fukushima (Fukushima (福島))26.2 °C18.0 °C168 mm10.5 days
Yamagata (Yamagata (山形))25.8 °C16.6 °C124 mm10.1 days
Akita (Akita (秋田))25.4 °C17.1 °C161 mm12.1 days
Miyagi (Sendai (仙台))25.0 °C18.0 °C193 mm11.2 days
Aomori (Aomori (青森))24.5 °C15.8 °C133 mm10.3 days
Iwate (Morioka (盛岡))24.3 °C15.2 °C152 mm10.9 days
Hokkaido (Sapporo (札幌))22.8 °C14.8 °C142 mm10.2 days

Thirty-year averages from one weather station per country or prefecture: the same station its page uses. They describe a typical year at that station, not a forecast, and weather varies within every country. A rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain.

How warm is the sea in September?

Average sea surface temperature in September, 1991–2020, at the open-sea point nearest each weather station, where there is one within 30 km: 8 European capitals and 29 Japanese prefectures. It is open sea, not a beach reading.9 Every month, and how we chose the points.

Average sea surface temperature in September near European capitals, 1991 to 2020, warmest first
Station city (country)Sea, September
Nicosia (Cyprus)27.4 °C
Rome (Italy)23.7 °C
Amsterdam (Netherlands)17.5 °C
Riga (Latvia)15.6 °C
Tallinn (Estonia)14.7 °C
Dublin (Ireland)14.5 °C
Helsinki (Finland)14.4 °C
Reykjavik (Iceland)10.0 °C
Show September sea temperatures for 29 Japanese prefectures
Average sea surface temperature in September near Japanese prefecture stations, 1991 to 2020, warmest first
Station city (prefecture)Sea, September
Naha (Okinawa)28.3 °C
Kagoshima (Kagoshima)27.4 °C
Miyazaki (Miyazaki)27.3 °C
Kochi (Kochi)27.0 °C
Nagasaki (Nagasaki)26.6 °C
Kumamoto (Kumamoto)26.2 °C
Saga (Saga)26.1 °C
Tokushima (Tokushima)26.1 °C
Wakayama (Wakayama)26.0 °C
Kobe (Hyogo)25.9 °C
Osaka (Osaka)25.8 °C
Tsu (Mie)25.7 °C
Shizuoka (Shizuoka)25.7 °C
Toyama (Toyama)25.4 °C
Fukui (Fukui)25.3 °C
Fukuoka (Fukuoka)25.3 °C
Matsue (Shimane)25.3 °C
Tottori (Tottori)25.3 °C
Kanazawa (Ishikawa)25.2 °C
Matsuyama (Ehime)25.1 °C
Niigata (Niigata)25.1 °C
Oita (Oita)25.0 °C
Yokohama (Kanagawa)24.8 °C
Chiba (Chiba)24.7 °C
Tokyo (Tokyo)24.7 °C
Akita (Akita)24.4 °C
Mito (Ibaraki)23.3 °C
Sendai (Miyagi)22.6 °C
Aomori (Aomori)22.3 °C

Which public holidays fall in September 2026 and 2027?

These are the national holiday lists we publish for 33 European countries and Japan, copied from each country's page. Regional holidays, such as those of Germany's states or Spain's regions, are on the country pages. Spain's 2027 list and some 2027 dates elsewhere are not published yet. What each list covers differs; see the notes for each country.56

September 2026

Public holidays in September 2026
DateHolidayWhere
Sat 5 SeptemberDay of the Canonisation of Saint TeresaAlbania
Sun 6 SeptemberUnification DayBulgaria
Tue 8 SeptemberNativity of MaryLiechtenstein
Tue 8 SeptemberVictory DayMalta
Mon 21 SeptemberIndependence DayMalta
Mon 21 SeptemberRespect for the Aged DayJapan
Tue 22 SeptemberIndependence DayBulgaria
Tue 22 SeptemberPublic holiday (between Respect for the Aged Day and Autumnal Equinox Day)Japan
Wed 23 SeptemberAutumnal Equinox DayJapan
Mon 28 SeptemberCzech Statehood DayCzechia

September 2027

Public holidays in September 2027
DateHolidayWhere
Mon 6 SeptemberUnification DayBulgaria
Wed 8 SeptemberNativity of MaryLiechtenstein
Wed 8 SeptemberVictory DayMalta
Wed 15 SeptemberOur Lady of Seven SorrowsSlovakia
Mon 20 SeptemberRespect for the Aged DayJapan
Tue 21 SeptemberIndependence DayMalta
Wed 22 SeptemberIndependence DayBulgaria
Thu 23 SeptemberAutumnal Equinox DayJapan
Tue 28 SeptemberCzech Statehood DayCzechia

See every month in the holiday calendar, with school holidays too.

Blossom, autumn leaves and typhoons in Japan in September

Over 1991–2020, an average of 3.3 typhoons came within 300 km of a JMA weather station somewhere in Japan in September.8 Typhoons by region and month.

These are the Japan Meteorological Agency's 1991–2020 averages at one station per prefecture; each year's dates differ. See cherry blossom dates and autumn leaf dates for every prefecture.

What these figures cannot tell you

  • A share of each place's own year, not a crowd count. A low share means that month was quiet for that place. It does not mean the place had fewer visitors than somewhere else, and a small country's busy month can still be far quieter than a big country's quiet one.
  • Nights, not queues. A national or prefecture total cannot show crowding at one sight, beach or old town. Day trips do not count at all, because nobody stays the night.
  • One year. These are 2025 figures. Another year can differ, for example when Easter moves between March and April.
  • Japan's figures are a sample survey. The gaps between neighbouring prefectures are often smaller than the survey's sampling error, so we do not rank prefectures against each other.
  • No causes. Weather and holidays sit next to the tourism figures here, but the figures do not show that either makes a month busier or quieter, so we do not say they do.
  • We have not been to these places and make no judgement about which is better to visit.

Other months: January · February · March · April · May · June · July · August · October · November · December. Or open September in Explore.

Key takeaways

  • Lowest share of 2025 tourist nights in September, in Europe: Ireland (7.5%), Sweden (7.5%), Estonia (7.8%), Finland (7.8%) and Luxembourg (7.8%).
  • September was not the quietest month anywhere we cover.
  • September was not the busiest month anywhere we cover.
  • What we would skip: reading a low share as a promise of empty streets. It says September was quiet for that country or prefecture as a whole, not at any one sight.

Sources

The tourism figures come from Eurostat and the Japan Tourism Agency; the weather from the World Meteorological Organization's normals (via NOAA), MeteoSwiss and the Japan Meteorological Agency; blossom and typhoon averages from the Japan Meteorological Agency; and holidays from each country's law or official list. We copied every figure from the country and prefecture pages linked here. See how we research.

  1. Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NIM, accessed 25 September 2026. Dataset last updated by Eurostat on 22 September 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests and split by guests resident in the country and abroad, January–December 2025.
  2. Source: 「宿泊旅行統計調査」(観光庁) (Overnight Travel Statistics Survey, Japan Tourism Agency), 2025 annual figures (final), tables 2 and 8 and reference table 1, published 6 July 2026. Survey page · workbook. Accessed 17 September 2026. Licensed under the Public Data License 1.0 (PDL1.0).
  3. Japan Tourism Agency, survey outline (調査の概要), glossary (用語の解説) and standard error rates (参考1), on coverage, sampling, the definition of a foreign guest and the January 2026 change of method. Read them. Checked 17 September 2026.
  4. Weather: WMO Member Nations (2023). WMO Climatological Standard Normals for 1991-2020 (NCEI Accession 0253808), the station named for each country in the table (the same station its country page uses), mean daily maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation and number of days with at least 1 mm of precipitation, normals computed from at least 24 years. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. doi:10.25921/800j-vn07. Accessed 22 September 2026. Released by NOAA under CC0. Weather in Japan: 出典:気象庁ホームページ(過去の気象データ検索). Japan Meteorological Agency, 1991–2020 normals for the station named for each prefecture (the same station its prefecture page uses, where the page links the station's own table): daily maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation and days with at least 1.0 mm of precipitation (降水量の階級日数). Accessed 22 September 2026. Licensed under PDL1.0. 気象庁「平年値」を加工して作成 — edited by Gallivanting Gadabout (English wording, selection and rounding). Liechtenstein: Source: MeteoSwiss. Climate normals 1991–2020, station Vaduz: mean maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation total, days with at least 1 mm of precipitation and sunshine duration. Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, open data (opendata.swiss: Klimanormwerte). Accessed 23 September 2026. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. MeteoSwiss does not endorse this site or how the data is used here.
  5. Public holidays in Europe: each country's own law or official list, cited in full on its page: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye. We copied the dates from those pages.
  6. Holidays: 出典:「国民の祝日について」(内閣府)(https://www8.cao.go.jp/chosei/shukujitsu/gaiyou.html), with the holiday list 「昭和30年(1955年)から令和9年(2027年)国民の祝日」 (CSV). Cabinet Office, Government of Japan: national holidays and public holidays, 2025–2027. Accessed 22 September 2026. Licensed under the Public Data License 1.0 (PDL1.0). 「国民の祝日について」(内閣府)を加工して作成 — edited by Gallivanting Gadabout (English wording, weekdays and selection). Holiday names: 出典:日本法令外国語訳データベースシステム(法務省)(https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4846/tb). Ministry of Justice, Japan, Japanese Law Translation, Act on National Holidays (Act No. 178 of 1948, last version Act No. 57 of 2018), articles 2 and 3, English translation. Accessed 22 September 2026. Licensed under PDL1.0. The translation is not an official text; only the Japanese original has legal effect.
  7. Cherry blossom and autumn leaves: 出典:気象庁ホームページ(生物季節観測の情報): さくらの開花日・満開日 and 生物季節観測累年値ファイル (さくらの開花, さくらの満開, かえでの紅葉), 平年値 1991–2020. Japan Meteorological Agency. Accessed 22 September 2026. Licensed under PDL1.0. 「生物季節観測の情報」(気象庁)を加工して作成 — edited by Gallivanting Gadabout (English wording, date format and selection).
  8. Typhoons: 出典:気象庁ホームページ(台風の平年値), with the regions in 「気象庁が天気予報等で用いる予報用語」(地域名). Japan Meteorological Agency, typhoon approach and landfall normals, 1991–2020. Accessed 22 September 2026. Licensed under PDL1.0. 「台風の平年値」(気象庁)を加工して作成 — edited by Gallivanting Gadabout (English wording and selection).
  9. Sea temperature: NOAA Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (OISST) v2.1, 0.25° grid, monthly long-term mean 1991–2020 (file sst.mon.ltm.1991-2020.nc). Data provided by the NOAA/OAR/PSL, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at https://psl.noaa.gov/. Huang, B., C. Liu, V. Banzon, E. Freeman, G. Graham, B. Hankins, T. Smith and H.-M. Zhang (2021), Improvements of the Daily Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (DOISST) Version 2.1, Journal of Climate 34, 2923–2939, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0166.1. Dataset page. Accessed 24 September 2026. Public domain (NOAA PSL disclaimer). The choice of grid cell and the rounding are ours; these are not official NOAA figures, and NOAA does not endorse this site.

Modified data. The monthly shares, orderings and comparisons are our own calculations from Eurostat's counts and the Japan Tourism Agency's figures (「宿泊旅行統計調査」(観光庁)を加工して作成). Percentages are rounded to one decimal place. Neither body is responsible for these calculations or for how the figures are presented here.