Best time to visit Las Vegas

Las Vegas weather and hotel rates by month

The weather columns are 30-year averages for Harry Reid International Airport. The room rate is the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's citywide average for that month, across the Strip, Downtown and everywhere else, for each of the last three years.

The three hottest months are the three cheapest, and October, one of the mildest, tops the price table. April is the value month: it has nearly October's weather (78.5°F against 81.2°F) and was $14 to $35 a night cheaper on the citywide average in 2024 and 2025.

September is still hot: it averages 24.1 days at 90°F or more and 7.9 at 100°F or more, and its room rates jump back up from August. May reaches 90°F on 15.9 days, and it was the priciest month of 2026 through August ($209). Some "Las Vegas weather by month" tables come from Las Vegas, New Mexico. Check the station name.

Tours that suit each season

Most day trips from Las Vegas are long days outdoors, so the month decides which ones work. The cool months suit the desert parks and Grand Canyon West. In summer, I'd go higher, onto the water or out after dark.

What Las Vegas hotels cost by month

LVCVA's average daily rate is a monthly average across a survey of more than 75% of the city's rooms. It is the best public answer to "which months are cheap," and a poor guide to what one particular Tuesday will cost, because a single convention week or New Year's Eve gets averaged in with the quiet days around it.

By that measure, summer is the cheap stretch every year. July was the lowest month in 2024 ($160.15) and 2025 ($154.76), and August 2026 was the lowest month in the whole three-year series at $150.32, down 7.4% on the year. LVCVA put that drop down to "a less packed event calendar" and Labor Day falling in September. Against October, the most expensive month in 2024 ($216.99) and 2025 ($203.88), a July room averaged $49 to $57 a night less.

December and January are where a lot of advice goes wrong. The average rate was $193.68 in December 2024 and $183.87 in December 2025, which is the 2025 annual average ($183.52) almost to the dollar. January 2026 was $199.73. One guide that still calls December and January the cheapest months is working from 2021 figures, when January occupancy was 31.6%.

Conventions are the other big lever. February 2024 was the most expensive month in the series at $248.35, the month Las Vegas hosted Super Bowl LVIII; LVCVA's February 2025 summary cited that "tough comparison" when the rate fell 25.0% to $186.16. March 2026 jumped 12.2% to $206.37, the month CONEXPO-CON/AGG was in town and convention attendance rose 33.4% to 712,000. CONEXPO runs every three years and doesn't return until March 13–17, 2029, so March 2027 has one less reason to be expensive. Convention attendance is lowest in July and December.

Two discounts hold all year. Downtown rooms averaged $97.98 in 2025 against $196.54 on the Strip. And weekends fill: Las Vegas hotels ran 88.8% full on weekends in 2025 against 76.6% midweek. LVCVA doesn't publish the weekday and weekend price split, but midweek is when the hotels have empty rooms to fill. The where to stay guide compares the Strip and Downtown.

Conventions and events that move hotel rates

The dated events that fill rooms over the next year. Unconfirmed dates are marked.

The biggest shows move the whole city. In LVCVA's 2023 ranking, SEMA drew about 160,000 people and CES about 118,000; CES 2026's audited attendance was 148,392. If your dates overlap one of them and you aren't going, I'd move the trip by a week before I'd pay convention-week rates.

March 2027 is crowded. Four conference basketball tournaments overlap across eleven days: the Big Ten women's tournament (Mar 3–7, T-Mobile Arena), the WCC (Mar 5–9, Orleans Arena), the Mountain West (Mar 7–13, Thomas & Mack) and the Pac-12 (Mar 9–13, MGM Grand Garden Arena). If you want a quieter March weekend, I'd aim for the second half of the month. There is no Super Bowl in Las Vegas in 2027; Super Bowl LXI is at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on February 14.

One festival to take off your list: Life is Beautiful did not run downtown in 2025, its owner said it was looking for a new venue, no 2026 edition was announced, and the festival's website no longer loads. Hotel guides that listed it for late September 2026 had no organizer source for that date.

F1 week (November 19 to 21, 2026)

The Las Vegas Grand Prix runs on Strip-area roads. Practice is Thursday, November 19 (4:30pm and 8pm sessions), qualifying is Friday, November 20 at 8pm after a 4:30pm practice, and the race starts Saturday, November 21 at 8pm Pacific. November's monthly average hides race-week rates, and the race changes how you get around. In 2025, Clark County closed the circuit roads to local traffic from 1pm on each of the three track days and reopened them between about 12:30 and 3am; the 2026 schedule wasn't out as of October 17.

The build is already under way: Sands Avenue has single-lane closures around the clock through race week, and two southbound lanes of Las Vegas Blvd plus the sidewalk between Flamingo Road and Bellagio Drive are closed for the Bellagio fountain club build, with reported end dates ranging from November 9 to the end of December. For live updates, the race's transportation hub is at lvgp-transportation-info-lvgp.hub.arcgis.com, or text F1LV to 31996. After the 2025 race, overnight lane reductions for the teardown ran December 1 to 14.

New Year's Eve

The 2026 plan hasn't been announced. Last year the Strip started closing to cars at 6pm and reopened near 2am, the I-15 exits to Tropicana and Flamingo (and northbound Harmon) closed from about 5:30pm, and an eight-minute fireworks show went off from nine Strip rooftops plus the Palms. RTC buses were free from 6pm to 9am. Expect something similar on December 31, 2026, and the year's last few nights to cost more than December 2025's $184 average suggests.

Summer heat and the day trips

Las Vegas averages 78.2 days a year at 100°F or hotter, and almost all of them fall between June and September: 17.1 in June, 25.8 in July, 24.5 in August and 7.9 in September. The all-time record is 120°F on July 7, 2024, part of a run that also set 119°F on July 9 and 118°F on July 10 and 11. Before that summer the record was 117°F. The nights stay hot. The normal July low is 82.0°F, and on July 1, 2013 and July 19, 2005 the temperature never dropped below 95°F.

Summer is also storm season. The National Weather Service treats June 15 to September 30 as the Southwest monsoon, and the City of Las Vegas says the local season usually runs from late June to mid-September, with flash floods, lightning, dust storms and downbursts as the hazards. July has the most thunderstorm days (4.5 a year on average), then August (3.8). June, by contrast, is the driest month of the year.

Death Valley averages 116°F in July at Furnace Creek, so I'd save it for November to March. Valley of Fire closes its best-known trails, including White Domes and the Fire Wave, from May 15 to September 30 every year. The cool escape is up: Grand Canyon National Park's South Rim averages 86.7°F in July, about 18°F below the Strip, though it is a 14-hour day by coach. Grand Canyon West, the closer rim, is only roughly 9°F cooler than Las Vegas in July. The day trips guide has drive times and fees for each destination, and the Grand Canyon tours guide compares the two rims.

Pool season

The resorts don't publish pool season dates. MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Bellagio, Cosmopolitan, Wynn and Encore, and Circa all post today's hours on their pool pages and nothing about when the season opens or closes, and none of them states a heated-year-round policy in writing. So a guide that says "pools are open March to October" or "most pools are heated all year" is giving you a rule of thumb, not anything the hotels have said.

The rule of thumb is roughly right. In 2026, Station Casinos opened the Durango, Green Valley Ranch and Red Rock pools the week of March 5, Fontainebleau's was set for March 6, the Palms for March 16 and the M Resort for March 23, and dayclubs including Encore Beach Club opened between March 6 and 11. Expect a similar early-March start in 2027.

At the other end, here is what was open on October 17, 2026. MGM Grand's pool complex ran 9am to 6pm with the lazy river 10am to 5pm, but its Splash Pool and Private Reserve were already "closed for the season" and the Producers pool was open Fridays and Saturdays only. Mandalay Bay Beach's wave pool, lazy river and West Lagoon were open daily 9am to 6pm, with the East Lagoon on weekends; its 21+ Moorea Beach Club has a heated pool. Bellagio's pools were open 9am to 6pm, Cosmopolitan's Boulevard and Chelsea pools 9am to 5pm, and at Encore the European Pool was closed while the main resort pool stayed open. Downtown, Circa's Stadium Swim advertises "365 days of fun," runs 8am to 11pm and showed a 94° water temperature that day. If a pool matters to your trip in October or later, look at your hotel's pool page the week you go.

The Arizona clock in winter

Several of the most-booked trips from Las Vegas run on Arizona time: Grand Canyon West, the Arizona side of Hoover Dam, Willow Beach and Antelope Canyon. Arizona doesn't change its clocks. From November 1, 2026 to March 14, 2027 it is one hour ahead of Las Vegas, and outside those dates the two match. In winter, Grand Canyon West's 4:30pm last entry is 3:30pm on a Las Vegas clock. For Antelope Canyon, the tour operators run on Arizona time, not Navajo Nation time; phones near Page sometimes jump to a Navajo or Utah tower, so trust the operator's time over your screen.

Las Vegas by season

Winter (December to February)

Days are mild and nights are cold for the desert: December averages 56.9°F by day and 39.6°F at night, and the airport sees 4.6 freezing nights that month and 3.3 in January. The record low is 8°F, set in 1937 and again in 1963. This is the wettest stretch of the year, though "wet" here means February's 0.80 inches. It isn't cheap. December rates sit at the yearly average, January brings CES and two more large trade shows, and New Year's Eve closes the Strip to cars. February is the pick of the three: without a Super Bowl, it was mid-pack on price in 2025 ($186) and 2026 ($193).

Spring (March to May)

The best weather of the year, and the windiest. Mean wind speed peaks in April at 10.0 mph, against 6.3 mph in December and January. March warms to 71.1°F, April to 78.5°F, and May to 88.5°F, with 15.9 days over 90°F. Pools start opening in early March. Prices climb through the season: May was the most expensive month of 2026 so far, and EDC takes two weekends in May 2027. My pick in spring is the back half of March, after the basketball tournaments, or mid-April, after NAB.

Summer (June to August)

The cheapest hotel months by a clear margin, and the hottest by a wider one. It is 99.4°F in June, 104.5°F in July and 102.8°F in August on average, and it stays near 80°F at night. Convention traffic is at its lowest in July. Do outdoor things early or after dark, and save the long desert day trips for another season.

Fall (September to November)

September is still summer, averaging 94.9°F with 24 days over 90°F, and rates jump back to $191 to $196. October is close to ideal weather (81.2°F, almost no 100°F days) and was the most expensive month of the year in both 2024 and 2025. November cools to 67.1°F and brings SEMA, the F1 Grand Prix and re:Invent in its first, third and last weeks; I'd aim for the weeks between them.

Once you've picked your dates, the 3-day itinerary lays out how to use them, things to do covers the Strip itself, and plan your trip has the rest of the logistics. Hoover Dam is the easiest half-day trip in any month; the Hoover Dam tours guide compares them, and the helicopter tours guide covers night flights over the Strip.