When's the best time to visit Yokohama in 2026?

Pick November. The wind off Yokohama Bay turns crisp, daytime highs sit near 17°C, and Yokohama gets less than half as much rain in November as in September. The ginkgo trees along Nihon-odori and in Yamashita Park go butter-yellow in the last two weeks of the month, and the fallen nuts smell faintly of old cheese underfoot while people in Kannai walk right past them. Sankei-en, the garden Hara Sankei opened to the public in 1906, lights the maples around its three-storey pagoda from mid-November into early December. The Red Brick Warehouse Christmas Market usually opens in late November, with mulled wine steaming in paper cups. The trade-off is short days: sunset comes around 4.30pm, so do Sankei-en and Motomachi in the morning and save the lit Minato Mirai skyline for the evening.

October is a close second, with one caveat. The first half of the month still carries typhoon risk: Typhoon Hagibis hit the Kanto region on 12 October 2019 and halted JR trains across Kanagawa. By mid-October the air dries out, and the Yokohama Jazz Promenade usually fills Kannai's halls and bars on the second weekend of the month while the Oktoberfest at the Red Brick Warehouse pours German beer under white tents. For spring, choose May over cherry-blossom season: highs reach about 22°C, and the roses at Yamate Italian Garden and Harbor View Park bloom in mid-to-late May. Hotel rates in Minato Mirai drop once Golden Week ends around 6 May. Skip 29 April to 5 May if you can, because Tokyo day-trippers pack the lanes of Chinatown shoulder to shoulder and the Minatomirai Line runs standing-room only.

For a first visit, late March and early April look pretty but are overrated. The Ōoka River promenade near Sakuragicho has about 500 cherry trees and draws lantern-lit night crowds for roughly 10 days, and hotel rates climb to match. Avoid summer: the rainy season usually runs from early June to mid-July, August highs reach around 31°C, and the 15-minute walk from Sakuragicho Station to the Red Brick Warehouse leaves your shirt stuck to your back. September is peak typhoon month. On 27 September 2026 at 8pm it was still 22°C in Yokohama, with 86% humidity under overcast skies. The one summer draw is the fireworks over Yokohama Bay in July and August, when the smell of salt air and gunpowder drifts across Rinko Park. Winter, from December to February, is cold but dry, with highs near 10°C. Chinatown's Lunar New Year lion dances, held in late January or February, are loud with drums and firecrackers and worth the chill.