The five scores
Scores run from 1 to 10. Higher is always better: a high Crowds score means a quieter month, and a high Prices score means a cheaper one.
- Weather
- How pleasant the month is: temperature, rain and humidity. Based on climate records.
- Crowds
- How busy the place feels. A high score means a quieter month. My judgement.
- Prices
- How expensive hotels and flights tend to be. A high score means cheaper. My judgement.
- Events
- Whether festivals, holidays or big events help or get in the way. My judgement.
- Overall
- The headline score for the month, shown next to the four scores behind it.
What is measured, and what is judgement
Temperatures, rain and humidity are monthly averages from published climate records. Where a city has station records, I use them. Where it does not, I use ERA5 reanalysis for 1991–2020 through Open-Meteo. Every source is listed per destination on that destination’s page.
Crowds, prices and events are my own judgement. They are not measurements. They come from holidays, festivals, school calendars and how busy and expensive a place usually gets. Two people can disagree with a score, and that is fine. I would rather say so than pretend it is a lab result.
Each month also has a short tip, a reason to go and a reason to think twice. I write those by hand, per destination.
What it covers
118 destinations, 12 months each. The numbers and the summary of each month change when I review them. Last reviewed October 2026.
Using the data
You are welcome to quote a score or a best month. Please say it comes from CrowdFreeViews and link to the destination page you used. If you write about a place I cover and want a number checked, email contact@crowdfreeviews.com.
Some links on the site, such as hotel searches on Booking.com, are affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you. It does not change a score.