When to visit Bondi, honestly

January is the worst month to come and the most expensive. Here is what each part of the year actually looks like.

The peak runs from Boxing Day to the end of January. Rooms are at their highest rate, the beach is full by nine, and the queue at every café on Hall Street is twenty minutes deep. If you want Bondi at its best this is not the window.

February and March are the answer, and locals will tell you the same thing. The water is at its warmest — around 23°C, occasionally 24 — the crowds thin out the moment school goes back, and the weather holds. This is the month we would book.

April and May are the quiet shoulder. Dry, mild, still swimmable into early May if you are not precious about it, and rates roughly a third below peak. The coastal walk is at its best when it is 21°C rather than 31°C.

June to August is winter, which in Bondi means 18°C days, cold water, and the beach almost to yourself. The ocean pools are still in use every morning by people who have been doing it for forty years. Whales pass the headland from June through October.

September to November is the second shoulder and the one that surprises people. Warm, dry, long light, and quiet right up until the schools break in December.