January is the coldest month of the year in Venice, averaging a daily maximum of 7.1 degrees C and a daily minimum of 1.5 degrees C on the 1991 to 2020 reference period, with about 60 mm of rain over roughly eight wet days (Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2026). It is also the driest month in that thirty year series, level with July and well below the 125 mm of November.

Flooding matters far less than it does in the three months before it. Of the 324 tides of 110 cm or more recorded at Venice between 1872 and 2019, 28 fell in January, and no January tide in that record has ever reached 140 cm (ISPRA, Comune di Venezia & CNR-ISMAR, 2026). The opposite problem belongs to the month instead: every low tide of 90 cm below datum or lower since 1923 has fallen between December and March, and the lowest level ever measured in the city was recorded on 18 January.

This page sets out the January figures, how the tide behaves at both ends of its range, what the month costs, what is actually on, and how to fit a day into nine hours of light.

What is the weather like in Venice in January?

On the 1991 to 2020 reference period, January in Venice averages a daily maximum of 7.1 degrees C and a daily minimum of 1.5 degrees C (Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2026). Both are the lowest figures of the twelve months, so January is the coldest part of the Venetian year, below December at 8.0 degrees C by day and a degree and a half below February at 8.7 degrees C.

The cold is persistent rather than extreme. About 28 of the 31 days stay below 10 degrees C in the afternoon, roughly five fail to reach 5 degrees C, and about nine or ten nights fall to freezing or below. Damp, still air over the lagoon is what makes those readings feel colder than the same numbers inland.

Rain is the good news. January averages about 60 mm over roughly 7.7 days recording 1 mm or more, the lowest monthly total in the whole series and level with July, against 79 mm in December and 125 mm in November. Recent years fit the pattern rather than breaking it: at the ISPRA station on the Lido, January 2025 recorded 34 mm of rain on seven rainy days, making it the third driest month of that year behind December and May (ISPRA, 2026).

Does Venice flood in January?

Much less often than in autumn. Tide heights are measured against the Punta della Salute datum of 1897, and 80 cm above it is the level at which the lowest ground in Piazza San Marco begins to flood (ISPRA, 2026).

The long record is clear about where January sits. Of the 324 tides of 110 cm or more measured at Venice between 1872 and 2019, 28 fell in January. That puts the month fifth, behind November, December, October and February, at roughly a quarter of the November total. The severe end of the range is missing altogether: the register of exceptional tides of 140 cm or more, 25 events across the same period, contains no January date at all. The highest January levels on record are 132 cm on 28 January 1948 and 132 cm on 29 January 1978, followed by 131 cm on 28 January 1979 (ISPRA, Comune di Venezia & CNR-ISMAR, 2026).

When January does flood, it tends to arrive in clusters. Five of the 28 events fell inside four days, from 28 to 31 January 2014, and the last January tide above 110 cm in the pre-2020 record was 113 cm on 11 January 2016.

Since 2020 the MOSE barriers have taken the top off the range. Across the whole of 2025 no tide of 110 cm or more was recorded in the historic centre, while seven were measured at sea, and exceedances of 80 cm fell to 161 from 227 in 2024 (ISPRA, 2026).

Low water in January, when the canals drain

The tide runs low in January as well as high, and low water is the more distinctively winter phenomenon. The register of low tides of 90 cm below datum or lower at Punta della Salute holds 41 events between 1923 and 2024, and every one of them falls between December and March: 20 in February, nine in January, nine in December and three in March (ISPRA, Comune di Venezia & CNR-ISMAR, 2026).

The outright record belongs to January. The lowest level ever measured in the city is 124 cm below datum on 18 January 1882, against a maximum of 194 cm above it on 4 November 1966, which gives the series an extreme range of 318 cm. The lowest reading in the modern low water register is 101 cm below datum on 7 January 1928, and the most recent entry in the whole table is 91 cm below datum on 29 January 1994.

On the ground a very low tide means mud instead of water in the smaller canals, moored boats sitting on the bottom, and some side routes out of use for a few hours. It is short lived. The same volume records a maximum fall from high to low of 165 cm within a single tide, on 25 December 2019, so the water that drains out of a small canal is back the same day.

Is January the cheapest time to visit Venice?

On the fixed costs, January is as cheap as Venice gets, though the saving comes from accommodation rather than from tickets.

There is no access fee. The 2026 calendar applied the day visitor charge on 60 days only, from 3 April to 26 July, between 08.30 and 16.00, at 5.00 EUR for visitors who paid by the fourth day before arrival and 10.00 EUR for those who paid later, and it covered the historic centre alone (Venice Visit Pass, 2026). No date outside that window carried the charge, and no 2027 decision had been published when this page was written.

Transport and museums cost the same in January as in August, because neither varies by season. A single 75 minute Rete Unica ticket is 9.50 EUR, the Venezia Daily Pass is 25.00 EUR, and the multi-day tickets run 35.00 EUR for two days, 45.00 EUR for three and 65.00 EUR for seven, with the Rolling Venice three day ticket at 27.00 EUR for ages 6 to 29 (ACTV, 2026). The St Mark's Square museums ticket is 35.00 EUR full and 15.00 EUR reduced, dropping to 30.00 EUR online more than thirty days ahead (Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, 2026).

One January discount is written into regional law. Winter end of season sales in the Veneto run from the first working day before the 6 January holiday to 28 February, and promotional discounts are barred in the thirty days before that start (Regione del Veneto, 2026).

What is on in Venice in January

The month has one fixed event of its own and one it leads into.

The fixed one is the Regata delle Befane on 6 January, rowed on the Grand Canal by the Reale Societa Canottieri Bucintoro. In its 45th edition, on Tuesday 6 January 2026, the five competitors dressed at the club's premises at the Magazzini del Sale on the Zattere, a rowing procession set off at 10.00 to accompany them to the course, a giant stocking was displayed at Rialto at 10.30, and the race started at 11.00 and finished under the Rialto bridge (Reale Societa Canottieri Bucintoro, 2026). It is free to watch, and the bridge fills early, so the fondamente on either side of the finish are the practical places to stand.

The one it leads into is Carnival. The close of the season is fixed by the church calendar rather than by the organisers: Ash Wednesday falls on 10 February 2027, which places Shrove Tuesday on 9 February and Giovedi Grasso on 4 February (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2026). The opening date is set each year by the organisers and published in the autumn, and the official Carnival site could not be reached when this page was written, so no 2027 opening date is stated here. What that means in practice is that the busy, expensive part of Carnival sits in February, and a January visit catches the workshops and the shop windows filling up rather than the crowds.

Short days and winter hours: planning a January day

Daylight is the real constraint in January, and it improves quickly. Venice gets about 8 hours and 47 minutes between sunrise and sunset on 1 January, about 9 hours and 6 minutes by the 15th and about 9 hours and 42 minutes by the 31st, so the month adds nearly an hour of usable light from end to end (Open-Meteo, 2026).

Winter opening hours shorten the day further. From 1 November to 31 March the Doge's Palace opens 09.00 to 18.00 with last admission at 17.00 (Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, 2026). St Mark's Basilica admits visitors from 09.30 Monday to Saturday, with last entry at 16.45 and closing at 17.15, and the campanile opens at 09.30 with last entry between 18.00 and 18.45 (Procuratoria di San Marco, 2026).

The holiday timetable is the trap worth marking in a January plan. On Sundays and public holidays the basilica opens to visitors only at 14.00, because the morning belongs to services. That applies to 1 January and to 6 January, the two dates a short January trip is most likely to include, so treat both as afternoon visits and put the outdoor walking in the morning.

Is January a good time to visit Venice?

It is, for a traveller who will trade warmth for space. January gives you the emptiest streets of the year, no access fee, museum queues at their shortest, low season room rates outside the New Year week, and the lowest flood risk of the winter months (Venice Visit Pass, 2026; ISPRA, Comune di Venezia & CNR-ISMAR, 2026).

The costs are real. It is the coldest month on the record, with about nine or ten nights at freezing or below and 28 days in 31 that stay under 10 degrees C in the afternoon, and the sightseeing day runs to about nine hours of light (Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2026; Open-Meteo, 2026). Winter hours close the main sites in the late afternoon, and two of the month's likely visiting dates put the basilica out of reach until 14.00.

Pack for the readings rather than for the postcard: a proper winter coat, a hat and gloves, layers underneath, and waterproof shoes with a warm lining, since cold stone and standing water do more damage to a January day than rain does. Check the ISPRA tide forecast the evening before each day, which covers low water as well as high, and keep the plan reorderable. The month rewards that more than any itinerary does.