In brief
January falls in PAGASA’s cool dry season, and it is the coolest row of the year in the island-coordinate model, with a mean of 26.3 C. Rain is 72.1 mm at the PAGASA Roxas City gauge and 82 mm in a NASA model for the island, less than half of December’s 171.3 and 207 mm.
- Weather: modelled mean maximum 28.9 C, mean minimum 23.2 C, humidity 83%5.
- Sea: modelled mean sea-surface temperature 27.5 C, with hourly values from 26.2 to 28.6 C6.
- Wind: the northeast monsoon (Amihan) was declared on 27 October 2025; Bulabog faces the northeast wind and White Beach the southwest23.
- Events: the Ati-Atihan festival in Kalibo ran 10 to 19 January in 20259.
- Crowds: the Malay tourism office counted 177,860 tourists in January 20238.
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Where to book Current rates for the island, for the dates you are comparing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is January a good month to visit Boracay?
It is in PAGASA’s cool dry season, and both rain columns are low: 72.1 mm at the Roxas City gauge and 82 mm in the island model145. It is also the coolest month in the model, with a mean of 26.3 C5.
Does it rain in Boracay in January?
Some, yes. The normal is 72.1 mm for the month at the Roxas City gauge, about 100 km away, and 82 mm in the NASA model for the island45. No source used here counts rainy days.
How warm is the sea in January?
The model mean is 27.5 C, with hourly values from 26.2 to 28.6 C6. These are model values, not measurements.
Which side of Boracay is windy in January?
Under northeast monsoon conditions the modelled wind and wave setup is higher at Bulabog than at White Beach3.
When is Ati-Atihan?
In 2025 it ran from 10 to 19 January in Kalibo, with the grand procession on 19 January9. The sources used here do not confirm later dates.
Is January busy?
The Malay tourism office counted 177,860 tourists in January 20238. The sources used here do not show whether January is typically the peak.
The detail
January is the first full month of the dry season, and the weather figures below are the starting point for when to go to Boracay. This page gives the month’s row from the climate table, the sea and wind pattern, what the sources date to January, and what they say about crowds.
Weather in January
There is no PAGASA station on Boracay4. Two sources stand in. The PAGASA climatological normal for Roxas City in Capiz is the nearest station on PAGASA’s list, at 11.60 N, 122.75 E, roughly 100 km east of Boracay and on a different coast47. The other is NASA POWER’s 2001-2020 climatology for the island’s coordinates (11.97 N, 121.92 E), which is a reanalysis model and not a gauge5.
| Measure | December | January | February |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rain, Roxas City gauge (mm) | 171.3 | 72.1 | 49.3 |
| Rain, NASA model at Boracay (mm) | 207 | 82 | 59 |
| Mean temperature, model (C) | 27.1 | 26.3 | 26.4 |
| Mean maximum, model (C) | 29.6 | 28.9 | 28.8 |
| Mean minimum, model (C) | 24.3 | 23.2 | 24.0 |
| Relative humidity, model (%) | 85 | 83 | 81 |
| Sea-surface temperature, model mean (C) | 28.7 | 27.5 | 26.8 |
Sources:4 for the Roxas City row,5 for the NASA rows,6 for sea temperature.
January is the coolest month in the model on mean temperature and mean minimum. The rain falls by more than half from December in both columns, and February drops lower again. PAGASA does not state the base period of its normals or label the units; the figures are read here as millimetres of rain per month4. The NASA monthly rain is its daily average multiplied by the days in the month5.
A normal hides single days. The Roxas City extremes sheet records 370.2 mm of rain in one day on 1 January 1916, and a lowest-ever temperature of 16.4 C on 31 January 19057. Those are records for that gauge, not what to expect.
Nationally, PAGASA gives January as the coolest month, at a mean of 25.5 C across its stations excluding Baguio1. The national figure is not a Boracay figure.
Sea and wind
PAGASA declared the onset of the northeast monsoon, the Amihan, on 27 October 2025, expecting cool, dry air and also “rough sea conditions and shear lines” in the season2. The southwest monsoon is the Habagat. The sources used here give no end date for Amihan, so January is placed in it only by following that declaration.
A University of the Philippines modelling abstract (15 November 2024) describes an island oriented northwest to southeast. White Beach faces the southwesterly winds and Bulabog faces the northeasterly winds3. In northeast conditions the setup of wind and waves is higher at Bulabog and lower at White Beach, the reverse of the southwest pattern3. For the east-coast beach see Bulabog Beach.
On boats, a February 2025 fee report ties an extra charge at Tabon port to the southwest-monsoon season, which is the Habagat, not the Amihan10. Which port is used in which season sets out the detail. Storm cases found in the sources fall in August, November and December, and none in January; see typhoons and cancelled boats.
What is on
The Ati-Atihan festival is held in Kalibo, the town with the airport used for Boracay trips. In 2025 its activities ran from 10 to 19 January, with open street dancing on 17 January, a dawn procession on 18 January and the grand procession and closing on 19 January; about 1,700 police were deployed9. Dates for later years are not confirmed in the sources used here, so check the festival’s current announcement.
Crowds
The Malay tourism office’s figures, as reported in 2023, give 177,860 tourists for January 2023, against a 2022 total of 1,759,5928. That is one January in one year. The sources used here give no month-by-month series that would show whether January is typically the peak, so the page does not say it is.
What to book ahead
No source used here gives a booking lead time for January. If your dates overlap the Ati-Atihan days, the festival is in Kalibo, so it affects the road and airport side of the trip more than the island. Holiday dates for the year, and the other dated peaks, are in Boracay peak dates for 2026 and 2027. For the crossing see Getting to Boracay.
Related Articles
Sources (10)
- Climate of the Philippines — PAGASA. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Onset of the Northeast Monsoon — PAGASA press release, 27 October 2025. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Wave and storm-induced changes in the sediment transport of beaches in Boracay Island, Philippines — University of the Philippines Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology seminar, 15 November 2024. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Climatological Normals — PAGASA. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- NASA POWER climatology for 11.97 N, 121.92 E — NASA Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources, 2001-2020 climatology. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Marine API, sea-surface temperature, 2015-2024 — Open-Meteo. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Climatological Extremes (as of 2024): Roxas City — PAGASA. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Boracay hits the million-tourist mark faster than in 2022 — Rappler, 17 June 2023. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Ati-Atihan Festival 2025: List of activities — GMA News, 7 January 2025. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Boracay Fee Reduction Not Feasible, Mayor Says — Daily Guardian, 27 February 2025. Accessed 2026-10-03.