The best time to visit Matera
When to visit Matera: average highs month by month, summer heat on the Sassi stairs, Festa della Bruna on 2 July, the Christmas nativity and sunset times.
The best time to visit Matera is April to early June or late September to October. Average highs then run from about 17 °C (63 °F) in April to 22 °C (71 °F) in May and 20 °C (69 °F) in October, which is comfortable for two hours of stairs in the Sassi. July and August average highs of 30 to 31 °C (86 to 88 °F), and the old town is a staircase of sun-warmed stone, so in summer you walk early in the morning or in the evening.
Plan around two dates. On 2 July, the Festa della Bruna, the rock churches run by Oltre l’Arte are closed all day. On 25 December they close again. The rest of the year the Sassi are public streets you can walk any day, and the paid sites open daily with hours that change by season.
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Matera weather by month
The figures below are the long-term averages for the Matera weather station (401 m above sea level), from 1961 to 1990. They are old normals, and recent decades have run about 1 °C warmer in summer and autumn, so read July and August as a little hotter than the table. Sunset is the 2026 time on the 21st of the month.
| Month | Average high | Average low | Sunset (21st) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9 °C (48 °F) | 3 °C (37 °F) | 16:56 |
| February | 10 °C (50 °F) | 3 °C (37 °F) | 17:34 |
| March | 13 °C (55 °F) | 5 °C (41 °F) | 18:06 |
| April | 17 °C (63 °F) | 8 °C (46 °F) | 19:38 |
| May | 22 °C (71 °F) | 12 °C (53 °F) | 20:08 |
| June | 27 °C (81 °F) | 16 °C (60 °F) | 20:28 |
| July | 31 °C (87 °F) | 18 °C (65 °F) | 20:20 |
| August | 31 °C (88 °F) | 19 °C (66 °F) | 19:45 |
| September | 27 °C (80 °F) | 16 °C (61 °F) | 18:55 |
| October | 20 °C (69 °F) | 12 °C (53 °F) | 18:06 |
| November | 15 °C (59 °F) | 8 °C (47 °F) | 16:33 |
| December | 12 °C (53 °F) | 5 °C (41 °F) | 16:29 |
July and August are the driest months, and most of the year’s rain falls between October and April. On a wet day the stone lanes and steps get slippery, and some outdoor tours stop: the guided Tibetan bridge hike in the Murgia park does not run in rain. Each tour listing gives its own cancellation terms, most of them free up to 24 hours before.
At 401 m above sea level, Matera has cool nights for much of the year. In April and October the lows of 8 to 12 °C (46 to 53 °F) make a jacket useful for an evening on the belvedere, and from November to March you want a warm layer for any walk after dark. Clocks go back to winter time on 25 October 2026, which brings sunset an hour earlier on the clock overnight.
Spring and autumn in the Sassi
April, May and October are the easiest months for walking the Sassi. A guided tour such as the two-hour Sassi walk with a cave house and a rock church is mostly downhill into the districts and then back up to the upper town, and at 17 to 22 °C you can do it at midday without much trouble. Spring gives you long evenings: by late May the sun sets after 20:00, and the Murgia park’s spring ticket hours run from 9:00 to 21:00, so a sunset on the plateau fits in before dinner.
September starts hot, with an average high of 27 °C (80 °F), and cools through the month. October is milder still, with sunset around 18:00 until the clock change. The park’s autumn ticket window, from 16 September to 30 November, is 9:00 to 18:00, which is close to sunset by October. If you want to watch it from the Belvedere di Murgia Timone in autumn, a guided tour with a transfer is the simplest way: the Matera Murgia Timone Belvedere Sunset Guided Tour & Transfer costs $47 per person, includes the park tickets and two rock churches, and is rated 4.7 from 250 GetYourGuide reviews (our breakdown). Our sunset tour page has the times month by month.
Paid sites keep longer hours in the warmer months. The Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario, the cave-house museum in Sasso Caveoso, opens until 19:00 on weekdays and 20:00 at weekends from April to June and in September. From October to March it closes at 18:00 on weekdays and 19:00 at weekends. MUSMA, the sculpture museum, is open daily and closes earlier in winter. The three ticketed rock churches have published daily hours of 9:30 to 19:30 since 28 March 2026 (San Pietro Barisano 10:00 to 19:00), and they must be booked for a date and time.
Summer: heat on the stairs
July and August are the hottest months, with average highs of 30 to 31 °C (86 to 88 °F) on the old normals and a little more in recent years. The Sassi have no flat route, and the walking tours climb back up to the upper town at the end. A few summer reviewers on walking and bus tours describe temperatures in the mid-30s °C and say the heat made a long tour hard going. Book a morning start, carry water, and wear a hat and closed shoes with grip.
If you would like to see the Sassi in summer without the climb, the open-top eco bus and the tuk-tuks keep you seated for most of the route. The open-top bus tour page and the tuk-tuk page compare them. Summer evenings are long, with sunset around 20:20 in late July, so you can save the views for after 18:00.
Expect the busiest days on summer weekends, around 2 July and at Christmas. Book walking tours and the timed-entry rock churches a few days ahead for those dates, and book your room early. Our where to stay page covers the areas.
Festa della Bruna on 2 July
The Festa della Bruna is Matera’s big feast, held on 2 July every year. A papier-mâché float, the Carro Trionfale, carries the Madonna della Bruna through town and is then torn apart by the crowd in Piazza Vittorio Veneto, a ritual called the strazzo. Tens of thousands of people come for it.
For sightseeing, 2 July is a hard day. All the Oltre l’Arte sites, including the rock churches of Santa Maria de Idris, Santa Lucia alle Malve and San Pietro Barisano and the cathedral route, are closed. The Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario opens only from 9:00 to 13:30. Expect road closures and crowds in the upper town. If you are in Matera for the feast, plan your church and cave-house visits for 1 or 3 July.
Winter in Matera and the living nativity
From November to March, average highs are 9 to 15 °C (48 to 59 °F) and the lows a few degrees above freezing. The Sassi are quieter, the stone is often damp, and the days are short: sunset is around 16:30 in December. The park’s winter ticket hours, 1 December to the end of February, are 10:00 to 16:30. The Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario says it opens all year, with short hours on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January, and the Oltre l’Arte churches close on 25 December.
December brings the Presepe Vivente, a living nativity staged in Sasso Caveoso. The 2025 edition ran on weekends from 5 December 2025 to 4 January 2026, with more than 200 performers, on a route from the Piazza San Francesco area to Via Bruno Buozzi. The organizer is selling the 2026-27 edition, called Vera Fratellanza and dedicated to St Francis, on a 1.5 km route at EUR 12 full price and EUR 7 for ages 5 to 10 (plus booking fees), but it had not posted dates when this guide was updated. Check presepematera.it before you plan a December trip around it.
The best time of day for a walk
Morning is the best time for a walking tour for most of the year. The ticketed rock churches open at 9:30 and the cathedral route at 9:00, so a tour that starts mid-morning finds them open, and in summer you finish before the hottest hours. Two exceptions catch people out. On Sundays and religious holidays the cathedral route is closed to tourist visits from 10:00 to 12:30. And the FAL train from Bari does not run on Sundays and public holidays (buses replace it), which matters if you are coming for the day; our Bari to Matera guide explains the options.
Late afternoon is the time for views, and the belvedere across the gorge is the place to be toward sunset. A common plan is a guided walk in the morning and the Murgia at the end of the day; our one-day plan sets out the whole day.
Tour schedules through the year
Most Matera tours run all year, and the listings tell you to check availability for starting times on your date. A few change with the seasons:
- The Murgia Timone sunset tour ends at sunset, so it starts earliest in December (sunset around 16:30) and latest in June (around 20:28).
- The self-drive electric tuk-tuk ($39 per person) lists 9 January 2027 as its first bookable date, so treat it as seasonal and check dates for your trip.
- The Sassi, Murgia and Tibetan bridge trip ($124) is cancelled in rain, with a refund or a new date, which makes it a riskier booking from November to April.
The Murgia park charges more for its access tickets from 1 April to 31 October than in the winter months. Our tickets and prices guide lists every site with its current price.
Pick your month, then check the tour dates for your trip, because schedules can change with the season.
Book Your Walk Through the Sassi
Two hours with a licensed guide, a cave house and a rock-cut church, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before the tour.
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