Béchar is at the edge of the Sahara and has a true desert climate: extreme heat in summer, mild winters, and very little rain. The realistic window for a visit is October to April, when daytime temperatures sit between 15 and 25 °C and the desert is comfortable to walk in. Nights are cold from December through February — well below freezing in the open desert.
From May through September, temperatures regularly exceed 40 °C in the city and 45 °C in the surrounding dunes; sandstorms (the chergui) blow in periodically from the east. Tourism more or less stops in the high-heat months.