Sanremo's climate is among the mildest on the Italian mainland. Winters are cool but rarely cold, summers are hot but tempered by sea breezes. The town has been attracting winter visitors since the 19th century precisely because it stays pleasant when the rest of Europe is locked in grey skies.
February is paradoxically both one of the quietest months and one of the most lively, depending on when the Music Festival falls. During festival week (usually the first two weeks of February), accommodation is impossible to find without booking months ahead and prices double. Outside festival week, February is uncrowded and the mimosa is in bloom on the hillsides.
March brings the Milan–Sanremo cycling race, which finishes in the town centre. Race day attracts large crowds along the final kilometres and into town. The weather is typically mild and dry.
June through August is high season: beaches are busy, restaurants are packed, and Italian families from Turin and Milan fill the seafront hotels. The heat peaks in July and August, when the old town's shaded alleys are a genuine relief.
October and November are underrated. Crowds are gone, prices drop, the sea is still warm enough to swim in October, and the light on the Ligurian hills is at its most beautiful.