Aim for October, and bring a proper coat

October is the month to aim for. Frieze and the BFI London Film Festival both land in the first half of it, the parks are at their best colour and game is back on the menus. September is warmer and November darker, but any of the three makes a good long weekend if you book the right things.

It cools quickly. Highs slide from the high teens in September to around ten degrees by November, and October's the wettest month of the year, so pack a proper coat and assume one afternoon will be spent indoors. The clocks go back on the last Sunday in October, and after that it's dark by about 4.30pm, which is good for theatre and dinner and less so for long walks.

Frieze and the Film Festival

Frieze London and Frieze Masters take over tents in Regent's Park for five days in mid-October. Frieze London is the contemporary fair, while Frieze Masters, a short walk across the park, covers everything from antiquities to the 20th century and is the calmer, more browsable of the two. Tickets are timed, and the opening days sell out.

Frieze Sculpture, the open-air show in the park's English Gardens, is free and runs for longer. The same week, the Mayfair galleries on Cork Street, Albemarle Street and round Savile Row open their big autumn shows, and walking between them makes a free afternoon in itself. From Marylebone or Mayfair you can walk to all of it.

The BFI London Film Festival runs for 12 days in October, with galas in Leicester Square and screenings at BFI Southbank and cinemas across the West End. Public booking opens in September, a couple of weeks after members'. The premieres with cast in attendance go in minutes and aren't worth fighting for, but daytime screenings of smaller films are easy to get and usually come with a Q&A.

Parks and deer

Hyde Park is the easy one. The plane trees along the Serpentine and the avenues towards Kensington Palace turn gold from mid-October, and an hour's loop from Marble Arch or Knightsbridge takes in the best of it.

For the full autumn show, head out to Richmond Park or Bushy Park, both Royal Parks with herds of red and fallow deer. The rut runs from September into November, when the stags roar and clash, mostly at dawn and dusk. It's worth seeing from a distance: the Royal Parks ask you to stay at least 50 metres from the deer and keep dogs on leads. Bushy Park is next to Hampton Court Palace, so deer in the morning and the palace in the afternoon makes a full day out of town. Kew Gardens is the other autumn day trip, where the Treetop Walkway takes you 18 metres into the canopy to see the colour from above.

Game season opens in August with grouse and runs on through the autumn with partridge, pheasant and venison. Rules on Maiden Lane in Covent Garden has been serving it since the 18th century and is the place to eat it: a red-plush dining room, oysters to start, a game pie or a roast bird in the middle. Book a Friday or Saturday a couple of weeks ahead. Core by Clare Smyth on Kensington Park Road has three Michelin stars and cooks with British seasonal produce, which makes autumn a good time to go; tables are released weeks ahead and go fast, so set an alert for the date you want.

The big public fireworks fall on the weekend nearest 5 November. Battersea Park's, run by Wandsworth Council, is one of the largest in central London, ticketed, with a bonfire and a funfair. Book early and travel light, because the crowds leaving the park take a while to clear.

Pick where to stay by the weekend you want: Marylebone and Mayfair for Frieze and the galleries, Kensington for the parks and dinner at Core, Covent Garden for film, theatre and Rules. Most central residences have two-bedroom apartments, which suits two couples sharing, but Frieze week and the Film Festival fill the good ones near Regent's Park and the West End early.

London weather by month

July is the warmest month, averaging 23°C by day. July has the fewest wet days (9) and October the most rain (80 mm). For sightseeing on foot, June scores best on our combined warmth-and-dryness measure.

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Rain	Wet days	Chance a 7-day stay sees a washout	Record high / low
January	8°C	2°C	74 mm	13	53%	16°C / -12°C
February	8°C	2°C	51 mm	10	43%	18°C / -8°C
March	11°C	4°C	45 mm	9	44%	23°C / -7°C
April	14°C	5°C	54 mm	10	44%	26°C / -3°C
May	17°C	8°C	54 mm	9	39%	30°C / -1°C
June	20°C	11°C	58 mm	9	35%	34°C / 2°C
July	23°C	13°C	52 mm	9	34%	34°C / 4°C
August	22°C	13°C	68 mm	9	37%	37°C / 4°C
September	19°C	11°C	62 mm	9	39%	29°C / 2°C
October	15°C	8°C	80 mm	11	47%	27°C / -2°C
November	11°C	5°C	76 mm	12	52%	18°C / -6°C
December	8°C	2°C	69 mm	12	50%	16°C / -8°C

Calculated NOAA GHCN-Daily observations at the Hampstead weather station, north London (records 1960–2015; averages from about 25 years per month). A wet day has 1 mm of rain or more.