Nobody puts September on a poster. The hills behind the town are the greenest they get all year and almost nobody is here to look at them.
What it is actually like
Warm, wet and slow. Rain arrives mostly in the afternoon and evening, often hard, usually not for long. Mornings are frequently clear. The pattern is reliable enough that people plan around it without thinking, which is the part visitors take a few days to trust.
The streets are quieter. Some places close. Those of us who stay open see the same faces every day, and I will admit I prefer it.
What it does to a practice
Two things.
The first is humidity, which is at its highest now, and everything in the August post about range of motion applies double. Your body will feel generous. It is not lying exactly, but it is exaggerating.
The second is more interesting. With fewer people in town, classes get smaller. A smaller class is a different animal. There is more attention going around, more chance a teacher stops beside you, and less room to hide at the back, which some people love and some people find confronting. Both reactions are reasonable.
If you are here now
You have picked the practical month. Book what you like, walk everywhere, accept that you will get soaked at some point and stop treating that as an event.
Bring more than one set of clothes to practise in. Nothing dries.
If you are planning a visit
September is not the month to come for guaranteed beach weather. It is a serious contender if what you want is a week of regular practice without arranging your day around anyone else’s holiday.
Check my timetable before you commit to dates. It moves in the quiet months, and this page is not the one I update first.