Where Is Warm in May? 9 Dry Places, With Southern Europe Just Outside

Which places are warm and dry in May?

Nine places pass our test in May: an average daytime high of at least 24°C and rain on no more than one day in ten, over eleven years of daily weather. A rain day is a day with at least two millimetres of rain, or four in the tropics, so 10% is about three rain days in the month. In April the list was Cape Verde, the Gulf, Mexico and Central America. In May ten places leave it and only three arrive: Mauritius, Cyprus and Málaga.

Cape Verde and Dubai are the driest. Cyprus is the one European place on the list. Seville, Crete, Athens, Antalya and Madrid pass the 24°C line for the first time this year, but each has rain on about 4 to 6 of 31 days, and so sits just outside.

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Which places drop out of the list in May?

The places that fall off are the ones with a rain season on the way. Compare April and May for the ones that mattered.

Goa and Puerto Escondido go from no rain days to about 5 of 31 as the first showers of their wet seasons arrive; Goa's pre-monsoon begins before the June monsoon. Mexico City's afternoon storms start. Mérida is the Mexican place that stays: hot, with a few showers.

Is Thailand worth it in May?

Not for weather. The whole country is in rainy-season transition and the Andaman coast is the wettest. Highs stay at 30 to 34°C, which is why it feels oppressive: you get the heat and the rain together. If you are staying in Asia in May, Da Nang is the least wet of the big bases, and Bali is easing but still has rain on more days than Da Nang.

Is Bali dry in May?

Not dry, but clearly easing. Rainfall drops from April and cloud cover thins: Uluwatu and Canggu both fall from a wet-feeling April to about 5 and 7 rain days in May, too many for our list. Our Bali rainy season guide covers when it clears fully.

Which European places are actually warm in May?

The southern ones. The jump from April is large: Seville goes from 23°C to 28°C, Athens from 20°C to 25°C, Crete from 21°C to 25°C and Cyprus from 23°C to 26°C.

Cyprus is the strongest pick: warm, almost no rain, and the clearest skies of the group. Seville is the warmest and just over our rain line; Crete and Athens are similar. Lisbon misses our line on warmth, not rain, and is pleasant for working outside. Málaga just scrapes onto the list, at its end. Madeira and the Canary Islands stay mild.

Where should I spend a month in May?

Mild and dry: Cape Verde is the easiest, with essentially no rain.

Warm Europe: Cyprus for sea and sun with the fewest rain days, Seville for the heat and city life, Crete or Athens for Greek island routes, if a few showers are fine. May is before the summer crowds and before the temperature gets harsh.

Only if you want hot: Dubai, where evenings are the working day outdoors.

If you are leaving South-East Asia, May is the month to go: the dry season is over, the first rains have started, and the Mediterranean is warm, with only a few rain days.

In the Southern Hemisphere it is autumn. Cape Town cools to 20°C and rain returns there as winter starts. The one southern place on our May list is Mauritius, though the west-coast caution above applies.

Looking ahead? June is when southern Europe fills the list.

Planning more than May, or need to dodge smoke, heat or rain? Pick your months and what to avoid and get your 3 best places, with the numbers.

How we built this list

Daily weather history from the Open-Meteo archive (temperatures and rain days) and monthly rain totals from CHIRPS (satellite and rain-gauge data; Canggu keeps Open-Meteo totals because CHIRPS reads too wet there against the Denpasar airport rain gauge) are grouped into month-of-year averages for each destination's coordinates over eleven years. A place is listed if its average May high is at least 24°C and rain falls on at most one day in ten, ordered by fewest rain days and then by the warmer high. A rain day is a day with at least two millimetres of rain (four in the tropics), a cut-off we checked against rain gauges. On small trade-wind islands such as Barbados the weather model is known to miss part of the rain, so their rain days are likely higher than shown (the CHIRPS monthly totals do not have that problem). It does not know prices, crowds, visas, festivals or air quality. See our data sources page for the method and open any destination page for the range across the month.

Want hot rather than warm in May?

This guide ranks places by dryness. If you want the highest daytime heat instead, with humidity beside it, see the hottest places in the world by month.