If you could pick one month for a European city break, May would be a strong choice. It is warm but rarely hot, the evenings are long, outdoor terraces are open and the peak summer prices have not yet kicked in. More cities in our guide are at their best in May than in almost any other month.
Outside Europe, May is pleasant in Central Asia, Turkey and much of North America. It is the start of the hot, humid season in South and Southeast Asia, and late autumn in the southern hemisphere.
Top picks for May
What May is good for
Peak spring in Europe
Warm days, flowers in bloom and long evenings, without the July crowds.
Islands and coasts before summer
The sea is still cool, but the weather is reliable and the old towns are calm.
Silk Road and the Caucasus
Comfortable temperatures before the summer heat.
North America in spring
Mild weather in cities that get hot or humid in summer.
☀️ Warm-weather picks
Cities with a tropical or desert climate that are in season in May.
- 🇲🇦 MarrakechHot semi-arid
- 🇧🇷 Rio de JaneiroTropical
- 🇮🇩 UbudTropical monsoon
- 🇧🇷 BrasíliaTropical savanna
- 🇻🇳 Hoi AnTropical monsoon
- 🇪🇬 AlexandriaHot desert
- 🇦🇺 CairnsTropical
- 🇲🇾 Kuala LumpurTropical rainforest
💰 Good value in May
In season and easy on the budget. Estimate the cost of a trip with the budget estimator.
- 🇹🇷 Istanbul€€ Moderate
- 🇨🇿 Prague€€ Moderate
- 🇩🇪 Berlin€€ Moderate
- 🇵🇹 Lisbon€€ Moderate
- 🇭🇺 Budapest€€ Moderate
- 🇬🇷 Athens€€ Moderate
- 🇲🇦 Marrakech€€ Moderate
- 🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro€€ Moderate
🌗 Quieter shoulder-season options
May is just outside these cities' best months: expect fewer visitors and lower prices, with less predictable weather.
- 🇸🇬 SingaporeBest: February–April
- 🇪🇬 CairoBest: October–April
- 🇿🇦 Cape TownBest: October–April
- 🇸🇪 StockholmBest: June–August
- 🇮🇸 ReykjavikBest: June–August, September–March (Northern Lights)
- 🇵🇷 San JuanBest: December–April
- 🇨🇦 Quebec CityBest: June–September, December–February
- 🇷🇼 KigaliBest: June–September
All 129 cities in season in May
🏰 Europe 66
- Amsterdam
- Antwerp
- Athens
- Barcelona
- Belgrade
- Bergen
- Berlin
- Bilbao
- Bologna
- Bordeaux
- Bratislava
- Bruges
- Brussels
- Budapest
- Cologne
- Copenhagen
- Dresden
- Dublin
- Dubrovnik
- Edinburgh
- Florence
- Frankfurt
- Gdansk
- Glasgow
- Gothenburg
- Granada
- Hamburg
- Krakow
- Kyiv
- Lisbon
- Ljubljana
- London
- Lucerne
- Lyon
- Madrid
- Manchester
- Marseille
- Milan
- Moscow
- Munich
- Naples
- Nice
- Oslo
- Palermo
- Paris
- Porto
- Prague
- Riga
- Rome
- Rotterdam
- Salzburg
- Seville
- Sofia
- Strasbourg
- Tallinn
- The Hague
- Turin
- Valencia
- Valletta
- Venice
- Verona
- Vienna
- Vilnius
- Warsaw
- York
- Zagreb
🏯 Asia 18
- Baku
- Beijing
- Busan
- Chengdu
- Guilin
- Hiroshima
- Hoi An
- Kuala Lumpur
- Kyoto
- Nara
- Osaka
- Samarkand
- Seoul
- Shanghai
- Tbilisi
- Tokyo
- Ubud
- Xi'an
🗽 Americas 25
- Austin
- Boston
- Brasília
- Buenos Aires
- Chicago
- Cusco
- Denver
- Guadalajara
- Honolulu
- La Paz
- Las Vegas
- Los Angeles
- Mexico City
- Montreal
- Nashville
- New Orleans
- New York
- Ottawa
- Philadelphia
- Rio de Janeiro
- San Diego
- Santiago
- São Paulo
- Toronto
- Washington
🦁 Africa 9
🕌 Middle East 6
🌊 Oceania 5
How we choose these cities
Every city guide on GuesTheCity lists the months when we think the city is at its best, balancing weather, crowds and prices. A city appears on this page when May is one of those months. Warm-weather picks are filtered by climate, value picks by our budget rating for each city, and shoulder-season options are cities where May falls just before or after their best months.
Weather varies from year to year and festival dates move, so check the forecast and event calendar before you book. To see the full year for any city, use the best time to visit calendar, explore cities by region on the world map, or compare two options with City vs City.