Coolcation

    Where it's cool in May

    Lake Titicaca, Peru 17°C · Colca Canyon, Peru 13°C · Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia 14°C. Typical daytime highs in May, using the 2016 to 2025 record.

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    Curated by Hugo · Updated 23 September 2026

    Top 10 destinations in May

    1. 1.Lake Titicaca, Peru

      17°4° daily spread4 rain dayshiking
      Why Lake Titicaca, Peru?

      The historical record averages 17° in May, with a 4° daily-high spread and 4 average rain days.

    2. 2.Colca Canyon, Peru

      13°4° daily spread9 rain dayshiking
      Why Colca Canyon, Peru?

      The historical record averages 13° in May, with a 4° daily-high spread and 9 average rain days.

    3. 3.Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

      14°5° daily spread0 rain dayshiking
      Why Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia?

      The historical record averages 14° in May, with a 5° daily-high spread and 0 average rain days.

    4. 4.La Paz, Bolivia

      15°5° daily spread4 rain dayshiking
      Why La Paz, Bolivia?

      The historical record averages 15° in May, with a 4° daily-high spread and 4 average rain days.

    5. 5.Twelve Apostles, Australia

      16°11 rain daysfamilies
      Why Twelve Apostles, Australia?

      The historical record averages 16° in May, with a 6° daily-high spread and 11 average rain days.

    6. 6.Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, Iceland

      9°14 rain dayshiking
      Why Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, Iceland?

      The historical record averages 9° in May, with a 6° daily-high spread and 14 average rain days.

    7. 7.Puerto Varas, Chile

      13°14 rain dayscouples
      Why Puerto Varas, Chile?

      The historical record averages 13° in May, with a 6° daily-high spread and 14 average rain days.

    8. 8.Hobart, Australia

      15°6 rain dayssolo
      Why Hobart, Australia?

      The historical record averages 15° in May, with a 7° daily-high spread and 6 average rain days.

    9. 9.Dublin, Ireland

      16°7 rain daysculture
      Why Dublin, Ireland?

      The historical record averages 16° in May, with a 7° daily-high spread and 7 average rain days.

    10. 10.Anchorage, United States

      14°4 rain dayshiking
      Why Anchorage, United States?

      The historical record averages 14° in May, with a 8° daily-high spread and 4 average rain days.

    More about May

    A coolcation, on this site, is anywhere with a mean daily high at or below 18°C. May gives you 51 of the 295 curated destinations with a ten-year record this month (of 497 curated in total). The ranking below is by low day-to-day swing, not by which is coldest.

    May coolcation options on the ten-year record: 51 of 295 curated destinations with ten-year daily records sit at or below 18°C mean daily high (of 497 curated in total; the remainder do not yet have a full ten-year series for May). The list below ranks them by day-to-day steadiness, not raw temperature.

    The coldest reading in the dataset for May is Svalbard at -2°. The warmest still inside the cool band is Buenos Aires at 18°. Pack layers, not a coat.

    Coolcation is defined here as mean daily high at or below 18°C. That threshold is a firm number, chosen for room-temperature comfort with a light layer. Nothing on this page describes forecasts. The averages are climate.

    May cool with a small daily-high spread: La Paz, averaging 15° with a p10 to p90 width of 5 degrees.
    Reed boats on the high blue water of Lake Titicaca
    Lake Titicaca, Peru
    Deb Dowd / Unsplash License
    Limestone stacks along the Great Ocean Road at dusk
    Twelve Apostles, Australia
    Victor / Unsplash License
    Blue icebergs drifting toward the Atlantic in Iceland
    Jokulsarlon, Iceland
    rolf gelpke / Unsplash License
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    Displaying historical averages for the month of May.

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    Average temperatures by destination

    Showing 57 of 80 destinations

    DestinationCountryAvg highSwingsRain days
    SvalbardSvalbard and Jan Mayen-3°15° width10
    IqaluitCanada-1°9° width3
    LongyearbyenNorway1°10° width9
    IlulissatGreenland3°12° width7
    ChurchillCanada4°17° width4
    NuukGreenland4°9° width8
    Abisko National ParkSweden7°13° width10
    High TatrasSlovakia7°10° width16
    UshuaiaArgentina8°6° width10
    Valley of Geysers, KamchatkaRussia7°--
    Bran CastleRomania9°10° width16
    Jökulsárlón Glacier LagoonIceland9°6° width14
    QaqortoqGreenland9°11° width7
    TromsøNorway9°12° width13
    San Carlos de BarilocheArgentina10°8° width7
    Kanas LakeChina10°13° width10
    Lake BaikalRussia11°10° width5
    Yellowstone National ParkUnited States11°13° width11
    QueenstownNew Zealand12°8° width10
    TadoussacCanada13°13° width8
    Colca CanyonPeru13°4° width9
    Puerto VarasChile13°6° width14
    AnchorageUnited States14°8° width4
    BamiyanAfghanistan14°11° width16
    KetchikanUnited States14°9° width14
    Kizhi IslandRussia14°16° width9
    LehIndia14°17° width12
    Salar de UyuniBolivia14°5° width0
    BergenNorway15°13° width10
    HobartAustralia15°7° width6
    La PazBolivia15°5° width4
    Lake DistrictUnited Kingdom15°9° width10
    Mount Everest North Base CampChina15°8° width10
    Twelve ApostlesAustralia16°6° width11
    AalborgDenmark16°11° width7
    DublinIreland16°7° width7
    FairbanksUnited States16°11° width4
    Lake Issyk-KulKyrgyzstan16°6° width16
    Mount ElbrusRussia16°17° width20
    Mount PaektuNorth Korea16°15° width13
    Neuschwanstein CastleGermany16°13° width17
    StockholmSweden16°13° width5
    ŚwinoujściePoland16°11° width7
    Curonian SpitRussia17°14° width7
    GoesNetherlands17°10° width7
    JasperCanada17°14° width5
    Jiuzhaigou ValleyChina17°10° width19
    Lake TiticacaPeru17°4° width4
    MelbourneAustralia17°7° width7
    Quebec CityCanada17°15° width10
    WhistlerCanada17°15° width6
    Buenos AiresArgentina18°8° width5
    MendozaArgentina18°11° width2
    Mont Saint-MichelFrance18°9° width7
    MoscowRussia18°15° width12
    Punta del EsteUruguay18°9° width7
    VilniusLithuania18°13° width7

    Readings summarise observed daily weather from 2016 to 2025. They are a historical reference, not a forecast. Data: Visual Crossing global historical archive. How we compute this

    Frequently asked

    Where is reliably cool in May?
    In the 12-18°C cool-comfort band, the driest and steadiest May averages on the ten-year record are: Lake Titicaca (17°C, about 4 rain days, a 4° spread). Also dry, but with a wider day-to-day spread: Salar de Uyuni (14°C, about 0 rain days, a 5° spread); Mendoza (18°C, about 2 rain days, an 11° spread); La Paz (15°C, about 4 rain days, a 5° spread).
    What counts as a coolcation in May?
    On this site, a coolcation is anywhere with a mean daily high at or below 18°C. In May that filters 51 of 295 curated destinations with a ten-year record. The warmest in-band pick is Buenos Aires at 18°; the steadiest day-to-day is Lake Titicaca with a 4° spread.
    Is May the right month for a coolcation?
    It depends on where you go. In May the ten-year record puts 51 curated destinations at or below 18°C mean daily high. If that count is small, the northern hemisphere is warming and southern-hemisphere hill stations or high-latitude coasts do most of the work. If it is large, the reverse.

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