Weather in Bengaluru in May

A hard month. May is a hard month in Bengaluru, and worth planning around. Highs average 32.7 °C, lows 21.1 °C, and rain falls on 14 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

May ranks 12 of 12 — near the bottom of Bengaluru's year. December is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 47 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 14 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 32.7 °C days and 21.1 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 8 days clear 35 °C, so a serious heatwave is normal rather than notable. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest May day reached 39.4 °C and the coldest night fell to 18.2 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 69 mm — roughly 63% of the month's rain in one day.

May is moderately variable: 7 mm in the driest year against 229 mm in the wettest, around an average of 110 mm. Roughly two Mays in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 9.5 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 64%.

How May sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 2.4 °C cooler than April, with June dropping another 3.5 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip. Rain has already shifted: 7 days more than April had.

Daylight in May

Bengaluru sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.7 hours in May, against a range of just 1.5 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 21.1 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights. At 920 m the air is thin enough to matter — sun that burns faster than the temperature suggests, and nights that cool off quickly.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

May in Bengaluru versus nearby

If Bengaluru is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Mysuru is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days more rain. Kallakurichi is the weaker option in May — 4.6 °C warmer, 1 day less rain.

So: May is a compromise. December is 47 points better and is what Bengaluru is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Bengaluru

See all twelve months in Bengaluru, or where else to go in May.