Weather in Dārjiling in May

A good month. May works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. You should expect rain on 21 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

May ranks 8 of 12 in Dārjiling: past the worst of the year but short of March, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 21 of the month's 31 days, 4 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average May reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest May day reached 27.5 °C and the coldest night fell to 8.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 99 mm — roughly 69% of the month's rain in one day.

May is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest May on record still delivered 219 mm against 52 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 144 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 5 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 65%.

How May sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 22 °C in April, 22.3 here, 22 in June. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: June brings 5 days more of it, so the earlier half of a flexible trip is the safer half.

Daylight in May

May is at or near the longest days of Dārjiling's year: 13.5 hours of daylight, gaining 0.6 hours across the month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 20.5 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights. At 2127 m, altitude is doing as much work here as latitude: thinner air means fierce sun by day and heat that leaves the moment it sets.

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 Dārjiling versus nearby

If Dārjiling is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Kathmandu is close enough to be a coin toss — 7.5 °C warmer, 6 days less rain. Patna is the weaker option in May — 19.7 °C warmer, 15 days less rain.

So: May is a compromise. March is 23 points better and is what Dārjiling 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 Dārjiling

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