Weather in Puntarenas in May

A hard month. May asks something of you. Go in knowing what. You should expect rain on 21 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

May ranks 12 of 12 — near the bottom of Puntarenas's year. December is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 30 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 21 of the month's 31 days, 7 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. Pack for 32.6 °C days and 26.4 °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: 5 days clear 35 °C, so a serious heatwave is normal rather than notable. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest May day reached 37.5 °C and the coldest night fell to 23.4 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 61 mm — roughly 31% of the month's rain in one day.

May is moderately variable: 87 mm in the driest year against 600 mm in the wettest, around an average of 198 mm. Roughly two Mays in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 7.2 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 76%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How May sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 2.6 °C cooler than April, with June dropping another 2.1 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip. Rain has already shifted: 12 days more than April had.

Daylight in May

Puntarenas sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.6 hours in May, against a range of just 1.2 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 29.2 °C in May — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. This is the warmest the water gets all year.

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 Puntarenas versus nearby

If Puntarenas is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. San José is a better bet in May — 6.9 °C cooler, 3 days more rain. Liberia is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain.

So: May is a compromise. December is 30 points better and is what Puntarenas 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 Puntarenas

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