Weather in Vũng Tàu 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 Vũng Tàu's year. January is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 39 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 21 of the month's 31 days, 5 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 32.7 °C days and 26.6 °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 38.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 24.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 82 mm — roughly 49% 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 280 mm against 42 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 166 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 10 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 77%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How May sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 1.8 °C cooler than April, with June dropping another 2 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip. Rain has already shifted: 14 days more than April had.

Daylight in May

Vũng Tàu 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 29.9 °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 Vũng Tàu versus nearby

If Vũng Tàu is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Ho Chi Minh City is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days less rain. Cần Thơ is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain.

So: May is a compromise. January is 39 points better and is what Vũng Tàu 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 Vũng Tàu

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