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Photo by DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Charleston in May
sweet spot busy · one of the best months to go
The year in Charleston
Tap a month for its page
- JanJCharleston in January: ok
- FebFCharleston in February: ok, busy
- MarMCharleston in March: sweet spot
- AprACharleston in April: sweet spot
- MayMCharleston in May: sweet spot, busy
- JunJCharleston in June: ok
- JulJCharleston in July: ok, busy
- AugACharleston in August: ok, busy
- SepSCharleston in September: sweet spot
- OctOCharleston in October: sweet spot
- NovNCharleston in November: sweet spot
- DecDCharleston in December: ok
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
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Book with the airline
Where to stay
Book direct
Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
Rent direct
Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
The numbers
| Daily high | 27°C |
|---|---|
| Nightly low | 19°C |
| Feels like, afternoon | 30°C |
| Rainy days, 1 mm or more | 7 · 112 mm |
| Humidity | 75% |
| Sunshine | 11.2 h/day |
| Daylight | 13.9 h/day |
| Days over 35°C | 0 |
| Crowds | 53 / 100, higher is quieter |
Ten-year averages for this calendar month. A rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts it. The model these figures come from drizzles more than a rain gauge, the more so the warmer the month, so its days count from 2 mm, rising to 5 mm in the hottest.
How busy it gets
Public holidays in May
Holidays crowd a place out and push fares up around them; they count toward the crowd score above.
What May is known for
- Shoulder season — Spring offers pleasant weather with blooming flowers and fewer tourists than summer.
Written by a language model from the climate figures; the numbers above are measured and win where the two disagree.
Charleston in pictures
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DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Dougtone, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What to pack
- Summer clothes by day, highs around 27°C.
- A packable rain jacket for the 7 or so rainy days.
- Sun protection: about 11 hours of sunshine a day.
- Humidity averages 75%; breathable fabrics dry faster.
Each line is a threshold over the ten-year figures above, not advice from anywhere else.
Before you go
Type A and B plugs at 120 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the United states dollar. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise normal security precautions. Everything for United States: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
On arrival in Charleston: the apps, paying, getting around, tipping and the emergency numbers.
May elsewhere
In May from
The other months at Charleston
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