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Photo by Tuxyso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Grand Canyon in May
sweet spot busy · one of the best months to go
The year in The Grand Canyon
Tap a month for its page
- JanJThe Grand Canyon in January: avoid
- FebFThe Grand Canyon in February: avoid
- MarMThe Grand Canyon in March: ok, busy
- AprAThe Grand Canyon in April: sweet spot
- MayMThe Grand Canyon in May: sweet spot, busy
- JunJThe Grand Canyon in June: sweet spot
- JulJThe Grand Canyon in July: sweet spot
- AugAThe Grand Canyon in August: good, busy
- SepSThe Grand Canyon in September: sweet spot
- OctOThe Grand Canyon in October: sweet spot
- NovNThe Grand Canyon in November: ok
- DecDThe Grand Canyon in December: avoid
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too.
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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 | 21°C |
|---|---|
| Nightly low | 8°C |
| Feels like, afternoon | 17°C |
| Rainy days, 1 mm or more | 3 · 23 mm |
| Humidity | 28% |
| Sunshine | 12.8 h/day |
| Daylight | 14.1 h/day |
| Crowds | 57 / 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
- Peak season — Mild temperatures attract tourists for hiking and sightseeing.
Written by a language model from the climate figures; the numbers above are measured and win where the two disagree.
The Grand Canyon in pictures
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Tuxyso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Tuxyso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What to pack
- Warm layers for the evenings, which drop to about 8°C.
- Sun protection: about 13 hours of sunshine a day.
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 The Grand Canyon: the apps, paying, getting around, tipping and the emergency numbers.
May elsewhere
In May from
The other months at The Grand Canyon
Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book through one, at no extra cost to you. That does not affect the numbers on this page, which are computed before any link is built.