The visitor season
Moderate season, nationally.
May records 46% of August's overnight stays. This measures overnight demand, not queues or day-trippers.
A good place. At the right time.
Greece
in May.
Is May a good time?
All 13 scored regions rate very good or better for weather.
National overnight stays are 46% of the August peak.
- Regional afternoon highs
- 72–82°F
- Very good weather
- 13 / 13 regions
Similar weather scores do not mean similar visitor seasons or hotel prices across regions.
Find your May baseBased on 13 statistical regions. Typical conditions, not a forecast for individual towns.
One month. 13 possibilities.
Choose your May base.
The useful differences, side by side. Open a region for its full month guide.
What matters most?
Weather 50% · Crowds 30% · Cost 20%
Trip focus
Overall scores use the Balanced mix. Choose a different priority to order the regions by that mix.
BeachPeloponneseNafplio · Mani · MonemvasiaRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.9/10#1 month here · Balanced
Weather10.0/10Excellent79°F afternoons · 3 rain days
Visitor seasonModerate seasonvs its own yearNear usual price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
BeachCreteChania · HeraklionRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.4/10#3 month here · Balanced
Weather10.0/10Excellent80°F afternoons · 3 rain days
Visitor seasonModerate seasonvs its own yearHigher price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
BeachSantorini, Mykonos & the Greek islandsSantorini · Mykonos · Rhodes · Kos · Naxos · Paros · MilosRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.4/10#2 month here · Balanced
Weather10.0/10Excellent74°F afternoons · 1 rain day
Visitor seasonModerate seasonvs its own yearHigher price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
BeachNorth Aegean islandsLesbos · Chios · Samos · LemnosRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.9/10#2 month here · Balanced
Weather9.9/10Excellent75°F afternoons · 3 rain days
Visitor seasonLow seasonvs its own yearNear usual price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
CityAthens & AtticaAthens · Acropolis · Cape SounionRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.3/10#4 month here · Balanced
Weather9.7/10Excellent82°F afternoons · 4 rain days
Visitor seasonBusy seasonvs its own yearNear usual price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
MountainsWestern MacedoniaKastoriaRead the May guide ↗
Overall9.1/10#1 month here · Balanced
Weather9.5/10Excellent74°F afternoons · 8 rain days
Visitor seasonModerate seasonvs its own yearNear usual price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
BeachCentral Greece & EviaDelphi · EviaRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.9/10#1 month here · Balanced
Weather9.5/10Excellent79°F afternoons · 6 rain days
Visitor seasonLow seasonvs its own yearNear usual price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
BeachWestern GreecePatras · OlympiaRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.6/10#1 month here · Balanced
Weather9.5/10Excellent78°F afternoons · 5 rain days
Visitor seasonModerate seasonvs its own yearNear usual price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
MountainsEpirusIoannina · Zagori · PargaRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.7/10#2 month here · Balanced
Weather9.4/10Excellent75°F afternoons · 8 rain days
Visitor seasonLow seasonvs its own yearNear usual price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
BeachCorfu & the Ionian IslandsCorfu · Zakynthos · Kefalonia · LefkadaRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.3/10#2 month here · Balanced
Weather9.4/10Excellent72°F afternoons · 3 rain days
Visitor seasonModerate seasonvs its own yearHigher price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
BeachMeteora, Pelion & the SporadesMeteora · Pelion · Skiathos · SkopelosRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.7/10#1 month here · Balanced
Weather9.3/10Excellent79°F afternoons · 5 rain days
Visitor seasonLow seasonvs its own yearNear usual price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
BeachThessaloniki & HalkidikiThessaloniki · HalkidikiRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.6/10#1 month here · Balanced
Weather9.1/10Excellent78°F afternoons · 5 rain days
Visitor seasonLow seasonvs its own yearNear usual price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
BeachEastern Macedonia & ThraceKavala · ThassosRead the May guide ↗
Overall8.6/10#1 month here · Balanced
Weather8.7/10Very good76°F afternoons · 7 rain days
Visitor seasonLow seasonvs its own yearLower price seasonhistorical estimated seasonal pattern; national price level
No regions match these filters. Try another place or reset the filters.
Cost words compare a published regional accommodation level with Greece's typical level, or describe a region's price season against its own year. The Cost score still uses Greece's price level on the Europe scale; where regional money levels are unavailable, a cheaper season does not establish which region has the cheapest rooms.
What goes into the scores?
Overall combines weather, crowds and cost. It is not a weather rating. By default, the list ranks weather first and shows Balanced Overall scores (50% weather, 30% crowds, 20% cost). Other priorities order it by your Overall mix. Missing cost is excluded and the available parts are reweighted.
Visitor season compares each region with its own year. A higher crowd score does not establish which place has fewer people in absolute terms. Regions cover whole statistical areas; open a guide for its geographic scope. Read the scoring method.
Weather across the country
May weather & packing.
Regional averages vary; check a forecast closer to your trip.
- Typical afternoons
- 72–82°F
- Typical nights
- 50–63°F
- Rain days
- 1–8 days
Ranges span available regional monthly averages, not daily extremes. A dash means a measurement is unavailable or withheld; individual guides explain the gaps.
What to bring.
Afternoons around 82°F (28°C): summer clothes; nights around 58°F (14°C): a sweater and a light jacket.
Weather, region by region Afternoons, nights, rain & weather
| Region | Afternoon | Night | Rain days | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peloponnese | 79°F | — | 3 | excellent |
| Crete | 80°F | 59°F | 3 | excellent |
| Santorini, Mykonos & the Greek islands | 74°F | 63°F | 1 | excellent |
| North Aegean islands | 75°F | 61°F | 3 | excellent |
| Athens & Attica | 82°F | 58°F | 4 | excellent |
| Western Macedonia | 74°F | 50°F | 8 | excellent |
| Central Greece & Evia | 79°F | 56°F | 6 | excellent |
| Western Greece | 78°F | 57°F | 5 | excellent |
| Epirus | 75°F | 52°F | 8 | excellent |
| Corfu & the Ionian Islands | 72°F | — | 3 | excellent |
| Meteora, Pelion & the Sporades | 79°F | — | 5 | excellent |
| Thessaloniki & Halkidiki | 78°F | 58°F | 5 | excellent |
| Eastern Macedonia & Thrace | 76°F | 56°F | 7 | very good |
Before you go
Check the trip details.
Hotel prices
About usual.
+4% on Greece's historical national hotel-price index, versus its usual month in 2024–2025. This describes a price season, not a live room quote.
The national index cannot tell you which region has the cheapest rooms.
Thinking about the coast?
Check the water, too.
Among beach-focused regions, the warmest measured seas this month are Crete (67°F), Santorini, Mykonos & the Greek islands (67°F), Western Greece (66°F). Sea temperature is one part of a beach trip; open a region for weather and seasonal closures.
Events & holiday dates Check the year against your trip
- Orthodox Easter (Greece), 25 April – 3 May 2027: Greeks travel home and to the islands; ferries and hotels book up. Official calendar.
Holidays: 29% of people in Greece live where schools are out on a typical May 2027 day. Public holidays: 1 May Labour Day; 3 May Easter Monday. (School holidays: OpenHolidays, ODbL, and the official calendars.)
Same country. A different chapter.
Dates still up in the air?
May is fixed, but the destination isn't? Find somewhere else in Europe ↗
How we know Sources, scope & limitations
Each row is a statistical region (NUTS 2); open it for the full month, the sources and what moving your dates would change. National lines are built from the regions: season is Greece's total tourist nights this month against its busiest month (Eurostat, primarily 2024–2025; earlier published years where needed); weather counts regions whose displayed Weather score is at least 7.0/10 (very good or better) rather than averaging across the country; visitors ranks overnight visitors per resident against all Europe's regions (for a region) or the other countries (for Greece) that month.
A regional accommodation level is shown only where publishable money data exists; elsewhere the cost words describe a regional season against its own year, and the score starts from the national price level. Separately, Greece's 2024 restaurants-and-hotels level is below EU average (86 where the EU average is 100). Full method.