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Best beach destinations in Europe in May: ranked by beach score

Nicosia tops the list at 87 /100 in May. Ranked from 1991–2020 climate normals across 50 destinations in Europe.

Top three in May: Nicosia (87 /100) , Limassol (86 /100) , Athens (76 /100) . Between first and 50th place the beach score differs by 52 /100.

# Destination Country Beach score Avg high Avg low Rainfall Wet days Sunshine Sea temp
1 Nicosia Cyprus 87 /100 28 °C 16 °C 29 mm 5 399 h 21 °C
2 Limassol Cyprus 86 /100 26 °C 17 °C 13 mm 3 400 h 20 °C
3 Athens Greece 76 /100 25 °C 15 °C 23 mm 5 385 h 19 °C
4 Almería Spain 76 /100 25 °C 16 °C 12 mm 2 409 h 18 °C
5 Elche Spain 74 /100 24 °C 14 °C 23 mm 4 400 h 18 °C
6 Jerez de la Frontera Spain 74 /100 25 °C 14 °C 30 mm 5 395 h 18 °C
7 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Spain 73 /100 21 °C 17 °C 9 mm 2 393 h 20 °C
8 Catania Italy 71 /100 24 °C 15 °C 28 mm 4 390 h 18 °C
9 Valencia Spain 69 /100 24 °C 14 °C 33 mm 5 395 h 18 °C
10 Cartagena Spain 68 /100 22 °C 16 °C 20 mm 3 404 h 18 °C
11 Palma Spain 67 /100 23 °C 16 °C 31 mm 5 393 h 18 °C
12 Alicante Spain 66 /100 23 °C 15 °C 35 mm 6 401 h 18 °C
13 Palermo Italy 66 /100 23 °C 15 °C 36 mm 6 398 h 19 °C
14 Thessaloníki Greece 65 /100 24 °C 15 °C 66 mm 9 371 h 19 °C
15 Pátra Greece 64 /100 23 °C 14 °C 53 mm 8 376 h 19 °C
16 Valletta Malta 64 /100 21 °C 17 °C 6 mm 1 398 h 19 °C
17 Taranto Italy 64 /100 22 °C 14 °C 31 mm 6 393 h 18 °C
18 Málaga Spain 63 /100 22 °C 15 °C 25 mm 4 397 h 18 °C
19 Castelló de la Plana Spain 63 /100 22 °C 14 °C 31 mm 5 391 h 18 °C
20 La Laguna Spain 62 /100 18 °C 15 °C 9 mm 2 396 h 20 °C
21 Reggio Calabria Italy 60 /100 23 °C 14 °C 54 mm 8 392 h 18 °C
22 Messina Italy 59 /100 22 °C 15 °C 47 mm 8 392 h 19 °C
23 Gibraltar Gibraltar 58 /100 22 °C 15 °C 31 mm 5 394 h 17 °C
24 Marbella Spain 58 /100 21 °C 15 °C 32 mm 5 395 h 17 °C
25 Naples Italy 58 /100 22 °C 14 °C 63 mm 8 386 h 19 °C
26 Bari Italy 57 /100 22 °C 15 °C 40 mm 7 390 h 18 °C
27 Durrës Albania 54 /100 21 °C 15 °C 73 mm 9 380 h 19 °C
28 Badalona Spain 52 /100 21 °C 13 °C 46 mm 7 384 h 17 °C
29 Livorno Italy 51 /100 21 °C 14 °C 63 mm 8 387 h 18 °C
30 Lisbon Portugal 51 /100 21 °C 14 °C 44 mm 6 386 h 16 °C
31 Barcelona Spain 50 /100 21 °C 13 °C 46 mm 7 384 h 17 °C
32 Toulon France 50 /100 21 °C 14 °C 55 mm 7 386 h 17 °C
33 Montpellier France 50 /100 21 °C 12 °C 59 mm 7 380 h 16 °C
34 Marseille France 49 /100 21 °C 13 °C 52 mm 6 388 h 16 °C
35 Nice France 47 /100 21 °C 13 °C 64 mm 9 384 h 18 °C
36 Sabadell Spain 47 /100 21 °C 12 °C 58 mm 9 381 h 17 °C
37 Taganrog Russia 47 /100 20 °C 14 °C 53 mm 9 367 h 17 °C
38 Monaco Monaco 46 /100 20 °C 14 °C 64 mm 9 384 h 18 °C
39 Mariupol Ukraine 44 /100 20 °C 13 °C 50 mm 9 374 h 17 °C
40 Trieste Italy 42 /100 21 °C 12 °C 120 mm 13 362 h 18 °C
41 Genoa Italy 42 /100 21 °C 13 °C 101 mm 13 354 h 18 °C
42 San Marino San Marino 41 /100 18 °C 8.7 °C 72 mm 10 375 h 18 °C
43 Odesa Ukraine 41 /100 20 °C 13 °C 38 mm 8 378 h 15 °C
44 Novorossiysk Russia 40 /100 20 °C 13 °C 50 mm 9 373 h 16 °C
45 Constanţa Romania 40 /100 20 °C 12 °C 49 mm 8 382 h 16 °C
46 Makhachkala Russia 39 /100 20 °C 14 °C 40 mm 8 347 h 15 °C
47 Sochi Russia 38 /100 19 °C 12 °C 89 mm 10 359 h 17 °C
48 Varna Bulgaria 37 /100 20 °C 12 °C 59 mm 10 367 h 16 °C
49 Sevastopol Ukraine 36 /100 18 °C 12 °C 27 mm 6 387 h 15 °C
50 Porto Portugal 35 /100 20 °C 12 °C 102 mm 11 376 h 16 °C

Monthly values for the month named in the ranking; only destinations with a published climate page are ranked. Download this ranking as CSV.

The same ranking one month earlier and later

April: top 5

  1. Nicosia 67 /100
  2. Limassol 64 /100
  3. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 63 /100
  4. Almería 57 /100
  5. La Laguna 52 /100

Full ranking for April

June: top 5

  1. Palermo 95 /100
  2. Taranto 95 /100
  3. Limassol 94 /100
  4. Alicante 94 /100
  5. Pátra 93 /100

Full ranking for June

How this ranking is built

What is ranked
Our 0–100 beach score (formula on the methodology page), in May, highest first.
Period
1991–2020 climate normals: the same 30 years for every destination, so the list compares like with like.
Who is included
50 destinations in Europe with a published climate page. Neighbouring places that share a climate series are shown once.
Ties
Equal values are ordered by sea temperature.
Sources
ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis via Open-Meteo; sea temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1. Measured values are reproduced unchanged; only the ordering and the score is ours.

Data sources and method

Normal period
1991–2020
Dataset version
era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: ranking order, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.