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Warmest sea temperatures in Europe in May: ranked by sea temperature

Nicosia tops the list at 21 °C in May. Ranked from 1991–2020 climate normals across 50 destinations in Europe.

Top three in May: Nicosia (21 °C) , La Laguna (20 °C) , Limassol (20 °C) . Between first and 50th place the sea temp differs by 5.6 °C.

# Destination Country Sea temp Avg high Avg low Rainfall Wet days Sunshine Sea temp
1 Nicosia Cyprus 21 °C 28 °C 16 °C 29 mm 5 399 h 21 °C
2 La Laguna Spain 20 °C 18 °C 15 °C 9 mm 2 396 h 20 °C
3 Limassol Cyprus 20 °C 26 °C 17 °C 13 mm 3 400 h 20 °C
4 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Spain 20 °C 21 °C 17 °C 9 mm 2 393 h 20 °C
5 Thessaloníki Greece 19 °C 24 °C 15 °C 66 mm 9 371 h 19 °C
6 Naples Italy 19 °C 22 °C 14 °C 63 mm 8 386 h 19 °C
7 Durrës Albania 19 °C 21 °C 15 °C 73 mm 9 380 h 19 °C
8 Pátra Greece 19 °C 23 °C 14 °C 53 mm 8 376 h 19 °C
9 Athens Greece 19 °C 25 °C 15 °C 23 mm 5 385 h 19 °C
10 Palermo Italy 19 °C 23 °C 15 °C 36 mm 6 398 h 19 °C
11 Valletta Malta 19 °C 21 °C 17 °C 6 mm 1 398 h 19 °C
12 Messina Italy 19 °C 22 °C 15 °C 47 mm 8 392 h 19 °C
13 Alicante Spain 18 °C 23 °C 15 °C 35 mm 6 401 h 18 °C
14 Elche Spain 18 °C 24 °C 14 °C 23 mm 4 400 h 18 °C
15 Jerez de la Frontera Spain 18 °C 25 °C 14 °C 30 mm 5 395 h 18 °C
16 Cartagena Spain 18 °C 22 °C 16 °C 20 mm 3 404 h 18 °C
17 Taranto Italy 18 °C 22 °C 14 °C 31 mm 6 393 h 18 °C
18 Catania Italy 18 °C 24 °C 15 °C 28 mm 4 390 h 18 °C
19 Palma Spain 18 °C 23 °C 16 °C 31 mm 5 393 h 18 °C
20 Castelló de la Plana Spain 18 °C 22 °C 14 °C 31 mm 5 391 h 18 °C
21 Reggio Calabria Italy 18 °C 23 °C 14 °C 54 mm 8 392 h 18 °C
22 San Marino San Marino 18 °C 18 °C 8.7 °C 72 mm 10 375 h 18 °C
23 Valencia Spain 18 °C 24 °C 14 °C 33 mm 5 395 h 18 °C
24 Livorno Italy 18 °C 21 °C 14 °C 63 mm 8 387 h 18 °C
25 Genoa Italy 18 °C 21 °C 13 °C 101 mm 13 354 h 18 °C
26 Bari Italy 18 °C 22 °C 15 °C 40 mm 7 390 h 18 °C
27 Trieste Italy 18 °C 21 °C 12 °C 120 mm 13 362 h 18 °C
28 Almería Spain 18 °C 25 °C 16 °C 12 mm 2 409 h 18 °C
29 Málaga Spain 18 °C 22 °C 15 °C 25 mm 4 397 h 18 °C
30 Nice France 18 °C 21 °C 13 °C 64 mm 9 384 h 18 °C
31 Monaco Monaco 18 °C 20 °C 14 °C 64 mm 9 384 h 18 °C
32 Marbella Spain 17 °C 21 °C 15 °C 32 mm 5 395 h 17 °C
33 Taganrog Russia 17 °C 20 °C 14 °C 53 mm 9 367 h 17 °C
34 Gibraltar Gibraltar 17 °C 22 °C 15 °C 31 mm 5 394 h 17 °C
35 Badalona Spain 17 °C 21 °C 13 °C 46 mm 7 384 h 17 °C
36 Barcelona Spain 17 °C 21 °C 13 °C 46 mm 7 384 h 17 °C
37 Sabadell Spain 17 °C 21 °C 12 °C 58 mm 9 381 h 17 °C
38 Mariupol Ukraine 17 °C 20 °C 13 °C 50 mm 9 374 h 17 °C
39 Toulon France 17 °C 21 °C 14 °C 55 mm 7 386 h 17 °C
40 Sochi Russia 17 °C 19 °C 12 °C 89 mm 10 359 h 17 °C
41 Lisbon Portugal 16 °C 21 °C 14 °C 44 mm 6 386 h 16 °C
42 Marseille France 16 °C 21 °C 13 °C 52 mm 6 388 h 16 °C
43 Montpellier France 16 °C 21 °C 12 °C 59 mm 7 380 h 16 °C
44 Novorossiysk Russia 16 °C 20 °C 13 °C 50 mm 9 373 h 16 °C
45 Donostia / San Sebastián Spain 16 °C 18 °C 12 °C 122 mm 15 330 h 16 °C
46 Varna Bulgaria 16 °C 20 °C 12 °C 59 mm 10 367 h 16 °C
47 Constanţa Romania 16 °C 20 °C 12 °C 49 mm 8 382 h 16 °C
48 Porto Portugal 16 °C 20 °C 12 °C 102 mm 11 376 h 16 °C
49 Odesa Ukraine 15 °C 20 °C 13 °C 38 mm 8 378 h 15 °C
50 Vigo Spain 15 °C 19 °C 11 °C 118 mm 12 372 h 15 °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. La Laguna 19 °C
  2. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 19 °C
  3. Nicosia 18 °C
  4. Limassol 18 °C
  5. Jerez de la Frontera 17 °C

Full ranking for April

June: top 5

  1. Nicosia 24 °C
  2. Limassol 23 °C
  3. Thessaloníki 23 °C
  4. Naples 23 °C
  5. Durrës 23 °C

Full ranking for June

How this ranking is built

What is ranked
The average sea surface temperature at the coast, in °C, 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 beach score.
Sources
ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis via Open-Meteo; sea temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1. Measured values are reproduced unchanged; only the ordering 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.