Destinations · Roundup

Where to Go in May: Best Watersports Bases

by Yannick SchrothAug 5, 20267 min read

Experience the thrill of kitesurfing during sunset in Dahab,

Photo: Sameh Solow via Pexels (free licence).

May opens the southwest monsoon window, which is good news on the other side of the map: Sri Lanka's east coast, Mauritius, Lombok and Indonesia's surf coasts come alive, and Europe's lakes and coasts become swimmable. Every pick below is a base we have a full guide for, and the reason it works in May comes from that guide's own season notes. Seasons shift year to year, so treat these as planning windows and confirm conditions before you book.
Verified detail lives in the individual guides, not in this summary.

How we chose

May is where low-season pricing still overlaps with usable conditions, which is the only reason this list exists in the shape it does. May is early-season value. Several places are already good and still priced for low season, though May is also when monsoon timing starts to matter and forecasts get less trustworthy. Every base here is included because its own guide names May as part of its working window, not because the weather is generally nice, and where a place is marginal we say so rather than padding the list to a round number.

6°50′N 81°50′E · Surf

Arugam Bay

The right-hand points fire roughly May to September on the southwest monsoon, the mirror of the south coast season.

Season startsRead the guide → 8°14′N 79°46′E · Kitesurfing

Kalpitiya

The main wind season runs roughly May to October on the southwest monsoon, over a large, forgiving lagoon.

Main wind seasonRead the guide → 20°28′S 57°19′E · Kitesurfing

Le Morne

The reliable season is the austral winter, roughly May to October, on steady southeast trades.

Trade winds returnRead the guide → 34°03′S 24°55′E · Surf

Jeffreys Bay

Supertubes fires in the southern winter, roughly May to August, peaking in June and July.

Supertubes seasonRead the guide → 8°53′S 116°17′E · Surf

Kuta, Lombok

The dry season runs roughly May to September: clean offshore mornings and the most consistent swell.

Dry season startsRead the guide → 36°02′N 14°14′E · Diving & freediving

Gozo

The comfortable dive season runs roughly May to October, water 22 to 28C and visibility often 30 to 40m.

Water warms upRead the guide → 45°43′N 121°31′W · Windsurf & kite

Hood River

Thermals run almost daily from May to September in the Columbia River Gorge.

Thermals beginRead the guide → 63°00′N 150°00′W · Packrafting

Alaska

The practical packrafting window is roughly late May to mid-September.

Window opensRead the guide →

Also good in May

Nias and Sumbawa, as the dry-season groundswell window opens.
The Ottawa River, Voss, Sjoa and Bovec, all snowmelt seasons running May to September.
Split and the Dalmatian coast, where warm, clear swimming runs May to October.

FAQ

Where should I go in May if I want warm water and wind?

Kalpitiya in Sri Lanka and Le Morne in Mauritius both start their main seasons in May, and both pair a shallow lagoon with reliable wind. Zanzibar's Kusi season starts around June, so May is the shoulder there.

Is May good for whitewater?

It is the start of the northern snowmelt season: the Ottawa River, Voss and Sjoa all run roughly May to September, with the biggest, coldest flows in late spring and early summer. Bovec on the Soca runs from around March or April with peak snowmelt late April to June.

Sources

Every entry above is drawn from our own destination guide for that place, and the claims here are the ones those guides already verify: Arugam Bay, Kalpitiya, Le Morne, Jeffreys Bay, Kuta, Lombok, Gozo, Hood River, Alaska.

← Back to the journal