May is the first properly warm month in Venice. The daily maximum averages 20.8 degrees C over the 1991 to 2020 reference period and the overnight minimum 13.5 degrees C, both about 4.5 degrees above April, and roughly 19 afternoons in the month reach 20 degrees C or more (Open-Meteo, 2026). Frost is absent from the record and about two afternoons a year reach 25 degrees C.
Rain rises with the warmth. May averages 93.1 mm across about ten wet days, which makes it the wettest month of the first half of the year and the fourth wettest of the twelve, ahead of April at 82.0 mm and June at 76.7 mm (Open-Meteo, 2026). Deep flooding, by contrast, sits near its annual floor: of the 324 tides of 110 cm or more recorded at Venice between 1872 and 2019, five fell in May, and all five peaked between 21.35 and 00.05 (ISPRA, Comune di Venezia & CNR-ISMAR, 2026).
The cost side runs the other way. Under the 2026 calendar the access fee applied on 15 May days, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the month (Venice Visit Pass, 2026), and May 2027 carries three of the city's largest fixtures: the Architecture Biennale opening on 8 May, the Sensa, and the Vogalonga. This page sets out the May figures, the tide record, where those fixtures fall in 2027, what stays open late, and what the month costs.
What is the weather like in Venice in May?
Warm by day, mild at night, and wetter than any month before it in the year. Over the 1991 to 2020 reference period the daily maximum averages 20.8 degrees C and the overnight minimum 13.5 degrees C, a rise of about 4.5 degrees at both ends of the day from April (Open-Meteo, 2026). ISPRA records the same climb at its Lido station: about 4 degrees C a month in mean maximum temperature from February through May, then a jump of about 7 degrees into June (ISPRA, 2026).
About 19 May afternoons reach 20 degrees C or more and roughly two reach 25 degrees C, while afternoons below 15 degrees C fall from about ten in April to under one in May.
Station observations run warmer, because the recording site at Venezia Tessera sits off the water. Across the 616 May days in the series the mean maximum is 21.7 degrees C and the mean minimum 14.0 degrees C, with 31.0 degrees C the warmest May afternoon and 7.0 degrees C the coldest May night (Meteostat, 2026).
Rain is the part to plan for. May averages 93.1 mm over about ten wet days, against 82.0 mm in April and 76.7 mm in June, and the heaviest single May day in the period delivered 61.6 mm (Open-Meteo, 2026). Individual years vary widely: May 2025 was one of the driest months of that year at the Lido station, at 32 mm over nine rainy days (ISPRA, 2026).
Does Venice flood in May?
Very rarely, and when it does it happens after dark. Tide heights are measured against the Punta della Salute datum of 1897, and 80 cm above it is where the lowest ground in Piazza San Marco begins to flood (ISPRA, 2026).
Of the 324 tides of 110 cm or more recorded at Venice between 1872 and 2019, five fell in May. That places it eighth, behind November with 108, December with 79, October with 45, February with 36, January with 28, March with 11 and April with 8 (ISPRA, Comune di Venezia & CNR-ISMAR, 2026). The five are 127 cm on 6 May 1997, 119 cm on 21 May 1984, 112 cm on 23 May 2013, 110 cm on 4 May 2004 and 110 cm on 18 May 2019. All five peaked between 21.35 and 00.05, so a May flood is a night event with no daytime precedent in the record.
May is also absent from the register of exceptional tides. None of the 25 events of 140 cm or more listed for 1872 to 2019 fell in May, and the May maximum of 127 cm sits 67 cm below the all time high of 194 cm, set on 4 November 1966.
The MOSE era has one May entry. The 2020 to 2024 register runs to 61 high water events, and number 56 is 114 cm on 16 May 2024 at 19.20, measured at the offshore Acqua Alta platform because the barriers kept it out of the lagoon.
What is on in Venice in May 2027?
Three separate fixtures land inside the month, more than in any other month of the year.
The Architecture Biennale opens first. The 20th International Architecture Exhibition, titled Do Architecture, runs from 8 May to 21 November 2027, with a pre-opening on 6 and 7 May (La Biennale di Venezia, 2026). Anyone travelling for it should aim at 8 May or later, because the Giardini and Arsenale venues are closed to the public until then.
The Festa della Sensa follows the church calendar. It is held on the day of the Ascension of Christ and centres on a water procession, the rite of the marriage with the sea off San Nicolo del Lido, mass at San Nicolo and three rowing races (Comune di Venezia, 2026). The Ascension falls on Thursday 6 May in 2027 (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2026), which places the Sunday of the Ascension on 9 May. The Comune had not published the 2027 programme when this page was written.
The Vogalonga closes the set. It is a 30 km row through the lagoon, past Burano and Murano and back down the Grand Canal, rowed on Pentecost Sunday. The official site still lists the 50th edition of 24 May 2026 as its most recent published date (Vogalonga, 2026). Pentecost Sunday 2027 falls on 16 May (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2026), and listings already give that date, with the start at San Giorgio Maggiore and the finish at the Dogana da Mar (Visit Venice Italy, 2026).
Daylight, holidays and opening hours in May
May is the month Venice gains its long evenings. On 1 May 2027 the city gets 14 hours 20 minutes of daylight, with sunrise at 05.57 and sunset at 20.18 local time. By 31 May that has grown to 15 hours 27 minutes, sunrise at 05.24 and sunset at 20.52, a gain of about 67 minutes across the month (Sunrise-Sunset.org, 2026). Civil twilight runs a further 35 minutes past sunset at the end of May, leaving usable light until about 21.30.
The fixed holiday is 1 May, listed in article 2 of Law 260 of 27 May 1949 as the festa del lavoro (Normattiva, 2026). In 2027 it falls on a Saturday, so shops and offices keep holiday hours over an already busy weekend.
The main sites open later than in April. The Doge's Palace runs its summer timetable of 09.00 to 19.00 with last admission at 18.00, and from 1 May it adds an evening opening every Friday and Saturday to 23.00, with last admission at 22.00 (Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, 2026). Those late Fridays and Saturdays are the biggest practical difference between an April and a May trip.
The Basilica di San Marco opens 09.30 to 17.15 from Monday to Saturday, with last entry at 16.45, and at 14.00 on Sundays and holidays, which includes Saturday 1 May 2027 (Procuratoria di San Marco, 2026). The Campanile switches to summer hours, opening at 09.30 with last entry between 20.00 and 20.30.
What does a visit to Venice in May cost?
May is a charged month, and the pattern is predictable enough to plan around.
Under the 2026 access fee calendar the charge applied on 60 days from 3 April to 26 July, between 08.30 and 16.00. Fifteen of those days were in May: the 1st to the 3rd, the 8th to the 10th, the 15th to the 17th, the 22nd to the 24th and the 29th to the 31st (Venice Visit Pass, 2026). Because 1 May 2026 was a Friday, that was every Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the month: a midweek May arrival paid nothing. The fee is 5.00 EUR if paid by the fourth day before arrival and 10.00 EUR after that, applies from age 14, and covers the historic centre alone, with Murano, Burano and the Lido not charged in 2026. No 2027 calendar had been published when this page was written.
A single 75 minute Rete Unica ticket is 9.50 EUR, the Venezia Daily Pass 25.00 EUR, and multi-day passes 35.00, 45.00 and 65.00 EUR for two, three and seven days. A three day Rolling Venice ticket is 27.00 EUR for ages 6 to 29 on a 6.00 EUR card. For a beach day, a return on waterbus route 14 to Lido Santa Maria Elisabetta is 16.00 EUR, valid until 24.00 the same day (ACTV, 2026).
The St Mark's Square museums ticket covering the Doge's Palace is 35.00 EUR full, 15.00 EUR reduced, or 30.00 EUR online thirty days ahead (Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, 2026).
Is May a good time to visit Venice?
It is the best month of the year for warmth without heat, and one of the most crowded.
May gives a 20.8 degrees C average maximum, about 19 afternoons at 20 degrees C or better, no frost, and more than 15 hours of daylight by the end of the month (Open-Meteo, 2026; Sunrise-Sunset.org, 2026). Summer heat has not arrived: no May day in the 1991 to 2020 reanalysis reached 30 degrees C, against four such days in an average July (Open-Meteo, 2026). Deep flooding is close to its annual minimum, with five of the 324 recorded tides of 110 cm or more falling in May and none of them in daylight (ISPRA, Comune di Venezia & CNR-ISMAR, 2026).
The case against is the calendar. The Biennale opening, the Sensa and the Vogalonga fall inside four weeks of each other, the access fee applied on 15 May days in 2026, and rain is at its highest of the first half of the year at 93.1 mm over about ten wet days (Venice Visit Pass, 2026; Open-Meteo, 2026).
April makes the useful comparison. It is about 4.5 degrees cooler by day, drier by 11 mm, and free of all three fixtures, at the cost of ten more afternoons below 15 degrees C. If the aim is warm evenings and long light, May is the month. If it is space on the bridges, take the first half, avoid the Friday to Sunday blocks, and travel midweek.
