Edinburgh · Month comparison
November vs May
May ranks #1 overall vs November at #11. Edinburgh's most pleasant surprise — genuinely mild, long days, and the city at its most liveable before the Fringe transforms it.
November
#11 of 12 months
Strong option
Edinburgh retreats into itself — cold, quiet, and almost entirely local, with Hogmanay ticket sales building December anticipation.
- ↑Budget prices return fully — November is the second-cheapest month after January; the entire accommodation and dining market is available at low-season rates with no competition from tourists
- ↑The whisky bars, the Royal Mile pubs, and the Grassmarket's firelit interiors are at their most atmospheric in November; Edinburgh's indoor culture — its literary cafés, its bookshops, its pub sessions — is genuinely excellent when the city turns inward
May
#1 of 12 months
Best match
Edinburgh's most pleasant surprise — genuinely mild, long days, and the city at its most liveable before the Fringe transforms it.
- ↑The best weather-to-crowd ratio in Edinburgh's year: 15°C, 6.5 sunshine hours daily, and the city still at low season crowd levels — Arthur's Seat, the Royal Mile, and the Water of Leith walkway all enjoyed in relative peace
- ↑The Royal Botanic Garden in May is at its peak — rhododendrons, flowering trees, and immaculate lawns that the cold winter months make impossible to appreciate; free to enter
| Factor | November | May |
|---|---|---|
| Weather score | 3 | 7 |
| Value score | 9 | 7 |
| Crowd score | 9 | 7 |
| Events score | 4 | 5 |
| Atmosphere | 5 | 7 |
| Avg high temp | 9°C | 15°C |
| Monthly rain | 60mm | 52mm |
| Daily sunshine | 2.3hrs | 6.5hrs |
November trade-offs
- ↓Cold (9°C), grey, and dark: the shortest days of the year approach and Edinburgh in November requires mental commitment to the indoor culture the city does best
- ↓Only 2.3 sunshine hours daily and a high chance of wind-driven rain make outdoor sightseeing genuinely uncomfortable; Arthur's Seat and the open hillsides are for the hardy
- ↓The event calendar is the quietest of the year — some excellent one-off theatre and music programming, but nothing approaching the festival scale that defines the city
May trade-offs
- ↓Prices begin climbing from the spring floor; May is affordable but noticeably more expensive than January–March
- ↓The weather, while improved, remains distinctly Scottish — cold snaps and grey weeks can arrive at any point through May; pack for variable conditions
- ↓No headline events: May is the city between its main festival peaks; excellent for the city itself but not an event-driven visit
Scores compare months within Edinburgh. Climate data: Open Meteo ERA5 30-year normals (1991–2020). Methodology →