El Nido in May
May sits between the seasons: Coron, the nearest station to El Nido (about 127 km north-east), averages 198.1 mm — its 7th-driest month, on the way out of the rains.
Read this before any monthly weather number, including ours. El Nido has no PAGASA climatological
station. Every "El Nido in May" temperature or rainfall figure you see elsewhere is modeled or
invented. The numbers on this page are measured — at the three nearest stations, whose distance
from town is printed next to each — and the gap between those stations shows how much local geography
matters here.
198.1 mmMay average at Coron, the nearest station PAGASA2026-08-26
7thdriest month of Coron's 12
Off-peakoutside the Nov–Apr peak season an operator defines El Nido Tours2026-08-26
The year at a glance, May highlighted
What the three nearest stations measure in May
| Station | Where, relative to El Nido | May rainfall | Share of its year | Rank (1 = driest) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coron | Busuanga Island, north of El Nido — about 127 km north-east | 198.1 mm | 8% | 7th |
| Puerto Princesa | Mid-Palawan, south of El Nido — about 175 km south-west | 118.4 mm | 7.8% | 5th |
| Cuyo | Cuyo Island, in the Sulu Sea east of El Nido — about 180 km east | 193.1 mm | 8.8% | 7th |
30-year climatological normals PAGASA2026-08-26 — PAGASA's page does not state the normals period, so neither do we. Note the spread: Puerto Princesa's regime is roughly 40% drier across the year than Coron's, which is why a single "Palawan weather" figure misleads.
What this means for a May trip
- Crowds and booking — May is outside the November–April window one operator defines as peak El Nido Tours2026-08-26 — pressure on boats and rooms is lower.
- Rain — 198.1 mm is shoulder-season territory — most days work, some do not, and a day of slack in the itinerary is cheap insurance.
- Prices — the published tour rates in the Price Index are not seasonal: no indexed operator publishes different May pricing. What changes with the season is availability, not the rate card.
What we have not verified
- Temperature and sea state. PAGASA publishes rainfall normals on the page we can verify; we will add temperature when we can read it from the source rather than an aggregator.
- Typhoon frequency by month. Real, relevant, and not yet sourced from PAGASA’s cyclone records — so it is not stated here.
- Whether ferries and tours are cancelled more often in May. Nobody publishes cancellation statistics; treat wet-season slack as insurance either way.
Known unknowns are listed rather than filled in. If you can confirm one of these first-hand, tell us and it gets added with the date it was checked.