Cadaqués in May: the weather, the sea and what's on in the village

In May, Cadaqués has mild days and a sea that is still cool: at Roses, the nearest Meteocat station, the average high for 2016 to 2025 is 23.7 °C and the average low 13.2 °C; it rains on six or seven days, and the water at L'Estartit averaged about 18.7 °C in May 2026.

May is the month when Cadaqués gets going without filling up yet. The days are already long and mild, Dalí's house opens every day and the village devotes a whole morning to its elderly. The sea is another story. This is what the official weather and sea data say, and what happens in the village, for anyone who already has their dates.

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The weather: Meteocat data

The Catalan Meteorological Service has no automatic station in Cadaqués; the nearest one in its network is at Roses. Using its daily data for May from 2016 to 2025, the average high comes out at 23.7 °C and the average low at 13.2 °C. That is a clear jump from April, with an average high of 19.7 °C, and still a long way from June's 29.0 °C. The Cadaqués tourism website points out that the village, cut off from the rest of the Alt Empordà by Pení mountain, has a climate of its own: treat these figures as a guide.

In that series, the hottest May day reached 31.8 °C and the coldest night dropped to 5.3 °C. Pack something warm for the evenings even if midday calls for short sleeves.

Rainfall varies a lot from year to year. At Roses, May has brought anything from 9 mm (2022) to 87 mm (2024), with an average of 38 mm and around six or seven days with at least one litre per square metre.

The tramontane still shows up. Counting days with northerly gusts of 50 km/h or more at that station, May averages 4.7: just one in 2017 and seven in 2016 and 2019. What to do on those days is in the tramontane guide.

The sea: still cool

Meteocat publishes the sea temperature at L'Estartit, measured by observer Josep Pascual with the Institut de Ciències del Mar near the Medes Islands. It isn't Cadaqués, but it is the nearest official reference. On its annual charts, the May surface average was 18.7 °C in 2026 and 17.8 °C in 2025. For comparison, April 2026 stayed at 15.4 °C and June rose to 21.8 °C.

With the water below 19 °C, a May swim is for those who don't mind the cold, best at midday on a still day. The village beaches are covered one by one in this guide.

What's open and when

The Salvador Dalí House at Portlligat opens every day from 10:30 to 18:00 between 1 April and 14 June, according to the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí website (checked in October 2026). Last entry is 40 minutes before closing, in small groups and by booking only; a general ticket for the house and olive grove costs €15.50. How to get one is in this guide.

At the lighthouse, the Espai Cap de Creus, on the geology and nature of the cape, opens every day from 10:00 to 15:00 in May. The tourist office on Carrer Cotxe opens Monday to Saturday from 9:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 18:00, and on Sunday from 10:00 to 13:00, according to the tourism website.

The lighthouse road: closed on many days

In spring the road from Cadaqués to the Cap de Creus lighthouse already closes to cars and motorbikes on the busiest days. In May 2026 it closed on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 10th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 30th and 31st, from 9:30 to 19:00, according to the Parc Natural website: nearly every weekend and a few extra days.

On those days you go up by shuttle from the free Corral d'en Morell car park, which has 120 spaces. A return costs €7 and a single €4, according to the park's FAQ. You can always walk or cycle up; the details are in the guide to the closed road.

What happens in the village in May

The most local event of the month is the celebration of the village's elderly, which the tourism website calls the day of Homage to Old Age. In 2026 it was the 76th edition, on Sunday 24 May: mass at 10:30, an aperitif for those being honoured at the Casino, sardanas at 12:00 at Es Portal with the Cobla Foment del Montgrí, a ride on the village tourist train and a lunch with medals and dancing.

The May 2026 programme opened on Saturday the 2nd with a dry-stone day: in the morning a collapsed wall beside a path in the municipality was rebuilt, and at lunchtime there was a community rice dish. What those walls are is explained in the dry-stone guide. On Sunday the 3rd came the XXI Trobada Tintinaire de Catalunya, the Tintin fans' gathering, shared with El Port de la Selva.

Then came a flea market on the seafront promenade on Sunday the 17th, the same day as the Ruta Josep Pla; guided walks run by the tourist office to the farmhouses of Cap de Creus and the Pla de Tudela, at €6 (€4 reduced); a tapas trail from the 23rd to the 31st, and the 15th Primavera Rock on the 30th and 31st. On the 31st the guided Dalí a Cadaqués walk was also launched.

The programme changes every year: the tourism website's events page is what to check before you come. A note for May 2027: 1 May, a public holiday across Catalonia, falls on a Saturday, according to the official calendar published by the Catalan government.

Checked

Checked in October 2026 on: Meteocat (daily data from the Roses station on the Generalitat open data portal and annual charts of sea temperature at L'Estartit), visitcadaques.org (climate, festivals, museums, tourist office and May 2026 events), Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Parc Natural de Cap de Creus (2026 access rules and FAQ) and the Govern de la Generalitat (2027 working calendar). The averages are our own calculation from the official daily data for 2016 to 2025.