Now that Edinburgh is entering the pre-Summer, what do you wear in May? This is a regular series of articles at this stage, every month, and I’ll keep it updated yearly based on predominant conditions so you can be forewarned. We’ll do as we always do, a bit of background info, then get right into what actual stuff you need to wear.
TL;DR? Not much, unless you are from a very cold place.
Let’s explore together.
Background
Lovely look out my back window above. Essentially, the trickiness of Edinburgh’s weather continues. Last month I wrote a bit about how our great writer Robert Louis Stevenson described Edinburgh in his travel blog. He was incredibly negative about the weather and described Spring as “a meteorological purgatory”. Even if I disagree with his assessment in general as I think this is a completely amazing city that everyone should see, especially in Spring, and particularly on one of our tours (we’ve expanded, now there’s like 5 of us!), he nailed the weather.
How do you dress for Edinburgh in May? It can have some rainy spells and wind you’d find in Winter and an almost Summerish level of sun. This year is much easier, it is very dry. It is bright. And there are temperatures which I think most would agree are quite agreeable. Don’t believe me? Consult the Met Office who are kind of the authority on this.
Hopefully we get some rain soon as I quite like living in a green country.
What to Wear in May
Super easy here, we’ll run through from top to bottom.
Sun protection
I’d strongly recommend sunscreen, or protection of some kind. Though it might be chiller than you are used to, it is the same sun and the relative clearness of the skies right now means you likely need protection. You can find this in most supermarkets and some smaller shops but if you don’t want to pay massive prices, I’ve found a very good deal at Lidl who are charging roughly a third of other shops.
Nobody expected to be told sun protection in an article about what to wear in Scotland in May!
Hats?
I’d say sun hats are a good idea for kids because it can be hard to keep them protected from sunlight. Adults only really need a hat if it’s an aesthetic choice.
Do you need a coat in Edinburgh?
Probably not in May. The temperature is quite good so certainly don’t dress in anything arctic. Light jacket is probably the call for what to wear in May.
Torso?
Depends of course on your overall preference here but I’d say you probably don’t need masses of layers. Generally, two light layers is fine. Jumper if necessary. If you’ve packed bad you can find clothes at the St James Quarter or Primark on Princes Street.
Legs?
Again this is down to your preference but I like shorts at the minute. Nobody will overheat in trousers if they like. Lots of ladies in sundresses at the minute. Also many people in kilts, especially for Tartan Day!
There’s a lot of variety for what to wear in May in terms of legwear.
Socks and shoes
Nothing special required. Regular tennis socks, work well. If you want fancy and good looking ones, there’s a shop called Soctopus on the High Street.
Conclusion
May is one of the easiest months to decide what to wear and shows one of my main things with this series. Scotland is not that hard and Edinburgh is probably the easiest city to dress well. We’re also a good laugh and a fun time so you should absolutely come here.
Right, that’s your lot for the month, I will be posting some sort of update on the relative media circus which has descended on me soon.
The writer of this piece gets too hot when the weather is hotter than 12C.
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