India in May: Weather, Where to Go, and What to Avoid

• Golden Triangle and Rajasthan — very hot; sightseeing is genuinely uncomfortable in the middle of the day.
• Ladakh — opening up nicely as the season's high-altitude escape.
• Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh — at or near their best, cool relative to the plains.
• Kerala and South India — hot and humid, with the monsoon approaching by month's end in the far south-west.

Ladakh, Kashmir and the Himachal hill stations are the clear choices in May. If your trip has to include Rajasthan or the Golden Triangle now, build in air-conditioned transport and keep outdoor sightseeing to the early morning.

• Buddha Purnima — marking the birth of the Buddha, significant in Ladakh and other Buddhist regions (date varies with the lunar calendar).

• A first Golden Triangle trip scheduled for May if you have any flexibility — it's one of the hottest months on the plains.
• Underestimating how much of the day the heat rules out for outdoor sightseeing in Rajasthan and Delhi.