Delaware by month · 5 of 12
Delaware RV rental in May
May falls inside Delaware's best RV window (April to June and September to October).
Mild spring and fall avoid both summer beach crowds and winter chill; coastal areas are pleasant for RVing.
PickRV
Published by PickRV
May on the ground
Weather & conditions
Typical 74°F high / 54°F low
May is the bay's famous month: on new- and full-moon evening high tides, horseshoe crabs crawl ashore to spawn and red knots arrive to feast. Shorebird peak meets fine camping weather.
What to do in May
- Horseshoe crab spawn on moonlit high tides
- Shorebird peak at Bombay Hook
- Warm-day camping at the Seashore parks
Best-fit rigs: Motorhome · Truck or van
Know before you go
Peak spawn nights follow the moon, not the weekend — check the tide calendar. Beach-town traffic starts building.
Hurricanes and nor'easters can affect the coast in late summer and fall. Summer traffic on Route 1 is heavy on weekends.
Seasonal spectacles, sourced
What May looks like in Delaware
Timing windows below are quoted verbatim from each official source — nature shifts year to year, so always check the source before you route a trip around it.
Bird migration
Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge
“Spring shorebird peak in May; fall waterfowl building from September, large numbers of Canada & snow geese arriving in October, with the fall waterfowl peak in November”
Smyrna, Kent County, Delaware, on the Delaware Bay shore · RV base: Day-use only — the refuge offers a wildlife drive and trails but no camping. Nearest RV bases are private campgrounds and state-park camping in the Smyrna/Dover area of central Delaware, a short drive west of the refuge.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service — Bombay Hook NWR, Species
From the verified event registry
May events in Delaware
No verified large-scale May events in our Delaware registry yet — we only list events we can date and source, never filler. The full calendar tracks what's confirmed.
Delaware events calendarTrip notes
May tips for Delaware
Layer up: shoulder-pattern days can swing from a chilly dawn to t-shirt warmth by afternoon.
Pack rain gear and leveling mats for soft or wet sites.
Carry a weather radio and check forecasts daily — transitional months turn fast.
Keep planning
Plan the Delaware trip
Nearby & related
Keep planning Delaware
Sourced costs, campground directories, and the places worth a detour — the next layer of Delaware trip planning.