We were thinking of flying into Rome around Christmas and fly from Rome to Paris. Then fly home from Paris. Is this a good idea? What is the weather like? I hear it is rainy and cold, but I also hear it is the most beautiful time besides spring time. We are planning one week per city.
Thanks for any ideas that can help me set this plan in motion.
We have been home for two weeks from our trip, which included 10 days in Paris. We were there for New Years. It was beautiful and we enjoyed ourselves, but to be honest the cold certainly limited what we did. The locals told us it was unusually cold. We only had one day with rain and one day it snowed all day. We tried to spend as much time as we could doing things but there was no way we could spend all day out in the cold. Again, we had fun, but it was not the same as being there in the summer with longer (and warmer) days. We probably did half as much per day as we were able to do in the summer. Maybe people who live in a colder climate could take it better than we did.
I was in Rome during the winter and found it very comfortable. But that may not always be true. When I visited Paris in December it was wet, cold and windy. But that may not always be true.
As you know, weather is unpredictable. You just have to go and be prepared for cold by taking jackets.
As someone who has spent most of his in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, I found the temperatures for my one Christmas in Paris very mild. 30s-40s, although I can't say how typical that was. You can probably count on high humidity, either in the form of fog, or occassional light rain. If you dress smartly, I can't imagine you'll be uncomfortable.
And yes, Paris is gorgeous at Christmastime. What struck me overall was understated good taste and elegance of the decor. No giant inflatable snow globes or light-up Santas here.
The lights in Paris for Christmas are beautiful - particularly between the Concorde and Arc de Triumphe. And the Luxembourg Gardens are fairytale like when covered in snow.
I love Europe in the winter..spent Xmas and New year this year in Paris. Unseasonably cold (2-4C)but bright ans sunny. Rome was warmers but a little damp. Regardless, as someone said the holidays are understated and elegant.
Enjoy
Well, we live in Southern Lousiana and it stays wet. Is it better do spend Christmas day in Paris or Rome? I was thinking with things being shut down for Christmas day, maybe that would be a good time to take our 7 year old to Disneyland.
We were in Europe for Christmas this past year, and spent three weeks. We spent 9 days in Oxfordshire, and the rest in France (Brittany) with two nights in Paris.
I think it would be difficult to predict the weather from now. We went prepared for rain, snow, and sunshine. We got a bit of all, but not overwhelmingly so.
It rained about 3 days total out of 21, and the only snow we saw was on the 5th January in Paris for a day.
In Brittany it was below freezing a few days, and bearably cold the rest. I didn't use my umbrellas very much.
I ended up enjoying our winter break. The streets aren't as crowded with tourists, and Christmas decorations everywhere just added to the joy.
