Europe on October or November??

November is cold and often rainy in the locations you mentioned (Rome and Barcelona are slightly less cold). I would go in October.

And besides, Who wants to be in Puerto Rico during a hurricane anyhow? You'd be stuck inside the house drinking cerveza Madalla all day.

"Too cold?"-- Well that depends on your tolerance to temperature change and unpredictable Fall weather. By November, Paris , Venice and Rome will likely be 20-30F lower than PR. Early October would minimize the temperature change.
( When my daughter from Arizona visits in the summer and its 75-80 here and she is wearing a sweater [ while everyone else is in shorts and t-shirts], she points out it was 30 degrees warmer where she came from)

I like your allocation of nights in each city.

Its a busy schedule but given your relative youth, it should be manageable. And the cooler weather will be a plus.

If your flights are still flexible I would suggest starting in Paris, then Venice and Rome and finish in Spain, to give you the best chance of the most favorable weather for your trip.

Get guide books for your destinations to help you decide what you want to see and what hours they have for the time you will be there.

Roberto - That's totally true, I just worry to miss the fly out, get stuck for days and miss all other short flights or trains booked. Is there any travel insurance that can covers this kind of things?

October and November great time to see Greece.

With your planned itinerary, you have too much travel, probably by air. Consider eliminating the Spanish portion and spend more time in Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome. In particular, Paris and Rome need more than three days.

Sure, just about travel insurance will cover weather disruptions and delays. I would vote for Oct as that is our preferred month for travel. Cannot do anything about day light. It is noticeably less in Nov.

..So we want to see as much as we can.... That is always a trap. Every time you change locations you lose a half day or more and with you proposed schedule it will be closer to a full day. For you that could be a third of your time just seeing the insides of air terminals, airplanes, and trains and trains stations. You will see a lot just passing by your window. And for some that is enough. For others there is a desire to sock up the atmosphere just by sitting in a sidewalk cafe for the afternoon. It is your choice of how you like to travel.

Here's a handy site that lets you calculate sunrise, sunset and hours of daylight for a city. Just change the city and month as needed.

https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/france/paris?month=10&year=2017

I would pick October over November.

Thank you all for the help. October it is!!!!!!! 😀

In Germany, it's nice in September and stays nice for some of October, then gets cold.

I thought October was ideal for much of Italy. I loved Venice/Florence/Tuscany in mid October. November would be great for Rome and further south.

Madrid can be cold. Barcelona is on the coast so it won't get as cold (or warm) as other parts of Spain.

Hello All:

My worst fear came true. I had to cancel my vacation due to Hurricane Maria damage to Puerto Rico.

We would like now to do something on december or january. Maybe some snow involved.

US or Canada. What would you recommend. We have never experience snow.

If you are looking for something in the U.S. or Canada that involves snow, I'd suggest Montreal in January when they have their snow festival (Fete des neiges). Since you said you've never experienced snow before, you probably don't want to go someplace where you actually have to rent a car and drive in it. There's lots to do in Montreal besides the snow festival.

Living in New England, I can tell you there's no guarantee that you will experience snowfall during a trip, even in December and January - over the past few years we've been hit with more storms in February. However, Boston and Montreal aren't that far apart so if this is a longer trip, you could spend some time in both, or maybe pair Montreal and Quebec City.

Another option for the U.S. might be fly to Denver, CO and explore the city and then take the train to Winter Park, CO and book a place that's slope side and you could use that time to take some ski or snowboard lessons - they have adult group lessons or you can hire a private instructor and rent boots, skis or snowboards there.

Sorry Arelis

Then again, I wouldn't want to be in Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Venice or Rome in November. These are such great good weather places and not so great cold weather places; unless its Christmas or some other event.

So now you have December / January. I would choose a place that does cold weather well, and for me at least that means Central and Eastern Europe. Yes, cold, very cold, but their winters are so long and so cold that they have adapted and life goes on. Christmas markets, theater, bob sledding, bath houses, skiing and the beauty of a place like Budapest covered in snow. We are in the region almost every December and love it.

Why not do Christmas, New Year and Christmas again? Some places like Budapest keep their markets going until New Year (others close the day after Christmas so do the research).

So Budapest for Christmas, then fly to either Berlin or Warsaw (my choice) for New Year. Non-Stop is about 1 to 1.5 hours and under $100. Then Christmas again!!! Orthodox Christmas is January 7th; from Berlin or Warsaw you can fly non-stop to Lviv which is famous for its Christmas celebrations. Again, 1 to 1.5 hours non-stop for under $100. (Depart the US about December 22nd, return home about January 9th)

Or you could do what we are doing this year. Christmas at home, New Year in Budapest and Orthodox Christmas in Lviv and Kyiv; returning to Budapest for another few days before heading home. European airfare was about $200 and accommodations in Lviv are very, very reasonable and we get to experience a unique cultural event.

Hi,

If you are willing to deal with the snow and want somewhere in North America, I heartily suggest Quebec. My first time there was in July, lovely place, super interesting, historically, linguistically, culturally,

As far as coldness is concerned, I just spent the last 11 days in London and England, ( fantastic), but it got colder as the days went by, which as long as you're prepared for that, no problems. I still prefer being there in the summer.

Hopefully I’m not repeating, but know that end October the clock will set an hour back, meaning it will be 1 hour earlier dark. So you will have 1 hour less daylight for outdoor activities.