European travel October to May

Do you mind short daylight hours from December to February and weather similar to the Midwest and the Northeast in the USA?

Our preferred travel times for Europe are August to November and March to May. We have enjoyed every trip. You do need to plan a little around hours of daylight as it gets closer to winter.

We are heading off in two weeks for 60 days in Spain - mid February to mid April.

Only European trip I haven't enjoyed was the UK in December-January as it was very dark wet and cold. I discovered as a young backpacker that your body can keep you warm or digest food, but can't do both at once. As Australians with inadequate cold weather clothing my sister and I had indigestion for weeks at a time.

are you aware of the 90 days in any 180 Schengen restrictions?

It sounds like you are looking at shorter trips and some outside Schengen, but this question is to save you potential grief.

It isn't clear where you will be travelling from. Australia / New Zealand?

I live in Canada...probably wouldn't be traveling in December actually because of Xmas..

Hi Patricia:
I’ve been to Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Iceland, London and Edinburgh in winter months: February, March and December, on separate trips.
I loved all those trips.
Less tourists around, plenty of indoor activities, museums, etc.
Also, as Canadians, we already have the right clothing!
I think travel in winter is great….my friends think that’s weird as they hate the cold, so I go alone!

I’m also planning to travel for 3 months at a time (solo, budget) when I retire (fingers crossed in 1-2 years) but am thinking either September-November or April-June. I’m not a fan of cold weather so am leaning toward France, Italy, Slovenia. Not sure if I’ll rent one spot for 90 days or 3 spots for 1 month each.

We went to Spain in November. Temperatures were much cooler than in summer, but weather was still nice (especially compared to Vancouver in November). Hotels were much cheaper. Crowds were much smaller. Line-ups were shorter or non-existent. We would like to visit other parts of Spain and Portugal in the same time of the year. Italy and Southern France in the Fall would also probably be nice.

I hear a lot of "I will never travel to Europe in the winter, its to dark and too cold", well, if they never did it, its not informed advice.

I will stick with what I know a little about and that's mostly Central or Eastern Europe (admittedly mostly Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany will be pretty much the same - I avoid the UK because of language issues, not the weather).

So, especially the first half of October is hands down my favorite time to be there as the weather is cool and comfortable; but any time in your travel window the arts really come alive; music, theater, festivals.

Who knows about the weather, I was there in November and it was chilly but pretty much okay; and somehow the chill doesn't seem to be a hinderance because it's part of a lifestyle and the streets are as full of locals as any other time of the year; but without quite so many tourists.

Early sunsets mean early lights and Budapest and Paris and dozens of other cities are maybe more amazing by the evening lights than they are in the sun; certainly not less so.

The only time the time of year will work against you is if you work against it; this is a time for museums and tours of great architecture and the cultural life of the city; not sun baithing on the beach.