How busy is France and Italy in September?

Gary, In my experience, France and Italy are often very busy in September, which is the "fall shoulder season". I was in Italy during September this year, so have some recent experience. I would NOT suggest "winging it" in Florence and the Cinque Terre! The lodgings situation in Normandy may depend on which town you decide to stay in, but I'd probably pre-book that as well. As an example, I started booking my accommodations in the Cinque Terre in about March, for a trip in mid-to-late September. It took me the better part of a week and some adjustments in my Itinerary to finally get something booked. Happy travels!

It is still a busy time especially for the prime cities such as Paris and Rome. We have been in Rome in October. While the weather was far better than August it still was crowded. September is near peak.

Gary ,, September and October rates for hotels in Paris are high,, they are actually cheaper in August.. as business travel is slow in August, but September and October are busy with fashion week and trade shows.. Travel in Europe is busy May through October, the school being in or out seems to have little bearing,, so plan accordingly.

Sorry to say, but September is absolutely top peak season in Paris, not because of tourists but all the trade shows, fashion, and loads and loads of other business reasons.

Thanks for the replies. It looks like I will need to book my entire trip early...probably Jan/Feb for my September trip. The August suggestion is also good to avoid fashsion week in Paris. I might start my trip in Paris for the last week in August and work my way south to Italy as September starts. Gary

I love traveling in September north of the Alps. South of the Alps, September is still busy (too busy may be subjective depending on how much crowds you can handle. September is considered part of high season in Italy. We traveled in Italy second half of October to early November (working from north toward Rome). I thought it was ideal, nice weather - not miserably hot, some crowds but manageable.

I traveled in Italy in mid-September and it was very crowded and unseasonably warm, well actually hot considering all the walking. In the future I will travel between April 15 and June 1 or in October and early November before many areas shut down for the season. France may be a bit cooler but the weather is something you must work around when
packing.

We just returned from 2 weeks in France (last week of September and first week of October). The weather was great and there weren't large crowds unless you were in the large cities. Crowds at the museums in Paris and at Versailles were not that big and the lines weren't that long. Only the lines at the Eiffel Tower were long (4 places for lines - 2 going up and 2 coming down). And even those lines were better than the high summer times. Even at this time of year, you will still pay those high prices for the hotels until late October.

You do pay peak season prices for hotels in September and October. As others have mentioned, those are very busy months for conventions and trade shows and there is still heavy tourism. But you do avoid the crowds of families and children. Crowds at tourist sites are still heavy but somewhat more manageable than in the heart of summer and without little kids running around. As you get later into October the crowds thin.

As Larry, my experience has been that September is a good time to visit Paris. The weather isn't as hot, and since most of the tourism is business-oriented, the places you are interested in won't be as crowded as in August. The hotels I've stayed at have pretty much the same rates in summer and fall. The only trick is to get the timing right for booking - too early and they aren't taking reservations yet, wait too long and they're booked solid. You will need reservations for Florence and Rome. 3-4 months in advance is a good rule. Like Paris, earlier and they won't talk to you, wait too long and any bargains are gone. My only visit to Rome was in February and tourist sites (Colosseum, Vatican, etc) had long lines. I can't imagine what it must be like in August or September.

We just returned from September and October in both Italy and France. Yes, many areas were still crowded and the termperatures were very warm this year in Italy. We found some of the hotel rates were starting to drop. We also found that many of the smaller Logis brand hotels were beginning to close in October in France. However, we found many hotels had available rooms. It really depended on the locations. We had checked on several hotels in the Cinque Terre area and found them to be full in October. Of course, that may change for next year. I would suggest reservations in Florence depending on the area in which you want to stay and how close you want to be to the central city. I would also suggest checking the holiday and bank schedules for both countries, especially for three day weekends. Rural areas fill up with people from the cities and vice versa for the cities.