November 2018 Lviv, Brno, Maribor, Sofia, or Tibilisi (Lviv and Tibilisi top of list so far)

Yes, I agree with you and thank you- your blog is amazing. Unfortunately my only business slower time is the first few weeks of November.

One question for you - you would not go to Lviv or Sofia during November, would you go to Budapest? The reason I ask is that I had an amazing 3 weeks in budapest last november and your response to that will help me.

The timing of my trip is when my business has a slow down, so if I want to see these cities, it is during the cold. I live on the monterey peninsula in California so I get plenty of great weather - I am interested in the experience and seeing the above 5 cities mentioned.

I am definitely concerned with cold, but my husband went to Finland last January and survived ;)

Budapest at this time last year was fine - I was lucky and missed a majority of the rain, but I am ok with rain - i have waterproof shoes and an umpbrella.

Is Lviv and Sofia that much more horrible than budepest weather?
Now you have me concerned. ;)
Jette

November is indeed not the best month to travel. If you are lucky then in the beginning of November you can encounter few sunny days. If you like beauty you could have made better choices. In Czech Republic: Prague, Cesky Krumlov. Brno is not ugly but it's not in the same class. The same for Bulgaria but there it would be Plovdiv instead of Sofia. In Slovenia: Ljubljana instead of Maribor. It has been long time since I was in Tbilisi, it was still in Soviet Union. I liked the city. Lviv is still waiting for my visit so cannot comment.
Your husband was in Finland in January and survived. I am sure you will survive in November, too, the question is how much you will enjoy it. I would also prefer January to November in Finland. In January you just dress enough and cold is bearable. Wind, rain, damp cold in November is worse. I agree with Chani. If I were you I would choose destinations in southern Europe. In Santorini I swam in the sea in the beginning of November. Hard to imagine in your destinations to swim outdoors - with the exception of geothermal water, for example Blue Lagoon in Iceland.

I am now remembering that I was lucky in Budapest with little rain and a lot of sun last November.

I live the idea of places everyone else is not going to- non touristy.

So it sounds like Sicily is not touristy at that time? Sicily has always been on my list.

Sicily is wonderful. Taormina will probably have many tourists even in November, but I think otherwise you will be very pleased.

We just spent a week in Palermo in an Airbnb. We enjoyed our time and felt like there were many more places to discover. We also traveled to other places in Sicily. All in all, a great place to visit.

I'm sitting in the lobby of the Leopolis hotel in Lviv waiting on our car to the airport for our flight to Kyiv. We are fortunate enough to have stayed in some incredible hotels over the years, but nothing has surpassed this hotel. The service, quality and kindness of each and every member of the staff has been remarkable. Oh, did I mention that we are eating the special breakfast they had waiting for us at checkout at 6am? The city in general reflected this as well. Even the smallest cafe treats their guests with efficiency, respect and kindness. From that point of view we have never been to a more wonderful town.

This is a good 4 night town. The only draw back was the quantity of tourists, but since they all appear to me Ukrainian tourists I suspect the place would be more pleasant in mid-week.

I suspect we will be back in the Fall or next spring as a starting point to visit the Carpathians to the south of here. I love the Ukrainian people.

Kaeleku, told you what I thought of Lviv, sitting in a cafe in Kyiv now. G-d I love this city. Better the second time.

Oh my goodness - I posted this long ago and just see the replies - I have gotten way to involved working long hours.
James - I am happy you remember me! Budapest remains in my heart and I see the christmas market starts early. My husband started school full-time now to launch an entirely new career, so I will travel on my own - but he got 3 months in europe last year so I do not feel bad ;)