Everyone has been so helpful. Would like to get advice on dates. Mostly North Italy. No Rome. Likely Florence, Venice and possible trip to como or Garda and places like Verona and Bologna in between. 2 50 year olds, no kids. Aware of Easter and Jubilee. Choices are approx April 1st thru 14th or April 29th thru May 8th. Nobody can predict the weather, so I am more concerned with crowds. I understand Italy is just crowded. Just looking for best guess to less crowd. Second would be best option for open restaurants and activities. Do most things open early April?
Posted by
Chicago
8241 posts
Absolutely skip Florence except maybe in mid January if you don't like the worse of crowdiness.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23656 posts
Personally I would do early May. Weather should be a little better, warmer. days are longer. By then everything will be open but the same for April. Italy is always crowded. Sometimes a little less so but hard to forecast. The times you have selected are as good as any.
Posted by
OP
48 posts
I am okay with some crowds. I understand Florence will be crowded. I think it's more about choosing the lesser of the two evils with the choices I have in early April or early May.
Posted by
OP
48 posts
Thanks, Frank
Posted by
8474 posts
I have been to Florence twice and yes it was crowded, but plan your visit there and book your museums and key sites in advance. Florence is fantastic.
Go in either month, but avoid Easter holidays.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6676 posts
Florence is amazing. The city itself is like a museum. We were just in Venice. We were surprised to find about 85% of it fairly empty. So that's something to watch for. Also for any of these really busy cities, consider getting up and out by 7am. After an hour or two, go have breakfast. Have some museums booked for 9 or 10. Try lunch midday or break for apertivo when the crowds are heavy.
Highly recommend Verona. We visited it from Padua. Both are very interesting and atmospheric. We almost skipped Verona because, you know, Romeo and Juliet, but it is a gorgeous city .
I'm not sure it matters much, but I'd be inclined to do the earlier dates, because it might be less busy.
Posted by
USA
62 posts
I would think early April would be less crowded than the late April to early May. My daughter and I were in Italy this year April 9-21. Our tour guide said that Venice was as hot as it was typically in July (which, as we already established is unpredictable) but it didn't seem super super crowded. We got into St Mark's without pre-booking, which I understand isn't ideal, but we got fortunate and didn't even wait in line more than a few minutes. I loved Baveno, where we stayed on Lake Maggiore. I don't know of anything being closed in April. Enjoy!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17592 posts
In my opinions, the earlier you go the better, in terms of crowds.
We were in both Venice and Bologna last year in mid-March, 5 nights each, and both were blissfully calm compared to other time we have been there (early September). Weather was great (mostly sunny and warm with one short downpour in Bologna) and everything was fully open. The only places you need to be concerned with closures for April would be resort towns on one of the lakes, and even then they should be mostly open. Not so true of mountain towns in Switzerland, but it looks like you are skipping that this trip.
Sp my advice would be early April. Especially since the dates you list give you more time in the earlier period than in May. Remember that you generally lose a day when you fly to Europe from North America. So if you depart April 1, you arrive in italy on April 2 and have 12 nights on the ground before your flight home on the 14th. If you depart April 29 you arrive on April 30 and have only 8 nights on the ground before your May 8 flight home.
Venice, Verona, Bologna and Florence would make for a nice trip, in that order—-fly into Venice and work your way south. Or I might Go Venice—Verona—-Florence—Bologna because we like the Bologna airport for flying home. It is small, easy to navigate, and easy to reach from the town center. The Florence airport has fewer fllights in and out, and the schedules may not line up well with the long haul flights across the Atlantic.
for planning purposes, I will give you the travel times by train between some of the city pairs, using direct trains (no changes)::
Venice to Verona, 1 h 12 minutes
Verona to Bologna, 52 minutes
Verona to Firenze, 90 minutes
Bologna to Firenze, 37-38 minutes
If you do not want to change hotels so many times, you could reduce it to three: Venice, Verona or Bologna, and Firenze. Stay in Verona and visit Bologna on a daytrip; or stay in Bologna and visit Verona on a daytrip. You could also visit Ravenna from Bologna; a city important in early Roman history and filled with stunning mosaics. Either way would work, depending on how much each city appeals to you, and whether you are particularly drawn to a hotel you find in one or the other.
Posted by
OP
48 posts
Hi Lola,
Thanks for the great response again. I think we will stick with that earlier trip. We haven't given up on Switzerland yet. On someone's post I read that you can take a train straight from Milan to Interlaken but I was also going to go back and look at your other train advice. Guess I should now see how switzerland is open in mid April. I'm still open to just the train ride over one day and back though. Maybe a down day to just sit and look?
Posted by
Bainbridge Island
3300 posts
There is no train from Milan straight to Interlaken.
You can go from Milan straight to Lucerne (through a long tunnel) and change there to a train to Interlaken. I think it about 2 more hours.
Or you can go from Milan straight to Spiez, through 2 tunnels. Then you change at Spiez for a train to Interlaken.