Best times to travel in Italy crowd wise

May is better than June-July-August. Best would be October or April.

What Zoe said. AlthoughnEaster week can be very crowded in places like Rome.

Early May is preferable to any of the summer months if you cannot go in April or October.

Sara,

Early May should be good, but there will still be some crowds as there may be others who are trying the same "crowd avoidance" strategy. April can be a bit colder and wetter, but weather should be fairly good in early May.

We were in many parts of Italy in early to mid Oct. last year and it was very crowded everywhere! Dimished my enjoyment of the trip a great deal. It also rained several days.

Where will you be going? My understanding (from a local tour guide) that Rome is crowded all the time and unbearable June-July-August. Cruise lines disgorge 10,000 or more day trippers a day that bus into Rome.

No matter where you go, a good rule of thumb is to hit the major attractions early morning or late afternoon.

Man o' man...those 10,000 daytrippers would put a crimp into my enjoyment factor. Uh, color me not in Rome during those months!

We've traveled to Europe twice the last days of February to mid-March. If one can handle a little cold, or a little rain (or both), I think that's a primo time to travel there. Better airfares, more choices of lodging.

And sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle and the weather's great. Our time in Rome Feb 26 to March 4 was awesome, 50's/60's, few tourists where we were. But by late March our friends who were staying until early May said it was like a switch had been turned on and let every tour group in mankind to Rome!

Additionally, with the favorable dollar factored in, we are already hearing reports of the shoulder months--April/May and October/November--being very crowded.

I heard last week in Italy north of Rome was intensely crowded. So was Provence, but not with Americans.

That was Easter, so we can hope it was a blip.

Art Cities:
November-March= not crowded (esp. Jan-Feb)
Apr-Jun/early July and Sept-Oct= crowded
Mid Jul/August=less crowded (except Venice, which is always crowded)

Coastal resorts:
July-August=Crowded (esp. August)
Jun and Sept= not too bad, may be crowded on weekends.
Winter=dead
Spring and Autumn=nearly dead.

October is usually my time, but avoid week 42 as it is a European wide holiday and all major cities will be packed to the gills!