My husband and I will be traveling to Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Rome and Amalfi over 14 days in the fall. Most likely in that order. We are debating the dates due to work/scheduling issues. Our options, with a day or 2 flex on either end are 10/11-10/25 or 11/1-11/15. I have read that many resorts/restaurants shut down in Amalfi coast end Oct for the winter....We are coming from Florida and look forward to cooler weather and don't necessarily need the beaches/swimming that Amalfi is famous for, yet I don't want to be super cold either. My question is, is it worth visiting Amalfi in November? Will it be too cold? Too rainy? Would visiting end October be that much different than mid-November? Cheaper options for flights and hotels and far fewer tourists definitely appeal to us too. I appreciate any input! : )
A general tip for making decisions related to weather is to check the last 5 years' actual temps and precipitation for the cities and dates of travel. Google 'Historical weather Amalfi' for starters. Also check your northern cities as November is often a rainy month.
Use this info to also help make packing choices.
Both time periods can be rainy and both can be glorious. The chance of rain is somewhat higher in November. I would recommend October because of daylight - at Amalfi's latitude on Oct. 18 there's 11 hours between sunrise and sunset, on Nov. 8 there's 10 hours and 10 minutes.
Go in October.
End of October and beginning of November are statistically the rainiest periods of the year (the most devastating floods in history in both Venice and Florence happened in the first week of Venice, the worst one ever on 4 November 1966, in both cities simultaneously). However it is hard to predict what will happen this year.
October however has a few advantages. Aside from the unpredictable rain, temperatures in October are likely to be more pleasant (cool at night but nice during the day). But the biggest advantage is daylight. Europe switches back from daylight saving to standard time on the last Sunday of October, therefore after that day, it will get dark early, shortly after 5pm.
The other considerations would be the ferries, which IIRC stop running in the AC after the end of Oct.