We're traveling to Italy in April or May. Does it make a difference which month we go? May obviously should be warmer but more crowded.
Our itinerary is Venice (3 nights) Tuscany (4 nights) and Rome (five nights). We're not sure whether to fly into Venice and out of Rome or vice versa. Does it matter?
Thanks in advance.
Depends on where you are flying back to - flights to the US tend to leave early from Venezia, so most people seem to prefer flying into Venezia and out of Roma. I also think Venezia is a better place to deal with jet lag, if that is a concern.
Thanks for the prompt reply. We'll fly into Venice and out of Rome. Cheers.
April has fewer tourist arrivals than during May, however be aware that the last week in April is one of the busiest of the year because of the presence of two national holidays (April 25= Liberation Day, May 1= Labor Day). May has more foreign tourists, but fewer Italian tourists because school trips generally don't take place in the last month of the school year. The month of April has tons of middle and high school kids on school trips (which I find rather obnoxious inside museums). That applies to Venice, Florence and Rome, which are the most popular destinations for school trips.
Flights back to North America leave in the morning. If your flight stops in some European hub first, coming back from Venice will entail a very early wake up, because the flight back from VCE will leave before 7am (and you need about 1 hour to get to the airport from Venice) to connect to the flight across the Atlantic. That is why I would suggest to return from Rome, which is close to the airport (30 min).
VCE has however a couple of non stop flights to the US with Delta, United, US Air (to JFK/ATL, EWR, PHL respectively), in case you are interested. Those flights depart a bit later in the morning, therefore if departing from VCE, they would be at a more decent time. Be aware that only the Delta flight to JFK is year round, the others are seasonal and operate only in summer.
Also, and this is my opinion only, if in Tuscany you intend to visit both Florence and the famous Tuscan towns, you may want to borrow one night from Rome. Four nights in Tuscany are only 3 full days and with that you can only visit Florence (2 days) and maybe Siena (1 day). If both Florence and Tuscan hill towns are part of your itinerary, I would do: Venice 3 nights, Florence+Tuscany 5 nights, Rome 4 nights. With 5 nights in Rome I would definitely find the time for a day trip somewhere nearby (e.g. Orvieto).
Advice much appreciated, particularly the part about adding a day in Tuscany. We'll probably go in the middle of May. Thanks again.
In spring or early summer I'd travel south to north. Both Venice and Rome will be brisk in April, but Rome will be warmer. Neither will be uncomfortably warm in May. My rule of thumb is travel northwards in spring and southwards in fall.
Many travelers get stuck on those early 6:00 a.m. flights out of smaller European airports--only to fly to a gateway European city where they'll sit until mid day for their long distance flights. It's tough enough transferring from a hotel to an airport for a 10:00 a.m. flight, much less having to get up at 3:00 a.m. to make the transfer. And then you've got a 10 hr. flight to North America. And most travelers will have another flight home unless they live in a big city east coast airport.
I'd suggest you fly out of Rome--mid day--back to the U.S. if that's where you're flying.
In 2 weeks, the spring weather can really become quite warm, or sadly revert back to winter.
So I wouldn't be too worried by weather considerations, just go with the best airfare and flight times.
Weather considerations should not be part of your deliberation on whether to travel from North to South of vice versa. Flight convenience is more important.
The variance in daily temperatures over a 2 week period would be less than 2 degrees, so visiting Venice last because is more to the North would not result in a significant gain in weather conditions.
Last May, we went Venice-Florence-Rome. When we booked our flights, we found it was bit cheaper to fly into Venice and out of Rome compared to doing it the other way. Also, when we researched renting a car, we found it was also much cheaper to pickup in Venice and dropoff in Rome (in the end, we opted to just take trains).
I found Venice was a bit more relaxing and agree that it is a better place to start and to get over any jet lag. Rome is so big and there is so much to see and do. We also did a cruise out of Rome after we did the land trip.
