May 2017 crowds in Rome

I think that 5 weeks is not enough if you wish to visit so many countries.
Let's take:
Italy :Venice - Florence - Siena - Rome - Amalfi coast, eventually Lake District, CT, Verona, Ravenna. - would take 16-20 days
France: Paris, Loire chateaux, Burgondy, Alpilles, Côte d'Azur, Brittany, Languedoc
(Another 3 weeks)
If you want people to be more helpful explain exactly what you want to see.

Why not fly Into Rome and out of Paris? In Rome we found the tourist areas to be crowded the rest of the city is like a normal big city. You can avoid some of it with careful planning. Learn when sites are closed, open and close times, go early or later in the day, use logical use of your time (Hence the suggestion to fly in one country and out the other). Trains travel is great, find out when tickets go on sale for each leg of your trip to get the best prices. I suggest you read "Europe through the back door" before you start planning your route. We will by in France/Italy end of May beginning of June also and have most of it already nailed down, some accommodations booked and just filling in the blanks now. We only have 15 or so days so we will be flying from Paris to Rome and using trains inside of France and Italy. Getting the exact train station name in Italy can be tricky as Florence is not "Florence" on the Trenitalia website, and when you do find Florence you will find quite a few train station, need to learn which one YOU want.

Thank you for your ideas.

I support the idea the idea of a open jaw ticket into Rome and home from Paris. Far cheaper and more convenient with a better use of your time. Second, Rome is always crowded especially at the main tourist sites. But slight better than June and July. To somewhat avoid the crowds be there when they first open. Then for the rest of the day go to the minor sites where the crowds will naturely be smaller.

Open jaws on your air travel for sure. Reserve as much as poss ahead in Rome but if u cannot it will be ok except for the Berninis. U are going just bef the summer rush , it will be ok.
When in switzerland do not miss the Berner Oberland area it is besutiful. Stay in Murren if poss.

As mentioned by Frank, go early to any site. Be there at opening for the Colosseo, for example. People who sleep late "because they are on vacation" start arriving about 10:00. Get on an early-entry Vatican tour with Walks of Italy. Their "Pristine Sistine" tour cannot be beat. Make reservations and buy advance tickets wherever possible.

There are many sites that first time visitors overlook that are really worthwhile and less crowded. One of the best is Palazzo Valentini Domus Romane. There are limited English tours, but if you reserve a few weeks in advance it should be sufficient.

Other ideas:

1. Walk up the Janiculum Hill for a terrific view of Rome at sunset
2. Pop into Palazzo Braschi Museum di Roma at Piazza Navona for a respite from the crowds,. Nice cafe and good view of the piazza
3. Go out to the Aqueduct Park and see the amazing remains
4. Head up to Tivoli and the remarkable Villa d'Este gardens, which will be glorious in May
5. Take a 1/2 day to go to Ostia Antica

Also as mentioned above, read "Europe Through the Back Door" before you cement your entire plan. You are planning a lot of places in 5 weeks. Italy, France, and Switzerland would, to me, make a very robust trip and you would still have to be particular about how many stops you make. Maye 2 weeks each in France and Italy and one in Switzerland. But it depends on what you like to do. Museums? Nature and outdoor activity? Wine tours?

Be sure to come back with more questions as you refine your plans.

How crowded will Rome be and is there anyway to avoid some of it?
Suggestions? We will see the highlights in Italy...

Speaking strictly for Rome (as that's what your question is about), May will be plenty busy, and there will be little way to avoid crowds at the 'highlights', which for most first-timers usually means the most-visited. Get away from those and you can find plenty of breathing room.

I see from a previous post that you're planning a week in the city, which will give you a good amount of time to distribute your days among heavily visited sites and those less-so. I also see that you're considering the Pristine Sistine tour, which will get you into the Sistine earlier than most...although the rest of the museums will be crowded.

Galleria Borghese is a must, IMHO, and especially so as it has excellent crowd control: you can enjoy the excellent collection without being overrun. Pre-reservations (specific day/ time slot) are required:

http://www.galleriaborghese.it/eng/galleriaBorghese.html

The park the museum is located in (Villa Broghese) is also a pleasant wander, and will be crowd free.

Without knowing your specific interests, we've generally walked into any number of open churches with marvelous artwork and a reasonable amount of other bodies to contend with; sometimes very few of them at all. For instance, climb up the Aventine to Santa Sabina - very old and interesting - and hit the communal rose gardens along the way: they should be in bloom (they were on our last May visit). There's also a wonderful view of Rome and the back of the Palatine from up there, and it wasn't very busy at all.

You will encounter some large tour groups at some of the churches, and heavier crowds at, say, San Giovanni in Laterano, Santa Maria Maggiore and the Pantheon but I wouldn't avoid them just for that reason, as I wouldn't avoid the big, busy piazzas.

There are also Roman ruins that can be seen from the street (Portico di Ottavia; Area Sacra; etc.) and so offer breathing room as well. A walk on some of the Appia Antica - the farther out you go, the less traveled - is also highly recommended on a nice day.

Just a start...
(Edited to fix a typo)

If you can't change your trans-Atlantic ticket to get you to Rome (usually not much price difference) then you can fly cheaply on EasyJet, but would have to allow plenty of time to reach the separate flight in Paris, like 4 hours or more, to claim and re-check luggage, etc. Flying beats a train ride of 10 hours or more. See www.skyscanner.com if there's another long leg that you might fly (e.g., Rome to Vienna would be good to fly while Venice to Vienna by train is OK with me at 8 hours).

Five countries in five weeks is not too much, but you'll obviously select just a few cities in each. All of Rick's Best of Europe routes work like that.

Depending on where you want to go in Switzerland and how early or late in the trip it falls, be aware that May is not always the best month to visit. The areas around Gimmelwald or Murren can still be muddy on the trails and hiking a little dicey. Weather does not always cooperate and in these small towns some hospitality options do not open until June. You can still have a great time, just know ahead of time the possibilities. Use the search function at the top of the page and look at "Switzerland in May" for previous comments.

To add to Kathy's suggestions, some of the larger basilicas have beautiful, older churches nearby, for example, Santa Prassede is a couple of blocks from Santa Maria Maggiore; San Clemente is near San Giovanni in Laterano.