Hi All,
My wife and I are traveling to Italy next February. How concerned do we need to be about crowds at the major sights? I'm reading the Best of Italy guidebook and seeing lots of tips (e.g. Uffizi gallery at 16:30, Vatican Museums after 14:00) and assume those are primarily peak season tips.
Thanks!
Crowds are everywhere these days, but you won't have a lot of American tourists there, I think. what you will see is plenty of Uni students, because many Unis take Feb and March as VACATION time. also throngs of young Aussies will be enjoying their summer holidays. School pupils too will be looking through the museums.
You should have nice, mildly cool weather from Milano to Venezia. If I were traveling, I would still be getting tix in advance.
Here's something interesting I found when purchasing a ticket to a museum in Vienna online. At no point during the purchase of the ticket did it allow me to choose a date, or tell me when the ticket was valid. Only after I purchased the ticket, it said the ticket was only good for the next two weeks. I would have been up a creek if I hadn't scheduled my visit within the next two weeks
February is ideal as far as less crowds.
January and Fenruary is the least crowded time of the year. I doubt you will see significant queues anywhere.
European university students observe no breaks during that period, and I don't remember American students heading to Italy in large numbers during Spring break at that time.. Florida or Mexico or the Caribbeans are probably more popular destinations in February/March.
February is also the coldest month, with temperatures possibly in the high 20s/low 30's at night, especially in Venice (Rome is milder). So dress appropriately.
Italy is great in winter, in the cities you mention. Lots of museums, mild weather, few crowds. Dress appropriately, as others have said. We have been to Firenze in winter and waltzed into museums without a pass or advanced tickets, except for the Accademia, which is worth doing. (You may have the David all to yourself.)
At the Colosseo you can save some time with advanced tickets in any season. You still have to stand in line for security, but at least you don't have to stand in line to purchase tickets.
The Basilica of San Marco does not require advanced tickets at that time of year. Don't miss the museum upstairs!
Note that some museums are open late, i.e., until 20:00 so it is possible to go in the evening before dinner. You can use daylight hours outside, weather permitting, and hit a museum after dark in some cases.
The first 2 weeks of February is Carnival in Venice - the closer to Feb. 13, the more crowded (and expensive) it will be.
This year I was in Rome at the end of February and there were lots of tourists. I suggest you book the Vatican Museums in advance. I planned to go to the Museums on Friday morning. A couple of years earlier, I had booked in advance, also for the last Friday of February, and there was no line at all, so this year I didn't book. Not only was the line a block long, but people who were not even near the front of the line said they'd been waiting for an hour already and the line wasn't moving. I went with Plan B, not too disappointed since I've been to the Museums twice. There was also a long line for the Colosseum.
My lesson learned - Italy is a major tourist destination all the time. It's better in February because there are many fewer tourists, lower hotel prices, and no hot weather. But popular sights are likely to have lines and the most popular will be crowded. . . but not as much as summer.
