Can anyone speak to visiting Venice for 2-3 weeks anywhere from November through March?
I know that there is flooding, as happened recently, there. But generally is it really windy, dark, cold, rainy? I've been there once before, in April, but would like to spend a longer, quieter time there, with nothing very touristy in mind at all.
Thanks!
I was there in early January. I loved it - a lot less crowded, stunningly beautiful light. I got the impression that a lot of my fellow visitors were from other parts of Italy. It was very cold, so bundling up was essential.
We were in Venice the third week of December 2014 and loved the weather and how relatively few tourists there were. It was foggy some days, which was beautiful, and it rained briefly once, and the highest water was hardly noticeable. No, not dark --- the light was lovely but not bright sun. Venetians and their dogs were bundled up in down coats, but we mostly just wore sweaters. Of course, the weather could be totally different another December!
This was the second time we'd stayed in Venice for a week and we think a third week would be great. Our apartment was in Castello a few steps from the Grand Canal and on a very un-touristy street.
In my opinion, any amount of cold and rain is better than heat and crowds. We normally choose November, December, or March to go to Italy, and have never been sorry.
For perspective, I'll say I live in New England, love the winter, have participated in all types of winter sports (more so when I was younger, admittedly), and I love cold temps. I love to travel to Europe in the winter for the comfortably cool weather and lack of crowds. Many years ago, before central heating there (assuming they have some now), I went to Venice in mid-January for several days. Venice was the coldest place I have ever been on this earth; it was cold, garbage-y, damp/fog and dark. Granted, it is probably cleaner now. However, it was so miserable that I have yet to return to Venice in spite of innumerable trips to Europe. So, if you can deal with dark, wet, cold, just be sure to wear appropriate clothes to make your visit more enjoyable...perhaps. LOL
That being said, the exterior of Santa Maria Della Salute is my favorite church anywhere...but it was before I even arrived in Venice.
We have visited Venice in winter twice, staying for a couple of months each time. Certainly it is cold, acqua alta might be a nuisance.
But it was pretty special going to Torcello, ice crackling underfoot, ice forming in the smaller canals.
A very frosty midnight mass on Christmas eve in the Carmini is a fond memory.
Good shoes
Hat
Gloves
Coat
And you will be OK.
Denny, no worse than Seattle in winter.
We loved Venice in winter. Spent two separate weeks in December 2012 and 2014 and relished the lack of crowds, plus we had many nice, sunny days, I bundled up in a puffy coat, hat, scarf, boots, gloves.
Thanks all for the encouragement. I think all of the places in the world, if I just had one more to visit--actually, stay for 2-3 weeks, it would be Venice. Somehow I got the idea of flooding, heavy rains, windy, dark, and cold. It isn't the easiest place to get to from Seattle. I think I will stick to my original plans and go to Paris this February and later this year in the fall to go back to Venice. I'll have time to do a lot more reading on it.
We spent three nights at the end of the year, and New Years Eve, in Venice in 2016-7 and loved it. The crowds weren't there, and restaurants were tough to find on New Years Eve...but the New Year fireworks were amazing. We sat on the end of a pier with local folks, and it was magical. To get around the dinner-reservation problem, we visited the Rialto Market and got fresh-shucked scallops and made a lovely dinner in our apartment. The one very-cold experience was sitting in an unheated church for a concert...the chamber orchestra had propane heating lamps above them, but sitting still, we were quite cold. Still, I'd go again at that time of year!
