Switzerland

Any part of Europe is ideal end of May; the days are longer, things are blooming, it is not too hot yet and the crowds are not as swelled with kids families summer vacation.

In late May the Alps maybe a little squishy muddy from the melting; I was there last July all dry perfect escape from summer heat and not crowded at all

July is consistently my very favorite time to visit Switzerland, and I've been to Switzerland in June, July, August, and September. Flowers are in full bloom and the hiking paths are all open and well groomed then.

I agree that the end of May in Switzerland - at least in the high country - there will most likely still be patches of snow and some mud. We've been in June several times, but this year we will go in July to make sure all the trails we want to hike will be open.

One other consideration for a May trip is if anyone in your party suffers from seasonal allergies then May could be a rough time for them to be there. We almost cut a trip short once because my husband's allergies were so bad. I had to promise never to go back in the spring:)

saw,

The end of May should be fine, but of course there are no guarantees. I've seen comments here on the forum from people who took one of the 12 day tours at that time of year and had mostly good weather, while those on the subsequent tour had miserable weather. With current weather patterns these days, who knows what the weather might be like this May.

Hi saw1pilot, I was in Switzerland with the RS Germany, Austria, and Switzerland tour in May 2010. The weather was a little cool and damp but we were able to hike the paved trails.

We did the RS Switzerland tour at the end of September 2016 and had perfect weather. We were in Switzerland again the first week of Oct 2017. We encountered light snow for 2 days then weather cleared up and it was very nice. Cool but clear.

I prefer traveling in Sep/Oct but if May is the time you can go, I think you'll be fine. Switzerland is amazingly beautiful any time of the year!