I'm thinking about talking the BOE trip next year and love the idea of seeing Keukenhof Gardens in Amsterdam. I'm a little concerned that starting the tour in April would mean having a lot of cool weather in Germany and in the higher elevations and if it hindered your enjoyment?
I was in Paris and Amsterdam in mid September 15 years ago and the weather was wonderful that time of year and I'm debating the best time to go.
Don't let the planning of your whole trip depend on one attraction which will keep you busy for just one morning or afternoon. April is a tricky month in this part of the world. At the moment it's barely 10 degrees (C). In my experience September has much more stable weather.
I did the BOE in late Aug/Early Sept and while Switzerland was fabulous I found it very hot in Italy. This tour is fantastic and you will see blockbuster sights every single day. It does cover a wide range of climate conditions so some location is probably always going to be falling at a less favorable time. BTW we had buckets of rain in Austria the beginning of Sept!
That early will probably not allow for walking mountain trails in Switzerland which may still have some snow or mud. Our BOE guide indicated he had had to cut some steps in the snow in June of 2014 for his group to be able to manage the hike.
Editing to add: By the way, your question wound up posting twice. On this forum you can go in and remove your posts so you may want to do that on the other post before someone answers there as well.
My husband and I took the BOE trip last year April 19th through May 9th and the weather was wonderful. It was a little cool at night but definitely nothing unbearable. In fact when we were in Switzerland, we started with our heavier jackets in the morning going up to Schilhorn then down to short sleeves in the valley in the afternoon. The Keukenhof Gardens are beautiful. I would definitely take the trip in the spring time.
Carole, were you able to hike Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg in Switzerland or did you all walk in the valley?
I see others have added to the other thread now too, so don't delete it!
Thank you for your recommendations, I will likely go in the fall, as I think I would enjoy the rest of the trip more if it was a little warmer.
@ Pam, that trail was closed during our trip last spring (we were on the same tour as Carole).....as a group we walked the valley floor, which was lovely!
Springtime is the perfect time for this tour. I do not think we would have enjoyed Italy as much in the heat of summer or even early fall. We only wore our warmer jackets a few days the entire trip.....up the Schilthorn and maybe a morning or two in Amsterdam/Germany. When I say warmer jackets I mean an Eddie Bauer, thinsulate jacket, which was quite packable! Seeing Keukenhof was truly one of the highlights of our entire 21 day BOE tour!
