Village Italy/Loire to South of France tours. April or October?

I took the Village Italy tour in October 2019 and the Loire tour in October 2022. We had great weather for both with Italy being a slight bit warmer. A couple things to consider about travel in October…the gardens still had a few plants or flowers but were definitely past their prime. It was particularly noticeable in the Loire chateaux where many of the annuals had been removed. That said, I doubt that you would find much in the gardens in April either! The other thing about October is that the daylight hours seemed very short, particularly in France. I am a morning person and was very surprised that the sun did not rise until around 8 am in France. I don’t recall that issue in Italy during the same time of year. If this is important to you, check online for sunrise and sunset times to confirm. Both tours are great, I don’t think you can go wrong with either of them!

I second Martha's suggestion. I traveled to Italy in September last year and decided that spring (May in my case) because of the longer days.

The gardens at the Chateau de Chenonceau in the Loire Valley are absolutely gorgeous in April.

I took the late September 2023 Loire to South of France tour. The weather got warmer as we went south and we had sunny skies and mid 80s. I loved the tour and felt we saw and did so much. As Rick always asks in the tour evaluations what were the WOW moments? Well this was my 10th RS tour and almost every day was a WOW moment.

I've done RS (and Road Scholar) tours to Italy and France in both Spring and Fall.

I did Heart of Italy one May and Best of Europe (spends a week in Italy), Village Italy and Best of Italy in Sept/Oct.

I've done Rick's Paris and Heart of France in late Sept, plus Road Scholar trips to Brittany and Normandy in April/May, Provence in October and SW France in October.

Honestly I try not to do the very last tour of the season. Sometimes the guides are mentally "done" by then, sometimes some of the venues are closing down which would be more likely on Village Italy than on the Southern France tour. When we did Village Italy it was the last tour of the season and the last hotel had very few guests after the tour left (we stayed an extra night which I would not recommend). This was before Covid but I think they were closing for a seasonal break.

The gardens are better in April and I get what Martha said about daylight feeling short in October. Go to www.sunrisesunset.com to get a calendar of times for your dates. Be sure to check the box for Civil Twilight times.

Having said that I've got tours to France with Seymour Travels set for October 2024 and October 2025 just because that is when he is offering his limited dates.

I'd expect rain in both seasons. I would want a waterproof rain jacket for both tours but you probably have that already. Italy was hot for me in Oct 2022 but that might not bother you at all.

I completely hear what you are saying about feeling like you are running out of time! I'd probably edge to doing the April dates over the October dates if everything else is equal. Easter is April 20 in 2025.

FUN plans!

We did the Loire tour in 2023 starting April 30. Prior to the tour we spent a few days in Paris with a day trip to Giverny. Paris and Giverny while busy were not overwhelmed by crowds. Weather in early May was pleasant though a couple rainy evenings. The tour following us had more rain. I’d definitely recommend spring. (I think ours was the first Loire tour of the season) due to the gardens and gorgeous wisteria.

Several years ago we did the Village Italy tour starting around August 25 or so. Weather was warm but not terrible—I think 70’s to 80’s. We went to Milan after and it was mid 80’s. We stayed in Padua prior (lovely) with a day trip to Venice/Burano with a lovely day and evening rain. I probably wouldn’t have picked this time for the tour, but I think it was a late addition and we were able to combine with the Scandinavia tour (husband hates those long flights so we frequently do 2 tours with 3-7 days between.).

We did do the Eastern France tour in the fall and were able to enjoy the harvest from Reims to Marseille.

Thank y’all so much for your replies. Kim and Laurie Beth, I appreciate your input. Martha and Janet, daylight hours was a new thought to consider for me, so thanks for that. I looked up mid tour cities for France and Italy and they are roughly the same. So Italy and France are both about 13 1/2 hours of daylight April 15th and 11 hours October 15th. So a definite difference there. France is about 30-45 minutes later morning sunrise than Italy but also corresponding 30-45 minute later sunset in France.

I think I will probably decide to do V Italy in the spring because 2 of the last tours in Oct have disruptions in the format because Lucca has a big Comic-Con thing that takes up all the hotels at the end of the month. I think avoiding that is a good idea.

Pam, I have done Best of Paris and Prague Budapest tours that were the last tours of the year and had great guides that were still on their A game so I haven’t considered that issue before but I can see it could be something to consider. I wish I could comfortably be gone for 3-5 weeks at a time and I’d put both of these tours together like you do sometimes. I find I’m sort of mentally done after 3 weeks. And I like to string at least a week of solo time on one end or the other too. I read your TR from your Road Scholar trip and was very tempted to go on that tour because of the extra caves you got to see. I haven’t seen a TR on your Village It; can you post a date or a link? I’d love to read it.

One thing is for sure, people have loved both of these tours. I have a few more Rick Steves trips on my bucket list, so this year I’ve got Southern England coming up in April, Greece in May and Eastern France in Oct so 2024 is going to be a busy year for me as well. This forum definitely helps with planning so thanks again for the great feedback.

Thanks Patty, I appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences. And you make me think my fall Eastern France tour this year might be even better because of harvest time! I never thought of that.

Here is the link to the Village Italy tour TR which was in Fall 2014. The itinerary has changed slightly as they no longer stay in Montone and they use a different farm for the truffle hunt I think. Doesn't really matter - I did a truffle hunt on a Road Scholar trip in France and the dog was just as cute, lol.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/village-italy-9-29-14

On the Road Scholar tour of SW France which included the caves, that was the last tour of the year for that itinerary. It was Oct 2021 so just when International Travel was opening back up and just weeks/days before Omicron variant popped up. Tourist venues were running lean with staff and this is where we ran in to some closures due to time of year.