If anyone has done this tour the first 2 weeks of October I would love to know what to expect of the weather. I'm suspecting it could be a bit mixed which will make it difficult to pack. I really want to keep things to the minimum. It's my 3rd tour so I'm getting better but wondering how warm or cool it might get. Any hints/advice appreciated.
Anyone else going on this tour?
Regards,
Lynn
Hello. We went a couple of years ago, but at this same time. We enjoyed perfect travel temperatures neither, hot nor cool, and generally fully perfect weather, as well. A light sweater or thin jacket will be plenty and most days you’ll probably not need either. Your rain jacket could do double duty for this. We, and all the others, just tromped around in jeans, tees, and sunscreen.
Entertaining aside: one woman declared that she was clearly taking the Timberland tour (she had packed for chilly) and that another was obviously taking the Armani tour. She had packed longer swishy skirts, sandals, and just a pashmina. She traveled cool and comfortable everywhere, not to mention looking fabulous.
Edited to add link: You may find this weather link helpful. I’ve attached it with Oct 2018 weather for Florence imbedded https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/italy/firenze/historic?month=10&year=2018
Enjoy your tour!
Well, I would have clothing to cover warm and cool and rainy!
I didn't do this tour last year but did it in 2014 starting around Sept 27, I think. We had pretty warm weather early on where I wore capris but had rainy weather in Levanto and Orta San Giulio. In fact we had drenching rain the day the tour ended and the day after in Milan. Definitely pack a waterproof rain jacket with a hood!
My current "formula" for packing is 3 bottoms so I'd have 2 long pants and 2 capris (or whatever you use for warmer weather) in the line-up then select 3 of the 4 when you look at weather reports a few days out from packing. I personally go with Land's End cotton/modal SS Tees for almost all seasons with a long-sleeve Dri-fit or cardie to layer. Unless you are very cold-natured I don't think you'll need anything to the level of a puffy vest or jacket.
We did Village Italy as our first tour quite a few years ago. It was almost exactly on this date. Hubby and I don't take or wear jeans only because they are thick, heavy and take longer to dry. We wear our golf pants. They pack well, come out non-wrinkled and dry overnight.
We had some drizzly days and mostly sun. On the drizzly days, it would rain a bit but not all day. After a half hour or so the sun would pop out. We both had light rain jackets and that worked well. We did not take any shorts, but the pants and shirts we had were very comfortable. I will advise that you pack as light as possible. There were many of the small towns that the bus could not drive to the hotel, so you are carrying or pulling a suitcase through the town on cobblestones to get to the hotel. Totally worth it!!
This was our first RS tour out of 7 and they have changed it a bit. I would even consider taking it again. I hope you have a great time.
Also, we flew in to Venice 3 nights early and spent a few days there getting over jet lag. That worked very well. The train to Padua from Venice is a very short ride and easy.
Have a Great Time!
Mimi
Thank you everyone, this is all very helpful! I'm spending 3 nights in Venice to help get over the jetlag before the tour starts, plus I just loved Venice when I was there on the RS Best of Europe tour last year. The weather history link is great, thank you all again!
