aduren

Hi, has traveled in Europe in late September? Is it very different? Since it's not prime tourist season then, I'm wondering if there will be as many men at the train stations offering cheap B&B's like there are in the summer. I'm counting on getting a place to stay that way instead of booking reservations.

buongiorno

When we go we always go in either May or late September early October. We always rent a car so I'm not sure about the train station comment but we never have problems booking the rooms we want.

jende

I have been in September, but I always book hotels in advance. September is a very popular month for tourists, so I would assume the B&B "runners" will be around.

Jun04ItalyHoneymoon

September is still quite popular in Europe, in my experience. I was in Greece in late September/early October. It was a beautiful time to visit, but still pretty crowded (although not as hot as it would have been in the prime of summer).

ira

Hi ad,

Mid-Sept to mid-Oct is my favorite time for Europe.

rex

Let me acknowledge from the start that this is the second (two for two of your postings here) that this reply is a bit sarcastic - - but you DID call Venice "nothing but a tourist trap" on your other post! Only if you let it be!

Not booking reservations for September travel is a good way to get the leftover accommodations that others rejected because of their poorer value, and inferior locations. On the flip side, you might get to pay higher prices for them than if you had booked ahead. Other Fodorites here will thank you for not competing for the better places by trying to book ahead.

As others have mentioned, an awful lot of savvy travelers know that September is the most peak of peak seasons; regrettably that means that bargains are not so abundant as they used to be 15 years ago.

The days are shorter than they are in June which possibly outranks September in most ways. Both are clearly better times to travel than July and August.

Best wishes,

Rex

elaine

HI
I've often traveled in Sept and Oct, but September is not low season, not in air fares, not in hotels.
If anything I see that some of the better hotels reduce their rates for July and Aug. No doubt there are some who find last-minute bargains, and if you're okay with the risks that rex mentioned, then go for it.

I'm of the sort who wants to know in advance where I'll be staying, what I'll be paying, and that I have a great location, not next to the bus depot or the docks, not in the outskirts.

aduren

Wow, I guess all my research I've done on Europe has completely misled me! I have read that August is peak season and late sept. on slows down quite a bit. I traveled through Europe 2 years ago for 6 weeks in July/August and never made a single reservation. In fact, i never paid more than 20 euro a night for a bed and breakfast (no a/c, center of town - you're typical cheap, 1-star, no-ad B&B) and all we did was get off the train and let the "runners" fight for our business - which is what I was hoping to do this time as well. So I will have to strongly disagree that reservations are the way to go. Then again, I'm not looking for a 4-star hotel either. I would rather spend my money on a terrific meal

Rex, were you not the person who told me to go to Wal-mart as a non-touristy thing to do? And now you are telling me that Venice is a tourist trap only if you let it be? That's what I was asking, sweetie, how do you make a place non-touristy? Enlighten me. I think I already used the example of our big cities, you'd be lost in Times Square forever in NYC and think new york is one big tourist trap if someone didn't tell you any differently. Rex, why don't you tell me what you do in Europe since you seem to have a lot to say?

back to my original question, from all the feedback I've recieved I don't believe I'll have a problem doing the B&B thing again this time. It worked out amazingly well last time I was there, and if there are so many tourists as you've said, then there will be the men at the train stations as well. I appreciate your input!!

Marsha

With regards to finding a place to stay without a reservation, I think it depends on the place. If you are going to Oktoberfest, as we did one September, I certainly would have a reservation in Munich. During the same week, we also had a hard time finding a place in Koblenz, Germany, because the town was having a champagne festival. I've even traveled in Europe in March and had a hard time finding a decent place to stay, especially on weekends.

RufusTFirefly

Yes, Venice is a tourist trap only if you are either lazy or ignorant enough to let it be so.

bobthenavigator

Where in Europe--it really depends.

rex

A place that is EXTREMELY worth seeing/visiting will attract quite a few tourists ALL the time and will be mobbed by tourists some of the time.

That flow of tourists means that certain vendors will sell low quality, usually "made-elsewhere" goods (or services) and to avoid falling into those tourist traps requires a modicum of caveat emptor.

If you found lodging of any kind in 2002 for 20 dollars a night, and if it included ANY breakfast, then you are knowledgeable of, and comfortable with a level of budget travel that I cannot comment on.

I do not believe that you will find it at the train stations of any of the six/seven cities you mentioned in your other post: Paris, Dijon, Zurich/Luzern, Venice, Florence, Rome.

I do not know Dijon personally, so maybe I am wrong on that one.

hopscotch

Aduren, you answered your own question. Just go without reservations. I've done that in September, and in fact throughout the year on many trips. The only serious problem I ever had was in Paris in September due to a large trade fair in town. All of my favorites were full so, since I had a Eurailpass, I just went down to Orleans for a couple of days, and enjoyed a much more pleasant city with good food at better prices. At Oktoberfest all the reasonably priced rooms were booked up on the afternoon I arrived. I hung around and helped drain the breweries until midnight and then caught a train to somewhere, slept in my seat, got off at 5h00 and caught a train back to Munich arriving at 10h00. (Who says Eurailpass isn't the greatest way to travel?) The tourist office found a room for me in a private home and I enjoyed a week of Oktoberfest. The only time I ever followed a fellow from the station was in Athens in December. His hotel turned out to be a disaster and I moved out the following day to a better cheaper place around the corner.

klondike

aduren: We prefer to travel in September and other shoulder-season months. Have to agree with Hopscotch--in cities having major events it could be harder to find, but not impossible. Having had to scrounge for a hotel in Paris during trade show was anything but fun, so I always have reservations there. Everywhere else, we wing it and never have had a problem--except the night I spent in the train station at Saarbrucken because the youth hostel was full up and I refused to pay for a regular-priced hotel. It was a horrible sleepless night of being tormented by the police every hour for ID purposes, even tho he knew full well who we were-- now that I'm older and less prinicipaled...I'd gladly fork over the $$!

Rex: you're sound unusually pedantic (your word from a previous post, not mine) self today! Maybe you just don't have the right hungry and poor youthful look because I have used these in all those Italian cities...though now I have to scratch my head in amazement that I had the stupidity at night, through dark alleys, with a stranger who approached ME, to follow them--never had a problem staying in these cheap places, thankfully.

aduren

Wow, this is awesome clearly we all have different views on what a trip to Europe should entail I did the no-reservations, follow some weird guy to a b&b thing in venice, rome, florence, prague, berlin, vienna, and munich (during august) and the only time we had an issue w/where the guy was taking us was in Florence, so we got a normal hotel room. They were all pretty decent places (or maybe we just thought so b/c we were drinking so much wine) except for the one in Rome, that was just horrible. But it's experiences like that that made our trip so much fun. I'm much more concerned with what I'm doing while awake then where I sleep so tiny showers and twin beds don't bother me. Hopscotch, that's hilarious. I am all about traveling on the overnights when you can't find a hotel room - makes for great stories. We are going to do a lot of those to save money. I *am* making reservations in Paris since that is where we will be flying in to (I think I want to stay in the Marais - it's the uber-trendy area, right?), and I know we will stay there a couple days. I'm not sure if we want to do Oktoberfest yet, but I suppose we need to make reservations if decide to go. As of right now it's only France, Switzerland and Italy, and we will pro'ly decide once we get there exactly what cities to go to. I hate making commitments

Mucky

Hi aduren,
The benefit of travelling in September is that most schools have returned after the summer holidays and therefore there are generally less families around.

I always tell my children to be very wary about men at train stations offering cheap anything...lol ;-)

Weather then is reasonable too and is probably a great time to visit.
But that does of course depend upon what part of Europe you go to.
Muck