April in Italy - a good idea?

Old Jul 31st, 2012, 09:11 PM
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April in Italy - a good idea?

Have about 46 hrs. to make a decision about April 3-23 (2013) award tickets to Italy currently on hold. Went to Venice for 8 days the end of April almost 10 years ago and didn't have problems with weather or, that I recall, museum opening hours. However, we have had problems with short museum hours in Greece in May and don't know about the areas in Italy we'll be visiting. Also don't know if trains will be running less frequently.

We should arrive in Rome about 7:30AM and will spend the next 5 nights in Rome. I assume Rome in April won't be a problem but don't know for sure. Then we plan to take a train to Naples or Sorrento for 6 nights. Or 3 nights in Sorrento and 3 in Naples. (We will be using Marriott or Hilton points for hotels on this part of the trip.)

From Naples we will take the train to somewhere in Tuscany, where we have 7 nights before returning to Rome for our flight home. Not sure if we want to spend any nights in Florence, nor if we want to rent a car in Tuscany and drive, or skip the car and pick a town/towns with good train service. Although it isn't essential to know about Tuscany before deciding whether to book the flights or let them go, I'd be happy for any suggestions. (DH and I were in Rome and Florence, 40 years ago when you just walked into things without reservations. Ask us what we remember besides the Academia/David and Moses/Pieta/Sistine Chapel in Rome.)

We like to travel shoulder seasons but don't want to find we can't make it to all the museums/churches/other sites we would like to see due to limited hours. Assume the weather could be anywhere from warm to chilly, rainy or clear, depending on the day or the location.
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Old Jul 31st, 2012, 11:33 PM
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I cannot think of any museums in Italy that have shorter visiting hours in April, but of course it is possible that the whole gallery/museum situation could change in the months to come due to Italy's economic problems. The train schedules are the same all year round. I would book and look forward to travelling during a time of relatively fewer tourists. April is a lovely time to be in Italy.
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Old Jul 31st, 2012, 11:48 PM
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I have visited Rome and Florence in April with no problems and lovely weather.
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 02:20 AM
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I've done a very similar route in April and the weather was mostly good. There was one rainy day and a partially rainy day in Sorrento but that's to be expected along the coast. Most of the time I didn't need a jacket during the day but the Roman women were still wearing their winter coats. I thought it was amusing that I was soaking up the sun, sitting outdoors in a cafe, watching people all bundled up.

I think you're more likely to find shorter museum hours in August than in April.

I stayed in Pienza for a week. I wanted to stay in a town for access to restaurants and not have to drive at night on dark, windy roads. Pienza is on top of a hill but once you're in the town it's flat. I liked not having to hike up hills to go to dinner or to get back to the apartment at night.
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 02:20 AM
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It should be wonderful. Watch the film "Enchanted April" before you go.
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 04:40 AM
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April should be a great time to travel. Fewer people, cooler weather, etc. Your itinerary sounds good - definitely rent a car for the Tuscany portion of your trip - many small towns do not have train service and a car makes your touring much easier. We have rented a car on the Amalfi Coast but preferred not having one the next time we traveled.
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 05:30 AM
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I too think April is a good time to visit Italy. I'd suggest putting the Bay of Naples part of your trip after Tuscany. While I can't speak to opening hours, etc. for the latter, I can tell you that the Amalfi Coast especially will only be starting to open up at the end of April.

We were in the area two years ago, spending three nights in Amalfi starting on May 1, followed by Sorrento. In Amalfi, our hotel's pool only opened for the season after May 1; in Sorrento, we got an excellent price for a grand hotel, its massive public rooms and beautiful pool unused by the handful of guests at that time. Not that there weren't plenty of people around in the towns - it's just that you could tell the area was slowly waking up for the season ahead. The Sita buses were filled but not as bad as the horror stories I've heard about full season; a number of ferries weren't yet running.


Most of the time I didn't need a jacket during the day but the Roman women were still wearing their winter coats.

I recently commented about this on another thread. Italians dress for the season more than the weather, so while the temps in Sicily were quite warm on that same trip, we saw women still wearing their fur coats!
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 05:40 AM
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The only thing to consider is if you will be traveling during the Easter week. When I visited Rome on Palm Sunday, the Sistene Chappel was closed and Rome was very busy. Didn't bother us though.

Florence was filled with European school field trips inadditionto the otner tourists. Seemed way too crowded to us. but that was before the days of reservations.

Agree April should be very nice.

Buon viaggio!
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 05:40 AM
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ggreen - I remember reading that comment you made about dressing for the season and thinking of that time in Rome with the women bundled up.
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 06:31 AM
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adrienne - On that same trip, I didn't even notice the winter coats in Rome! Probably because it was the one part of our trip where the weather wasn't great - overcast and chilly - and I was probably secretly dreaming of having warmer attire.
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 06:55 AM
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"Watch the film "Enchanted April" before you go."

And keep in mind the film wasn't shot in April.

I've been to Italy for weeks at a time in April where it rained every single day. Predicting the weather is like predicting airline fares. Plain silly.

Italy is absolutely gorgeous in the rain. Go, go, go! Always pack an umbrella, no matter when you go.
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 07:01 AM
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I've been in April before and in Sorrento there were already lemons on the trees.

The Vatican used to have reduced hours Nov-Mar, but they don't anymore. I think most places that reduce hours in winter, will start their longer hours back the first of April.
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 07:39 AM
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Why don't you start your holiday in Naples/Sorrento or Tuscany and spend your last days of the trip in Rome since you are flying back home Rome airport? It would be still even better if you land in Naples airport and depart from airport in Tuscany, like from Pisa, or vice versa.

Personally, I would prefer to spend 3 nights in Naples and 3 nights on the Sorrento coast so that you would be closer to the Amalfi Coast to visit some coastal towns and villages in that area.

Springtime is always a nice time to travel, anywhere I guess - less tourists than in the Summertime and less heat. However, as Dayle mentioned, there would be many more tourists during the Holy Week in Rome, and there would be religious activities near the Coliseum and the Vatican, which include processions and an Easter Sunday mass in Vatican square, very much lovedby pilgrims.
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 07:42 AM
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Just checked - Easter Sunday falls on 31st March in 2013
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 07:44 AM
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Go for it! Hub and I usually travelled in March. We too encountered fruit trees abloom in that month. Layers!
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 09:03 AM
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Very carefully avoided Easter weekend. Also very carefully am avoiding a car in Naples/Sorrento. Have driven roads I'm sure are almost as bad than the coastal road - if not worse - but not with Italian drivers. There was some pretty weird driving in Greece (have driven mainland, Crete, & Rhodes but not Athens) but I'm told Italians are far more frightening. Think Tuscany is a more reasonable driving place.

Considered doing Naples/Sorrento first but am a little edgy about that since I can't tie my Naples flight to the mileage flight to Rome. Have driven home to spend the night instead of flying (and paid for an unused room in Amsterdam) because the domestic plane had maintenance issues that caused us to miss our International connection; have sat on the plane from NY to Orlando longer than it took to fly from Europe to NY ; have had an unplanned 5 hr. hotel sleepover at Dulles. These just the worst experiences - and all maintenance issues - on trips to and from Europe. As flights become more and more packed, we realize next time we might not get to our destination a day late but maybe 3 days late. So I tend to plan on at least the first night in the city I fly into internationally unless I'm renting a car. (And that too has its hazards. Shortening our car reservation by a day increased the rental rate by 50% one time.) Also like to hang around to get luggage if we have checked a bag and it doesn't arrive when we do. Since we'd spend the first night in Rome anyway, I figured we might as well do that part of the trip at the start instead of an extra hotel move.

I will certainly plan for the possibility of rain. Used to think we were "immune" since we had such good luck with weather, but ask me about Yellowstone last month or several other trips in the last 2 or 3 years. Still, I pack with guidance from the weather.com 10 day forecast, so I realize I am a complete fool. But I will hope for good luck with Italy since the long range forecast was for rain almost daily in Venice 10 yrs. ago but we only had drizzle the day we arrived and the morning we left and it was clear, if not always sunny, the other 7 days.

Thanks for the comments and advice. Will set the iPhone reminder to book the tickets tomorrow before they disappear. (I can't believe I found flights at the lowest mileage with Delta - the worst airline for low mileage flights - that didn't involve 18 hour layovers or other negatives geared to encourage you to book a high mileage flight. Hope this is our first good omen.)
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 03:14 PM
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So Polly, where is the Yellowstone trip report??. Hmm?
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Old Aug 1st, 2012, 03:56 PM
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Oops. Well, the rest of it was sketched in when there was a death in the family and we had to be away for a week. Just as we got back My Publisher did one of their great extra pages sales (100 pg. book for $35 as opposed to $115), so I finished that up and uploaded. (I could send a link to the book so you could see the pictures.) By then I realized I didn't have my last reservation for a CO trip in Sept., and doing that made me think about unused airline miles. Seems like an attention span problem. But since somebody cares, I'll get back to that and post some more.
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