pantanal

We're planning a family holiday in Italy next summer, and had planned on time on the Ligurian coast (santa marghertia, cinque terre, portovenere area) and in the Alps near Gran Paradiso park. I'm beginning to think it will be too hot and crowded at the coast at that time of year. We were in Cinque Terre a few years back in early May, and it was perfect.

Would it make more sense to skip the coast at this time of year?

yorkshire

It entirely depends on your tolerance for heat--have you checked historic temps at a weather website?
Cinque Terre was mobbed when I visited in late May, so I'd steer clear of it at most times of year.

stevewith

Late June and early July is usually ideal weather for the Italian Riviera, although you can get freak surprises (meaning, rainy downpours or a stinker of a heat wave). But generally speaking, the weather is lovely for hiking and swimming, but you did need to be serious about protecting yourself from sunburn.

Santa Margherita Ligure and Portovenere will not be crowded. Le Cinque Terre will be and, should you get a heatwave, it is the most exposed and shadeless, and requires constant staircase and hill climbing just to get around (and has the least to do in the rain), so it would better if you stayed someplace else along the coast and just visited.

One problem with staying in Portovenere if you don't have a car is that it doesn't have a train station.

There are many other towns along the train line that are even less visited by foreign tourists and can be delightful places to stay -- like Sestri Levante or Camogli.

pantanal

thank you both. june looks good - 25 (Celsius) for a high, while july is 28 (which is getting a little too hot for me).

Thanks for your advice about portovenere without a car, and the masses in cinque terre. Since we have been to cinque terre, we would rather go elsewhere anyway.

I like the idea of less-traveled towns, and will post again and will hope for your thoughts, stevewith, since you seem to really know the region!

JoyC

We too have been debating whether to go in late May (~Memorial Day Weekend) or late June next year. Although one can never predict weather, I just cannot chance it with rainy days which happened a lot this year in that area. We will be staying in Cinque Terre as well as in SML, so we will go in late June and just deal with the crowds.