rogeryuen

Hi All! My fiance and I are planning our honeymoon for Italy. Found a good deal for Rome, Florence and Venice which is exactly where we wanted to go but the catch is that it is for Nov 19 - Nov 29. Ideally we would like to go in the summer when the weather is warm and nice but we would like to go this year if possible and our wedding is not until the last week of Sept. I know the weather will be a bit cold and rainy so should we pass and go next summer or should we just go this Nov? Please give us any suggestions that you may have. We hate to visit Italy for the first time and have gloomy weather for 10 days. Thanks alot!

rex

Put your honeymoon money on the kitchen table. Rake 20% of it aside. Use that for a 3 day getaway right after your wedding.

Devote yourself to replacing it (the 20%), between now and next May to pay for a nice <i>warm weather</i> trip to Italy.

Whatever &quot;good deal&quot; you found for this November, &quot;we&quot; (the Fodors tTravel Talk &quot;community&quot can help you have just as good a trip next May for a similar cost.

Whatever your decisions, congratulations on your new life in marriage... and...

Best wishes,

Rex

Chatters

It seems to me you have all the information you need to make a very personal desicion regarding your honeymoon. Personally, I took my Mom to Rome last November and enjoyed a mix of sunny weather and rainy days. Loved every minute of it, though (great company!). If it was my honeymoon, I would go on a cruise to get pampered all week long (now that I think of it, that was exactly what we did for our honeymoon!!)

HowardR

Sure, you might get some rain. We did on our November trip to Italy. We also had sunshine. And, more important, to this day, we still consider the two weeks there in November as our trip of a lifetime! (The dates of our trip were close to your dates.)
I say, if the price is right....go!

Snowflake814

I'm also going to Italy on my honeymoon on Nov.8. I've read good and bad things about the weather, but, hey, we'll be in Italy, how bad could it possibly be? I can't wait!!!!

HowardR

Snowflake, you have the right attitude. I can tell you that rain barely slowed us down in Rome and didn't stop us from have a great experience in Pompeii. And, by the way, the weather for the rest of that November trip in Florence, Venice and the Amalfi Coast was great...never worse than leather-jacket temperatures and sunny.

sandi_travelnut

Been to Italy twice during that timeframe and it was lovely...out of 4 weeks total we had only 3 days of rain and 70 degree weather and sunny the rest of the time.

tashak

I've been to Italy in November and enjoyed it immednsely. Mostly sunny and autumn like, but had about 3 days of heavy rain in 2.5 weeks (happened to be in Florence, but think it was raining everywhere). Italy, with all of its extraordinary museums, churches and other inside activities, offers plenty to do in the rain, if you plan your activities around it. It can certainly be cold and rainy in the spring, too...and in the summer the crowds and heat are another negative to consider.

So... every time of year has its pluses and minuses...if you and your fiance really are excited about art and museums... and you want to do something in November, go for it. If you are the types who will spend minimal time in museums, you might want to wait until next year...

mcgeezer

We to Italy in Novemeber. It wasn't that cold but it did rain a day or two.
Of course all of our photos feature gray skies.
The best thing, it wasn't very crowded. I prefer less crowds to sunny skies but I live in So. Calif. where sunny skies are a fact of life.
In Novemeber you will be chilly wherever you are, so why not Italy?

ssachida

roger,
Will be in Italy(Venice, Florence, Rome) Oct30-Nov15. I'll let you know how that turns out. Ofcourse, that wont help with your decision, sry.

ira

Hi roger,

I think that honeymoons are best when they follow the wedding.

Go.

cocotravl

Hi:

We are planning a trip November 5-14 to Capri area and wondered if too much will be closed on the island. Or on the Amalfi coast. Anyone know about this at that time of year. Hate to get there and find nothing is open.

Thanks a lot!

rex

Based on some e-mail I have received, it occurs to me tht my reply sounds like I have personal experience traveling to Italy in November. I do not. I have never been to anywhere in Europe in November, December, January or February.

My answer is the same that since Nov 19-29 is not immediately after your wedding - - then the weather WILL be warmer, and clearly, the days will be longer next spring.

I might actually try a trip to Europe this year, around Thanksgiving.

But generally speaking - - and especially for a (belated) honeymoon - - I would not choose the late fall, when the days are approaching the fewest hours of daylight all year.

HowardR

coctravl, there is a potential problem with going to Capri that time of the year: The choppy seas may preclude the boats from traveling there. Our planned day trip there during a November trip was cancelled because the boats weren't running.
Rex, while your advice may be well intentioned, I think you're overlooking what seems to be a key factor--if not THE key factor--in their decision, namely, cost. Also, speaking from experience (which you admittedly do not have), I think you overemphasize the lack-of-daylight-hours factor. We never felt that we were missing out because it got dark at, say, 6 or 7. Besides, Rome, Florence and especially Venice are wonderful after dark!

sognatrice

Another 2 cents. I have traveled in Italy in November, and also in winter(December, January, February). Florence, Venice and Rome). It was wonderful. Yes, there were some days of sun and a few of rain, but I wouldn't trade it for the wall-to wall tourist crowds of summer in the cities you mention.

I did have one day of walking around Rome this past year in heavy rain; the ancient walls and streets looked so beautiful, all the colors more intense, that I didn't bother to return to my hotel until nightfall.

I met a couple who had just gotten married in Florence on a rainy day, they said it was the best time of their lives!

Italy loves honeymooners, you will have such a warm welcome that you might not even notice the weather! My vote is say yes, go for it.

drdkc

This may seem like a broken record reply, butttttttttttttttttt

We waited our entire lives to visit Naples/Rome/Amalfi..but aminly Amalfi. We went this July, as we boarded our transcontinental flight the 10 day forecast was : daily high 29, daily low 20, pop 0%, cloudless the entire time.
This forecast was entirely accurate, and in our opinion was the best part of our trip. For the first eleven days of our honeymoon we never saw a single cloud, and it was 29-31 each and every day. Do Something else, save the trip...do Italy in late June. OHHHHHH...PS...we had heard it was CROWDED in summer....BSBSBS..was lovely, never felt crowded one bit.

Best Wishes..

buongiorno

My wife and I got tired of traveling to see relatives over US Thanksgiving (late November) year before last and went to Rome for a couple days and then to the Amalfi coast for a week. I don't know whether we were lucky or not but the weather was beautiful. Mostly short sleeves during the day and a light jacket in the evening. We also went to Capri from Sorrento and found just about everything was open. There were some rain showers but nothing that reduced our enjoyment.

Snowflake814

Thanks everyone. I think I have a better idea of how to dress. Are blue jeans a &quot;no no&quot; in Rome?

Eloise

Blue jeans are absolutely not a &quot;no no&quot; in Rome; many, many Italians wear them.

But they wear them with style, i.e., I would suggest that you avoid wearing a sweatshirt and sneakers with the jeans.

lauren75

If I can ask, where did you get the good deal for those dates? I was interested in going around that time.