Late april early may or october for paris and italy?
 

Planning a trip to paris, venice florence and rome. I can deal with cooler weather i would like to avoid heavy crowds and heavy rain everyday. Which month would be best late april to early may? Or early october?

Ive done research online but i cant seem to decide and want some oppinions.

October, no question - for both locations.

Though I would check if Venice is experiencing the "acqua alta" phenomenon before you decide.

I remember hearing about the aqua alta in venice during high tide. I am leaning more towards early october for cooler weather and less crowds i just really hope i dont get heavy downpours of rain every day. I can deal with some light rain but not heavy rain . I keep thinking april and early may might start to get too crowded because of warmer temps and some holidays.

The acqua alta won't necessarily ruin your trip, but if you aren't fond of - or just can't manage - jumping up on jerry-rigged trestles to avoid the knee-high lagoon water, you could just wear your Wellies.
It isn't everywhere, but mostly concentrated in Piazza San Marco and around the Rialto, as I recall. Frankly, it stunk to high heaven.

I can't speak for Paris, but Italy has lovely weather and less crowds in October. I didn't have any problems with Venice in late October the year I went - it was beautifully sunny and just a little chilly the whole time. But acqua alta is always a risk.

Early October.
However, you can still get hit with torrential rain in October. I got hit by one of these in early October in Tuscany one yea. It washed out the road we needed to travel forcing us to make a major detour in heavy rain and in fog.

You will still encounter heavy crowds at the indicated destinations. In order to avoid crowds without qualifications, you need to go in the dead of the off season. Outside the off season, you can reduce the impact of the crowds at these mentioned super popular destinations by visiting at times counter to what others do. If typical tour routes visits certain places in the morning, see if it acceptable to you to visit them near the closing times, etc.

If you are a late starter in the morning, it would be difficult to avoid crowds. I am encountering more and more crowds at the destinations even before what I thought was the official opening times as if certain tour groups have made special arrangements to enter places before the earliest general entry. I used to be able to hit at least one destination in the morning at the time most tour groups are still at hotels eating breakfast. It seems there are more and more groups starting the days super early.

I prefer traveling in spring. The days are longer, you can see more. And get lost less. There are spring flowers and freshly green trees. You know how they talk about April in Paris....

In the spring I'd start south and work my way north. In the fall vice versa, to seek out the best weather.

Hi Y,

I suggest that you skip Paris this trip and visit Italy in late Sept-early Oct.

The wine harvest is just over and the porcini mushrooms are out.

((I))

I'd choose early October myself for Paris (DK about Italy). I'm not a big fan of Spring, though. it's about my least favorite season, actually, but in Paris, May has a couple holidays that you have to work around. April weather is too early to be very predictable, also, and likely to be colder than October, actually. LIkelihood of rain about same for April and OCtober but May is rainier.

But it is not likely to be "heavy rain" no matter what. April may have crowds due to Easter holidays, though, if it's that month next year.

It is true that sun sets later in APril-May than October, though.

We hit torrential rains in Paris in May. But we were still in Paris and made the best of it.

Toss a coin.

Remember May 1 is a holiday if you choose spring.

Both times are wonderful! The acqua Alta wasn't too bad when we were there in November. I really enjoyed Venice rain or shine.

May is the rainiest month in Paris, but not by much. See charts on this link:

https://weather-and-climate.com/aver...e,Paris,France

May and Oct about equal in Venice:

https://weather-and-climate.com/aver...e,Venice,Italy

Regarding aqua alta, here is a quote from the article in the link below: "The phenomenon is most likely to take place between late September and April, and especially in the months of November, December, and October, in that order."

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/...acqua-alta.htm

I'm with StCirq, it's a coin toss.

I've had many trips to Paris in May and October, and have never had a problem with too much rain. I love both those months but maybe October a little bit more, even late October. That could be because I live in South Florida and the cool weather is heavenly to me by the fall! Also Paris and the museums seem less crowded in October. However, I'll be there this year in mid-May and am really looking forward to it, crowded or not.