off season in Italy; pros and cons
 

(Am I asking too many questions? I promise a detailed, useful trip report upon my return.)

Going to Venice, Florence and Rome in November. Wondering what you feel are the pros and cons of off season travel. I expect that I'll encounter less pleasant weather, shorter days. But also fewer crowds.

I was wondering about specifics. Do you think that crowds will be reduced to the point of not needing reservations at popular tourist sites, like the Vatican or to see the David, for example?

Have you encountered sites that were closed for the season?

I'd be interested in any of your thoughts or opinions.

I love this site.

The key question is: Exactly when off season? It makes a difference!

Howard, olive_oil is asking about going in November.

Olive_oil, can you search for Tiff's trip report that they took last January, they went to Florence and Venice. I personally know they had a very beautiful time. I would choose November over hot and humid weather personally. I have not been to Italy in November..but people that do go during that time usually have a wonderful time. You have listed the pros and cons.

Are you travelling with anyone or by yourself? I do have one friend that was in Italy by herself in winter and due to the early sunset she was uncomfortable walking back to her hotel after dinner at various restaurants due to the darkness and cold weather. But that was later in the winter. If you will have a TC with you I wouldn't think that would be a problem for you.

Pros: cheaper, cooler, less crowded

Cons: run into school trips, reservations at key sites such as Uffizi and Academia are still needed. Gardens not at their peak.

No problem with attractions not being open.

I'd love to go to Venice, Florence, and Rome in November. I went in December and January, and had only a few drops of rain. The weather was so much better than enduring excessive humid heat.

The only two drawbacks:
1) It felt too cold for me to go on post-9-PM strolls around Florence. Everywhere else and all other times were fine.
2) When you go for nighttime walks, you can't see as many details as you can if you have the long hours of summer daylight. Yes, you can see buildings nicely lit up, particularly in Rome. But a beautiful 10-PM twilight stroll just can't happen.

I think that I might not enjoy visiting small towns so much in winter. It was nice to be able to go to concerts and other nighttime activities given that long nighttime strolls didn't quite fit the bill.

I suspect in November that the nights would be fine temperature-wise (at least for me).

I had a (no-cost) reservation at the Accademia for David at 4 PM on New Year's Eve. But I didn't have to use it, as there was no lineup. However, otherwise things were fairly busy, sometimes extremely busy, as that holiday period involves a lot of Italians moving around. But that wouldn't be the case for you in November.

WillTravel, excuse me for highjacking your thread for a moment olive_oil.

Regarding reservations to see David. My daughter has a friend that just returned from Italy. This friend said that it cost she and her son $100.00US for their tickets to see David. Imagine that would be about 80euro.

Is that what it now cost for two tickets to see David? Do you know? I was shocked to put it midly.

Venice could be the only place that is problematic in November, as that is the time you could get rain and the infamous flooding. Otherwise I think it is quite beautiful in Rome and Florence with bare trees and wet cobblestone streets, it is romantic in the original sense of the word. Down sides are limited ability to sit at outdoor cafes and that the Florence countryside will probably be a bit brown, but still beautiful. You could get some very warm and sunny days, that happens even in the winter. But pluses are you can wear wool jackets, shawls and leather coats and not everyone is running around in shorts and sneakers with fanny packs at the Trevi fountain. Overall, if you are dressed for it and have the right attitude, I think it is a great time to go. I would be prepared for Venice however, consider staying in a hotel which is not on the Grand Canal for one thing or you may be awash in the lobby each morning.

I agree you would probably want reservations for the Academia and Uffizi if for no other reason than that you won't have to stand out in the rain in even a short line and so you can arrange your day better around a set time to get into the museum. As mentioned above, you don't pay for the booked time unless you go to pick up the reserved tickets, to if you show up and there is no line, you just go to the regular ticket office and the reservation hasn't cost you anything. I would think you could wait to make the reservation until you arrive in Florence, it would not be necessary to do it from the US weeks ahead of time as would be necessary if you were going in say August.

Take a look at weatherbase.com for historical info on temps and rainfall. Go to sunrsisesunset.com to see how much daylight you will have.

LovelItaly, I have no idea what you friend is talking about paying that much for tickets for entry to the Accedemia. Admission tickets are €6.50 per person, which is just over US$8, plus if you make the reservation you pay €1.60 per ticket. So for two people with reserved tickets, that would be €16.20 or about US$20. If they also went to the Uffizi that's another US$20. Perhaps they added all that togehter, or pehaps they took a tour and included the cost of the tour in the price. Otherwise if they bougth the tickets from some commerical website or someplace other than the museuam itself, they overpaid by quite a bit.

I went to Italy in Nov. 2002. Pros were less crowds and lower overall cost. The biggest con was the weather, although it wasn't too bad most of the time. Just my luck, I was in Venice on a day when the aqua alta hit a record. We were staying in Mestre and the water buses couldn't dock because the docks were underwater, so I spent my day in Mestre instead of Venice. We completely lost a day in Venice because the water was so high, even the planks were underwater. Of course that doesn't happen every year, and we did enjoy the one good day we had in Venice.

As for the David, I had no reservations, I just walked into the museum, paid the usual price for a ticket, and there was David in all his glory, waiting patiently for me. :-)

That does sound like a lot!

Thank you all for thr ideas on my November trip. I guess I am just trying to think it through. Hadn't thought about the gardens, for example.

I guess I need to think more about the indoor cultural offerings.

I am not traveling alone, LoveItaly, I am going with my sister. We have taken shorter trips together: we wnt to Chicago for a long weekend, that was fun; and we accompanied our parents to the Jersey shore a couple of times when we were worried about them making the trip on their own; but this is the first time we've taken a major trip together. She has no worries about the time of year, the weather, it's just me.And I'm not really worried, I just want to think it through.

Sounds like I'll still need reservations but maybe it won't be such a crush. And I'll do some research for night-time activities, concerts, the opera, whatever.

I am looking for Tiff's trip report but have not found it yet.

Thanks for all the input.

oo

oo, we were posting at the same time, please see my post just above yours.

PS When I said I paid the usual price for a ticket, I meant that I didn't pay more to see the David, I only paid the price one would normally pay to get into the museum which was probably less than 10 euros or so. But that was 4 years ago, it's possible things have changed since then.

Thanks PM and thanks Cicerone, two good suggestions regarding the acqua alta. That must be something!

And the saving money advantage of off-season travel is nothing to be sneered at.

Again, thanks all for your help.

Ooops, sorry I missed the OP's mention of November.
First of all, I have to say that Italy great any time of the year! Having said that...From our experience (we've been to Italy once in November and twice in October since 1999) the only real disadvantage to November was the cooler weather, which meant we didn't sit in any outdoor cafes. We realized what we had missed when we returned in October and spent some glorious times in the outdoor cafes! We had a little bit rain in November, but not enough to really seriously affect our trip.
The smaller crowds are definitely a plus. We didn't have to make advance reservations for anything in Rome, Florence or Venice.

LoveItaly, getting into the Accademia need only cost 6.50 Euros, and another 3 Euros if you use the reservation that you book for no cost, except the long-distance charge, by phone (Ira is always giving out those instructions). Your friends no doubt used one of those agencies that cost an arm and a leg, because they didn't realize how simple it was to book the reservation on their own.

I spend the month of November in Florence in 2003; was not too cold (was actually colder in month of March. Only problem was Venice flooded twice in November. Rome was slightly warmer. I did a lot of walking so it was more comfortable to walk in November than it was in June. Still need reservations for the main museums, Vatican etc.
Enjoy!!

Thanks dear ones, I did not think that my daughters friend (not my friend) paid that much to buy the tickets to see David. I told my daughter I would ask about this here..obviously my daughter's friend is confused..or really got ripped off. Again, thanks for the information. I haven't visited David the last couple of times that I was in Florence, and I know that everything has gotten more expensive, but I couldn't imagine that a tickekt to see David would cost about $50.00US per/person. I am sure glad that my thinking was correct!