Venice in November
 

I have the oppourtunity to spend a few days in Venice in November, I am being told that this is not a good time to go and the city often has flooding at this time of year.

What experiences have fodorites had?

Any advice on this would be appreciated I need to work out my ticket asap.

Thanks in advance.

It depends, if you can "enjoy" even acqua alta (venetian flooding) that occurs most often in winter.

November may not be the sunniest time of a year in Venice (actually I read often it tends to be rainny ..) but at my first visit to the city about 8 years ago, I had all 5 days bright and sunny (except early morning that was usually foggy - but that gives Venice a very nice atmosphere). Since then, out of my 10 visists to Venice, more than half of them were done in Nov/Dec and I enjoyed all of them. Some rain but also enough sun.

A big plus : Novermber = Low season = Less crowd! You might hate Venice if you go in the middle of hight tourist season.

I survived and "enjoyed" the biggest Acqua Alta I have experienced in Dec 2005.
http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...20Acqa%20Alta/

When it occurs, it lasts usually only for a few hours in the morning during and after which people live their lives mostly as usual.

Last time I was in Venice it was on my birthday in mid-December. The weather was gorgeous and on one occasion we had lunch outside. The raised walkways were out in St Marks but were luckily not in use.

Roger
http://www.fermedecandeloup.fr

We were there the last half of October and had some very minor "flooding". It was a few inches of water in spots you could walk around. I noticed they had set up what looked like folding tables to walk on near the Duomo even though they weren't really needed. It was all gone by mid-morning.

I wouldn't skip Venice based on relatively rare high-tides that the locals seem prepared to work around. If anything it might be an interesting and unusual experience.

Our weather was really nice. We had comfortable days and one night that misted, enough to dampen the ground but not enough for an umbrella or to keep people indoors.

There were a lot of people there but not jam-packed like it can get in the summer.

Not a good time? Totally wrong - November is one of the best months to go to Venice! There are almost no tourists, and the Venetians are accordingly much, much friendlier (less stressed) than they use to be most of the year. The fear of floodings in Venice is one of the great "urban myths" of contemporary tourism - no need to worry. Yes, the waters are SOMETIMES rising high enough to make moving through the city less than comfortable. But never impossible. And above all: really high tides are rare. Normally, "acqua alta" won't rise much higher than the sole of your shoe, so bringing solid shoes is important. If it rises higher, there are the raised walkways being put up more than quickly. And it's of course not a river flooding the city (rivers typically cause floodings lasting for several days) but the sea tide - which means there are two high and two low tides a day, and each tide peak will last for two or three hours, then the water is gone again. And btw, also in November, chances are that you won't see only single acqua alta.

"...ONE single acqua alta", sorry. I'll never learn to preview.

I forgot to add this, in order to understand the acqua alta.

http://www.veniceword.com/weather.html

I took a group of friends to Venice for a 5-night visit last Thanksgiving. It rained heavily one day and was grayish two others. There was acqua alta two days--6-8 inches in Piazza San Marco. However, we had the best time with all planning to return for extended stays. No crowds, no waiting in lines, lower hotel rates, and the city is still magical.

We were in Venice last November and there was no flooding--very sunny. However, it was crowded. We never made it into St. Marks due to crowds(we had seen it on a previous trip) so go early if you want to see it.

We have never been to Venice except in November. It is our favorite time to visit since the crowds are smaller. We have always been fortunate to have wonderful weather, sometimes a bit chilly but no massive rains. We did notice on our last visit, November 2007 that the crowds were quite a bit worse than we had seen before, so maybe the reduced crowding is a thing of the past. Another nice thing about November is that you can often get hotels at a lower rate.

Go for it.