daisyinc

We would like to travel in a small group of middle-aged career couples to Italy in early to mid-March and not have to bundle up from cold! A few are interested in a spa while there and all want peace/serenity/views alternating with great restaurants, and a small amount of nightlife, side trips, & tourist attractions. Where do you recommend and why? Thanks!

BATUFFOLINA

I would suggest Ischia, for it has lots of spa facilities (thermal baths, mud treatments, hydrotherapy etc), beautiful climate almost all year round and gorgeous views, plus great food and restaurants and from there you can go visit Capri, Naples, the Amalfi Coast.
The Giardini di Poseidon is one of the most famous thermal baths in Ischia, even if almost every hotel there has its thermal pools (indoor and outdoor).
In Ischia I love Hotel Il Moresco
http://www.ilmoresco.it/


As an alternative I would also suggest that you stay in Capri, especially at Hotel Caesar Augustus, one of the best hotels on the island, a real dream. http://www.caesar-augustus.com/

Capri is one of the most beautiful islands in the world, and that says it all.

RufusTFirefly

Unless you get lucky, you're not going to find anyplace warm in Italy during most of March. Probably not freezing cold either. Typically in places like the above mentioned Ishia, highs probably in the mid to upper 50s F, and lows in the mid 40s on average.

Again, you might get lucky and have highs in the upper 60s to low 70s; or unlucky and have highs in the upper 40s to low 50s.

daisyinc

Thanks to all 3 of you, I have so much more info to go with. I found average temperatures on the web that matched my area of Texas. But frankly,the weather here in early March is anyone's guess. One March, we were wearing shorts and swimsuits one day and gathering firewood the next; and the bluebonnets on the hillsides had turned to little blue popsicles overnight. It sounds like the weather in a couple of the places y'all mentioned is more consistent.

AP6380

Sicily is the farthest south that you can get in Italy. I was there is March 2003, and it was in the 50s and rainy. I was told that the amount of rain they were having was quite unusual for that time of year. There is a lot of great info here on Sicily, I'll pull up a few and post the links.

AP6380

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34676485

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34416277

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34416277

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34412340

Cicerone

Get out a map and look at how far NORTH most of Europe is. Naples is jsut about on the same latitude as New York. That is why very little of it is warm during March. Even places like the north coast of Africa (i.e. Morocco aren't that warm in March, heck even Florida aint' always that warm in March.) Go to weatherbase.com, and click on "Vacation Finder". Enter March and the minimum acceptable temperature. It will show you where you can go. The Vacation Finder won't show how often it may rain in that month, for that you need to go to the city listings on the weatherbase.com site.

In early to mid-March chances are excellent that you will COLD in Capri and Ischia. More importantly, you will find many hotels and restaurants are not even open as it is way too early. Fro starters, click on "Hotels' and Restaurants" above, then choose "Europe", then scroll down to Italy and click on "Amalfi Coast and Capri" and then take a look at the number of restaurants on Capri that are closed from November through April. Also the ferries run on an abbreviated schedule so getting out for day trips to the mainland (i.e. Pompeii) can be problematic). If it is rough, the ferries don't run at all. The Amalfi coast is one of the most beautiful places in the world and one of my very favourite places, but NOT in March.

Really nowhere in Europe is going to be warm in March, not even in Sicily. You might consider Costa Rica, that's where I'm going in March. . . . seriously I would aviod the coast and mabye think about Rome or Florence where there are indoor activities in the weather turns bad. Not a lot of spas in Florence, you may be better off in Rome.

kleeblatt

Malta! Sometimes they have great weather in March. There's lots to see and do. Gozo is great for a day trip (do the jeep safari). Stay in Valetta or there are some great hotels near St. Julien's. I was there a couple of years ago in March and we had mild weather.