Weather and crowds, is May a good month to visit C. T. and Lake Como?
 

I'm starting to plan a trip for next May to Italy. We visited Lake Garda last month and enjoyed favorable weather and unpleasant crowds only in Sirmione and Malcesine. I certainly wouldn't want to be in either of those towns in high season. It was too cool for water sports but we had good weather for "touristing". ;;)

Lakes Como and Maggiore and the Cinque Terre are high on our list of places for our next trip to Italy. Would May be a pleasant month to visit these locations considering weather and size of tourist crowds?

Thank you for your comments and opinions. Deborah

The earliest I've visited/stayed was in early June. I think a great deal will depend on where you are staying. If it is the mid-lake area (Varenna-Esino, Bellagio, Menaggio) I suspect you may find more visitors in Bellagio than the other two towns.

I am assuming most, if not all, the hotels will be open by the time of your visit.

In terms of "unpleasant" crowds even Bellagio didn't seem as packed as places I've been in Tuscany (San Gim comes to mind); I don't remember seeing a lot of people in the water but your time should be great for touring I would think.

May is fine--early May will be chilly at Como.

For a comparison, we visited Lake Garda last June and didn't deal with crowds. We've always gone to Lake Como( 3x) and also went to the CT in September and crowds were not a problem in either place except at times on the CT hiking trails. I think May would be wonderful.

I was in CT in late May (this was before the floods) and it was horribly crowded. My main objective was to hike but frankly it was unpleasant because you had to pass others so often. Some of the towns were completely clogged with people. No doubt the trails are stunning, and the crowds likely dissipate in the evenings.

May is a lovely time to visit....

I haven't been to the CT, but stayed in Bellagio in mid-May 2011. While I have no idea if that year was typical, our trip had great weather (70s/80s), and the towns were pretty quiet. Bellagio was quiet but populated (seemed like mostly American tourists from what I saw, but we didn't take a census). We went to Varenna for a day and it was nearly dead. Menaggio was relatively busy the day we were there. In short, crowds and closed attractions were never a problem!

I don't really do water sports, so can't speak to that.

Thank you for giving your personal experiences in the CT and Lakes area. I think I should be able to create an A+ trip for us in May from your comments.

I'll be hoping, of course, for temps in the 70s80s but we won't be going for the water sports at that time of the year. I'll plan to be in CT at the beginning of our time and put the lakes at the end of May. Thanks again, Deborah

I am also hoping to go to Lake Como in May but I see they get a lot of rainfall. Is this true?

60s is more likely than 70s or 80s in May (these areas typically get the 80s only in midsummer). We were at Maggiore near end of May and there was only a modest number of tourists.

We've had lovely weather in Como late May, not too busy either. But take into account the holidays in May. 9th May Ascension Day is a long weekend in many countries (many people take Thursday through Sunday), and so is May 20 (Whitsun). I don't know if these are holidays in Italy, but these weekends are always busy with people taking short breaks in Europe.

We stayed in Bellagio last May 15-17 and had a great time with almost no crowds and what I consider spectacular weather (sunny but not hot). We were lucky with the weather and I think maybe because we purposely chose a mid-week stay that every place we visited did not seem crowded at all. Here is a link to a few pictures we took at Lake Como.

http://john183italy2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/423

We also took a day trip to the Cinque Terre from Asti on Monday May 21st (again we purposely chose to avoid going on the weekend). Thunderstorms were forecast for the day and it rained as we drove but we ended up having fantastic weather once we were there. Maybe because it was a Monday and the forecast was for thunderstorms but none of the villages, the Via dell’Amore or the high trail from Manarola to Corniglia were crowded at all. Here is a link to some pictures we took while we there:

http://john183italy2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/593

The weather is always a gamble but it is possible to have a great time in that area in mid-May.

John 183 - Thanks so much for sharing your photos and info. My husband and I would also like to stay in Lake Como and then venture to Cinque Terre. How long did it take to walk from Manarola to Corniglia. Did you do this as a day trip from Lake Como. Where is Asti? Please provide all you can. I see you stayed at the Hotel Florence. Where is this located in lake Como and was it a nice hotel?

patty - We took a bus from Manarola to Volastra to save about an hour of uphill walking and it took an hour and half for us to walk from Volastra to Corniglia on the high trail (6d). The lady we bought our tickets from said it should take about an hour for most people to do what we did but we took our time and did not rush at all.

We did not do this as a day trip from Lake Como. We spent several days in the Piedmont wine country near Asti (about 50 miles or so from Torino) and made our day trip from there (about 2 and 1/2 hours each way - we parked at the train station in Levanto). It is too far to do the CT as a day trip from Lake Como in my opinion.

The Hotel Florence is in Bellagio and we really liked it. There is a lot of other information buried in my long and boring trip report (see link below). We had a fantastic time on our trip and I just can't help myself when I talk about Italy - so I apologize for the length of it.

Regarding the weather, a friend of mine visited Lake Como for several days in April of 2012 and had rain every day. We had nothing but nice weather when we were there in May so you just never know. I do know that you will enjoy your time at Lake Como and the CT - Have Fun!!!

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...nque-terre.cfm