Nottingham

Will appreciate all Fodorite's input...in YOUR opinion regarding weather & crowds
for a few day's visit to Venice. This visit will be part of a "larger" trip....and we will not want
to be traveling during the early winter months. Thanks so much for input!

jnjfraz

September is almost perfect

charnees

I'd say sometime between September 15 and October 15. There may be some rainy days during that period. You could also go May or early June. The further you get from summer, the fewer the crowds.

ozlinz

We were in Venice at the end of September last year. Weather was wonderful. St Marks & Rialto were very crowded still, but the further away you went the less crowded it became, eg The Jewish Ghetto, Arsenale,San Polo,vaporettos to Burano were not crowded at all.
We have been there in early May and it was also an excellent time to travel. January was freezing!!!

Nottingham

Thanks for your input.....now to plan HOW to get there.
FLY into??????? from USA-East Coast
then TRAIN to Venice........what was your "route" ???

ellenem

Venice has a airport. Don't know where on the east coast your are, but Delta has one direct flight four days a week to Venice. For other airports and airlines, you will have to take connecting flights. Aside from Venice, the closest airport with frequent direct flights from the U.S. is Milano Malpensa Airport. From there, you must take a bus or train to Milano Centrale train station and connect to a train to Venice SL (Santa Lucia) train station.

hpluss1

March, April, early May, September and October. Anything but summer!!!

hpluss1

You can fly to Venice or you can fly to Rome or Milan, if you plan to visit those cities / regions first. The train between cities is very easy.

nytraveler

I would do May - for a couple of reasons:

Days are longer so you can enjoy evening sightseeing more

Locals are happier to see tourists at the beginning of the system than at the end

A significant part of early Sept is the annual film festival - which makes chaos of the city and drives hotel prices through the stratosphere. (I had a meeting after the festival - but had to arrive early to prep and overlapped the end of the festival> My hotel room was more than $800 per night - and dropped down to only about $350 afterward.)

nytraveler

Sorry that should be "season" not "system". Eating and typing together is not good.

joannyc

I was there late September, the weather was very good and didn't have horrendous crowds.

SusieKay

Italy seems to have an assortment of religious and bank holidays, that most in the US are unfamiliar with. They usually precede or follow a weekend-making for a long weekend break for the locals. We experienced this twice during an extended stay in Venice-with a huge influx of visitors. If you only have a few days there, I would do some research and avoid these holidays if possible. Some shops will be closed during these times.
Regarding transport from the airport: You can also take a private water taxi (there is a dock right outside the airport) directly to your hotel, or as close to it as the driver can get you, and avoid the train or bus altogether. It's more expensive, but an " oh so elegant " way to arrive!

caroline_edinburgh

We'd always been in June until last year when we had to switch to September (10th-24th). I was disappointed as a) I hadn't thought about the fact it would be dark by the time we went out for dinner, rather than being able to enjoy nice long light evenings, and b) the second week it was too cold to eat dinner outside, although still mostly warm during the daytime (except 2 days very cold, wet and windy). Back to June this year.

In June the crowds are only bad around a few hotspots like St Mark's Square and either side of the Rialto Bridge (and I think they can be bad at any time of year) - you only have to get a street or two away and it's lovely.

k9korps

There are lots of direct flights to Venice from the USA's Northeast. Don't know where you're coming from.

Of course, if you wanted to fly into another city in Italy first, there are good train connections to Venice, too.

Nottingham

Agree with all reg. the waning daylight hours in the fall....as we have experienced that
many times with various late fall/winter trips.....maybe to try for early May...unless the LIGHT
is still there in early Sept.

Getting to Venice...good suggestions....have to decide what/where else we want/can see to tie
in with this visit to Venice....working on my "thoughts' right now!

caroline_edinburgh

When we were there 10th-24th Sept, it was dark by about 7.30. In June it's light until between 9 and 10.

isabel

The anecdotes above are nice - but there is a way to check facts.

First, daylight. That's easy. This site lets you plug in a date and a city and tells you sunrise and sunset (also twilight and darkness). I always use it to plan as how much daylight there is does make a difference. http://www.mindspring.com/~cavu/sunset.html

In Venice - May 1 sunrise 6am, set 8:15pm = 14 1/4 hr daylight
July 1 sunrise 5:30, set 9pm - 15.5 hr daylight
Sept 1 sunrise 6:30, set 7:40 = 13 hr daylight

Regarding crowds it's harder to know. But in general, in most places the price of hotel rooms goes up during times when there are the most crowds. Which does make sense. I learned this in Venice one July when I saw the price of my room was listed as a lot higher than I was paying. The nice people at the desk and I had a long conversation. They said July is not the most crowded month at all - August is a little worse, May and September are the most crowded. Just curious so I checked that hotels web site and prices in May were 230€, July 195€, Sept 220€ (they were all way cheaper five years ago, but that's irrelevant). But it does prove what they were saying.

Weather - that's the hardest of all. I've been to Venice three times in July. It was hot and very humid once, but pretty enjoyable the other times. One brief thunder storm. That doesn't tell you much. But historical weather sites do indicate when you are most likely to get sun versus rain and what average temps are.

Nottingham

Thanks isabel for the web-site.....this is much needed info for European travel!!

After some "travel talk" with husband...we are thinking about a "side-trip" visit to Venice during
our month in Paris ( May-June)......via TRAIN (???). We have traveled quite a bit in France & have
stayed in Paris for extended periods several times....so there is no need to be concerned that we haven't seen EVERYTHING around Paris......and I know we will be going back to France next year.

Has anyone taken the train from Paris to Venice?

caroline_edinburgh

Is this 2011 ? In case you are interested in contemporary art, the Biennale starts in June and the first few weeks are the most exciting.

caroline_edinburgh

P.S. A comment on Isabel's note on hotel prices which ties in with our experience last year - when we had to change from June to September our hotel room went up from €180 to €210 per night - so an extra €210 for the week.