Hi,

My husband and I would love to plan a trip to Lake Como and Switzerland in early April (first week). What would the weather be like then? Any info. would be very helpful. Thank you!!

I've never been the first week of April, but I HAVE been the first week of May, and also the second week of September, and I can tell you the latter was by far the more preferable!

The first trip, we were greeted by gale-force winds, torrential rains and cold temps. It was really awful, too bad to walk around the town of Varenna, where we stayed, and you couldn't see anything from the ferry. The only good thing about that trip was that the area still looked so beautiful, we could only imagine what it must look like in decent weather, and so we returned.
So from personal experience, I would say you're taking a big chance on being able to take advantage of all that the area has to offer in good weather. Maybe someone else has been there and experienced good weather during April?

It may not turn out to be quite as rough as Hagan experienced it, that sounds like a rare freak occurrence, but you should be prepared for cold and unclement weather. Also plan on lots of indoor activities - scope out the museums etc. where you're going in case of bad weather. April is the proverbial month of 3 seasons in one day in Europe, so anything can happen at the drop of a hat. Don't trust any statistics or anecdotal evidence, April does its own thing, from moment to moment.

At least the evenings will be a bit longer, daylight saving starts in Europe on March 25 so you get a chance at an evening stroll if the weather was awful earlier on.

Then again, it could be warm and sunny all along...

Chances are it will still be pretty crisp with a mix of sunny and rainy days...

I've only been in late May when the weather in Menaggio was delightful.

I HAVE been to Switzerland in early April and the weather was great; early Spring type with flowers just blooming, etc. No snow along the shores of Lac Leman but as we went higher up there was plenty, especially East of Brig over toward St. Moritz. But very uncrowded and overall delightful.

We were in Lake Como last spring in early April. The weather was great and tulips were blooming in the flower beds in Varenna and Bellagio and gardens at Villa Carlotta beautiful. I also would describe the weather as a little crisp but we had only sunny days. A light jacket was perfect--although we did wear turtlenecks also. Just plan on layered clothing but it definitely was not cold.