I'm thinking ahead for 2010...two weeks...Paris, Venice, Florence & Cinque Terre. My first thoughts are to go in October. It's only June 2009 and October 2010 seems like an eternity!

Tell me...what month would YOU take this two week trip to these beautiful places?

Thanks in advance!

I only go end of Sept. beginning of Oct. to Italy.

If you are going to Paris too, make it 3 weeks.

We love mid September to early October to travel, unfortunately my work schedule these days doesn't usually allow for that. The other month I prefer the most is May.

One advantage, for each of your destinations, to May vs. September/October is that there's more sunlight in May.

We also prefer the middle 2 weeks of Sept....usually can be pretty nice weather and less tourist crowds. That time of year in Italy we lucked out and came upon a wine tasting festival in Panzano....and included olive oil tasting.

April or September/October. I especially love Italy in April because it is still cool and much less crowded.

Two weeks is fine, if you leave out Cinque Terre. You can spend a week in Paris, and take overnight train to either Venice or Florence. You probably want to allocate 3 day each for Venice and Florence.

October or May. Second choice: September or April.

my 2 cents.... OK 1 1/2.....June or October

Late September or early May because I don't like hot weather. April or October would work as well but might not be great for the Liguria.

Other than CT, I would say anytime in October would be great. We actually prefer late October. Trees are changing, days are warm, nights are a little chilly.

Just plan carefully if you happen to spill over to Nov 1st holiday.

May. Warm enough but not too hot, very long days and the tourists are still relatively few in number. We find that we can usually get good rates on hotels as well.

Definitely May - mid-May into early June. Hopefully you will have perfect weather and the long days are a real plus.

You can't oount on the weather but several years ago, early May to mid had a few rainy day while late May had the perfect weather. On another trip I would have thought October would be great (albeit short days) and there was a heat spell! Hadn't even packed for that event.

I would opt for the long days of May.

Definitely in May - we have not long been back after a month away- we were in the Cinque Terre from the 4th May - lovely weather - in the mid 20deg Celsius. We then did a tour of Italy starting in Rome on the 9th May and finishing on the 24th May. Most days we had temperatures in the high 20s to early 30deg celsius.
Were in Paris for a week from the 24th and pleasant temperatures in the mid 20deg range.

I have done both May and Mid-september. Last fall was we spent 2 weeks in southern italy and it was cool and breezy but sunny.We were in Rome last week in September and I needed to buy a sweater and was glad I had it b/c Paris in early October was rainy and very cool. My husband and I have sent 2 different Mays in Italy and really preferred this time of year.

Very hard choice....going at the nicest time would mean high season rates, but going during low season means either rain or intense heat. If it's more about enjoyment than budgeting, May is definitely the time to come....Other nice choices are early-mid September and October as well, at least for Italy. September in Paris is lovely as well.