Hello foderites. I am planning to stop in Europe for one week after a vacation to Africa before heading back to Canada. It will be the first week of March and we are hoping for somewhere that is hopefully not raining every day or too cold. I know you can't predict the weather, but we can eliminate northern Europe I think.

We are considering Italy. My husband and I spent a couple of weeks in Florence , Cinque Terre and Tuscany three years ago and loved it. We based ourselves for most of the time in San Quinca D'Orcho which was amazing, and did day trips from there. That trip was in October.

This time I am going with another woman, both in our early 60s, and want something different, (but just as amazing Neither one of us is really keen on driving, so busses or trains would be preferable.
We would like to base ourselves in one town for 5-7 nights and go from there to a couple of nearby towns.

We both like smaller towns, medieval or older places with some history and charm. We have both been to Florence, although may have to fly in and out of there to head south.

My thoughts are :
Tuscany area
Amalfi Coast (Pompei) area
or Sicily.

Being as we don't have a car, would the Amalfi Coast be too hilly to get around? It looks like most places are up steep hills. A few stairs and hills are fine, but don't want a marathon of them.

Given the time of year and the fact we don't care to drive (especially in Sicily as I have read nightmare reports on that ), has anyone travelled to these areas early March?

Thanks so much for any direction on this.

Canary Islands? southern Spain? Portugal? Crete? Malta?

This is pretty handy to help pick:

http://www.thebesttimetovisit.com/

Not Italy...not even Europe...but what about Morocco?

If Italy in March, my choice would be Sicily

I would not do the AC in March - it's off season and many of the hotels and restaurants are closed until later spring. Also most of the ferries do not run - and getting to Capri an be tricky if the seas are high.

You could visit Naples an see Pompeii and other ruins from there as part of the trip (weather a benefit for Pompeii whih is a frying pan in the summer). How about that and a few days in Rome - or sightseeing fro Orvieto or similar.

Thanks everyone.
Nytraveler. We seriously looked at Oriveto. It looks wonderful.

In the end I found a cruise that does Sicily, Malta, Amalfi coast , Rome, Marseille Genoa and Barcelona

For this time of year we decided to do this to give us a taste of the areas we haven't been to, and maybe come back at a different time of year.

Sicily !

Last March I visited Siena, Orvieto and Sorrento. It did rain and was cool part of the time, but was beautiful the rest of the time so weather in March (anywhere in Europe) is going to be a crap shoot.

I agree that in the Amalfi Coast area a lot of places were still closed for the season and ferries were not running some routes yet. I still a few glorious days there, and buses can take you easily (and breathtakingly) from Sorrento to Amalfi an Positano - but I also had some cold rain and there is less to do in that region if the weather is bad.

Both Orvieto and Siena have enough interior stuff to do that if you do get a day or two of rain it's not that bad. They are both relatively small (compared to Rome or similar large city) but have tons of medieval charm. With one week you could easily split the time between those two.

Sicily would have the best weather but I think a car is the preferable way to see Sicily. I know there are some fodorites who have done it successfully by public transportation but most prefer car (that's how I did it).

BTW, my March trip to Siena, Orvieto, and Sorrento (also included Rome) was specifically to check out those places in March (I had been to all of them multiple times, but usually in summer and I wanted to experience them in off season).

Thank you everyone
We have just booked a mediteranian cruise instead of staying somewhere.
Next time we will go to Orvieto.

I would avoid the touristic places. I usually go for a road trip in Italy. First a stop in a small village around the lakes. Than travel to Tuscany. And end up in Rome.