When Are the Best Times to Visit?
 

To help with everyone's budgeting and trip-planning this year, I'd like to start a super thread to gather together everyone's ideas about the best times to travel to all the destinations you can think of. When would you rather be in Costa Rica? When does Hawaii have the best weather and prices? When is the best time to go to Italy? France? Thailand? Madagascar? The Azores? Tell us the destination, the best time to travel there, and (briefly) why.

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You know, I can think of far more destinations than I'm interested in typing in! Maybe you could set up some kind of spreadsheet. But in general, regardless of where I'm going, shoulder season. And/or whenever there's less rain and less heat.

Some of my favorite trips have been in Feb or March to Germany, New York and Paris. I love to see the snow and not as many people. Of course, we do miss out on the beauty of the trees in bloom or losing their leaves and have to return for that. Oh well.

I love to travel in September to Europe (Paris, London, etc), The weather is nice (sweater and umbrella required). I do realize that it's super expensive to travel during this time, but if you are a no-nonsense traveler, then you can budget quite nicely.

I like traveling to France in November for two reasons-

1. It's a bleak month in Canada and the northern U.S., so it's a good time to get away and do something fun.

2. It's low season, which means better prices and no crowds.

Yes, it can be a bit chilly there at that time, but I much prefer bundling up in a coat and boots to dealing with hot weather and a sea of people.

My husband is an avid photographer so he loves to have lots of flowers and greenery or the changing colors of autumn as the backdrop to his photos.

We've been to Germany, Austria and Switzerland in May several times and have enjoyed really good weather overall. There are fewer crowds and ticket prices aren't as high.

Also, you need fewer frequent flyer miles to obtain free tickets if you travel in the off season.

We've also vacationed in Hawaii on numerous occasions and find prices are good in November prior to the Christmas season. The weather is amazing pretty much year round but if you want to see the whales then you'll need to visit during December thru March or April for the best viewing.

We've had two wonderful Paris getaways in winter (with great January sales). The city is more laid-back and welcoming for sure, with fewer crowds. Once we used frequent flyer miles and rented a small apartment in Montmartre for $550, our total air/lodging costs for two for an entire week in February.

But in general we are devoted shoulder-season travelers; I've been to Europe more than a dozen times, NEVER IN SUMMER.

In the U.S., we avoided the mobs in Rocky Mountain Natl Park (first week of June) and Grand Teton/Yellowstone (last week of September). Brilliant scenery, serene hikes, and gentler hotel prices with better room choices.

In addition to your suggestions, I'd like to mention the many public holidays in Europe. Banks, post offices, stores, museums, restaurants, etc., close for day or more. For example, Ascension Thursday in France caught us by surprise. It's a major holiday in May or June, celebrated basically for 4 days. If you're unprepared for these national/religious holidays you could miss out on certain activities. Plus, Europeans take time off too, so tourist sites get unusually crowded!

The first two weeks of December are perfect for traveling anywhere EXCEPT NYC.

Caribbean resorts, warm weather US places are pretty empty gearing up for season.

With the exception of a few citywide conventions like Art Basel in Miami, hotels are dirt cheap.

While fall is usually good also, it is too easy to run into some type of convention of loud noisy people and lots of schools have Columbus Day off in October so fall is more of a crapshoot for me.

January is a great time to visit NYC.

Well it's pretty much a golden rule of tourist destinations, when you find the lowest prices is when you get the worst weather.

So it depends which of the two is your priority, good weather or saving money.

We are doing a Greek Island Med cruise in early Nov. so will let you know how that works. We also did an Alaskan Cruise in Sept. which the weather was iffy but still had a great time. Leaving Seattle it was clear so took some great pictures of Mt.Rainer.

I've traveled in Italy in March and loved the lack of crowds, generally nice weather (a bit chilly at times, but mostly sunny), and all the attractions (museums, etc) were open.
Just back from my third February trip to Ireland, and although I'd like to see some of the attractions that are closed, I have *no* desire to see those tiny roads even more crowded! We have found that we're usually the only tourists in the smaller villages, and get a very personal experience as a result.

I have to agree with GoTravel -- avoid NYC in December (unless you're simply hellbent on doing the whole holiday thing). I live there and it's just inhumanly crowded between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

In general, I like to travel in May and October.

April and May are great for Europe, with spring flowers blooming. The same can be said for New England too. The additional benefit of April/May for middle europe, is for the white asparagus harvest. These spargel are heavenly and I can eat it for 3 meals every day.

We like traveling to Hong Kong (SE China) during winter months because of the cooler climate. For us living in New England, Dec-Feb are the only comfortable months. Spring is a terrible time to visit because of the humidity - usually 100% humidity and warm... YUK! Summer is just way too hot for us.

Hi Doug,

As a local, i think the best time to visit The Azores is between May and October. During the winter you will be able to find amazing travel deals, specially from the USA and Canada.

About The Azores, it is the perfect spot for nature lovers, in each of the 9 islands you will be able to find different landscapes, people and flavors :)

Isilva: did you notice Doug asked this seven years ago? How did you even locate this old thread - just googling "Azores"?