Italy April or May

[Citygirlrurallife]

Quick poll, taking DD to Turin and Florence (by train from U.K.) either Easter holidays 1st half of April or during May half term, in terms of business/tourists and weather which would you do?

We went to Italy in May half term this year . The weather was great but Americans were everywhere ( mostly pizza and gelato). We stayed in Bologna and took train to Florence it took 30 minutes to get there. Local restaurants were all lovely and no queues and served delicious food with wine and cheese.
lots of fun and food. Enjoy

We went to the Amalfi coast in May this year and had very mixed weather, so I'd definitely choose May over April.

If either half term is of only a weeks duration I would fly to Florence rather than take trains.

Not sure which airlines actually go to Florence. Taking a train will take quite a while though snd eat into your time. I too would suggest starting in Bologna and fly there. Then get train to Florence. Go back from Bologna. It’s much easier.

Weather in April is mixed, deffo May for the weather

May.

April hols is Easter time, so huge deal for most Italians as it's still a pretty Catholic country.

Thanks for response to actual question - we’ll go for May. Aware of train time. Lots of reasons we’re not going by plane and we have the route and trip fully planned so literally just looking for thoughts of which month to go in

It could feasibly still be pretty chilly in April but you'd have lots of Easter celebrations/parades to watch etc. Sounds like a lovely trip, have fun.

There’s more days in the school Easter holidays than the Easter weekend. We have been to Italy twice in April and had 100.% good weather. Not too hot for sightseeing. Late May and it can heat up these days.

I think it would be quite busy with tourists at both of those times. Weather probably better in May, we went to Naples over Easter 2022, only one day of rain, which was truly torrential, the rest of the time was around 16 degrees. Perfect for hiking on the Amalfi coast. Places were busy, but nothing compared to what I envisage high season to be like. Naples was fully open, being a city, but some of the ferries on the Amalfi coast were not running yet as the season was only just starting. I don't think you'd have that problem in Turin or Florence.

Yeah unfortunately with kids in school
thats when we can travel!!

Same for us, we have 2 kids and so travel is restricted to the school holidays. We often travel Easter and/or May, the crowds are preferable to those in the summer even if it's not quiet.

Can you share your plans? I am super keen to take the kids to Italy this year but can’t afford car hire so looking at trains. Can’t decide whether to stay in Bracciano and visit Rome or stay somewhere else and visit Florence/Venice/Milan. So would love to hear about your holiday!

TBH if you can’t afford car hire then trains might be out of reach considering the price of flying, but a few years ago we did 3 weeks around Italy without a car. Flew into Naples, got the train to Sorrento then the ferry then local buses to amalfi coast. After that we got the train back up to Rome (via Naples), then onto Lake Garda (Bardolino) then Verona then Venice and flew home from there. Italian trains are really easy to be honest

We’re going to Eurostar to Paris then straight onto Turin (part of the way might be coach if the route hasn’t been fixed) a night or two in Turin then train the Florence for a night or two. The journey back will get us to Paris in a day so we’ll stop one night there and Eurostar home