Timing your Trip: Travel Throughout the Year

By Rick Steves

In travel-industry jargon, the year is divided into three seasons: peak season (roughly June through August), shoulder season (April through May and September through October), and off-season (November through March). Each has its pros and cons.
Peak-Season Strategies

Except for the crowds and high temperatures, summer is a great time to travel. The sunny weather, long days, and exuberant nightlife turn Europe into a powerful magnet. I haven't missed a peak season in 30 years. Here are a few tips to minimize the crowds and help keep your cool:

Arrange your trip with crowd control in mind. Consider, for instance, a six-week European trip beginning June 1, half with a Eurailpass to see the famous sights and half visiting relatives in Scotland. It would be wise to do the Eurail section first, enjoying those precious last three weeks of relatively uncrowded shoulder season, and then spend time with the family during the last half of your vacation, when Florence and Salzburg are teeming with tourists. Salzburg on June 10 and Salzburg on July 10 are two very different experiences.

Seek out places with no promotional budgets. Keep in mind that accessibility and promotional budgets determine a place's fame and popularity just as much as its worthiness as a tourist attraction. For example, Geneva is big and famous — with nothing special to offer the visitor. The beaches of Greece's Peloponnesian Peninsula enjoy the same weather and water as the highly promoted isles of Santorini and Ios but are out of the way, underpromoted, and wonderfully deserted. If you're traveling by car, take advantage of your mobility by leaving the well-worn tourist routes. The Europe away from the train tracks is less expensive and feels more peaceful and relaxed. Overlooked by the Eurail mobs, it's one step behind the modern parade.

Hit the back streets. Many people energetically jockey themselves into the most crowded square of the most crowded city in the most crowded month (St. Mark's Square, Venice, July) — and then complain about the crowds. You could be in Venice in July and walk six blocks behind St. Mark's Basilica, step into a café, and be greeted by Venetians who act as though they've never seen a tourist.

Spend the night. Popular day-trip destinations near big cities and resorts such as Toledo (near Madrid), San Marino (near huge Italian beach resorts), and San Gimignano (near Florence) take on a more peaceful and enjoyable atmosphere at night, when the legions of day-trippers retreat to the predictable plumbing of their big-city hotels. Small towns normally lack hotels big enough for tour groups and are often inaccessible to large buses. So they will experience, at worst, midday crowds.

Be an early bird. In Germany, walk around Rothenburg's fortified wall at breakfast time, before the tour buses pull in and turn the town into a medieval theme park. Crack-of-dawn joggers and walkers enjoy a special look at wonderfully medieval cities as they yawn and stretch and prepare for the daily onslaught of the 21st century.

See how the locals live. Residential neighborhoods rarely see a tourist. Browse through a department store. Buy a copy of the local Better Homes and Thatches and use it to explore that particular culture. Get off the map. In Florence, for instance, most tourists stick to the small section of the city covered by the ubiquitous tourist maps. Wander beyond that, and you'll dance with the locals or play street soccer with the neighborhood gang.

Plan your museum sightseeing carefully. Avoid museums on their monthly free days, when they're most crowded. Because many Parisian museums are closed on Tuesday, nearby Versailles, which is open, is predictably crowded — very crowded. And it follows that Parisian museums are especially crowded on Monday and Wednesday. While crowds at the Louvre can't be avoided altogether, leaving home with a thoughtful itinerary can help. And for some top museums, you can reserve your visit in advance to avoid the lines entirely. (For more tips, see Museum Strategies.)

Arrive at the most popular sights early or late in the day to avoid tour groups. At 8:00 in the morning, Germany's fairy-tale Neuschwanstein Castle is cool and easy, with relaxed guides and no crowds. And very late in the day — when most tourists are long gone, exhausted in their rooms, or searching for dinner — I linger alone, taking artistic liberties with some of Europe's greatest art in empty galleries.

Prepare for intense heat. Europeans swear that it gets hotter every year. Even restaurants in cooler climates (like Munich or Amsterdam) now have ample al fresco seating to take advantage of the ever-longer outdoor-dining season. Throughout Europe in July and August, expect high temperatures — even sweltering heat — particularly in the south.

Be aware of the exceptions. Although Europe's tourist crowds can generally be plotted on a bell-shaped curve peaking in July and August, there are odd glitches. For instance, Paris is relatively empty in July and August but packed full in June (conventions) and September (trade shows). Business-class hotels in Scandinavia are cheapest in the summer, when travel — up there, mostly business travel — is down.

In much of Europe (especially Italy and France), cities are partially shut down in July and August, when local urbanites take their beach breaks. You'll hear that these are terrible times to travel, but it's really no big deal. You can't get a dentist and many launderettes are shut down, but tourists are basically unaffected by Europe's mass holidays. Just don't get caught on the wrong road on the first or 15th of the month (when vacations often start or finish) or try to compete with all of Europe for a piece of French Riviera beach in August.
Shoulder Season

For many, "shoulder season" — generally April, May, September, and October — combines the advantages of both peak-season and off-season travel. In shoulder season, you'll enjoy decent weather, long-enough daylight, fewer crowds, and a local tourist industry that is still eager to please and entertain.

Because fall and spring bring cooler temperatures in Mediterranean Europe, "shoulder season" in much of Italy, southern France, Spain, Croatia, and Greece can actually come with near-peak-season crowds and prices. For example, except for beach resorts, Italy's peak season is May, June, September, and October rather than July and August. Paris has its own surprising patterns (see above). Conversely, the Scandinavian countryside (such as the fjords of Norway) is a special case, with an extremely brief tourist season--basically from mid-June to late August. Avoid Scandinavia outside of this window.

If debating the merits of spring versus fall, consider your destination. Mediterranean Europe is generally green in spring, but parched in fall. For hikers, the Alps are better in early fall, because many good hiking trails are covered with snow through the spring.

On a budget note, keep in mind that round-trip airfares are determined by your departure date. Therefore, if you fly over during peak season and return late in the fall (shoulder season), you'll still pay peak-season round-trip fares.
Off-Season Europe

Each summer, Europe greets a stampede of sightseers and shoppers with eager cash registers. Before jumping into the peak-season pig pile, consider a trip during the off-season — generally November through March.

The advantages of off-season travel are many. Off-season airfares are often hundreds of dollars cheaper. With fewer crowds in Europe, you'll sleep cheaper. Many fine hotels drop their prices, and budget hotels will have plenty of vacancies. And while many of the cheap alternatives to hotels will be closed, those still open are usually empty and, therefore, more comfortable.

Off-season adventurers loiter all alone through Leonardo da Vinci's home, ponder in Rome's Forum undisturbed, kick up sand on virgin beaches, and chat with laid-back guards by log fires in French châteaux. In wintertime Venice, you can be alone atop St. Mark's bell tower, watching the clouds of your breath roll over the Byzantine domes of the church to a horizon of cut-glass Alps. Below, on St. Mark's Square, pigeons fidget and wonder, "Where are the tourists?"

Off-season adventurers enjoy step-right-up service at banks and tourist offices and experience a more European Europe. Although many popular tourist-oriented parks, shows, and tours will be closed, off-season is in-season for the high culture: the Vienna Boys' Choir, opera, and the Lipizzaner stallions are in their crowd-pleasing glory.

But winter travel has its drawbacks. Because much of Europe is at Canadian latitudes, the days are short. It's dark by 5 p.m. The weather can be miserable — cold, windy, and drizzly — and then turn worse. But just as summer can be wet and gray, winter can be crisp and blue, and even into mid-November, hillsides blaze with colorful leaves.

Off-season hours are limited. Some sights close down entirely, and most operate on shorter schedules (such as 10 a.m.–5 p.m. rather than 9 a.m.–7 p.m.), with darkness often determining the closing time. Winter sightseeing is fine in big cities, which bustle year-round, but it's more frustrating in small tourist towns, which often shut down entirely. In December, many beach resorts shut up as tight as canned hams. While Europe's wonderful outdoor evening ambience survives year-round in the south, wintertime streets are empty in the north after dark. English-language tours, common in the summer, are rare during the off-season, when most visitors are natives. Tourist information offices normally stay open year-round but have shorter hours in the winter. A final disadvantage of winter travel is loneliness. The solo traveler won't have the built-in camaraderie of other travelers that she would find in peak season.

To thrive in the winter, you'll need to get the most out of your limited daylight hours. Start early and eat a quick lunch. Tourist offices close early and opening times are less predictable, so call ahead to double-check hours and confirm your plans. Pack for the cold and wet — layers, rainproof parka, gloves, wool hat, long johns, waterproof shoes, and an umbrella. Dress warmly. Cold weather is colder when you're outdoors trying to enjoy yourself all day long. And cheap hotels are not always adequately heated in the off-season. Use undershirts to limit the washing of slow-drying heavy shirts.

In the winter, most hotels are empty and charge less. To save some money, arrive late, notice how many open rooms they have (keys on the rack), let them know you're a hosteler (student, senior, artist, or whatever) with a particular price limit, and bargain from there. The opposite is true of big-city business centers (especially in Berlin, Brussels, and the Scandinavian capitals), which are busiest and most expensive off-season.

Regardless of when you go, if your objective is to "meet the people," you'll find Europe filled with them 365 days a year.