I need a little help finding the perfect week. It’s a long story, but we’ll be taking my elderly mother on her first and only trip to Europe. Dad’s an asshole who refuses to go, so there we are. It’s funny- I’ve been all over Europe for work, but never really thought through vacation.
Anyway, I need some help finding the “perfect” week. I want to go as soon after the peak season as I can, but obviously want the best weather I can get. Needs to be September / October. Cities are to be some combo of London, Paris, and Rome.
Mom’s just found out she’s going blind, so it has to be this year.
I’ve been to all of those cities in late October and it can be a great time to go. You are less likely to be able to rely on the weather but the two cities most affected by that (London and Paris) have plenty to do indoors.
Given a free choice I’d avoid the last two weeks in October because that is the UK school holiday week(s). Best option is first two weeks in October.
Also, one option that might appeal is to fly into either Rome or London and take the train to Paris then on to either London or Rome to fly back home. Given the current uncertainties with flights around Europe you may find the trains more reliable, just as quick and no more expensive. Plus you get to see more of the countries.
The Paris - Rome option is not something I’ve done myself but a quick look online shows Rome-Paris (with a train change in Turin) taking about 10 hours and costing about 100 euro. (for a 4th Oct booking).
That’s not bad at all. By the time you factor in cost and time for getting to/from airports, waiting for luggage, flight delays etc. There is probably nothing in it from a point of view cost and time v flying.
I’ve done Madrid-Paris-Rome on the train and back again, but in chunks (Madrid-Paris, stay a week, Paris-Milan, stay a few days, then Milan-Rome, Rome-Milan 36 hours later, Milan-Paris, a couple hour layover, then Paris-Madrid). In my case it was the Let’s Crash on our Friends’ Couches tour during spring break of a semester in Madrid, and the train was a lot cheaper. But I took the cheap trains. It was still lovely to see the countryside, especially the Paris-Milan chunk that ducked briefly into Switzerland. And trains are MUCH more comfortable than airplanes, especially the nice high-speed trains. Do it!
Train travel in Europe is absolutely lovely and I would almost certainly choose that over flying any day of the week. HOWEVER, one does have to navigate around the issue of striking workers, which I have encountered one more than one occasion in Italy and France. I read in the NY Times that multiple transit strikes are forecast for this summer. Of course, that also includes some airport employees, so maybe it’s a wash!
I would second the first 2 weeks in October. And I’d recommend you do those cities in that order: London, Paris, and then Rome.
For London and Paris, you should have some nice(r) days, but plan for rain anyway. It may also be cloudy, so not so warm either.
Rome is pretty far south, so the weather should be nicer. Not as hot as August or September, but still nice.
For transit: the train from London to Paris is short enough. But for Paris to Rome, I’d recommend EasyJet (I refer to them as the Southwest Airlines of europe). If you look at reviews, the bad ones are for those using EasyJet across the Atlantic. For trips within the continent, I think they are fine. I used them for a Paris to Rome flight, and had no issues (and it was relatively inexpensive).
I’ve been to Rome in mid-December, and I’ve been to London in July, January, and June. I’ve been to Paris in July as well.
Rome in December was kind of absurd, and this coming from someone without “real” winters compared to most of the US. I think the lows were in the upper 40s, and the highs were in the lower 60s. My wife and I went around snickering at the Italians wearing huge thick puffy coats when temps were in the 50s.
London’s climate is substantially modified by the Gulf Stream; December was a bit colder than Rome, but on par with an average day in Dallas at the same time- probably lows in the 40s, highs in the upper 50s. Summers are typically very nice- temps in the mid-70s, with periods of sun. It does rain a lot in the UK, so be ready for that.
Paris in July was a lot like the UK in July- maybe a hair hotter. Still fantastically pleasant vs. Texas at the same time.
I can’t imagine early October isn’t awesome in all three cities.
These guys seem to have a neat site for looking at weather:
Thanks for all the thoughts. I just found out that I’m going to be in Barcelona for work the third week in October. So I’ve got to decide whether to graft this trip to that one or not (honestly, two straight weeks away doesn’t sound like fun to me).
For me, I’d rather go earlier than later to capture every minute of daylight. I will admit that short days really bother me. I did London in November in 2017 and would be very reluctant to do so again. I went into that trip knowing this and had a culture and museums trip planned. Jet lag also hit me a lot harder than it ever has.
Just a thought, and if short daylight hours don’t bother you, then this won’t apply.
and for context, in early October you have sunrise in London at around 7:00 and sunset at about 6:30, not terrible but if the weather is gloomy that day won’t feel quite so long.
In any other year I would agree, but Easyjet are having a total meltdown due to staffing issues caused by staff leaving during the pandemic (and probably Brexit). I could recount dozens of stories from myself and friends/colleagues of cancelled and seriously delayed flights across Europe. These incidents aren’t the odd ones out either - of the last 2 round trips I’ve taken this year, 3 out of 4 flights have been cancelled at short notice (ie, the same day), and the other was delayed 3 hours. I’m still waiting for compensation two months later.
Ryanair, the other low cost European airline, do not seem to be suffering the same issues.
They’ve always been great in the past, it’s a real tragedy what’s happening with them at the moment. Hopefully it’s temporary as they’re the main airline at my little local airport.
I just wanted to check on this point, as we all have a different idea about what ‘best weather’ looks like. For me, that would mean early September - the schools and the Europeans who take a month off for August have all gone back, but the days are still long and the weather is fine, and it would certainly guarantee the best possible weather (as much as anything can be) for Paris and London (high 60s/70s or a bit higher). But Rome would probably be 80s or 90s. So, what’s the tolerance levels like?
Interestingly, Air France is offering a better fare for Paris to Rome, and with more options.
I’ve got pretty good status on American, so I’m looking at American over and back. But adding the side trip to Rome literally doubled the cost. So looks like I’ll just use Air France for that.
Currently thinking about dropping London because I think three cities is too much for the allotted time.