Shoulder Seasons

[Degrassi]

All the LP books have said how horrible it is to travel round Europe during July and August and that's when I was planning to do the bulk of my travelling. The lats thing I want is to spend 2 months staring at the backs of heads, getting trampled on the metro, scrambling to find hostels, and playing extremely inflated prices..

I'm leaving my job in Englanbd in Mid-May, and was planning to stop travel in late September. Now I'm thinking I may wanna stay till the end of October, just to have a few weeks with less crowding. (More debt, but... I can deal with that when I get home!)

So, have y'all ever travelled in July and August? How bad was it? Was it hot? Were you overrun by tourists? I know that E. Europe/Scandanavia/The Baltic will be better than Western Europe at those times, but give me your experiences from anywhere so I can get down to the business of deciding where to go, and where to avoid.

Also, if I do stay until the end of October, what's that like? If I do stay, I'll likely roam round the south (Greece, Spain, Italy) ...

(I dunno what this dude's doing, but he's cute)

[LostInTow]

My plan is to leave around late August-Mid September '06.. I haven't really decided yet.. according to how my money goes... I'm hoping by then that most of the tourist will be cleared out of UK, Scotland, and Ireland... but that it'll still be warm enough for me to function.. and then as it moves into Oct and Nov to start heading south to Portugal, Spain, Italy... don't know if thats any help, but thats how my thought process went into it.. though the more I think about it.. the more I might not wanna leave till Oct.. hmm..

[LostInTow]

Oh that little guy is flying...

[bluepea]

Aside from a lot of traditionally thought of toursists, in August is when most of Europe goes on vacation. I was in Europe throughout both months and didn't find it that annoying, but we also didn't go to major tourist cities. We spent a night in Barcelona and there were quite a few people, but we didn't have a problem getting a room the day of. I'm sure had it been Paris or London, we wouldn't have been so lucky. Just consider the areas where you're going - avoid the "hotspots" during these months and perhaps try to migrate away from Western Europe.

Forgot to say - the weather was decent. In Spain, it was hot, the further north we got, the cooler naturally. We went into central Europe and even in August it was COLD! But that fluctuates. I'm sure the weather in October in those southern countries will still be nice.

[Esterina]

Degrassi,

in a few cities of Eastern Europe as well you might find yourself among a crowd of tourists. I'm thinking of Prague, Budapest, and Krakow, and summer resorts by the sea (in Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia for example). I was in Budapest and Krakow in April/May and, while the locals still owed the streets, the hostels were already almost full.

So travelling in the summer, there and of course in Western Europe demands more plannification because you would have to book a few days or weeks in advance. So less flexibility in your travel.

BUT, if you dare going out of the beaten paths, you'll find it wonderful. Or plan yourself a unsual itinerary like starting off in the Baltics and travelling your way through out the summer until the far western coast of Europe, this might be fantastic.

Example : Let's say you start in June. Well if I were in your place, I'd do something like this :

Fly to Frankfurt (best location, very central of the continent)
June in Germany, Czech Republic, a few days in Krakow before it gets too crowdy
July finish Poland, visit the Baltics
August in Scandinavia
September and October in Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Austria and up back to Frankfurt (two or three of those countries just glanced at).

As I'm writing it I feel the rush of travel flowing through my veins. I think I'll do this itineray myself ! Hahaha !

[mark-0]

I went through W. Europe at the end of July and all of August. Paris was pretty chilly by the end of Aug. but Germany was really really warm, so was Italy and Spain. In terms of tourists, I hit the major tourist cities and yes, there were tons of them, but I have a habit of wandering all over cities so I didn't see tourists all the time. Florence and Venice were especially overrun and their both really really bad for tourists because they are both such small cities, especially Venice with its narrow streets so it gets REALLY crowded. I booked in advance for those places. Paris and Barcelona still had tons of tourists and a couple of my pictures got ruined because of them (no digital camera, just regular film so each shot was precious). But because they are such big cities the tourists are more spread out.

[Somnambulation]

Honestly, Ive rarely had a problem in Europe in June July and August. Theres a lot of people around but if youre by yourself, you will rarley get turned away from a hostel even just walking up with no reservation. If travelling with others, even one person, it gets much more difficult. The only place Ive been turned away from while by myself is the Flying Pig.