twestrope

I am planning a trip for 2008. I am doing European Delivery on a car I am purchasing so I will be driving down from Munich. Originally I was planning early April due to some personal constraints but the weather seems iffy and I would hate to spend 10 days in cold / rainy (snowy) weather. Would early May be much of an improvement? Plans would be to stay in Lake Como and maybe spend some time in Tuscany. Thanks.

annhig

hi, twestrope

well, there are no guarentees when it comes to weather, but in May you are definitely more likely to get good weather than in April.

Also, the boats on Lake Como and other attractions are more likely to be open and for longer.

regards, ann

Dayle

Twestrope,

My second trip was in mid-May and we visited Milan, Lago Maggiore, Cinque Terre, Tuscany and Umbria. We had perfect weather! One first night thunder and lightening storm at Maggiore and the remaining three weeks were delightful.

Buona fortuna!

jodeenyc

We were in Tuscany/Rome this past mid May and had temperatures in the high 80's. Dreadful heat wave. Just goes to show it can be all over the place.

One thing I did learn, if you have allergies, ready yourself for that entire time period. Worst allergies of my life!

bellacqui

If you drive down from Munich to Como in April, your chances of hitting bad weather still exist driving through the Brenner Pass. In May, it is fairly unlikely. In 2006, the April weather in Piedmont was warm enough to eat breakfast outside for the second half of the month, and 2007 was exceptionally warm. We opened our pool in both years around April 15th. Having said that, it can been cool and rainy in April. But not snowy. Snow is pretty much limited to January and February...at the latest the beginning of March.

In April you are looking at the 50's at night and the upper 60's to low 70's during the day. In May, it warms up during the day, but can still dip down a bit at night.

You must consider that we have almond trees here that blossom in early March.

Como might be cool and damp in April, would most likely be lovely in May for the most part.

You might do well to consider Piemonte as a destination. Wine, food, beautiful scenery and pristine towns would be the reasons I suggest the area.

bobthenavigator

Early April is too early--later the better.

nytraveler

We've done lots of trips in mid to late May, including southern Germany, Switzerland and most of Italy. Have not run into any snow (but we didn't do high passes - did the tunnels) and not much rain. In general weather was very pleasant - in the 60's - or low 70s in Italy - and upper 70's on Amalfi coast.

Suelynne

We were in Milan in early-mid April a few years ago and it was freezing. Not so cold on Lake Como but a bit wet and grey.

irishface

In 2003 I was in the Cinque Terre from April 5-11 and had only one day of rain. The other days we were in shirtsleeves (light sweater early morning). The next week we moved on for two days in Venice (shirtsleeves again) and then on to Castelrotto in the Dolomites where it was two days of partly sunny, again shirtsleeves, but we were walking a lot, and then a day of mist when light jacket was needed.

So I think it is basically the luck of the draw.