Leiden Square, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (photo: Rex Roof/Flickr)
I have just completed a two-week vacation in southwestern Florida, where the temperature was in the mid-60s on all but three or four days.(Even then, the thermometer only rarely hit the mid-70s). There were intermittent storms and tornado alerts on three days.
Now I’m not saying there is nothing to do in Florida when it’s chilly. There are movies aplenty, a few museums, and bicycle paths everywhere. I took long walks, and rushed to a heated swimming pool on those few warm interludes.
But Florida when it’s chilly leaves something to be desired. And if the weather had been known in advance, I would have chosen other climes for my recreational vacation.
For example, Europe. Why don’t more Americans travel to Europe in winter? The reason, in my experience, is a mistaken understanding of weather conditions at that time. If you simply exclude Scandinavia and north-eastern Europe (like Russia, parts of Poland, eastern Germany, Berlin), the rest—by which I mean western Europe—hardly ever gets as frigidly cold as, let’s say, Chicago, or upper Wisconsin, or Minnesota. In the course of my own many winter excursions in Europe, I can scarcely remember a time when the temperature was below freezing. Though it can be cold in England and France, the weather almost never gets so frigidly cold as to make going outside unpleasant.
And as for southern Europe--the south of France, the Mediterranean coast of Spain, southern Italy and Sicily--those are, in my mind, the “sleepers” among vacation destinations. Not only is southern Europe a usually pleasant place in which to wander with simply a coat on, it is also an area where low-season prices are available. The south of France, in particular, and Mediterranean cruises, are among some of the best budget-priced options for vacationers. Though the winter isn’t swimming season there, the hotel-resorts are exciting places to stay at totally reasonable rates.
Go to any guidebook or internet report, and you’ll find that hotels along the French Riviera and in the south of Spain are exciting bargains in winter. The cuisine is of course spectacular at reasonable rates, the casinos are active, the many museums and historical attractions are lightly visited by tourists, and--all in all--the few tourists patronizing these places are quite savvy indeed.
As for getting to Europe in the winter, that’s the best time to fly. Challenged by the cheap trans-Atlantic flights on Norwegian Airlines, often as little as $600 round-trip from the U.S. east coast to London, Paris or Amsterdam, the other big carriers are often required to lower their own rates. Take a look at the prices charged by Emirates Airline to Milan, and you’ll have evidence of winter travel bargains.
So how about it? Am I wrong that Europe in the winter is a place to be considered?