Venice's tourist season is very
nearly an all-year affair.
Peak
season is from
April to
October , when hotel rooms are
virtually impossible to come by at
short notice; if possible give the
central part of this period a
miss, and at all costs don't try
to stay in July and August, when
the crowds are at their fullest,
the climate becomes oppressively
hot and clammy, and many of the
restaurants close down anyway. The
other two popular spells are the
Carnevale
(leading up to Lent) and the weeks
on each side of
Christmas ;
again, hotels tend to be heavily
booked, but at least the authentic
life of the city isn't submerged
during these festive periods, as
it is by the summer inundation.
For the ideal combination of
comparative peace and pleasant
climate, the two or three weeks immediately
preceding Easter is perhaps
the best time of year. The days
should be mostly mild - though the
weather can be capricious - and
finding accommodation won't
present insuperable problems.
Climatically the months at the end
of the high season are somewhat
less reliable: some November
days are so clear that the
Dolomites seem to start on the
edge of the mainland, while others
bring fogs that make it difficult
to see from one bank of the Canal
Grande to the other. However, the
desertion of the streets in winter
is magical, and the sight of the
Piazza under floodwater is
unforgettable. This acqua alta
, as Venice's seasonal flooding is
called, is an increasingly common
occurrence between October and
March, and you should anticipate a
few inconvenient days in the
course of a two-week visit in
winter. Duck-boards enable people
to move dry-footed around the
busiest parts of the city, but
some low-lying areas - such as
around Campo San Polo - become
impassable to anyone without
gumboots, and on certain freakish
days the water rises so high that
boats can be rowed onto the
Piazza.
If you want to see the city at
its quietest, January is
the month to go - take plenty of
warm clothes, though, as the winds
of the Adriatic can be savage, and
you should be prepared for some
rain.
