Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If thinking about travel in Europe in winter, remember that Europe is much further north than the USA, and as a result, much shorter hours of daylight in winter. Even the south of France will have less winter daylight than Detroit, and Hamburg equal to the interior of Labrador. December sunset in Hamburg is 4 oclock in the afternoon. In Stockholm, it gets dark at 2:45 in the afternoon, after only 6 hours of daylight..
Second that.. plan your outdoor activities accordingly especially in December. It was a bit disconcerting to see the sun go down at 3pm and complete darkness at 8:00am in Amsterdam and Brussels. However, the climate is much milder than the East Coast at the same latitude and even a little warmer than the same latitude on the West Coast.. Barcelona and Nice might have similar Winter weather as San Francisco but about the same daylight as Chicago.
How about Rome? Not sure what the weather's like, but it's a great city.
London is also a good choice.
I've been to Rome in February. Was clear and blue skies. It was cool, my wife wore a light jacket most of the day (me, I'm hot in 60 deg weather), but it was very bearable. No crowds either, walked right into most of the sites. Went back many years later in October. It was very warm and CROWDED. I couldn't believe the difference in the number of people.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,777 posts, read 15,786,780 times
Reputation: 10886
Florence! Beautiful architecture, great food, relatively nice weather in January. Or perhaps Rome - probably easier to get to as a stopover. Venice is neat, too! I think Italy in January is great!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
