Greece in November?

[jalynn]

We'd love to do a Mediterranean cruise in November, but I'm concerned about the weather. Since the cruise covers several countries, I'm cross-posting this question. Has anyone experienced Venice, Athens, Nice, Barcelona, etc. in November? How cold was it?

 

Thanks in advance--

[texancruzer]

We did our first Med cruise the very very end of November. We arrived Rome the day before Thanksgiving. Cruise left the day after Thanksgiving. We ended in Barcelona on Dec. 2nd and flew home on the 3rd.

 

Of the ports you asked about - we did Nice and Barcelona.

 

Weather wise here is what we experienced:

 

At night both pre and post cruise (Rome and Barcelona) it was cold. Coat cold. But nice.

During the day in port (Naples,Dubrovnik, Corfu, Livorno, Villefranche(Nice), Toulon and Barcelona we had really nice weather. We layered our clothing to be ready for anything. We had some areas that were really warm (Pompeii) and others that were chilly but sunny and nice (Villefranche/Nice/Monaco/Monte Carlo and Provence(Toulon) Our last day in Barcelona was sunny with cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon then pretty chilly at night.

 

Now, we found this weather to be perfect for sightseeing....... I would much rather put on a sweater than sweat to death !

 

Our next trip was early May and it was hot already. Athens was already hot on the Acropolis !

[jalynn]

Thanks for the great reply. When we were in the Mediterranean in October it was wonderful. In March it was chilly and rainy and even snowing in Italy. Don't know that we'll make it this November, but it bothers me to not have a cruise booked to look forward to. It'll probably be 2011 before we get over there again.

 

thanks again-

Jo Ann

[Onessa]

The past three years (2007, 2008, 2009) our family has done a Med cruise over American T-giving week.

 

I might miss a port or two here but:

• 2007 - Venice, Mykonos, Athens, Kotocolon, Corfu, Split, Venice
  
• 2008 - Barcelona, Nice, Pisa, Civitavecchia, Naples, Sicily (Palarmo), Barcelona
  
• 2009 - Rome, Messina, Athens, Mykonos, Kusadasi, Rhodes, Santorin, Naples, Rome
  

Hopefully an overview of our experiences may help out. Weather is very unpredictable, but we've been very happy with what we've encountered:

 

2007 - beautful pre-trip in Venice high 60s to low 70s. Clear skys. The Greek ports were similar temp range. Had one huge storm in Mykonos (came and left in about 20 minutes while we were in port). Corfu would have been a bit chilly for the beaches for which it is noted (but we are not beach people). Kotocolon was just lovely 70s and sunny. Split was a bit overcast with high 60s. Venice on the day we came back had some mild to moderate flooding in St Mark's square (common at that time of year).

 

2008 - Barcelona was low 60s pre-trip, mid 70's return stay. Nice was nice (had to say it) low 70's and mostly sunny. Florence was overcast and it did try to drizzle was in the high 60s. Rome was also high 60s. Naples and Sicely were both mid 70s and sunny.

 

2009 - Rome was warm (high 70s to 80s) during our pretrip stay. Most of the rest of the trip was mid to high 70s. Extrodiarily sunny (I have the most amazing photos with brillant blue skies). We had some low hanging early morning fog in Turkey.

 

The weather pretty much cooperated with us -- no more or less of issues than we would have had at any other time of year. I prefer the 60-70s to the 90-100s that southern Italy, Greece and Turkey can expect in late July or August.

 

My DH claims that where ever I go on vacation, they always have exceptional weather (we've been together for nearly 25 years so he does have considerable data upon which to base his observation). So he claims that you need to take my experiences with a grain of salt, or you could just bring me along as insurance:D.

 

We've also really grown to appreciate how "crowd free" November can be in that region.

Edited June 29, 2010 by Onessa

[whale-watcher]

We had PERFECT weather last November pre-cruise in Greece. Very comfortable for touring. There had been heavy rains just prior to our arrival, enough to close parts of Delphi temporarily.

[cruisemom42]

We hit Athens and Mykonos in the week before Thanksgiving in 2006. We had excellent weather in both places: blue skies, temperatures were probably in the high 70s by the end of the day; a little cooler to start. Not a drop of rain.

 

As someone else already posted, I'm willing to take my chances with the weather any day rather than deal with the huge crowds of summer (and the heat) in Europe.

[LondonTowner]

The weather in the Med and Greek islands normally starts to change around mid October onwards. It can be cool, wet and windy, or it can be warm and sunny. At that time of year you just can't tell.

 

Large cities are fine to visit at that time of year as there are less crowds and everything open. However, many Greek islands and the tourist resorts tend to close before the end of October.

 

Personally, it wouldn't bother me as I have lived in the Med and am not interested in beaches, but the atmosphere is very different than during the summer time. I would choose late May, June or September for better weather and avoiding too many crowds.

[CruiserBruce]

6 year old thread.

 

The easy solution is a Google search for factual data. Try "Venice November weather" or "Barcelona November weather".