South France vs Italy

missbiggles1

You'll find much of southern France very dried up and arid by late August, I think it's a better destination to visit in early summer.

slinga

scaredofdebt wrote: »

Thanks, interesting.

Of course a couple of days of rain isn't a problem to me personally, I don't expect perfect weather but keeping the kids amused when it rains can be a little challenging!

Should have mentioned the kids in the opener.

More important than the weather.

Kids need a beach?
Or might they be happy on the rivers of the Dordogne.

AlexMac

We've visited Northern Spain regularly for over 25 years (mostly in May, but once or twice in August September), and also holidayed extensively in Italy (working through all of the cheap Ryanair airports down the east coast all the way to Puglia (the heel) and Sicily and even the remote volcanic Aeolian Islands off Sicily , but also the tourist hot-spots of Rome, Bologna, Sorrento and Venice. We even owned a little flat in Puglia for 5 years, but sold it as prices of holidaying in Italy began to climb. In fact, prices in the Italian hotspots can be eye-watering. We've travelled far less in France.

As this is a 'moneysavingexpert' enquiry, I assume cash is a factor? If so, I'd say that northern Spain offers massively better value than almost all of Italy, with cheaper flights, hotels, restaurants and car-hire. We love the weather there; never had a problem with excessive rain, even though we vsist mountains; a bit cooler than the southern Med (which we like), but still swimmable in Sept. http://www.weather4travel.com/ shows averages about 4-5 degrees cooler than , say, Malaga but almost identical to Toulouse...

It also offers great variety; from snow-capped mountains with great trekking (the Pyrenees and Picos de Europa where we go annually) to sweeping beaches or hidden cliffs and coves on the sea, and busy cities with good bars and cultural centres like San Sebastian and Bilbao.

To get an idea of just one of the northern Spanish provinces, look at Cantabria on one of my favourite websites; run as a hobby by a young British woman who seems to work or study there - click on the many tabs and images at
https://ratoncantabria.wordpress.com/
(or look at Tripadvisor or google other provinces; Galicia, Asturias, Basque Country, Navarre, Aragon or even Catalunia in the East)

Flights are cheap in September- look at specific airports or click 'anywhere in Spain' on this website's own flightchecker http://flightchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/ or any other scanning site,

And if you do rent a car (a great idea; roads are fabulous to drive on away from major cities), google your rental operator for reviews (lots of cowboys out there- but lots of reliable ones- I use 'Carhire3000-, at http://www.rentalcars.com/ as a broker), and buy 'excess insurance' online before you fly, not at the airport to avoid lashing out up to a thousand Euros for a bump or tyre damage.

Finally- too late for this year - but we take our car and book the 24 hour Brittany Ferry Crossing from Portsmouth to Santander or Bilbao, and click their 'Holiday' with a choice of hotels or cottages so get a massive discount on the ferry. Book in Dec or early Jan for a further 20% early discount- we get a fortnight's holiday in May, with cabin upgrades as we need beds (not bunks) and a window, plus B&B in very upmarket hotels like http://hoteldeloso.es/en/home/ for less than £500 per person for two- less for a family and cheaper than fly-drive or driving your own car all the way through France

lovesavingmoney

We went to Lake Garda the last week of August last year. Apart from 1 day when it rained - Temperature was pretty much mid-high 20s most of the time. We did reach 30 a couple of days. (The day we did Venice & a local water park!)
Food was lovely, and much cheaper than france, and much cheaper than southern Italy (Naples). 2 of us had a lovely 2 course meal with drinks on our last night for €35! Ice creams we're averagely €1.20.
We are a family of 6 (kids 2-14), and we stayed in an apartment on a campsite on the lake. We drove, and stayed in Germany night before & france on the way back, (so 9 nights holiday total). Ate out every day, did a gondola ride in venice, went to verona & a day in a water park, and the whole holiday cost us £2000 all in!
We all loved it, and have all said we want to go back. We can go for a week in France and it'll cost us about £1200-1400 all in for that! So value for money wise - we would definitely say Italy!
Never been to Spain, so cannot compare.

agrinnall

richardw wrote: »

Last time I looked on a map, San Sebastian is on the North coast and East of Bilbao, i.e. NE Spain.

The mediterranean Spanish coast is mostly referred to as Costa Dorada, Costa Brava.

Well, you can have your view and I can have mine, I'll simply repeat that the Med coast of North Spain is geographically the North East, it is a long way east of San Sebastian, and the large mountain range in between means that the climate of one is never going to be the same as the other.

prosaver

I stayed in a camp site in menton near monte carlo it was great...a lot of crime in Italy beware...
I would go again on the med coast near
Nice.. nice class of people. pardon the pun

richardw

agrinnall wrote: »

... I'll simply repeat that the Med coast of North Spain is geographically the North East...

If San Sebasti!n isn't in NE Spain, where should it's location be referred to then?

agrinnall

richardw wrote: »

If San Sebasti!n isn't in NE Spain, where should it's location be referred to then?

North Spain?

missbiggles1

richardw wrote: »

If San Sebasti!n isn't in NE Spain, where should it's location be referred to then?

Gipuzkoa;)

FBaby

You can't be 100% of weather conditions. I have been in the South of France towards the end of August one year and it was too cool to swim in the sea or swimming pool and even had to wear a cardigan on some of the days. Very unusual, but not impossible. I have also been there when it was over 30 degrees.

Out of the three, if maximising weather and temperature is your main objective, I would go for Italy.