September holidays – you don’t really appreciate how great they are until they are taken away from you, either by the arrival of school age children, or by your work commitments. However, it’s a great time to go away. After all, everyone else is back from their holidays and has settled into their post-holiday blues, or they are even starting to to think about Christmas…..! September holidaymakers however, are picking up their holiday essentials at the sales and enjoying the (relative) calm at the airports. Great offers can be found and all in all, it’s a fantastic time to escape, and of course at Bookings For You, we just love September in Italy.
With a holiday in September, many people worry about the weather. As a race, the British are generally obsessed with the weather, and the worse a British summer has been, the more important the holiday weather becomes. Yes, of course there can be an occasional rainy day in Italy in September, but by and large, it is pleasantly hot with the welcome return of cooler evenings. Even if you are holidaying in the North of Italy, such as in the Italian Lakes, the days are likely to be warm and the Lakes themselves retain the warmth they had absorbed over the heat of the summer. On the coast, the seas surrounding Italy are at their warmest in September. I had a fantastic holiday at this time of year in Sorrento, attending a friend’s wedding, the weather was delightful and I had no hesitation in swimming in the sea every day, and I am no cool water swimmer! Further south, in Puglia or Sicily, the weather is likely to be even warmer and September is the perfect time to visit, avoiding the intense heat of July and August.
Don’t worry that it will all feel very much like the end of the season, that shops and cafes will be closed. It’s true that most of the Italian holiday makers will have returned to school and their offices, but September is still very much part of the tourist season in Italy. In the Lakes, the ferries are still running on the summer timetables, usually until the end of the month and the shops and restaurants are still open. In the south, the beaches are less crowded, as are the tourist sites around Rome, Florence and Pompeii. I’m not saying you’ll have the place to yourself, but it will certainly be less frantic.
September also marks the beginning of the local food festival season in Italy, as it coincides with the harvest. It’s definitely worth looking out for brightly coloured posters advertising a “festa” or “sagra”, where you can usually sample inexpensive regional food along with the locals. A must for the “foodies” out there!
So, if the British summer has been a disappointment and the nights are starting to draw in, there is still time to plan a holiday in Italy and enjoy that feeling of getting away from it all, just as everyone else is coming back to work. If you haven’t booked your September week away yet, contact us at Bookings For You to find out what special offers we have for next month.