I was just wondering actually HOW cold the European winter is in terms of degrees celcius? I'm visiting the following places: london, france, italy, switzerland, germany, austria, czech repulic, vatican city, belgium etc.

obviously it is freezing but i don't really know what temperatures to expect, like will it be below 0?

it will be very strange coming from the Australian summer where it will be close to 40, to getting off a plane into freezing temperatures! i can't wait though!

Check the historical almanac on this site:
www.wunderground.com

If you want to travel to Europe in the winter the best timeframe is actually around 3 weeks prior to Christmas.All over Europe there will be christmas markets opening and it will have a typical festive atmosphere. Lots of carols being sung in public, mulled wine, roast chestnut stalls etc.

Its a comfortable cold ,daylight hours are reasonable, snow is light and powdery.

In mid winter Jan/ Feb daylight hours are really short and also it can rain /snow heavily and there is the sleet problem, wind chill factor problem.Most europeans actually hate it and those who can afford to travel and get the time off will actually head to Australia/ Asia anywhere to get away from the cold.

Thanks Praha335Ci !!

i just used that site to have a look at the temps along my upcoming trip in Sept, and it has been enormously helpful, especially in deciding what type of clothes to take, and what to expect in terms of weather.

thanks again!

Cap_Crash,

September is one of those tricky intermediate seasons.Its usually warm but starting to get cold and wet. So if your tour is around the mediterrenan part a mixture of light warm clothes / summer wear is required.

If its towards Alpine countries i.e Switzerland, Austria,Slovenia, Northern Italy you will need heavier winter wear. Ideally a goretex lined jacket as its light wind and water proof. Certainly consider wind chill factor especially in Alpine countries and at altitude. Official forecasts usually don't include wind chill which can cause up to 15-20 C degree fluctuations.
Check my some photos on my profile:
http://contiki.com.au/people/7...77e054/photos?page=6

And Switzerland in summer can be very cold.

Praha335Ci,

yes, i noticed that the temps are a bit lower than i had expected, so that has helped with knowing what to pack.
And u make a good point about wind chill (esp. in the Alpine areas) no being included in Temps!!

The problem i'll encounter at this time of year is that Edinburgh is significantly cooler than Italy, where i'll be a few weeks earlier. At least i have more of an idea now :-)

Temps can vary all during winter. I did winter wanderer and found most days quite cold even though alot of the time the sun was shining all day. Barcelona and French Riviera I found the nicest where you could where jeans and a jacket and be ok but then Austria going down to -23 where I had 6 layers and was still cold.

Get some thermals and make sure you have a warm jacket for the colder days and you'll be ok. It's all about layers.
Winter is an amazing time to travel in Europe and it's all about the adventure!

Thanks for all your help guys!
looks like i have to do some serious shopping now!

hey guys,

im going to europe next year and ive just looked at a site http://golondon.about.com/od/l.../calendarseptemb.htm and i expected the temps to be around that but i dont understand what it means by the average daily sunshine is about 4.5 hours...and ive had a look in the travel guides and it says about the same... does that mean the sun is only up for 4 hours or does it mean that its cloudy for most of the day?
its probably a stupid question but coming from north queensland where its sunny alllll day i'd just like to know what its guna be like

thanx