Weather in europe

[stevësto]

I hate to ask this here, but I can't get a straight answer from anything i search on google.

When can you go snow skiing in the alps?

I'm trying to plan a vacation. I'm thinking I can just fly into italy, take intercity trains to the alps, stopping at cities along the way. Then take a train to paris, then to barcelona, and fly out. But when's a good time? The idea is to have weather good for outside seating at cafes but also when ski resorts are still open and have good snow, so I was thinking late fall, or early spring.

[Themis]

i can speak for Austria (and we ARE the alps),

February is the coldest month but great for skiing, much snow.
depends on the mountains you can go till early april skiing

first two weeks of february are school holidays so it can get very crowded.

the thing is, its from year to year different with the snow, sometimes you have much snow in december and sometimes nothing. normally you doesnt plan a ski holiday 6 month early.

from early january till mid april is ski season, as a rule of thumb, you should find some snow

[roland]

in my whole life there wasn't a season without snow at all in the alps of austria so don't worry.. (they can do a lot with fake snow these days).. if you choose a region which is located above 1000m you can be entirely sure.. some mountains/glaciers even have snow in summer.. there is for example the stubai glacier (http://www.stubaier-gletscher.com/en/winter/) which is one of the best regions for skiing in the world (can be pricey tho) where they have opened the highest located elevators of the glaciers just a few days ago.. so you can even ski there right now

like themis said try to avoid the school holidays, beyond that you can do nothing wrong..

[stevësto]

thanks for the replies on the offtopic post.

so, of all the alps, there is always at least one ski resort open as late as april, dependably, every year?

is the weather nice in march/april to sit outside at cafes/restaurants in northern italy, france, vienna, northern spain? I'm assuming so. Looks like I'll be booking for spring time then. And there should be lots of nice flowers blooming everywhere by then right?

The intercity trains are the cheapest option from what I researched (cheaper than renting a car or flying, right?).

[Themis]

haha man, flowers, you want a winterwonderland ha?

if you think about austria go to salzburg, tirol or vorarlberg.

i dont know much about intercity, i guess its the cheapest way if you want to visit more than one country, renting a car to drive through europe seems a bad idea. flying can get expansive if you visit more than two countrys.

EDIT:

i asked a good friend who skies alot, and he said a good tip is south tirol, its between italy and austria. mountains are really high there so you have good snow, but its in the south so you have a really good chance for good weather.
and its one of the biggest ski resorts. he said best time for skiing is first two weeks of march.

[stevësto]

themis, thanks! that's what I was looking for. and when we're there we'll call you up and have a few beers while you dj for us