TeleP

For winter 2013 there is still good availability to FCO and some availability to CDG. If you need to get to London you may consider train from Paris.

geo1005

My wife and I have made numerous trips to Europe in the winter. While the postcard-perfect sunny lunch at an outdoor cafe is out of the question, there is still plenty to do without the crowds. We choose a hotel near a metro/subway entrance and go from there... no big deal at all. And FWIW the weather in Rome is not so bad... just last December (26-31st) my wife and I were in Rome and we actually did eat outside in the sun for several of our lunches (60 degrees and sunny!).

Biggie Fries

By comparison with Eastern and Northern US, climate in Europe is reasonably mild and far less variable. I have hit no end of sunny 50 degree days in Paris in January and February. Rarely below freezing, although it does happen. I can also remember going out to dinner on 22 June, the longest day of the year, and wondering whether to take my sweater or a rain jacket. Ended up taking both, which was good, since there was even some hail.

But, hey, the fewer people who know this, the less the competition for the cheap Envoy seats Nov-Feb. So you'll never hear it from me.

(The other interesting thing is the unintended effect, at least in France and Italy, of the ban on smoking. Since the smokers can't sit inside in the cafe and smoke, no matter what the weather, there is more life outside the cafes. Also, in France at least, they have created outdoors like indoors, with heating lamps and so on ... again, to accommodate the smokers. Of whom there are many. Unless you are hyper-tobacco sensitive, it makes the winters a little more like the springs and summers.)