Years ago, when I was still planning travel for clients, September was one of my favorite recommendations for Europe.

If someone had flexibility, I would often tell them to wait until the summer was over.

Go in September.

The weather was usually still wonderful, but the worst heat had passed. Families were back home. Hotels had more room. Getting a table at a good restaurant didn't require military planning.

And there was something else that was harder to explain.

Europe simply felt better.

You could walk through Florence without moving in a human convoy or sit at a café in Madrid without competing with three tour groups for a table.

September felt like knowing something.

Those of us in travel knew it, so naturally we told our clients.

Apparently, we did a very good job.

Last week, thousands of luxury travel professionals gathered in Las Vegas for Virtuoso Travel Week. Of all the announcements and trends that came out of the event, one set of numbers caught my attention.

According to Virtuoso data reported by Travel Weekly, September bookings are up 55% this year, with sales up 77%.

The numbers for Europe are even more telling.

In 2023, September booking volume was 79% of August volume. By 2025, it had reached 92%.

Virtuoso believes September could actually overtake August.

So much for shoulder season.

There are obvious reasons for the shift. Summers are hotter, crowds are worse, and many luxury travelers have more freedom to travel outside the traditional vacation calendar.

But I think there's something else going on too.

Good travel advice spreads.

For years, September was the recommendation you got from someone who traveled frequently or worked in the business. Then magazines wrote about it. Travel advisors recommended it. Friends told friends.

Eventually, the insider advice became common knowledge.

Travel has always done this to itself.

A place becomes popular because people love that it isn't crowded. A neighborhood attracts travelers because it still feels local. Someone discovers a small hotel, a beautiful beach or a town that hasn't yet been polished for tourists.

Then we tell people.

That's part of what travel people do. When we find something wonderful, our first instinct is usually to share it.

Sometimes we share it so successfully that we change it.

The same thing is now happening to the calendar.

For decades, we treated travel seasons as if they were fixed. Summer was high season. Spring and fall were shoulder season. Winter belonged to skiing, Christmas markets and wherever the sun was shining.

Those lines are becoming much less useful.

Even the old argument that fall offered better value is getting harder to make. Virtuoso reports that bookings to Europe this fall are up strongly despite hotel rates continuing to rise.

People aren't simply moving their trips because September is cheaper.

They actually want to travel then.

Which makes me wonder how long some of our other favorite travel advice has left.

Maybe the better question isn't whether September is still a good month to visit Europe. It is.

The question is whether the reason we recommended it ten years ago is still true today.

Travel advice has a shelf life.

Destinations change. The seasons shift under them. Travelers change fastest of all. Sometimes the advice that once made us look clever keeps getting repeated long after the world around it has moved on.

Perhaps that's one of the reasons I still find travel so interesting after all these years.

You never really get to know it once.

You have to keep paying attention.

And yes, I'll probably still recommend Europe in September.

I just may stop calling it the quiet season.

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