My preference is sometime between 9am and 12:00 to lift. My gym is just down the road from a large university so if I get there after 4pm on a week night there's mores sausage than a Jimmy Dean factory in there. I hate it! Decent amount of eye candy too but at least 20-30 hang downs for every good looking chick. I'll take an empty gym with no good scenery over a crowd any day.
If I'm cutting, fasted cardio at home in the am... tire flips, drag sled or running the stairs in my house with a weighted vest on. Then lift mid morning to early afternoon. I have a family that I like and a job I have to go to, so 2 trips to the gym in one day... my priorities don't allow me to neglect my wife and kids enough to go twice a day.
But when you have no choice... sometimes I hit the gym early morning on the way home after working a 10-12hr night. I hate doing it. But sometimes it's the only option.