uvs

First time travel to Europe by two families consisting eight persons (incl two children aged 10 yrs and 6 yrs).

- Plan to cover Italy in detail (Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan and Sicily). Other countries include Austria (Vienna), Hungary (Budapest) and Prague (Czech Republic). Please advise if there are any important sights en route to these places.

- Travelling from Kochi, India to Austria first and thereafter to other countries. Plan to come back to Vienna to catch the return flight.

- I know the trip duration is short, however would appreciate if anyone can advise on a tentative itinerary to make the best use of the available days (incl whether to opt for flight/rail to travel to the above nearby countries - incl details pl), List of important places to see, Weather conditions, best 4 Star Hotels etc.

- Date of Departure : 28th June 2014

jamikins

With 8 people and two weeks I would highly recommend picking 3-4 locations max from your list. It is very difficult to mobilise 8 people so you are likely to lose almost a full day everything you change locations...

Gretchen

Just book a tour. This is what you are describing--if it's Tuesday type. You cannot see Italy in detail AND see 4 other countries, landing and leaving from Vienna.

rbciao

Your planned itinerary is a marathon at a dead run. I was exhausted after reading only half of your destinations. The above posters are absolutely correct.

You need to prioritize to maybe three destinations. It takes time to transit from place to place, plus you have not indicated how many days you will have in-country. If you have 14 days total you have two days totally devoted to travel, which takes you to 12 days. Now, if jet lag is a problem you could be down to 11 days.

Since you have young children you will find you are working around their schedule instead of yours.

Buon viaggio,

StCirq

Sorry, but this is only possible by helicopter. There just ISN'T an itinerary that would "make the best of the available days." I agree with Gretchen - just book one of those shallow bus tours that drives you all over Europe and lets you stop for 5 minutes in front of a monument or two.

bobthenavigator

Sicily takes 2 weeks by itself.
You have been reading too many tour brochures. Stay in Italy and pick 4 destinations, but not Sicily.

adrienne

<< Plan to cover Italy in detail (Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan and Sicily) >>

Sorry but there is no way you'll be able to cover these locations in detail in 2 weeks plus you have young children who will become tired physically and tired of sightseeing. And you'll be trying to sight see in high heat which is exhausting.

You'll spend about 2 days traveling from place to place, leaving 12 days - that's about enough time for Sicily.

Limit your trip to Italy, seeing Rome, Florence, Venice. You could add a couple of days in the Lakes which will be cooler and offer a bit of leisure time. Fly into Rome and home from Milan.

BigRuss

And the other main reason your trip is not obtainable: you have a small and medium-sized child. You cannot shuffle them between 5 places in 14 days and you certainly cannot push them through 8 or more.

If your trip is booked in and out of Vienna, then do Vienna-Prague-Budapest or something of the sort.

rodarte

Covering Italy in detail minus Sicily is a challenge in a short period of time. In some places 1-2 days can be sufficient (like Milan) but it would be too much stress for the children to be on the go like that, I'd say near impossible. And when I travel I opt for early mornings, you're probably not going to be able to catch 6am trains with children who might not even wake up to try and save your day in a city, losing far more time.

I'd recommend picking either Vienna, Budapest and Prague or the 4 cities in Italy minus Sicily. I'd also recommend renting an 8 seater SUV and driving that around rather than trains just because it would be much easier mobilizing children.

dulciusexasperis

Totally unrealistic. Do you intend to take any of the advice given above or not?

ashwinb

You could either do Italy, or Austria-PRague-Budapest in 14 days.
Just to give you an idea of how much just Austria-Prague could take, http://ashwinbahulkar.wordpress.com/...ia-and-prague/
I did Salzburg and sourroundings, Vienna nd PRague in 11 days,so you could Budapest too.

Bamaman

I agree with ashwinb about taking in Prague, Vienna and Budapest in 2 weeks.

Or visit Venice, Florence and Rome in 2 weeks. And they're right about Sicily being a trip to itself, as it's a large island.

It's just not possible to see so many places in the short time you have allocated.

uvs

Thanks for all your responses. Will definitely cut down the number of countries and seek opinion after formulating a new plan.