travel_bee

Hi Folks,

My wife and I are planning our first trip to Europe, in late August. Maybe like all first timers, I am trying to cram as many things as possible into the first trip . Nevertheless, a sketch of the itinerary looks like -

Paris (3 days)
Rome (2 days + 1 travel day)
Venice (2 days + 1 travel day)
Switzerland (3 days)

In the remaining 3-odd days, I am wondering what would be interesting to cover. I guess I would like to cover something that is different from what I've already covered above - maybe Athens or Prague or Brussels or Amsterdam?

Would it make sense to visit Salzburg/Vienna if I've already been to Switzerland (Interlaken/Wengen)? Is the scenery/culture similar?

A little info about us - I like museums, and both of us love nature, hiking and other outdoor activity. We both like to "live" the culture of the place we visit - we are big time foodies and love to eat.

Please advise.

Cheers!

fmpden

What is your flight schedule? If flew into Amsterdam and home from Rome you could do a nearly straight line trip. Some of your other suggestions, especially Athens, is too much travel time. You might stick in Florence as it is only three hours via train from Venice. And then 90 mins to Rome.

Andrew

Yeah, I do think you are trying to cram too much in to too short of a time. Why not stick to one country or at least limit it to one country and one other city - like, Italy and Paris? Otherwise, you are going to blow a lot of time just flying form place to place.

How about an open jaw: fly into Paris and out of Rome (or vice versa)? That way you have only one extra airport day - maybe you fly Paris to Venice, then from Venice work your way down by train to Rome. Then add more time in Italy - Florence, perhaps a day trip to Siena...an extra day in Venice.

cathies

travel_bee, I think you should add the extra days to the places you are already going to be seeing. You could easily spend all of the extra days in Rome or Paris, there is sooo much to see. I know it's tempting to try to cram in as many places as possible, but it's an awful way to travel. If you add the extra days to Rome then you can easily take a day trip to Florence or other nearby towns.

If one of the cities on your list appeals more than the others, then just add the 3 days to that city and settle in, relax and really explore. I think you will have a much better time.

cwn

fmpden's suggestion is good and doable. Kinda sounds like our first trip to Europe.

You can easily spend weeks in each city, but we have found about three days at a time to be about right for us.

I would suggest flying into Paris, then train to Switzerland, then on to Venice. From there I would rent a car and spend a couple of nights in the countryside on the way to Rome. That would give you an entirely different experience from the rest of your trip. The Italian countryside is lovely Or, of course, you can take the train to Rome from Venice...it is around 4 hours, I think.

Do some research on each area/city you will visit and make a list of what you want to do and get a good map. We never get everything done we would like, but we always hit our top spots and then we have a good reason to come back!

Aduchamp1

Travel Bee, I give you a mark of Dee.

To many wonderful places, especially if you like to "live" the culture. Pick one country Italy or France and then 10 days is still not enough.

Woyzeck

An open jaw would make your desired destinations more do-able.

With your last 3 days, it sounds like you're just desperately trying to cram something in. Athens (!) would be very unrealistic. Prague, Brussels, and Amsterdam are all pretty far afield from where you are travelling (especially since you are ending up in Venice. In Italy, your choices of Rome and Venice seem kind of random when you will be passing by Florence and Tuscany. Rather than try to wander off to Greece (!), just add 3 days in Florence and save the hours and hours of travel. If you like nature and the outdoors, the Tuscan countryside would fit well in your plans.

Focus the trip around the two poles - Paris and Italy. Stay in Paris and then just fly down to Italy. If you go by train, you could work Switzerland in, although it does increase the time you are travelling. Paris - Switzerland - Italy in 15 days seems crowded, but not entirely unrealistic.

ira

Hi TB,

>like all first timers, I am trying to cram as many things as possible into the first trip<
YUP.

In 15 days you could have a very pleasant visit to

Italy: Venice, Florence and Rome with visits to Siena, Orvieto and the Cinque Terre.
Paris and Rome
Paris and France
Switzerland and Alsace
Switzerland and Austria/Bavaria
Austria and Bavaria

I urge you to rethink your itinerary.

singfree

If there was one thing that we've learned in all our years of European travel is that using one or two cities as bases, then making day trips from there is FAR better than packing & unpacking every few days. I just don't think that anyone can really get a "feel" for a place in a day or two. This year we are again flying to Munich and staying in Salzburg and Garmisch over a 17 day period. We have a sense that we've become "locals", and thus makes for a wonderfully relaxing holiday. Good travels!!