Amazed

Hi,
My family of 4 will be travelling to Paris this Dec and will have 4 days in Paris before our son joins us from 19 Dec and we will have to leave from Paris on 1st Jan.

From the 19 Dec, we hope to visit French Alps, Florence, Venice, Rome and perhaps the Christmas markets in Munich.

Any advice will be much appreciated. Thank you.

janisj

13 days for 4 major cities plus one 'region' . . . is a covering lot of territory at any time of year but especially in mid winter when travel can be slow/disrupted.

Robert2533

Traveling during the Christmas season can be a challenge. Are you into skiing? Florence, Venice and Rome would be terrific, if you where planning on spending two weeks in Italy instead of traveling between locations. And then you want to head to Munich for the Christmas Market?

Remember, days are short, it will be cold, there will be snow in the Alps and travel can end up being a pain. Hopefully you're not planning on driving.

Personally, I would spend most of my time in Paris with a side trip to Munich for a couple of days. Leave Italy for another time.

cmeyer54

Does the 15 days include one travel day on each end? If so, you will have 13 days and after spending the holidays in Rome last year, I can tell you that Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day are kind of 'lost' days....not that you'll have trouble finding restaurants open but some major attractions (like Notre Dame) may be closed to public touring due to more masses being celebrated. So, I would first make a list of the things you really want to see in Paris and then cross check to see what will be open. You could add in Strasbourg easily enough or Baden Baden just across the border. I'd spend more of my time in Paris personally and avoid a lot of days spend in transfer from one place to another.

Amazed

Thank you so much for your replies.

It is 16 days in Europe in total excluding travelling in and out of Paris.

As one of us have been in Paris for a while, for the balance 12 days , we would like to go to Italy or out of Paris.

Which is the best way to travel around if we want to visit Florence, Rome, Venice or any other suggested places.

Thank you.

Cindywho

I agree that it would be very difficult to visit all of those places. But if you are determined, I would first work out your transportation and build your trip around that. You won't have much time in any of those places.

Try the discount airlines, unless your budget is healthy, like Ryanair or Easyjet. It can be inexpensive to fly within Europe, but the options can be limited. That's why you should plan out the transportation before any other reservations such as lodging.

I would probably leave out Venice and Florence if I had to cut out something.

Amazed

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Would driving in Italy be advisable during this period? Would it be advisable to take a train/flight from Paris to Venice and drive from Venice to Rome to Florence.

Or anyone has advice as to transportation?

annhig

rather than driving, I would look at trains, certainly within Italy. Taking the train through from Munich to Salzburg and thence to Venice would also be very nice. [there is a train that has one change in Innsbruck so you might want to work that into your itinerary too].

that would be a relatively easy and fun trip that time of year, taking advantage of places where there will be lots of Christmassy things around, and ending in Venice which should be lovely. you could add Rome onto the end if that's essential to you.

annhig

oops - i missed that you need to fly out of Paris.

in that case I would forget about Rome, fly to Venice, and work my way back from there.

Jean

Dec. 19th to Dec. 31st is only 13 days, and you'll lose the morning of the 19th and the afternoon or evening of the 31st traveling from/to Paris, so only full 11 days not impacted by travel. Then you have to hope the transport from/to Paris goes as scheduled.

If the Munich Christmas markets are a priority, you need to be there before Dec. 24th (last day). If the French Alps stay in the itinerary, find lodging ASAP. We've been told the Christmas holiday period is extremely popular at most mountain resorts in France and Italy and many hotels are booked up months in advance. Figuring out these two "bookends" and the various travel times involved would determine how much time you have for anywhere else.

If it was my trip, I'd fly Paris to Rome or Venice and travel by train in Italy. Then I'd fly back to Paris on the 31st. I'd skip the mountains and Munich for the travel time/lodging/weather issues involved. But it's your trip and your priorities.

bobthenavigator

Just too much that time of year. Pick 2 from that wish list--I vote for Munich and the Alps.

nytraveler

You need to:

1) determine which 2 or 3 places you want to do in those days considering the very short days and the many chances for bad weather (which can easily make a nonsense of flights - trains are more reliable

2) that time of year in Switz is high season - very expensive and many places want you to book for a week at a time

3)layout out the itinerary day by day - including what you want to see, what travel will be (and how many hours it will take including getting to and fro far distant airports and considering the very limited amount of luggage you are allowed)

Agree you are trying to get 25 pounds of stuff into a 10 pound bag - you need to make some hard choices. And no - I wouldn't drive anywhere that time of year.

Amazed

Thanks for your advice. I will on on these and will let you know if I need furthur advice.

PalenQ

From the 19 Dec, we hope to visit French Alps, Florence, Venice, Rome and perhaps the Christmas markets in Munich.>

forget driving if you want to easily do that - especially in winter going to the Alps - you can take trains the whole way - like:

Paris to Chamonix - a primo Alpine resort

Then from Chamonix take a bus thru the Mont Blanc Tunnel to the Italian rail system as Aosta - another neat Alpine resort and go on to Florence, Venice or Rome

Germany is a real outlier - Paris has some stellar Christmas Markets now too such as the great one at La Defense.

Cars are useless in Italian cities with them being banned from much of the city centers, parking hard and expensive when tracked down - many in the center hotels may not offer parking, etc.

anyway for a good fix on European trains check out these IMO fine sources: www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com. It is doubtful that any railpass would be of use to you with rather limited train travel - and if you go to www.voyages-sncf.com or www.capitainetrain.com you can get deep discounted tickets for France and similarly www.trenitalia.com for Italy or its competitor www.trenoitalia.com (not sure of the latter's web site) - discounted tickets must be booked far in advance as they are sold in limited numbers - usually cannot be changed nor refunded but if you are OK with an itinerary being locked in stone weeks in advance as many are you can save a ton over just showing up.

Amazed

Thanks PalenQ. Your suggestions seem to be closest to what we would like to do. Will check it out..........

Many thanks.

Mimar

Any chance you can change your return flight? Like out of Rome or Milan rather than Paris. Then going to Italy makes more sense.

In general, it's better to stick to cities when traveling in the winter; there's more to do, especially in the shorter days. Most years lately there's not enough snow in the Alps for skiing in December.

Amazed

We can't change our flight but we can take a flight from Rome to Paris.

janisj

>>We can't change our flight <<

Can you change it w/ a fee? The change fee may cost less (and definitely less hassle) than flying back to Paris.

Jean

FWIW, we just flew home from Italy via CDG/Paris and decided we won't be doing that again if it can be avoided. I agree with janisj. (If it matters, we were flying Air France in business class.)

Amazed

What happened? Is it the wait in the airport? Or....?