Tsibley1616

My mother, brother and I are starting to plan a trip for March 2016 and would love some advice!
We would like to go for around 3 weeks (semi-flexible) and our time period is March/early April, which is when my brother has a semester break from his German exchange program at University of Giessen. My mom and I are flying from Portland, OR (PDX) and my brother will be in Germany.

My mother's musts:
UK - she loves British history especially anything to do with Henry VIII & Anne Boleyn. She has pinned many castles including Leeds, Hampton Court, Edinburgh, etc. I would love any advice regarding what's a must, and how many days you realistically need to spend.

Tuscany - no specific ideas here other than Florence. We would love to see Cinque Terre, but thinking March might be too early??

My must:
Italy - Specifically Rome. Florence and Venice if time allows.

Other interests:
Munich
Budapest
Prague

All advise is welcome including the best place to fly into and out of, amount of days in each location, etc.
Thank you!

zorrosf

I recommend you fly into Rome and home from London. Starting in the southernmost city and ending in the northernmost will give you the best chance for good weather. Use "multiple destinations" when searching for flights. Assuming you have 20 days "on the ground" (not including the day of arrival and day of departure), try penciling out some itineraries:

Day 1: Leave home
Day 2: Arrive Rome
Days 3-6

zorrosf

Sorry. I must have hit the wrong button.

Days 3-6 Explore Rome
Day 7 Travel to Florence
Days 8-12 Explore Florence (day trip to Siena and/or Pisa?)
Day 13 Travel to Venice
Days 14-15 Explore Venice
Day 16 Fly to London
Days 17-20 Explore England
Day 21 Fly home

You can play with the times and cities, but you can see that 20 days on the ground does not allow for Budapest, Munich, or Cinque Terra, or the Amalfi Coast (or anything else). If Budapest is really a "must," you will have to cut something. 3 days in England is really not much time to cover Mom's "must see" list. For intra-Europe flights, consult the "Whichbudget" and "Skyscanner" websites

Kathie

I agree that the most you can hope to cover is some of Italy and some of England (that doesn't include Scotland). The itinerary above does not allow enough time for England, IMO, so you would need to cut some of the Italy time to allow even a moderate amount of time to explore England. If it were me - and it isn't - I'd spend a week in England, two weeks in Italy.

Do remember that each time you change locations, you lose at least half a day and often, most of a day, so fewer locations means more time for sightseeing, experiencing these wonderful places.

Brenkjtravel

Might I suggest taking one day off of Florence and one off of Venice and adding them to England. I feel like 2 nights in Venice is enough and agree that you need more time in England! But great itinerary suggestion otherwise!

Sassafrass

Rome to Florence is a relatively short trip. If you leave Rome fairly early, you will easily have more than half a day in Florence on the 7th day. So, I would not take a day from Venice, but would take two days from Florence and give them to England and visit Bath for an overnight, especially if your Mom has any interest in the Jane Austen connection. That still leaves 3 & 1/2 days for Florence and a day trip.

Jean

IMO, only you can decide how many days in a place is "enough." You first need to prioritize your country list. If you went to Prague/Budapest, I think you'd have to drop most of Italy or probably the U.K. entirely. You also need to identify what you want to see everywhere, know the open/closed days and hours, calculate how much time sights will take (including getting from place to place), be realistic about how much walking/sightseeing you can handle in a day, understand how much time it takes to get from one city/hotel to the next city/hotel, etc.

Keep in mind that Easter is March 27th. Depending on where you are, your sightseeing that day and Easter Monday could be affected. The time change occurs the same day.

Tsibley1616

Thank you all for your advice so far! It's really nice to hear from people with experience travelling Europe. This will give me a good idea where to start!

Tsibley1616

Any advice for England specifically? Which castles are worth seeing or not? Other advice?

PalenQ

Are you going by train? I would in Italy especially - cars and large cities just don't mix - cars are great for tooling around the countryside but a liability for cities like London, Rome, Florence, etc. For lots of great info to plan a European rail trip check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Between the U K and France take the Eurostar train thru the Channel Tunnel - www.eurostar.com for deep discounts if booked far in advance.

PalenQ

Any advice for England specifically? Which castles are worth seeing or not? Other advice?>

Near London - Windsor Castle of course and Hampton Court - which many seem to like even more than Windsor but both are very different.

Leeds Castle gets a lot of hype but is not the old rugged castle of your dreams perhaps - would be low on my list.

Hever Castle, childhood home of Anne Bolyene I think, is a doable day trip from London by train. edinburgh Castle is fantastic but how much time do you have - time to bop up to Scotland and back?

sfmurphys

Personally, I would fly into London and home from Rome. It will be easier to deal with jetlag in an English-speaking country and you can avoid the expensive departure fees from Heathrow. There are many low cost airlines that fly from London to points in Italy - try to fly from Gatwick if you can and try to avoid Ryanair.

I would divide your time equally between the two countries. The Tower of London and Hampton Court are good places for Tudor history. Also, there are many wonderful museums in London and many are free! As for Italy, I would figure out what you want to see in Rome and Florence and then decide if there is time for Venice. 21 days may sound like a long trip, but every time you move location you will lose almost a full day.

england1780

Haven't spent much time in Italy, but I'm decently familar with the south of England seeing as I visit family a lot there (granted I spend most of my time there with family but have still seen a fair amount). If you only have 4-5 days in England I would recommend sticking with London. Windsor is a nice castle but not worth it unless you have more spare time. I have never been to Hampton Court or Hever Castle but those look fantastic and are making me want to go back to England now.

Alas, I digress. Here is my recommendation for England:
Spend days 1-3 in London. See Buckingham Palace, Westminister Abbey, the Tower of London, etc. The Churchill War Rooms are near BP and fantastic if you love WWII. I personally would not bother with Covent Garden. It's packed with people and the shops are insanely expensive compared to the U.S. That said, if you want to buy a dress or something in England Phase Eight has lots of nice options.
Spend the next two days seeing Hever Castle and Hampton Court. Alternatively you could take the train up to Edinburgh and see that castle instead. Not sure if you could fly out of Edinburgh though.

PalenQ

Hever Castle is long day trip from London - the train station is a long hike away - it is nice but not remarkable IME as castles go - really nice though but there are places closer to London IME easier to get to like Hatfield House or yes Hampton Court is awesome - totally awesome - to me but more enjoyable than Windsor Castle though that of course is more famous.

suze

UK... 7-10 days
Venice... 3-4 days
Florence/Tuscany... 4-5 days
Rome... 4-5 days
Munich Budapest Prague... 0 days

Fly into London out of Rome OR into Rome and out of London

Tsibley1616

My mom is interested in going up through Lincolnshire - (Tattershall castle, Lincoln Castle/Cathedral). I was thinking it would be good to go through there, spend a night, on the way up to Edinburgh. Is this possible without a car or would a car rental be necessary to reach these parts? I know that's not a really popular area, but my mom is into genealogy and our ancestors lived there If car rental is necessary what are the options of places to pick up a car (I wouldn't think picking up in London would be a great idea)? And is it a bad idea to have a car in Edinburgh?

PalenQ

Lincoln has great rail service from London - I did it recently and is a really sweet old town with the castle complex high on a hill.

Lincoln could be a day trip from London - about two hours each way on trains.

Tattershall may not have train service and if it doesn't it certainly will have bus service from a nearby rail station - nearly all towns in England do - no need to rent a car but then again I do not know about Tattershill exactly just general info on nearly all towns have bus service.