3 weeks in France & Italy
Apr 9th, 2015, 10:05 AM
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3 weeks in France & Italy
When I first started a thread on here a few months ago, I had this naive notion that I could visit 3 countries in 3 weeks, one being Greece. I've since smartened up and plan now to visit France and Italy only.
This trip is due to a wedding so my dates cannot change, we will be there from August 17- September 6 or 7th (depends how tired we want to be upon our return to work!) It’s all of our vacation time so we can’t stay any longer, and since my friend does live just outside of Paris, we will surely be back!)
Flights to Paris are booked, open jaw, as we plan to fly out of Rome.
France
We land in Paris on the 17th at 1pm
Will be in Paris for 4 nights and plan to take a train on the 21st to Limoges (where the bride is staying) and end up at Château de la Fleunie in Dordogne, Aquitane, France for the wedding on the 22nd.
23rd- is open if there’s anything in the area you think we should see otherwise we’ll use this day for the long drive or train ride ahead, or even if there is another place you think we should visit and have time for.
Trying to decide between driving and taking a train to the French Alps, where we’d like to spend a few days hiking, maybe stay in Chamonix and make our way to Italy. where should we drop off car before entering Italy if we go the car route?
Italy
In general we’d like to start in Venice, make our way to Florence, and end in Rome.
Any recommendations on how we should split the rest of our days up between those cities? We can use the train or rent a car, whatever you think would be best.
Any and all advice welcome
We'll be getting some guide books this weekend and i'd like to start booking things since it's high season.
This trip is due to a wedding so my dates cannot change, we will be there from August 17- September 6 or 7th (depends how tired we want to be upon our return to work!) It’s all of our vacation time so we can’t stay any longer, and since my friend does live just outside of Paris, we will surely be back!)
Flights to Paris are booked, open jaw, as we plan to fly out of Rome.
France
We land in Paris on the 17th at 1pm
Will be in Paris for 4 nights and plan to take a train on the 21st to Limoges (where the bride is staying) and end up at Château de la Fleunie in Dordogne, Aquitane, France for the wedding on the 22nd.
23rd- is open if there’s anything in the area you think we should see otherwise we’ll use this day for the long drive or train ride ahead, or even if there is another place you think we should visit and have time for.
Trying to decide between driving and taking a train to the French Alps, where we’d like to spend a few days hiking, maybe stay in Chamonix and make our way to Italy. where should we drop off car before entering Italy if we go the car route?
Italy
In general we’d like to start in Venice, make our way to Florence, and end in Rome.
Any recommendations on how we should split the rest of our days up between those cities? We can use the train or rent a car, whatever you think would be best.
Any and all advice welcome
We'll be getting some guide books this weekend and i'd like to start booking things since it's high season.
Apr 9th, 2015, 10:49 AM
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About the car in France and Italy. It depends on your rental. If you take an all inclusive rental with the extra coverage for the deductible, then taking the car to Italy might not be a problem. It does not, however, eliminate the cross-border drop-off fee.
If, on the other hand, you take the basic rate offered by Kemwel and Autoeurope, it means that the CDW insurance is carried by your Visa or Mastercard; with mine, there is no deductible. But Visa does not allow this for Italy. The car must therefore be dropped off before going to Italy. Look at these sites and plug in the numbers to get a sense of actual rental costs. You do not have to commit to know the exact rental cost, and even if you commit, Autoeurope and Kemwel offer no charge cancellation policy. The earlier the rental, the cheaper it will be.
The best might be a car in France and a cities to cities train in Italy.
If, on the other hand, you take the basic rate offered by Kemwel and Autoeurope, it means that the CDW insurance is carried by your Visa or Mastercard; with mine, there is no deductible. But Visa does not allow this for Italy. The car must therefore be dropped off before going to Italy. Look at these sites and plug in the numbers to get a sense of actual rental costs. You do not have to commit to know the exact rental cost, and even if you commit, Autoeurope and Kemwel offer no charge cancellation policy. The earlier the rental, the cheaper it will be.
The best might be a car in France and a cities to cities train in Italy.
Apr 9th, 2015, 11:10 AM
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Starting on the 23rd, I'd base in the Dordogne region for a few days, amazing history, picturesque hill towns, amazing food and scenery, and cave art there. It'd be best to rent a car. Then head to Venice by train for 3 nights, 3-4 nights Florence, and the rest of the time Rome. If you've never been to Italy, there's plenty to do to spend all the trip right after the wedding in Italy too. Your original plan of going straight to Chamonix right after the wedding works too. Lucky you, this sounds like an amazing trip!
Apr 9th, 2015, 11:33 AM
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Why not extend your stay in the Dordogne??? Along with Provence - it's our favorite region in France. We've vacationed there for 10 weeks & we'll return for 2 more next year.
I still think you are trying to cram too much into too little time. You'll loose an entire day getting to Chamonix (7 hr drive), then you'll probably loose another day getting to Venice.
So your itinerary looks like this:
23 in the Dordogne
24 lost day getting to Chamonix
25 Chamonix
26 Chamonix
27 lost day getting to Venice
28 Venice
29 Venice
30 Venice
31 1 1/2 day in Florence
1 Florence
2 Florence
3 1/2 day in Rome
4 Rome
5 Rome
6 fly home
You could juggle the Italy sites around a tad - but for many people - that's not enough time (combined) for Venice, Florence, and Rome. Plus, those three congested & exhausting cities back-to-back-to-back in early Sept would wipe me out. Actually, you couldn't pay me enough to visit Florence in early Sept. Last time we were in Florence was late March & it was wonderful.
And, anytime of year Mt Blanc can be "iffy" weather wise. Chamonix itself is nothing special - so if the weather is bad, you might regret the trip.
Consider this:
- 4-5 nights in the Dordogne. See by car
- fly from Toulouse (our second favorite city in France) to Rome (1 3/4 hr flight leaves at 12:30)
- 4-5 days in Rome
- train to Venice
- 4-5 nights in Venice
- fly home from Venice
You could fly from Toulouse to Venice & start there - but there are no direct flights that I could find easily.
Stu Dudley
I still think you are trying to cram too much into too little time. You'll loose an entire day getting to Chamonix (7 hr drive), then you'll probably loose another day getting to Venice.
So your itinerary looks like this:
23 in the Dordogne
24 lost day getting to Chamonix
25 Chamonix
26 Chamonix
27 lost day getting to Venice
28 Venice
29 Venice
30 Venice
31 1 1/2 day in Florence
1 Florence
2 Florence
3 1/2 day in Rome
4 Rome
5 Rome
6 fly home
You could juggle the Italy sites around a tad - but for many people - that's not enough time (combined) for Venice, Florence, and Rome. Plus, those three congested & exhausting cities back-to-back-to-back in early Sept would wipe me out. Actually, you couldn't pay me enough to visit Florence in early Sept. Last time we were in Florence was late March & it was wonderful.
And, anytime of year Mt Blanc can be "iffy" weather wise. Chamonix itself is nothing special - so if the weather is bad, you might regret the trip.
Consider this:
- 4-5 nights in the Dordogne. See by car
- fly from Toulouse (our second favorite city in France) to Rome (1 3/4 hr flight leaves at 12:30)
- 4-5 days in Rome
- train to Venice
- 4-5 nights in Venice
- fly home from Venice
You could fly from Toulouse to Venice & start there - but there are no direct flights that I could find easily.
Stu Dudley
