Ladybelle

My fiancee, me, and my 7 year old will be setting out to Europe this summer. My fiancee will be with us for the first 4 weeks, and the plan was to spend 2 weeks in Italy, 2 weeks in France followed by me and my daughter spending 2 weeks in Andalusia and Morocco. However, I am worried about the extreme hot weather coupled with the masses of mid July and don't know where I should spend the month of July visiting. We wanted to definitely see the sights, coming from NYC, we're much more interested in architecture, castles, hiking for gorgeous views, and local neighborhoods and culture, then viewing museum exhibits, unless its definitely a must see. We definitely wanted to visit a coastal town/beach, and was thinking of Sardinia.
We are booking this with reward points, and we are allowed an open jaw and one stopover.

Do you guys have any tips on what are some great cities to visit, and what should I do for the last two weeks.

By the way, while we are traveling with a child, she is used to and enjoys being on the move. Last summer, we went on summer road trip across the US. We're not all that interested in clubs although we're in our mid-20's. Much more into live music, festivals, markets, and great local food.

nytraveler

In July I would avoid Spain at all costs - and head for someplace with much cooler weather - Germany or Switz for the second half of the trip. You can get cities or towns or villages with mountains and gorgeous lakes (yes, with beaches) and have temps that are not 110.

StuDudley

I would visit the spots that are the most likely to be excessively hot in June.

This is what I might do.

- Land in Rome, and immediately get to the Amalfi coast via public transportation. Stay there for 4 nights - with time to recover from Jet lag.

- Get to Rome by public transportation and spend 5 nights there

- Take the train to Orvieto, visit Orvieto, and then rent a car and drive 1 hr to the Val d'Orcia in Tuscany & spend 4-5 nights there - in/near Pienza. Explore the beautiful countryside of Tuscany. Do a day half-day trip to Siena - less than 1 hr away by car.

- Drive to Chuisi and take the train to Venice. Spend 3-4 nights in Venice.

- Fly to Nice and spend 4 nights there. The last 2 days, rent a car & explore the Nice Hinterland.

- Drive 2 1/2 hrs to Provence & spend 5 nights in Provence.

Hubby takes the 3 hr TGV to Paris or CDG and departs.

- Drive 3 1/4 hrs west to Carcassonne and spend 2 1/2 hrs visiting the largest fortress in Europe. Then drive 3 1/2 hrs to Sarlat in the Dordogne and spend 5 nights there. Visit lots of castles, caves, canoe trip down the Dordogne river, Birds of Prey show, cute villages.

- Head out north of the Sarlat area to Brive la Gaillard. Return the car & take the train to Paris. Spend 5-7 nights in Paris.

- After Paris, maybe train up to Ghent, Bruges, and Amsterdam. Fly home from Amsterdam.

Stu Dudley

Ladybelle

WWWOOOOWW... That plan sounds fabulous, even if hubby will miss spending time with me in Paris. Though I don't know how much he will miss it, he's not a big fan of Parisian from his last trip to France, ha.

I will also look into Germany or Switz. as that sounds quite pleasant and relaxing.

I hadn't thought of renting a car, but it seems like the easiest thing to do to get to all these places.

StuDudley

>>even if hubby will miss spending time with me in Paris<<

OK - then you join him in Paris after Provence. Spend a few days there after he leaves to visit Versailles & other stuff. Then take the train to Brive la Gaillarde, spend 4-6 nights in the Dordogne. Then drive 2 1/2 hrs to Toulouse (our second favorite city in France - along with Dijon - after Paris). Stay overnight in Toulouse - or not. Then take the 15:05 TGV to Barcelona. Stay there for your remaining days and fly home from Barcelona.

Stu Dudley