Daud

I am planning a tour to Italy, Switzerland and France alongwith my wife and 2 children (5 and 8 years old).
I have made reservation of accommodation in Rome from 26th t0 31st March. My next destinations are Florence 1 night, Venice 1 night, Milan 1 night, Geneva 4 nights and Paris 2 nights.

Can you help me making reservations in good budget hotels at Florence 1 night, Venice 1 night, Milan 1 night, Geneva 4 nights and Paris 2 nights.
and get Train or Bus tickets reservation for us.
Please share the rates and details.

quokka

What a rat race. I would not even recommend such an itinerary to adults, let alone to a familiy with children in tow. One-night stays mean just a few hours per city. Paris also needs more than just one day. Two nights make just one day.

Cut out Geneva and Milan and distribute the remaining time among the remaining three destinations. That would still be a lot for one trip.

By the way, we are not a free travel agency but a travel forum, and we won't book your hotels for you.

Daud

Quokka thanks alot for your kind advise. I had included all these cities because i wanted to cover as much as possible and i m bit tight on my budget.
Can you give me some idea about the best mode of travelling out of train and bus; in terms of convenience, cost and enjoyability of the surroundings?

bilboburgler

Hi, just seen this and I was surprised by your plan, so I'm guessing you have special reasons for this timetable. Most people would look at these cities and spread the time more like

Florence 2 night,
Venice 2 night,
Milan 2 night,
Geneva 0 nights and
Paris 3 nights.

But I guess Milan is important, now the best things I found to do in Milan was the station, the football ground, two amazing cemetries, the duomo and the square around, the last supper and of course, the opera. If you run out of things Bergamo is just down the track and worth half a day visit.

bilboburgler

I must be tired, I've confused myself.

Geneva, I've been three times, both on work and to see friends, I struggle to imagine why anyone would go just to see the place. Please let me know so next time I go I can enjoy it more.

Daud

bilboburgler We have never been to any swiss destination therefore thought to include Geneva because its the nearest and one of the most famous. PLease suggest which city should we select instead which would be more suitable and economical for family vaccation.

bilboburgler

Switzerland cannot be described as economical by any stretch of the imagination. For me there are two ways of looking at the place, visit the countryside (which can be spectacular) up in the Alps, stay out of the big cities where prices just go up and up.

Or, go to the Alps but not Switzerland. In this case prices stay down and yet you still see lovely countryside. I often end up in the Doubs river area in the Jura south of Bescancon, but since this is a fly by visit I need to think a bit about where to go.

Aosta in Italy might be nice, Pontarlier might be a bit small in France but has a couple of brooding fortresses, Besancon has a fantstic fortress and if you hire a car you can go up into the countryside and even cross into switzerland, also it gives you access to Alsace and the Vosges mountains.

Sorry, looks like I'm not being much help, end of March is a bit tricky as spring may not have taken hold by then so possibly still damp and chilly while the wild flowers may not be out yet.

Let's see what others have to say and I'll have a bit more of a think, the basic idea of Rome to Paris is doable the issue for me is you are trying to force too much into a short holiday. Stopping in a city is sensible as you can always dodge into a shop or a museum if the weather does not hold up, for me I regularly stay only one night in a town but I don't travel with kids. I think kids need a bit of time to "de-congest" and having a stable two nights just makes them calmer.

To understand european trains you need to read seat61.com on each country the site is amazing and really helps. For timings I'd start with bahn.de (hit the Union flag to get English), basically book early gets you cheaper trains, book second class but only book regionale (stopping trains) if you want to go haystack to haystack.

generally tripadvisor and booking.com give good hotel selection. Florence is small but you still want to be near the centre, Paris public transport means you can stay in lots of areas but I normally look at 5,6 or 7 as my prefered quarter and you can get good 2 or 3 star hotels there for not much money.

Venice will be expensive, even in March, but B&Bs are normally very good, do not get "tricked" into thinking Mestre Venice is Venice, it is instead almost the railhead back on the mainland. Stay in Venice proper.

Hope all this helps, getting dialogue on this site requires the thread to be in the top 25 items on the left hand side. ;-)

annhig

visiting lots of places and having a tight budget are not compatible; every time you move it costs you not just in the travel costs but because in each city you have to start again to find the nice cafe for breakfast, the cheap supermarket, the restaurant that likes kids, etc, etc,

I count 14 nights in your itinerary; with children ideally that would mean a max of 2 bases, but you could squeeze 3 at a pinch.

you don't say where you are flying into or out of, but assuming from your frenetic itinerary that it's into Rome and out of Paris, I would do Rome, Venice and Paris. Forget the rest. Florence is not a place for 8 and 5 year olds and even if it were, 1 night is not enough to make it worthwhile stopping. Ditto Milan. Switzerland will either be cold and wet or just cold, and again, you aren't planning to stop long enough to make going there worthwhile.

you could get the train from Rome to Venice - about 4 hours - which would be fun for the kids, and then fly from Venice to Paris. Alternatively there is a train leaving Venice at 8.50 am that would take all day to get to Paris but goes through some of the Alps - you have to change at Milan and Geneva. Flying would obviously be much quicker but you would get to see some of the Alps that way.

Venice does not have to be that expensive, and staying there for say, 3 nights, will be a lot cheaper than bouncing around on one -night stands.

Daud

Dear bilboburgler thanks alot for the ideas. I ll take advise from this page as the final word as i ve no experience of planning trips and also im from another part of the world with very little experience of Europe.
I can reduce my destinations to 3. Rome ------- and Paris; if Geneva is out then which city is to be included to have a feel of Switzerland? what should be the best and economical option with kids?

Could you also guide how much would be the cost on food for a 15-20 days visit? and how much does it cost to travel between these cities by bus or train?
Thanks again and regards

bilboburgler

Sorry Daud, estimating prices is pretty tricky, you can get estimates for accomodation on booking.com bahn.de will give you train prices.

Food, not sure about feeding kids, I tend towards veggie and budget Euro 35 for one adult a day for food. Ethnic food will be cheapest in each city rather than local, and m-friday lunch time 3 course meals can be got for about E14 in the right places. Hope that helps.

annhig

Daud - if you are intent on Switzerland, Lucerne might fill the bill, but it could be wet and foggy.

as for budget, aside from accommodation, if it doesn't include breakfast you can reckon on a minimum of something like €5 pp, perhaps €10 pp for a sandwich lunch with a drink, €2-3 for another drink/gelato along the way, and €20 for dinner. rounding that up, that's €40 pp for food. It may cost you less if you follow Bilbo's tips, but big cities are expensive.

There is then the cost of transport [depends where you're going] excursions while you are there, etc. You can research those on line by looking at the attractions you want to see in each place, and seeing how much they are going to be, but overall, IMO you would be lucky to get much change out of €200 per day for the 4 of you.

Hope this helps!

flanneruk

There used to be nowhere cheap in Switzerland.

Then they revalued its (independent) currency. Annhig's numbers probably understate Swiss prices at least 20%.

What people go to Switzerland for - mostly - are its lakes and mountains. They're a lot cheaper to see in Italy and France.

nytraveler

March in Switz is still winter. For there - and likely Paris - you will need winter clothes - coats, hats, scarves, gloves and boots. In mountains it will still be snowing/ and is expensive high winter sports season. And even in the valleys you won;t see the Switz you are probably thinking about (green meadows with cows, wild flowers and cute swiss chalets) but are more likely to get chilly grey skies and rain. Many services (lake steamers, etc) are running on very short schedules and if you don;t like cold it won't be very pleasant.

I love Switz but would not visit them - think a train trip through it from Venice to Pars is a much better idea to see some of the Alps and the snow. Also it is VERY expensive (prices much higher then NYC which I am used to) and could really blow your budget.

Train is the way to travel - buses usually don;t cover the ame routes and are not pleasant.

And agree with so few days and hobbits you want to keep this to 2 or at most 3 hotels.

As for budget hotels - what is your nightly budget in euros - keeping in mind that you want a larger family room, which can be fairly rare?

annhig

Then they revalued its (independent) currency. Annhig's numbers probably understate Swiss prices at least 20%.>>

yes, they were €s, so clearly not referable to Switzerland. i agree that for that country, an uplift of at least 20% is required. That's one reason I would not go to Switzerland on this trip. [the weather is another].

Daud

I had a different idea about the budget and costing. I was under the impression that since its almost off season therefore the hotel costs wont be a serious issue: i had managed to save around 5500 $ as budget for this 18 days trip:
Air tickets to Rome and flying back from Paris: 2000 $ (already reserved)
Accommodation for 6 nights at 1 italian and a 1 Swiss city:500 $(minus Rome and Orleans where i have got reservations at very reasonable rates)
Entrance tickets to disney and other places: 500$
Travelling (inland)Bus /Train:700$
Food 700 $
Shopping etc: 700 $
Misc: 400 $

With the comments above i think this trip looks pretty difficult to manage in this budget.

isabel

I'm a budget traveler but even I think this is impossible financially, not to mention it would not be at all enjoyable for most people and hell for kids that age. Sorry but that's the way it is. Might as well accept that now rather than get there and find out.

You already have the flights? So I would say your best bet is to see if you can't find some more money for the trip. Otherwise you will have wasted the time and the money you have already spent.

Second, change that itinerary. Looks like you have 9 nights after you leave Rome, and are flying out of Paris? Is this correct? If so - I would first look into whether or not there are any cheap flights at this late date to Paris from Italy, and if so from where? Looks like easyjet has flights from Venice to Paris around those dates for under 50 euro each. In that case I would plan to spend 2-3 days in Florence, then 2-3 days in Venice then fly to Paris for the remainder. That will make for a rushed but enjoyable trip and cut down on travel. See if you can still get discount train tickets from Rome to Florence and Florence to Venice.

I would forget about Milan and Geneva for this trip.

A small meal at McDonalds in Switzerland is about $20!! Seriously.

Sassafrass

Still cold, still short days, possibly rainy, even in Italy. Because of budget, cut Switzerland altogether from this trip. Cut Milan. Give Paris at least five nights as there is lots to do there, even in colder weather.

Daud

I m flexible about the itinerary, even can cut it short further to make it happen.
so what should be the best option with kids- Venice or Florence?
and how about the budget estimates? what would be more realistic budget for this trip or what is the best way to plan this visit in this budget?

dwdvagamundo

Daud--I'd say Venice. You could then fly from there to Paris.

However, you mention "Orleans" in your last post. If you're going there, do that as your third city. The Loire Valley is really wonderful--lots of chateaux that at least your oldest child would love. Blois is right next to Orleans and from there, you can see a number of others on a special fare. We stayed about a week in the Loire Valley last fall and could easily have spent a month.


Look into apartment rentals, which, with a family, may work out better for you. Bilbo's suggestion of using "Tripadvisor" to find lodging is a good one. Check under the tab "Vacation Rentals".

Finally, don't worry so much about your budget. I think your budget is doable for a trip of this length at this time of year if you confine yourself to the three cities and cut out most of the shopping, the Disney, etc.. And if it isn't, there are always credit cards. You'll soon pay for the trip, but you'll never forget it.

Holly_uncasdewar

Right now $500 equates to 440 Euros. If that is your budget for 7 nights, that would be 62 E. per night. Pretty near impossible for a family of 4. You might want to consider staying an entire week in an apartment somewhere, and doing day trips. You'll likely still pay more than 62 E. per night for an apartment, but you should be able to find something for 100 E. per night. Florence might be a good base for that.