ReneeLJ

My partner and I are planning a 5 and a half week holiday in France and Italy (from Australia) in May next year which will look like this:
Fly into London, stay 3 nights. Eurostar to Paris, stay in Paris apartment for 7 nights. Make our way through France into Italy, end up in Rome which is where we fly out of. We would like to spend roughly equal time in France and Italy, so 2 and a half weeks in each. So far flights, insurance, London accom and Paris accom have been paid for.
Firstly, has anyone done a trip similar to this so they could give me an idea of what their budget/expenditure was like for the whole trip so we have an idea what we are up for. We don't want to do extreme budget (such as hostels etc), but also definitely not luxury...so just comfortable.
Secondly, if anyone has any recommendations on an itinerary for a trip such as this that would be great, as we havent yet worked out exactly what places we want to go to as we make our way through the two countries (will be using the train network to get between the different places)
Thanks so much for your help!

StCirq

You've got two separate, identical postings, which is going to make it confusing for both you and respondents. Ask the monitors to delete one of them.

ReneeLJ

Oops, thank you! Will do!

Jean

I'm assuming you have something like 40 days total. The first 10 are London/Paris, and I'm guessing the last 5 (or more?) are Rome. That leaves about 25 days to plan.

You don't give a hint of your interests or how you like to travel, so suggestions of how to fill those 25 days would be merely throwing darts at a map. Start reading some guidebooks, researching train routes and timetables, etc., and decide where you want to go, how much time you'd like to spend there in order to see what you want to see. Understand you'll lose at least half a day moving from one hotel/base to the next hotel/base.

IMO, the budget is whatever you decide it is. There's a huge range of lodging costs between "extreme budget (such as hostels etc), but also definitely not luxury..." You need to do some homework to see what your idea of comfortable costs in different places.

If you're museum junkies (like me), you can research the entry fees, look for discounts available on city passes, to get an idea of how much to allow in your budget for that. Entry fees for other attractions (Eiffel Tower, Colisseum, etc.), are all searchable online.

I think meal costs are easy to control. Most restaurants post their menu outside, and you just pick a place that fits your budget. If the prices at one place push the budget that day, then go cheap the next day. Don't order expensive drinks. If breakfast is included in your hotel room rate (very common in Italy), eat well in the morning whether that's your habit or not. Some people save money by having their biggest meal at lunch and eating light for dinner.

Jean

I forgot to mention transportation costs... After you've decided where you want to go, search the cost of point-to-point train tickets. Add it all up and then compare to the cost of a rail pass. Watch for discounts for advance purchase train tickets.

dreamon

It's like asking how long is a piece of string but if it's helpful we travelled in a similar fashion twice recently (each trip was four weeks long) and we (two of us) spent A$7,000 on the first trip (Italy/Slovenia/Croatia) and on the second trip A$6,500 (London/France). Neither of those figures include airfares but do include reasonable and very comfortable accommodation (generally between 80-110euro mark) and transport within Europe (no car). We frequently rented apartments so would eat breakfast and one other meal 'at home' on a fairly regular basis. I hope that's helpful. However, it would be very easy to spend a lot more and entirely possible to spend less.

As for itinerary, it makes sense to get a map and plot a route between Paris and Rome and pick places enroute. I know that sounds obvious but your journey times will be longer if you take wild deviations. I'd go via Switzerland as it's so different to anything we have here (mind you that applies to most of Europe). Come back and ask specific questions about places you think you might like to visit. Too hard to do an itinerary as everyone's interests will be entirely different. Enjoy!

rhon

Good advice given so far. Paris to Italy to me says Burgundy [ perhaps Dijon or Beaune ], Provence, Nice. Budget is really individual. 100 euro per night is often given as what people are prepared to spend. We self cater, so we spend half that. Some spend twice that.

A special meal out for us might be 35 euro per person. I read trip reports and some spend that every day. We were in France for nine weeks in 2012 and had one meal out that cost that. You can spend a lot, or you can spend a lot less each day.

We always have a car, so go where we want when we want. You need to do some research and see what you want to do. And how you could do it on public transport if that is what you will be doing. While it sounds like a long time, it will go quickly.

ReneeLJ

This is my first time using a forum like this, so thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions, its given me lots to think about! Good suggestion 'dreamon', I will post some questions up about places I have considered visiting but am not sure about yet, will be much better than my initial vague question regarding itinerary

rhon

There are so many places you could visit. You have said you will be travelling by train between places. so this would indicate stops in larger places. If you are interested in staying in smaller places, on the few occasions we have stayed in hotels, we have used this chain.

http://www.logishotels.com/en.html

They are small hotels in smaller places. They often have a restaurant. We have found them quite reasonable and appealing.

Burgundy is one of our favourite areas. You could do Dijon, Lyon, Avignon, Nice for your time in France. Easily done by train. Just remember that the fares are cheapest three months out. You may be able to do some day trips into country Provence from Avignon. Nice is well served by public transport. The smaller towns and villages in France can be difficult without a car.

We have only spent two weeks in Italy, in two different parts of Tuscany. So cannot help much there.

As with dreamon, we like to stay in holiday rentals. But with your time frame it probably is not the best option.

Good luck with your planning. There is lots of valuable info on the tourism websites for towns and villages, including accommodation.