marblehead28

Good day, my fiancée, her mom and I is planning to go to Europe this September. we have 15 days to do it. We're planning to go first to Italy, Switzerland, Paris and Amsterdam. Any suggestions to whats the best city to visit in Italy for 4 days and Switzerland for 2 days? Whats the best transportation to ride, train or plane to maximize the 15 days?

janisj

15 days is not really enough time for Italy, Switzerland, Paris and Amsterdam

15 days nets you 12.5 days 'on the ground' after the travel time. Then you use at least half a day every time you move - so 3 moves (minimum in your list) will eat up another 1.5 days leaving a grand total of 11 days, or less than 3 days per location.

You could spend all your time in Italy; or most of it in Italy plus 3 or 4 days in <i>either</i> Paris or Amsterdam; or a couple of places in Switzerland + Paris; or Paris + Amsterdam + one other city; or some other similar combination.

what is the best mode(s) of transport depends on which places you end up visiting.

zorrosf

Sorry, I doubt that anyone on this forum will take the time to plan your entire trip for you. If you want specific advice here, I suggest you do some basic research yourselves, and return to this Forum when you have some idea of the activities, sites, mode of travel (rapid, leisurely) etc. that appeals to your group of three. You may all agree on all aspects of this trip, but that is dubious. As stated by janisj, you must calculate EXACTLY how much time you have by excluding the arrival day, the departure day and the time it takes you to get from one stop to the next. You may only have 11 or 12 days. That is not enough time to see "Italy" or "Switzerland" (which are entire countries, not cities), but may well be enough time to see two cities, or even three (two only is recommended)if you confine yourselves to one country (like France or Italy). As for accommodations, you may already be too late for good choices in some of the most popular places.
So...if you are really going to pull this off, you must devote some serious time to planning NOW, but no one can tell you what to see or how to spend your time. The best we can do is relate what we did/saw that we liked, and/or give opinions as to whether or not you are trying to put 35 days worth of sightseeing into 15 days. Good luck.

marblehead28

Thanks for the reply Janisj. Here's our itenirary for the 15 days.
Day 1
1300 arrival in rome.
short tour in nearby places.

Day 2
tour in rome (vatican, colosseum etc) whole day

Day 3
tour in rome (vatican, colosseum etc) whole day

Day 4
8am or 9am to Pisa via train
1600 to venice via train

Day 5
Venice tour

Day 6
venice to switzerland via plane in the morning
switzerland (have to decide what city to visit)

Day 7
Switzerland tour

Day 8
Switzerland tour

Day 9
Switzerland to Paris
plane or train
Paris tour

Day 10
Paris or France tour

Day 11
Paris or France tour

Day 12
Paris or France

Day 13
paris to Amsterdam
train or plane

Day 14
Amsterdam Tour

Day 15
Amsterdam Tour

Day 16
Flight Home

What do you think guys? any suggestions especially for what place to visit in switzerland and france?
Thanks!

marblehead28

I understand where youre coming from zorrosf, im not asking to you guys to plan our trip because we do have a plan or itenirary to go to, im just asking if which city would be the best to go to like for e.g. what city in switzerland best to go or after paris which city is nice to visit and that would be good enough for the time we have and from there ill do my research on what places or landmark we can go in that city. isnt that the essence and purpose of this site to seek advice and to help each other? especially its our first time to go to eu.

KTtravel

Where do your fiancée and he mother wish to visit? Like others above, this is awfully rushed and you don't seem particularly wedded to visiting specific places. Where are you flying from? If from the West coast of the US, it usually takes me a good day or two to recover from jet lag. Rome will likely just be a blur.

I would try to narrow this trip down to visiting less places and having more time to enjoy visiting your priority places. You seem to really want to visit Rome, Pisa, Venice and Amsterdam since you don't list specific places in Switzerland and seem iffy about Paris.

Rome, Pisa, Venice and Amsterdam would be plenty to enjoy for this trip or possibly adding one more location. Personally, I would skip Pisa which could give you time to add either Paris or Switzerland if you must have a packed trip.

KTtravel

In Switzerland, I love the Lauterbrunnen Valley (Berner Oberland) which would give you a chance to get out in the country after visiting a lot of cities.

Paris is also very special to me but, since it doesn't sound like a top priority of yours, I would save it for another trip.

KTtravel

This would still be quite rushed but possible:

Rome 4 nights
Venice 3 nights
Switzerland 4 nights
Amsterdam 4 nights

marblehead28

Thanks KTtravel. thanks for the input.
Hahaha, my fiancee and i would fought about the places we want to visit and for this we have decided, her mom wants to visit Rome, my fiancee wants to go to paris and i would to go amsterdam, that why we have this itinerary. we already have the hotels and tickets for the musuem all plan out, just recently she wanted to add switzerland because she thinks we can do it for 15 days. for me my preferred route is rome-paris amsterdam.

Kathie

Since you have each voted for your favorite, choose just those three places. Trying to add in more places means you will have less time in the places you most want to see and more time in transit. Rome, Paris and Amsterdam is plenty for 15 days.

PalenQ

What do you think guys? any suggestions especially for what place to visit in switzerland and france?

To me this seems a bit rushed but very doable. Take the train from Switzerland to Paris - as quick as flying and you see some of the ballyhooed French countryside too.

Trains are great - for lots of great info check www.seat61.com- great info on discounted fares you can get if you want to book in stone and maybe have to up to weeks/months in advance but a lot cheaper than full fare; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Paris to Amsterdam is just about 3.5 hours by high-speed Thalys trains - few fly on that route anymore (www.thalys.com - some ridiculously low fares as low as 10 euros in some cases!)

StCirq

If you already have the hotels, what do you need to know? How to add a city in Switzerland? Don't do it. You're already rushing.

PalenQ

we already have the hotels and tickets for the musuem all plan out, just recently she wanted to add switzerland because she thinks we can do it for 15 days. for me my preferred route is rome-paris amsterdam.

There is an overnight train Zurich to Amsterdam I believe - save daytime travel time as even flying takes a half a day - save on the cost of a night in a hotel - get a private two-person compartment for youse two and a private single for her or a three-person compartment if available - see https://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/p...t-travel.shtml

for details - these are hotel trains and I believe some compartments may even have WC and showers in them - a rarity on overnight trains.

Yet overnight trains ain't for everyone - there is always a modicum of noise from inside and outside of the train so it depends on the person - no fun 'waking up' wiped out in the morning.

But otherwise bring any food or drink aboard and have a sweet time - it you've never done an overnight train it can be an adventure (or nightmare if noise challenged!).

suze

I would skip Switzerland and stick with your original plan. It's tight but do-able. Adding 2-3 days in another country will make the entire rest of trip way too rushed.

janisj

You have three very interesting cities on you 'must' list and your flights/hotels booked . . . so stop there. All three of those cities merit/require several days each. Don't foul up the whole thing by squeezing in another country.

Don't let someone convince you 'sure this is doable -- it is a terrible idea. You do not have time to add Switzerland

zorrosf

Less is more.

Kathie

And it's always a matter of chance as to whether you can really see the mountains - it's weather-dependent. Your three cities will be plenty in 15 days. Indeed, if anything you may regret not having more time in your chosen cities.

twk

You can't do justice to Swizterland in 2 days, and as Kathie points out, there's a good chance that with just two days, you might not have any good days in the mountains. Go to Switzerland when you have the time to do it right. Rome, Paris, and Amsterdam would be great, but I suppose you could shoe in Venice, too, and still not kill yourself.

marblehead28

wow, thanks guys for the replies. this really help me a lot.
Switzerland is still an option. I would love to stick with rome paris Amsterdam, but I still need to convince my fiancée.
Thank you.

PalenQ

In 2 days the best you could do is to pass thru it - stop in the Interlaken area 1 day and go on with your schedule.