Pardish

Hello,

We are a couple coming to France for the first time in second week of October. We are planning a 15 days vacation between France and Italy and would welcome all suggestions on helping us make this a wonderful vacation !

Our broader tentative Itinerary is as

Day 1 : Arrive Paris
Day 2,3: Paris Sightseeing.
Day 4 oire Valley and come back to Paris Again ( day trip)
Day 5 : Take train from Paris to Nice
Day 6 : Nice
Day 7 : Nice. DO we have any night train from Nice to MiLan ?
Day 8 : Milan
Day 9 : Milan -> Venice ( leave Milan in the morning to reach venice before Noon)
Day 10 : Venice
Day 11: Venice -> Tuscany . Do we have any direct train from Venice to Tuscany ?
Dat 12: Tuscany sightseeing
Day 13 : Tuscany to Rome ( Take evening train from Tuscany/Florence)
Day 14 : ROme. wish to see The Colosseum (inside and out),Trevi Fountain,Spanish Steps,Roman Forum. Is HoHo a good option to do one day Rome tour ?

Do you think this is a good plan ? Any suggestions to this tentative itinerary is most welcomed. I know we are not getting more number of days to visit Rome but the places that we want to see in Italy are all spaced out

PalenQ

Just a bit on trains - the Nice to Italy night train was scrubbed I believe several years back - it takes several hours for Nice-Genoa-Venice daytime trains as there are no high-speed rail lines on this route and the train crawls thru congested areas at times.

You have three options - pay full-fare each time for ultimate flexibility - or get a France-Italy Railpass which allows you to chose which trains to take once there (but in France Paris to Nice you may have trouble using a pass as there is a quote of pass-holder seats alloted on each train - so book really early if a pass) or discounted tickets from www.voyages-sncf.com or www.capitainetrain.com - same trains same fares I believe the latter is easy to get to work for foreigners reports say

and in Italy - www.trenitlia.com (for Nice-Genoa direct trains only Thello runs these - www.thello.com - trenitalia.com has other trains involving a change of trains at Ventimgilia, Italian border station when coming from Nice)

Direct trains Venice to Tuscany - well only to Florence on the high-speed trains - change at Florence to regional trains to many tuscan places.

anyways for a lot of good stuff on Italian trains check www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com - check the last two for France-Italy Eurailpass prices.

bobthenavigator

Too much travel time and too many destinations.

I would drop Milan and add that time to Venice. Any train to Tuscany will connect via Florence so you must decide where to stay in Tuscany.

You have 6 destinations now---4 would be better.

kybourbon

Have you booked your flights yet? Do you really have 14 sightseeing days (not counting arrival and departure days)?

There isn't a night train Nice/Milan. Unless you have an absolute must see in Milan, I would drop Milan.

>>>Day 11: Venice -> Tuscany . Do we have any direct train from Venice to Tuscany ?<<<

Tuscany is a huge area. That's like asking if there is a direct train from Chicago to Ohio. Much of Tuscany isn't served by trains. Many hill towns have only bus service or not even that. You need to narrow down what you mean by Tuscany. There is a direct train from Venice to Florence. Florence is in Tuscany.

>>>Is HoHo a good option to do one day Rome tour ?<<<

No. Parts of the historic center are pedestrian. I believe Rome has even further limited the stops of this type of bus so they are even less convenient than they were a few years ago.

You need more than a day in Rome (3-4 is more realistic).

isabel

I agree that it would probably be a more enjoyable trip if you could drop a couple of destinations. But if you want a 'sampler' trip than you can do that - as long as you realize that's what it is and there will be lots of stuff in each destination that you won't see.

I would fly from Nice to Venice (see easyjet.com, they may only fly that route every other day so you'd need to take that into account as you plan). Then decide on one stop in Tuscany. Many people would make that stop Florence - it certainly will be the easiest logistically. And you already have a lot of travel time versus sightseeing time so getting to a smaller town will take even more time.

I really think you should consider more time in Rome (and also Tuscany/Florence). If what you are looking for is a sampler of France and Italy maybe consider skipping Nice (as nice as Nice is). Do 5 nights Paris with one or two days trips to see 'small town France'. You mention one to Loire Valley. There are several other small towns you could visit as day trips from Paris if you want to see something besides Paris. Then fly Paris to Venice for 3 nights, train to Florence for 3 nights and do one day trip to a smaller Tuscan town then train to Rome for 3 nights. Just a suggestion.

inspiredexplorer

I agree with bob and kybourbon that you may want to consider dropping 1 or 2 destinations. Can you rank the different cities in priority order of what's most important to you both? Are you more interested in the Tuscan countryside, or Florence? That might help you know what to cut.

Cutting Nice and Milan, for example, would give you:

Day 1 : Arrive Paris
Day 2: Paris
Day 3: Paris
Day 4 : Loire Valley and come back to Paris Again (day trip)
Day 5 : Paris, Thello overnight train to Venice (departs at 8 PM, arrives Venice at 9:35 AM)
Day 6 : Venice
Day 7 : Venice
Day 8 : train to Florence
Day 9 : Florence
Day 10 : Florence
Day 11: daytrip to Chianti / Tuscan countryside
Day 12: train to Rome
Day 13 : Rome
Day 14 : Rome

You could also overnight train on Day 4, coming back from Loire Valley to Paris and heading directly on train overnight to Venice, then can add an extra day to Rome. Where you put the extra day depends on your interests of course, but the sites in Rome really do warrant more time.

Or say you want to keep Nice for two locations in France - Nice is a lovely city and at least in late September 2014, the weather was gorgeous - but could narrow down Italy to Venice and Rome. It might look like:

Day 1 : Arrive Paris
Day 2 : Paris
Day 3 : Paris
Day 4 : Loire Valley and come back to Paris Again ( day trip)
Day 5 : Take train from Paris to Nice
Day 6 : Nice
Day 7 : Nice
Day 8 : Morning Thello train to Milan (arrive at 12:50 PM), switch to train to Venice
Day 9 : Venice
Day 10 : Venice
Day 11: train to Rome
Day 12: Rome
Day 13 : Rome
Day 14 : Rome

Think about what the most important places are for you, and what you wouldn't mind holding for a second trip. Slowing down the pace just a bit will give you time to see your biggest priorities in each place (especially in Rome), but also allow you to enjoy and not be on a mad dash.

PalenQ

www.thello.com for discounted tickets and regular tickets on the Thello overnight train Paris-Milan-Verona-Venice.

Pardish

Thanks guys ! It REALLY helped. I had put Milan just as a stopover but looking at the feedback,I'd cut down on Milan.
I had heard good things about NICE. Few say NICE would not be so nice in 2nd week of OCT and few say it would still be pretty as in Sept. So confused If I should include Nice or not ?

But for now my itinerary looks like this. (After Cutting down on Nice)

Day 1: we reach Paris. just a evening stroll and we retire to bed
Day 2 : Paris
Day 3 : Paris
Day 4: Paris
Day 5: Paris -> Loire / surronding. Any suggestions on places around Paris (one day trips). I am looking for old village with its rustic charm.Will Barge Cruise around Loire be good for 2nd week Oct ? iS castle in Loire and Winery a good choicee.I am getting mixed opinions. I am not too keen on Versailles.

Day 5 night : overnight train from Paris -> Venice.
Day 6 : venice
Day 7 : venice
Day 8: Venice -> Florence. preferably morning train so we reach Florence by noon. relax in the evening
Day 9: Florence (Pisa & Lucca) : will it be very hectic to cover Pisa & Luca in a day and then head back to Florence again
Day 10: Florence -> Siena/ Chianti. My prefernce is Siena though.
Day 11 : Tuscan town : I read it is difficult to catch a bus in these towns. Are rented bikes available easily ? or any other mode of transport around tuscan towns ? and is finding a decent B&B difficult in tuscan towns ? If so we would consider going back to florence in the evening
Day 12: Florence -> Rome : morning train so we reach Rome by 3-4 PM. Leisure walks in the street
day 13: Rome
Day 14: Rome. Late night 12'clock flight to head home



Kept two days for Tuscany :

PalenQ

I may drop a day from Venice and put it into Rome which is much larger and has many more individual sights that take up a lot of time - like the Colosseum and Forum and Vatican - each about a day for many.