Dtaggs

I am from Philadelphia and am planning a trip to Europe. I was thinking to visit Venice, Florence/Tuscany/Pisa, Cinque Terre, and then traveling to Nice France. I am going for 10-11 days.
1. flying in and out
2. Traveling by train: should I buy a pass or wait until I get there? How far in advance should I buy the tix if so? Is Cinque Terre to Nice a long travel time?
3. Nightlife/restaurants: I am not the historical type, although cannot wait to see everything but will not be spending a lot of time in churches or museums.
4. any other recommendations
5. Stay: Hostels/Hotels/B&B: more bang for the buck for short staying, i dont really plan on spending much time in the room
6. Any other places you recommend?
7. Am I am craming to many places in this short stay toEurope? I figured Florence would be a 1 day stay and Pisa is just a stop in between trains.

HELP....I need everything

Delaine

Your post is noted as a trip report (the little orange book); you will probably get more responses if you change the posting.

If you are not interested in churches or museums, what do you want to see? That information would be helpful for recommendations.

fmpden

First -- what time of year?

Second -- Have you considered an open jaw ticket

Third -- Reduce your schedule by half or double your time.

Fourth -- Europe is full of churches, cathedrals, museums, history -- why go if these things are not an interest to you? Skip Florance, all it is is history and museums.

Fifth -- Railroad pass generally are not a good deal anymore unless you are doing a lot of long distance travel.

Dtaggs

Dont get me wrong, love to walk around and sight see just wont spend hrs at one place. And why go? Because it is Italy and I am sure there are other things to do and experience other then sitting in a church and looking at art.

I am going Oct 20th

What is an open jaw ticket?

ellenem

open jaw ticket = multi-city ticket . . . in your case, flying from home to Venice, doing all your traveling, and flying home from Nice.

Train from CT to Nice will be 5-7 hours depending on type of train and connections

nytraveler

Agree that you have way too many places for the very few days. You will spend a lot of time just sitting on a train going from one place to another.

Open-jaw tickets is the way to go - but I assume you have tickets already. If not - better move quickly if you want specific dates.

I can;t reco what to do see - since I want to see every church and museum there is - that's one of the reasons I love Europe. If you would prefer to see/do other things - Roman ruins, hiking, visiting wineries, visiting castles - then you would be better off with a different type of itinerary.

Suggest you quickly get a guidebook and read it - otherwise you may be disappointed in Venice and Florence. (And you don't sit in a museum and look at a work of art - it is way too crowded and there are way too many hundreds of works to look at for sitting to be realistic.

But it you don;t like Renaissance or earlier art or architecture not sure these places are for you. You might be happier doing a tour of Rhine Castles and route de vin wineries, for example.

sam86

"I am not the historical type, although cannot wait to see everything but will not be spending a lot of time in churches or museums."

I don't understand. Do you mean that you would want to see the really major stuff?

Most people interested in nightlife end up in Amsterdam, Paris, London as far as I know. If that is your interest, I imagine you wouldn't want to go to smaller towns in Tuscany. If you're going to Nice, consider Monaco, maybe Barcelona.

Florence - 1 day is fine if you just want to see the way it looks on the outside. Same for Venice.

portiaperu

"Venice, Florence/Tuscany/Pisa, Cinque Terre, and then traveling to Nice France. I am going for 10-11 days."

As others have written, this is a busy itinerary for 10-11 days.

Take a look at the time involved in traveling from Venice to Florence and then on to Nice. You'll be using a significant amount of time traveling from one place to another. If you are satisfied with a brief look about a place between a train from here and another to there (see your comment re Pisa), you can certainly "see" the places you've listed. In fact you can allow for two hours in Pisa on a day trip from Florence to Cinque Terre and visit the tower.

There's certainly much beauty beyond museums and churches.

What are your interests?

Your post mixes a statement about restaurants and nightlife with museums, churches, and history - I think you may have left something out (?)

Take a look at a variety of travel guides - each has a target audience:

Here are a few websites to get your started:

Lonely Planet Italy
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy?hhAb=v1

Let's Go Italy
http://www.letsgo.com/20-europe-travel-guides-italy-d

Rough Guide Italy
http://www.roughguides.com/travel/europe/italy.aspx

portiaperu

France, I forgot France! These websites will have links to pages on France as well.

jubilada

It seems like you may have picked some destinations that have familiar names, but are not sure of what there will be for you to see/do in each. I urge you to follow above advice, look at some good guide books and see what capture your imagination. I'd suggest reading the Michelin green guide to Italy cover to cover as it very thoroughly covers places which may appeal and which you have never heard of. Enjoy the hunt!

charnees

BTW, you can start in your local library if you don't want to spend money on a guide ar first. see what interests you in the general guide to Italy and then maybe buy one that is targeted to the area that you like. I don't think the Michelin green guide is right for you because it's heavily focused on history and art. Try Rick Steves to start with.

Then come back with more questions.

and either double your time or cut out something from your itinerary.

SeeDee

Okay, it's a busy schedule but I think it might suit your open mind on exploring by moving between destinations and seeing what happens. You will have plenty of time to study your guidebooks as there will be a good few hours spent on Trenitalia. I have found their service quite good on timekeeping and fares are not expensive. I can see no need to commit yourself to prebooking but you can always buy your onward ticket on arrival at a particular destination.

Two nights in Venice would give you a full day in the city to travel up the main canal on the water bus, see St Mark's Square and ramble around the maze of alleyways. Eveninglife rather than nightlife is more the norm in most Italian cities I've been to, so late night venues may not be particularly plentiful.
Two further nights in Florence would again give you time to view the main attractions (from the outside at least) although you might try to see the original statue of David in the Accademia.
Siena is a relatively short hop from Florence and would be worth an overnight stay.
Leaving Siena in the morning would leave you plenty of time to take the few hours break in Pisa needed to tick the Leaning Tower off your list and proceed to Monterosso al Mare.
Two more nights here would leave you a day to explore as many of the five towns as you can, combining walking with the local train service.
The regional train service can get you directly from Monterosso to Ventimiglia (not especially quickly but without changing train). You could opt to try for a more rapid Genoa to Ventimiglia leg of the journey by studying the timetables but I wouldn't bother.
Ventimiglia is on the Italy/France border and relatively close to Nice. There is currently rail tunnel works going on near Monaco which involves having to change trains (and waiting) at Monaco station. The Monterosso-Nice leg of your journey could eat up 5-6 hours of your time at least.

bobthenavigator

In your time pick 3 destinations---max.

Dtaggs

thank you see dee your post was very helpfull!! And i appreciate your willingness to help me out and give me tips rather than everyone else being judgemental...haha

mamcalice

As almost everyone recommends, pick 3 destinations. Stay in Italy, Nice is nice but not worth the rushing to fit it in. How about flying into Venice and out of Pisa. If you have 10 full days for sightseeing (not including flying days), spend 3 days in Venice, 4 in Florence with a day trip to the Tuscan countryside, and 3 in CT. Arrive in Pisa the afternoon before your flight to see the Duomo and leaning tower.

sam86

Dtaggs - the whole point of everyone being "judgemental" is to help you plan the trip that best suits your interests.

If you decide to go to Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Venice (assuming that you decide to stick to three or four destinations, as mamcalice suggests above), then just be sure that what these places have to offer is what you want out of your vacation.

For Florence - check bedinflorence (just google for the website).

For trains, PalenQ is in my opinion the best person to ask. If you are under 26, you can get discounts. The decision on a rail pass comes down to how much you are going to be moving around. The best way is to look up point to point ticket prices, add them up for each trip you will be making, and compare them to a rail pass.

Check http://www.bahn.de/p/view/index.shtml
or the Trenitalia website for schedules, prices.

Enjoy planning your trip!

Mimar

OK, 2 nights in Venice, 2 nights in Florence (or maybe 3 if you want to do a daytrip into the Tuscan countryside), pause at Pisa en route to the CT, 2 nights in the CT, 3 nights in Nice (your best bet for nightlife).

That leaves 1 or 2 days over. Add another night to Venice to help you get over jet lag; there's plenty to see in Venice even if you omit all museums and churches. In a pinch you could take a water bus to Burano, the most colorful of islands in the Venetian lagoon, or to the Lido, a long barrier island with Venice's beach. (But don't stay on the Lido; it has cars, and you lose the true Venice experience.)

Wait until you get to Italy to buy your train tickets. The Italian train site won't accept American credit cards. And RailEurope adds a surcharge. Once in Venice, you can buy all your train tickets, either at the train station or at a travel agency displaying the Trenitalia logo.