Naples to Paris to Barcelona in November

Old Sep 1st, 2014, 09:54 AM
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Naples to Paris to Barcelona in November

Greetings all,

My Fiance and I are getting married next week and are planing out honeymoon. We were orriginally planning on going next spring but we may be moving and starting new jobs so Spring may be too soon to put in for time off at the new jobs, That being said we were considering putting a rush on things and going this November. How is the overall experience traveling Europe in November? We would be flying into Naples and training through Venice, Switzerland, Paris and Barcelona (with maybe 1 or two other stops along the way). Basicaly I want to know if it is worth the money for our fist trip to europe and our one and only honeymoon to go in November. Any advice/feedback?
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Old Sep 1st, 2014, 10:05 AM
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Cities should not be a problem in that they offer indoor activities if the weather is bad. Switzerland might be questionable as it could be rainy and snowing at higher altitudes and cities like Zurich are less attractive than Naples, Venice, Paris and Barcelona for the tourist. I would drop Switzerland from the itinerary and fly from Venice to Paris.
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Old Sep 1st, 2014, 10:08 AM
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I'm not sure I would head to Switzerland in November because normally it can start to get rainy and then the views are not great. In Venice you should be sure not to book a hotel that is in or close to the San Marco area because that is the area that gets tidal flooding in November at times.

But otherwise, in the other places, you are just as like to get nice dry (if cool) weather and it doesn't really matter anyway because there is so much to do indoors. Bonus is that there a fewer tourists. I wouldn't hesitate to go. (And you can take as many honeymoons as you like, you know, especially with the same person!)
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Old Sep 1st, 2014, 10:18 AM
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You haven't told us how many nights you've planned to have for this trip, which makes it difficult to comment.

Given the month, I, too would drop Switzerland and then go with the weather, starting in Paris and moving south. How you get from 1 to the next depends, again, on how much time you have.

If there's time, I'd be inclined to fly from Paris to Barcelona, then train from Barcelona, along the south coast of France to Venice. Then train south from there. Fly into Paris, home from Naples or Rome.

There are any number of places to pause along the train route as you move through France and Italy. Given the season, you might like to stop when the weather is nice, move on when it isn't. That time of year you'll have no trouble finding accommodations so I wouldn't pre-book places along the train route.
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Old Sep 1st, 2014, 10:19 AM
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Thanks for the quick replies. The only reason we were considering Switzerland, namely Lausanne, was the fact that it is on the way when taking the rails from Venice to Paris. Based on my light research an unlimited rail pass seemed warranted. That being said, we intended on taking the train from Venice to Paris because there was an over night and we already had rail passes in the budget.
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Old Sep 1st, 2014, 10:25 AM
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@mmeperdu

That is sound advice. We were looking at about 10 days 9 nights. Giving us ample time for a day or two in each city. Orrignally we were going to take a med cruise but decided against it. We don't want to have to rush back to the boat if we are having a good time.

Language question:
I am fairly fluent in Spanish and with a little practice can be travel conversational in Italian and French. My only concern is communicating with employees and clerks regarding train usage. What's everyone else's experience with locals English proficiency in those careers?
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Old Sep 1st, 2014, 10:37 AM
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Language won't be a problem.

Nine nights is not "ample time" for what you'd like to do. With that in mind, fly into Paris, fly to Venice, drop Barcelona, then train where you'd like to go in Italy after Venice, fly home from there. Don't bother with a rail pass.

"A day or 2 in each city" would be doing your honeymoon a great disservice. Three nights in 3 cities would be short but better. Don't underestimate the chunk of time it takes to travel & resettle at each stop. 3 nights = 2 full days.
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Old Sep 1st, 2014, 10:58 AM
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Generally speaking, train is convenient for distances up to approximately 600 kms. or 400 miles. Once you consider the time spent going to/from airports, the time to check in and pick your luggage, the time spent waiting, train is faster than airplane. But as the distance grows, flying begins to become more convenient and less expensive. This is why in the last 10 years a lot of international trains were suppressed. You can go from Paris to Venice by train, but probably flying would be cheaper and faster.

As most people points out in all tourism forums, every time you change destination you spend the better part of a day packing, moving and unpacking. If you plan an overnight train just to spare a night in an hotel, well, you have to pack early in the morning, you do not have a place to rest in the afternoon, you have to sleep the night in a noisy place and then you arrive so early in the following morning that you have to wait the afternoon for an hotel room. It is a way to get something like jet lag without a jet and without a lag.

This is why it is better to see a smaller number of places but spend more time in each one.
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Old Sep 1st, 2014, 11:39 AM
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You will have to excuse my newbie approach. I originally thought I was going to have until march to plan this and now I am down to the wire. I will draw up a loose itinerary and run it by you guys to see what you think.
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Old Sep 1st, 2014, 12:57 PM
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re-arrange your trip and take the overnight ferry from near Florence and Genoa to Barcelona - get the honeymoon suite - someone just did a post on how nice the voyages and digs were. Fly into Paris - fly or take the overnight train to Venice (one of my friend's claims his first child was conceived on that night train!) - then train to Florence and Rome and ship over to Barcelona and fly home from there.

Get Paris out of the way first because it is farther north and can get colder as November slips by than the other warmer-weather places.

For lots of great info on trains (yes no railpass for you with your limited train trips) check out these IMO superb sources: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com. For train schedule use www.bahn.de/en - the German Railways online schedule portal and the easiest I've seen to use to get a fix on how long train trips will take, frequency of trains, etc.
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Old Sep 1st, 2014, 01:47 PM
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For trains, you should just learn to read certain words common on train boards and schedules and within stations, which isn't that difficult -- exit, entrance, departure, arrival, quay, stuff like that.
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Old Sep 2nd, 2014, 12:21 PM
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you should just learn to read certain words common>

not only words but universal pictograms - symbols used the same way in every country - like for luggage lockers, exits, commuter trains, trams, buses, taxis, information office, exchange bank, etc.
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