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5 1/2 week Europe Itinerary- please comment on our proposed plan!

5 1/2 week Europe Itinerary- please comment on our proposed plan!

Old Dec 14th, 2012, 05:13 AM
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5 1/2 week Europe Itinerary- please comment on our proposed plan!

Hello again Fodorites

We have been trying to condense our 6 week itinerary which flys into Paris and Out of Paris into something not so hectic and would appreciate feedback on the pace of the itinerary. nothing besides to Perth (Australia) to Paris has been booked. We are interested in food, mountains, beautiful scenery.

france leg:
4th July, Arrive early morning in Paris. 2 nights paris
6th July, Paris to Marseille via TGV. Pick up car, 1 night in the St Tropez area, 3 nights in Nice area. 10 and 11th near Verdon Gorge, 12th- drive to Aix en provence, drop off car and catch train to Lyon. 1 night in Lyon for next days flight to Prague with esyjet

Austria leg:
Prague- 13, 14, 15 july
train Prague to Munich 16, 17, 18 july with day trip to Some castles OR to Dachau
19, 20- Salzburg
21, 22,23- hiking and walkin in the mountains somewhere i.e Salzkammergut region . day trip to Hallstat ?
24- Vienna (we aren't that interested in Vienna to be honest based on what other young people have told us about the city but need to fly from there to Rome. )
25th Vienna to Rome by direct budget flight.

Italy and Greece Leg:
25th, 26th, 27th Rome
28th Flight Rome to Athens
28th, 29th, 30th- Athens
31st- 3rd Aug- Santorini
4th August- Direct Flight to Naples
4th- 8th August- 4 nights in Sorrento for friends wedding.
Naples to Paris 9th August, Paris home to Perth.

Too full on still? we also wanted to visit Croatia as well but had to cut it out! we are 25 and 28 and whilst we like "Active" itineraries, we don't want to be too exhausted to enjoy it so would love the more feedback the better.

thank you! again!
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Old Dec 14th, 2012, 05:47 AM
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If it were my trip I'd eliminate Austria/Prague and slow down, continue to Italy from the south of France. Greece after Italy and fly home from there. There seems to me to be wasted time and effort moving around and backtracking. Staying in fewer places and adding day trips usually makes for an all-around better experience.
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Old Dec 14th, 2012, 06:35 AM
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The Greece portion of your trip looks fine. Flights between Italy and Greece take about 2 hrs. If you want a Greek ferry experience use Blue Star, which takes about 8 hrs from Piraeus to Santorini. Don't be tempnted to use Superjet, which is quicker but has only inside seating in a cramped cabin. If you are in a hurry to get to Santorini, flights from Athens are less than an hour.
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Old Dec 14th, 2012, 08:41 AM
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I think the whole trip looks "OK". Eight home bases for 5-1/2 weeks is not at THAT unreasonable though it is a "bit" much.

You "might" want to consider dropping Salzburg and Vienna and just flying direct from Munich to Naples on Lufthansa, AirBerlin or Air Dolomiti.

You could even add one of your "saved" days to Munich and easily do Salzburg (which is SMALL) as a long day trip from Munich. The train ride is less than 2 hours.
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Old Dec 14th, 2012, 09:34 AM
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This is subjective, and perhaps you've posted elsewhere that you've been to Paris before, but my own taste would be to skip the French Riviera, unless you have specific museums you want to see in Nice or Marseilles. I would probably extend my time in Paris a bit, take the train to Aix-en-Provence, pick up the car, drive to the gorge, and then drive the car to Lyon.
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Old Dec 14th, 2012, 09:37 AM
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Maybe I should explain the reason I would do that is that without any specific cultural itinerary, the French Riviera is just a clubby, expensive beach in July, with huge condo-accommodations. Since the rest of the trip includes plenty of scenic and atmospheric seaside stays, I'd want to use my time in France to see some more interesting parts of France where my food and wine budget would go further.
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Old Dec 14th, 2012, 08:10 PM
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Hello everyone
thank you for your feedback!!
MMePerdu- travelling down to Italy from Nice would make sense however we have been to Italy many times (my husband was born there) and would like to only go to Rome to see one of his relatives (and of Course to Naples and Sorrento for the Wedding)

Eurotravelplan- its interesting to hear your comments on The Cote d'azur in July. Its always been a wish of mine to visit the riviera but I have been warned I may not get the experience I want in July. we won't want to sit on beaches, if anything do a sceinic walk somewhere down to a pretty grotto or small beach (if they exist). We could focus our visit on the Nice hinterland and visiting the backroads of provence.

Bardo1- It would make sense to fly from Munich and skip Vienna if we don't want to visit it particularly but I couldn't find direct flights from Munich, salzburg or Innsbruck to Rome and we need to go to Rome to visit my husbands family for a few days. if you know of any direct flights that would be awesome!!

thanks again to everyone!!
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Old Dec 14th, 2012, 08:38 PM
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correction: I can't find direct Munich to Rome flights that are cheap. Alitalia has flights but they are over $150 pp whereas Vienna to Rome was on'y $63 with "Niki", I don't know if luggage is extra though.

also, we chose these destinations for the variety of scenery i.e coast and mountains . We have stayed 5 nights in Paris before and 5 nights in the Perigord regions in France.
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Old Dec 14th, 2012, 11:02 PM
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Adamore, are you quoting prices in Aussie $ or in euros?
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Old Dec 14th, 2012, 11:15 PM
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Not trying to be unpleasant, just wondering why you ask for comments if you have good reasons for leaving your itinerary as it is. That's a rhetorical question, thinking on the page, no explanations necessary.
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Old Dec 15th, 2012, 02:52 AM
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If your quoted prices are in euros, the €63 goes up to €88 after charges. I'm assuming "Niki" means Lauda Air, which is now under the Austrian Airlines umbrella. If you want to see Vienna, fine, but it doesn't seem worthwhile to change your itinerary just to get a cheaper airfare. Since in your OP you stated "we aren't that interested in Vienna to be honest...", then you should probably stick with Munich.

It's many years since I've been to Provence, but the area is beautiful. I also loved the Ardeche River, especially around http://wildswim.com/pont-darc-ardeche. There is also Nimes, Pont du Gard, etc. The Cote d'Azure does get crowded in high season, and I wouldn't want to spend too much time on the coast, but a quick look around Nice & Monaco would be fun.
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Old Dec 17th, 2012, 04:45 AM
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hello again
the prices were showing up in Skyscanner in AUD however I don't know if there were extra charges for lugage.
MMePerdu- it seems like I have made up my mind but i'm just trying to explain why we chose the places we did and get an idea if it is feasible.

I found a flight from nICE TO Basel in switzerland where I thought we could possibly do this:
- 13th July- Nice to Basel, train to Freiburg.
- 13, 14 july- freiburg for black forrest
- 15 July- Fussen for Neiwenstein castle (sorry about the spelling but you know what i mean!)
- 16, 17, July- Munich and drop off car.
- 18, 19 Salzburg (train from Munich)
- 20, 21 Hallsatt (train from salzburg) for country walking
- 22nd train Salzbur to Praugue 22, 23, 24th Prague
- 25th Prague to Rome

still a lot of Kms and I don't know how sceinic the south of germany will be- the stretch between Freiburg and Munich is 500km (with a stop near fussen)

what do you think?

p.s Been to the cinque terre- LOVED IT! been to That area of provence, but i've heard that villages like Eze and St Paul de vence inland from the Cote d'azur are lovely too
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Old Dec 17th, 2012, 02:39 PM
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I wouldn't bother with the Black Forest. It's fine, and Freiburg's a charming enough small city. But the area is a little overhyped in the tourist imagination. My suggestion would be to spend more time in Munich, from which it's an easy day trip to go hiking - from river trails to the Alps. That way you get to stay put for a little while longer in the same hotel, too.

Also add more time to your Austrian locations: 1 full day each is not enough to guarantee good hiking weather, much less take in the sights of the towns.

Judging from your other post also, you're still doing a lot of unnecessary flying. What about this order

Paris
train to Nice
fly SmartWings or Czech to Prague
train to Salzburg & Halstatt
train to Munich
fly Condor to Santorini
Santorini to Rome
train to Naples
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Old Dec 17th, 2012, 04:36 PM
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Thanks ill check out prices for those flights
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Old Dec 18th, 2012, 06:52 PM
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How much money would you actually save by spending money to get to Vienna before taking a flight to Rome instead to from Munich? The difference in plane fares is about $85. Is is worth it to lose a day going to Vienna? What is the cost of that leg of the trip? Maybe you should just take the direct flight and be done with it.
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