16 day France-Italy Trip Itinerary Help
 

Hi everyone....my wife and I will be celebrating our one year wedding anniversary in late April/early May 2016 by spending 16 days between France and Italy. Here is the proposed itinerary we have. Does this seem realistic with train rides/times, etc.? Should we skip Nice and do an extra day in Paris and fly from there directly to Venice? Is this the right amount of time in Florence/Venice? Would we have time to visit the Amalfi Coast during our time in Rome?

We are 30 years old and love food, sightseeing, wine, markets, shops, and culture. We are not huge art or museum buffs but would want to do the must-see ones. This is our first time ever visiting these countries. Any recommendations/thoughts are much appreciated!

Fri. April 15 – overnight flight arriving in Paris Saturday morning.

Sat. April 16 – Paris

Sun. April 17 – Paris

Mon. April 18 – Paris

Tues. April 19 – Paris

Wed. April 20 – early morning train train to Nice…arrive at lunch time)

Thurs. April 21 – Nice

Fri. April 22 – morning train to Venice....arrive late afternoon

Sat. April 23 – Venice

Sun. April 24 – ½ day Venice / train to Florence in afternoon

Mon. April 25 – Florence

Tues. April 26 – Florence

Wed. April 27 – train to Rome in morning

Thurs. April 28 – Rome

Fri. April 29 – Rome

Sat. April 30 – Rome

Sun. May 1 – Rome (Amalfi Coast trip??)

Mon. May 2 – fly home this morning

You are right. Skip Nice and add the time to Venice. You may even want to cut one day from Florence and add it to Venice (or Rome). A daytrip to Amalfi is not practical from Rome, by the way. As for timing, Paris in May is nicer than April. Also, north is cooler and south is hotter, so you may want to reverse the order of your trip.

Doing a day trip from Rome to the AC just isn;t realistic based on the distances and types of transit involved. The national train goes only as far as Naples and you then must take a local commuter train to Sorrento and from there a local bus (SITA) to the towns down the coast. So travel in each direction will be about 3.5 hours - 7 hours RT for just a few hours in the AC.

Separately, while the weather there can be expected to be pleasant it's not really swimming weather. Hotel pool usually don;t open until mid May and a beach resort off season is just not that exciting.

Alternatively you could take a car service from Rome to and fro - but several hundred euros each way. Or you could take a ferry from Sorrento down the coast - betting much better views of the charming small towns on the AC - but that time of year ferries will not run on a full schedule - so again travel time will be very long.

The time you have in Rome is limited and I would stick with that. Or if you want a day trip - do something much closer to Rome.

The train ride between Nice and Venice is extremely long. You would be very early in the season for Nice and, unless you are going to museums and cultural sights, the seaside prettiness just doesn't compare with the Amalfi, and it may be too cool to enjoy outdoor dining or suntanning. So consider instead going from Paris to Venice, then directly to the Amalfi coast (fast train to Naples + car transfer) then finishing up in Rome with a day trip to Florence if you feel like it. Given the way you describe your interests/travel pleasures, you can probably see the highlights of Florence in a day trip, and enjoy a swell lunch in the bargain.

May 1 is a holiday and a highly problematic day to be heading off to the Amalfi coast as a day trip from Rome. But the truth is it is just plain old problematic any day to do a day trip from Rome to the Amalfi coast. You'll spend hours in transit and at that time of year, the daylight hours are not long, ferries may not be running, train schedules mean you need to leave the coast fairly early to catch the last train. Florence is easier to do as a day trip.

Also, be aware that April 25 is a public holiday in Italy which can mean lots of traffic heading into popular tourist spots and beach spots. Book in advance. Bear in mind too that many museums in Florence and Rome close on Mondays.

Thanks everyone.....we actually decided to push the trip back one full week. so flying to Paris on April 22 and returning from Rome on May 9. Hopefully that will help us on weather front even a little bit. Any other suggestions for this time of year?

If pushing your trip back means you are still tempted to include Nice on the hope of nice weather, you might want to look at actual train times from Nice to Venice and think about the fact that you still might get rain at that time of year for the one full day you'll be there. (Summer doesn't start until mid-June that far north; Amalfi will most likely be a tad warmer in May, but it's a crapshoot. At least it is much prettier.)