Do these work together?
 

First time trip to Europe for 14 year old daughter and she really would like to visit Italy. My wife and 25 year old son are set on Austria, Hungary and Czech. We have 14+- days in June or July 2006. Can we reasonably fly into Rome, visit Rome & Tuscany, train to Salzburg, Vienna, Prauge and Budapest and train back to Rome?Fly back to Rome? Return to US from Prauge? I am thinking around 2 nights at each location.Will I find a reasonable train pass for these 4 countries? Any idea appreciated. Thanks!!

It's a little much. You might be able to do Rome, Venice, Vienna, Prague in that time.Remember that you have to count on a day being lost in travel between each city. Maybe a compromise is possible: land in Munich and rent a car to go to Salzburg, Vienna, Venice, the Italian Lake region and back to Munich. I suggest Munich because I believe that car rental prices would be lower there. But such a trip could start in Milan, and follow this order: Milan, Lake Como, Salzburg (with maybe an overnight in Innsbruck), Vienna, Venice, Milan.

Without question you should do an open jaws itinerary, e.g., fly into Rome and out of Munich. I agree with Michael in that adding the Czech Republic would be too much.

There's no way you can cover that much territory and see much more than a lot of airports and train stations. You need to cut at least one city out of the itinerary - preferably two - and do an open jaws flight (saves a full day getting back to the arrival city).

Two nights at each location is fairly useless - because that will give you only one day in each place - since travel from one to another will take essentaily a whole day (even if the train is only 4 hours or so - you have to check out of the hotel, get to the station early, maneuver off at the other end, find transport, get into your hotel and at least get oriented to where you are in town. And having four people makes it all more time-consuming/complicated than just one or two.

For the cities/areas you have picked I would never do less than 4 days (3 nights each) in order to actually see anything.

Hi H,

Your daughter is wise beyond her years.

((I))

I think some of this depends on the city. I diagree that Salzburg takes there or four days/nights to "see"..sorry but having been there three times that is MY opinion. And for this trip I think you could eliminate it entirely.

Ditto with either Vienna or Budapest..pick one or drop both and see Prague.

BEST solution..do them all but do them in different trips unless you are willing to spend jillions on airfares during this one!!!

You should definity try to get an open jaws ticket.

Austria and Czech are somewhat similiar(I haven't been to Hungary but I assume it would also be similair) to each other and quite different from Italy. So a nice mix would be to do some of each, but I would think that might mean you'd want to skip some of the non Italy cities. You could also conisder starting in either Florence or Venice instead of Rome/Tuscany as they are still wonderful parts of Italy but closer to your other destinations.

I would probably do something like this:
Fly into Florence (3 nights, could do day trip to Siena, or do 4 nights and add another day trip to another smaller Tuscan town)

train to Venice (less than 3 hours) spend 3 nights

train to Salzburg (2 nights)

train to Prague (3-4 nights)

I think that leaves you with a couple more nights, and if you could add another couple (15 or 16 total nights) you could then add in either Viena or Budapest, but probably not both. Fly home from your last destination.

I think you could conceivably do what you propose but it would not be pretty... way too much time and money spent on trains, in taxis, to and from airports and train stations, checking in and out of hotels.

Definitely fly with an "open jaw" ticket in and out of different cities (backtracking all the way to Rome just for a departure flight makes no sense and is certainly not necessary).

If your daughter would be happy with Venice for her taste of Italy that would be ideal and much better located than Rome with the other places you want to see.

Then propose your wife and son each pick one country/two cities max?

There you have your 3-5 places to see in 14 days which I believe that is a much more reasonable plan.

Thanks to all of you - I have lots to think about. Now, If I can only get my family together to discuss the options. I will be back for more suggestions in a few days.

Hi
The cities in Italy will be especially crowded in summer (ditto Prague) so I'd go as early in June as possible.
There are relatively few non-stop flights from Prague back to the US; you might want to fly home from a larger European hub.

Whatever you do, don't waste precious time by backtracking back to the city you first flew into.

For a compromise, pick two cities in Italy, then add on Salzburg and Vienna, or else Prague and Budapest.
From northern Italy you can get trains into Switzerland and from there into Austria, and the legs won't be as long as say, Italy to Prague by train which is a really long ride.

Please don't plan a trip that has two nights at each location. It's a seen-it, done-it experience, and not at all worth all the travel time, the wear and tear, the packing and unpacking, etc.

I wouldn't necessarily include Rome on this trip myself. I went to Italy twice before I finally made it to Rome on the 3rd trip, and I had no regrets.
Rome is demanding and hectic and deserves 4-5 days at least to appreciate it imo. If you stay in more northern Italy, Florence and Venice, or Venice and the Lakes, you will again be reducing travel time.

You can absolutely fit that in! I've personally done it. I'm going to put in the disclaimer that it is a tiring trip and is definitely not a relaxing vacation of leisure, but if you want to do it as a whirlwind tour, go for it.
And you will not end up wasting all of your time at airports and stations. Nor do you have to count on losing a day to travel for all of the locations. Again, a disclaimer, if you're willing to take overnight trains it can really add time to your trip. They aren't too bad if you reserve a sleeper car, but you typically need to do that ahead of time.
Unlimited train passes for those areas can be bought. But I would recommend buying a "select pass." (good rail source www.eurail.com). You should be able to get a three country pass for Italy, Austria, and Hungary and you can buy a one way extenstion pass, pretty inexpensively from Vienna, but probably other cities as well when you finalize your itinerary.
If you were to drop something off, I would personally knock off Budapest. I would keep Prague, it is one of my favorite cities in the world! I would actually keep Prague up there right after Rome and knock off Budapest and Salzburg before Prague.
If you want to see all of the places, think of it as seeing the HIGHLIGHTS of places. You wouldn't see EVERYTHING in a city if you spent a month in each one. Choose what you want to see in every city and then evaluate how much time you think you will need there. All of our suggestions are just suggestions and what we recommend, as you can see they are wildly different.
Don't forget that you may just have to go back for a second trip, but then you'll know where you want to spend more time.

but Meg, did you do that trip with two teenages in tow? I believe that necessarily effects the pace and planning of the itinerary.

As others have said, you might want to cut out a city or two. Vienna can certainly be seen in four days . . . don't know the eastern cities. Rome can absorb any amount of time, but four or five days is fair for a start. That leaves a few extra days for Venice or Florence.

You might want to reverse your intinerary and end your trip in Rome. Other countries can be disappointing after Italy.

My suggestion would be that you have your family members write down just what they want to see, not necessarily where. For example, if some want to go to Austria to see mountains, perhaps you could accomodate all by seeing northern Italy and the lakes district. In Tuscany, do you want to see the countryside, or Florence? Do you have family or ancestors in some areas?

Once you have a firm picture of just what everyone wants to see, you will be in a better position to plan an itinerary.

Other suggestions would be to lengthen the visit, or split it into two trips. Airline fares are, in the historical context, extremely low now, which makes taking two trips more feasable than it would have been years ago.

I am of the camp that would not recommend as many destinations as you have listed in so short a time. If you just want to say you were in x country, you needn't even leave the airport; but if you want to experience the culture and food of a place, you have to spend more than a few hours there.

Reading your post, I rememeber when I was 14 my parents were planning a trip for us to Greece to visit family. I begged, and I mean begged, my parents to make a stop in London. My parents agreed to stretch the budget and plan a 2 day layover in London. This was before the internet, my parents booked a hotel near the Heathrow. We took a shuttle into London, then did a bus tour. We got lost couldn't find our way back. It was frustrating for them and me, we were lugging around my 7 year old brother and sister. My dream of London was a nightmare. I left London thinking it was a horrible city.

This past May, I had the opportunity to revisit London as an adult. What an amazing city! I can't wait to go back.

My point is, there are many years for your daughter to visit Italy and really appreciate it. I may be way off in saying this, but I think you should plan a less exhaustive trip, and leave Italy for another time.