I'm really torn about pre-planning day trips for our upcoming Paris/Rome trip. I'm usually not very good at setting any kind of a strict itinerary on trips, although this time I think I will do a better job than usual since we will have our kids along (teens) and they might not deal with down time as well as those of us who can just sit around and drink cafe or vino...

Anyway, what I'm wondering, is do you think it is OK to not pre-plan any day trips out of those cities and just see what we feel like doing? We will be travelling last 2 weeks in June, so I know it will be busy. Also, I've already spent a fortune on tours (Segway tour in Paris, two Context Rome tours in Rome) and if we do any trips it will be casual - get on a train (or something) and wing it. The day trips I'm thinking of would be a castle (Loire Valley) in Paris and either Pompeii, Ostia Antica, or Herculaneum in Rome. My concerns are available transportation, ease of snagging a tour guide on site if we feel like it, or whatever.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Hi wl,

You are already pre-planning.

I usually plan for a couple of daytrips.

For those that need reservations, I make them.

Sometimes we go, sometimes we don't.

My usual approach is to have all the information at hand for a couple of daytrips (train schedules, days places of interest are open or closed, some web pages on the sights we're considering)
The Steinbicker books "Daytrips---"
have great, compact information on daytrips from major European cities (Rome, Paris, etc) and he includes walking routes and small maps of the town centers. Or, you can get this info on-line from the various tourist offices.

Anyway, once armed with the information, I usually play it by ear unless the daytrip is a very important destination part of the trip.
I wait to see what the weather will be like, I wait to see how I'm doing on the must-see sightseeing in the city I'm in, and I wait to see what my fatigue and interest level is like after a couple of days in the city. I can understand that for families, the extra train fares, etc adds on a lot of expense.

Also, if fatigue or just comfort are factors, and if budget allows, you can always consider an organized bus tour with usually only a day or two's notice. There's nothing wrong, especially on long trip, with letting some experienced people plan and take care of your daytrip. If you end up feeling rushed, or not having seen everything you wanted, at least you will have seen some of it. The local tour companies have websites, and you can always email them to get details on their tours--as in, 'how much time would we actually have at the Pompeii excavation site?'

Can't comment on the Rome trips, but I do plan day trips on my vacations to the extent that I read up on a few options, decide which ones I might want to do, copy necessary material from a guidebook on that place to take with me, and have an idea of which days I might want to do it based on opening hours and other things I want to do.

That is planning for me. If you mean do I insist I will take a trip on a certain day no matter what, even if I don't feel like it on that day or it's a day trip involving a lot of outdoors walking and it's pouring rain -- no, I don't do that. I never buy train tickets for day trips in advance as they are always rather small in cost, and I don't hire guides myself, so that's not an issue. I use guidebooks or materials I've copied from web sites.

I think you've touched on an even more interesting aspect: whether or not those who plan to the max really stick to the proposed itinerary.

You get these wonderful trip reports about how we did this and we did that and some people read them and start feeling guilty about how they should have done this and done that.

One poster even lamented that after reading a trip report about a location they had visited there was this feeling that a lot of things had been "missed."

My advice: plan as much or as little; at least have some notion of what is there and interesting; and then just GO...have a place to stay, a general idea of what to go and see, and simply enjoy BEING THERE. If it feels like it is time for that daytrip..then do it; if not, hang out and contemplate!!

Great question,

Because we, Mr. Delvino & I, will be taking my mom & niece to Rome & Venice, and it is a repeat visit for us, I am "prepping" for possible day trips.

From Rome I know I'd like to visit Orvieto and have lunch at:
I Sette Consoli
Pzza Sant?Angelo 1A
phone/fax 011 39 0763 343911

(Ira....where is this once I take the funicular up?)

I've printed out the train schedule for the day we are planning our side trip, along with a potential trip to Florence. If we go to Florence (yea!), if we feal like hanging around Rome,that's good to. Its a preferred way to have choices at hand.

This time I've also planned an itenerary for each day, with area's of concentration and restaurants within each area that I want to visit. I know I've done more than before,but part of this is the feeling of responsibility to show mom & neice Rome & Venice and also to ensure that we have a better culinary experience than our first trip.

I figure I've done plenty of research, so it's best to document it in a plan. Then I don't have to bother "remembering it" while I'm playing in Italy and having del vino.

I pre-planned my one daytrip out of Paris, although I must admit it was StCirq who did all the legwork as it was she whom I was accompanying on that trip.

Next trip I plan to see Auvers-sur-Oise, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, although I've been *planning* to go for 4 years.

I make a list of what I want to see and try to group things in same general area together then I know whats where and go from there. Travel has to be flexible but this way your not runing back and forth acoss town.

My recommendation would be to gather all the necessary info on possible day trips, with the help and input of your teens, and then once you're there decide on how much you actually want to see. If any of you have "must sees" that involve the necessity of purchasing tickets in advance you can do that. I don't know your teens and what they liked to do, but when I was a teenager, sometimes I just wanted to hang out and watch tv at the hotel, read, shop or sleep -- especially after lots of running around on other days. I considered those days to be a real luxury. And if you have access to a beach on any of the day trips, even better (assuming they like the beach as much as I did back than)!