Katya08
I think that with a bit of tweaking the list you showed above isn't as bad as some might suggest. It is true that you will be very busy. Often on this forum you will be told you're seeing WAY too much and you should spend a week in each city. Personally I don't agree and have planned 3 trips that were as busy as you mention above...and loved them all. It all depends on how you like to travel. As has been stated before, it is critical to carefully analyze each leg of travel so you aren't disappointed when your train or flight didn't leave you as much time as you thought it would to see the destination city. I do a spreadsheet with exact times of each travel leg so I know when I'll arrive and how much daylight is left.

I use google earth and virtually plan my entire trip (for me planning is half the fun) so that I know where I'll arrive in each city, where our hotel is, how far sightseeing sights are away from the hotel, etc. All of that will also help you understand how busy you'll be. Obviously I'm the organizer in the group.

One thought - twice we've flown into London and out of Rome because we found it saved us several hundred in taxes. It's cheaper to fly into London than out of. Make sure you're aware of the added charges to your tickets to figure this out.

If going by rail then in Switzerland I would strongly look at the Swiss Pass, which covers not only all the trains you indicate to take but also lake boats on Lake Lucerne (to me the best thing to do in Lucerne!) but also on the lakes that bookend Interlaken - and city buses and trams and also gives free entry to over 400 Swiss museums.

It Italy if going first class, which IME is much more relaxed for those on the trip of a lifetime - the Italy Railpass will probably also save you money if you want fully flexible travel - just showing up and taking any train anytime - otherwise book discounted by train-specific and in practice hard to change tickets well ahead of time as they are sold in limited numbers - use www.voyages-sncf.com to book cheap Switzerland to Paris tickets - if you have a Swiss Pass you can use it to go to Geneva, Basel, Lucerne or Bern or Zurich and then get whatever ticket to Paris is cheapest of all of those places with direct trains to Paris - if Geneva is considerably cheaper than say Zurich then use the Swiss Pass to go to Geneva, etc.

some great sites for oodles of great info on train in Italy and Switzerland IMO - www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com - latter site if great on telling about the online discount tickets that are good if you do not want spontaneity of flexibility to chose when to travel once there.

Katyaa08, I agree about resorts. I don't like to spend a lot of time in one because it's boring. But these places are not resorts. There are tons of things to see and do, and the variety is amazing, so you are wise to slow down so you can take advantage of what is there.

Alright-- Here is my revised Itinerary with days added. Question for you all: Should I take the third day from Florence and add it to London or Cinque Terre? Also on days I arrive to a city, approximately how long do you plan for travel from station to hotel, unpack/settle, do you ever site see that day or just relax and orient yourself?


April 27th 1505 Leave MSP
April 28: Arrive in Rome 0935
April 29: Rome
April 30: Rome
May 1: Rome
May 2: Day trip to Pompeii via tour
May 3: Florence
May 4: Florence
May 5: Florence
May 6: Pisa ¼ day, then train to La Spezia then Vernazza-Cinque Terre
May 7: Cinque Terre
May 8: Venice
May 9: Venice
May 10: Venice
May 11: Travel Day: Venice to Lucerne, Switzerland
May 12: Switzerland
May 13: Switzerland
May 14: Switzerland
May 15: Switzerland
May 16: Switzerland
May 17: Paris
May 18: Paris
May 19: Paris
May 20: Paris
May 21: Day trip to Versailles
May 22: London (take early chunnel 0700, arrive at 0830-2hr travel time)
May 23: London
May 24: London
May 25: Day trip via tour to Stonehenge/Bath/Windsor/Lacock
May 26: Arrive in US! Depart 1230 Arrive 1530

Thank you for the advice and reality checking. What are your thoughts on this revised version?

Looks good to me (I like busy trips) APART from:
May 6: what is going on there? Still seems way too busy even for me. I think you have to cut out your middle step as a bare minimum (although I don't really know Italy that well so feel free to tell me I'm wrong :p ).

AND

May 25. You cannot visit Stonehenge, Bath, Windsor and Lacock all in one day. One look at a map will tell you that. OR do you mean that you just want to visit one of these places but just haven't decided which one yet?

Some things in Rome may be closed on May 1. It's a holiday. Check also to see what's closed on April 29. That's a Monday.

Don't go to Pompeii on May 2 if rain is predicted. Very little of the excavated area is paved, and there is little shelter. It could be a sloppy mess.

Make reservations for what you want to see in Florence.

On May 6 you need to factor in the time needed to check and retrieve your luggage, walk or taxi back and forth to the Field of Miracles, and see the area. I don't know if your idea of a "1/4 day" is enough time. If you want to climb the Leaning Tower, you need a timed reservation and additional time to check in for that. Don't bring bags or backpacks because you'll just have to check those before entering the Tower.

May 8 will be a 'travel day' just like May 11. It will be 5-6 hours on the train plus time to get to your hotel in Venice. There may not be a morning departure from Vernazza.

You've removed the Amalfi Coast and Capri from your original schedule. The schedule looks good except for that day trip to Stonehenge, etc. With all the driving I don't think you'll have time to see much in Bath and that's too bad since it's a charming town.

You should add a day to London.

<< on days I arrive to a city, approximately how long do you plan for travel from station to hotel, unpack/settle, do you ever site see that day or just relax and orient yourself >>

The amount of time from the station to hotel depends on the city and your hotel location (we don't know where your hotels are) but I would allow a half hour (perhaps longer in Venice) and then another half hour to 45 minutes to unpack and freshen up. You don't have time to relax so you'd better get out and see the sights!! :)

When you ask about orienting yourself I think you're beginning to understand why short stays in cities are not good. It does take time to find your way around a new city.

The revised plan looks squeaky sweet to me - well done!

Just an observation, but have you made yourself exactly clear about what you will get from visiting Stonehenge? The way I understand it, you cannot get anywhere near the monument itself, only view it from a distance, but people get the wrong impression because the druids are allowed to get close a couple of times a year - like Midsummer - so they see pictures of people on-site. I only point this out because given you are on such a tight schedule, I wouldn't want you to spend time on something that might not live up to expectations. Bath is well worth it though.

Valerie: "<i>the way I understand it, you cannot get anywhere near the monument itself, </i>"

That really isn't so. There is a rope barrier but in places one is very near the Stones, in other parts of the loop walkway one is farther away. You certainly are not very far from the stones. Plus, there are 'Inner Access' visits (inexpensive through English Heritage, expensive through commercial tour companies).

katya08: While there are several companies that do Windsor/Stonehenge/Bath day coach tours - I wouldn't recommend them. You don't get long enough at any of the sites. I'd choose which <i>one</i> I wanted most and do that on your own. Bath by train, or Windsor by train, or Stonehenge (train to Salisbury, see the cathedral/city, local bus to Stonehenge, back to Salisbury and train to London)

> Here is my revised Itinerary with days added.

Much better! Still too rushed for my tastes - and I travel harder and faster than many - but it depends on what you want to see an experience. Perhaps I've missed it, but what are the things you hope to see and experience on this trip?

And have you checked to make sure that the things you want to see will be open on the days you'll be in these places?

> May 7: Cinque Terre
May 8: Venice

Does that mean you will be traveling from the Cinque Terre to Venice on the 8th?

> Should I take the third day from Florence and add it to London or Cinque Terre?

That depends on your interests. I wouldn't have given up any of my 5 days in Florence for any where else (and would love to have more time there). I only had about 5 days in London, and am definitely looking forward to returning to see more. One full day - with 2 nights - is enough to see the Cinque Terre if the weather on your day there is good and you are fit; if not, you'll see very little of it.

> on days I arrive to a city, approximately how long do you plan for travel from station to hotel, unpack/settle, do you ever site see that day or just relax and orient yourself?

That varies. It's whatever time it takes to get from the station to your lodging (including time to get from the train or airplane or whatever to wherever you need to be to get transportation to your lodging - and that can be a chunk of time) plus whatever time it takes to check in (and that varies with the hotel or B&B or whatever) and whatever time you need to feel ready to venture out (which will depend on whether you want to freshen up or unpack or get directions or information or need to find an ATM or whatever). And whatever time your husband needs.

And don't forget that it takes time to leave a place - you need to pack, check out, get to the train station (or wherever) in plenty of time, figure out where you need to be and get there, perhaps clear one or more security checks....

For the destinations you are contemplating, I would think you would need to block out at least 2 or 3 hours for each arrival AND each departure - depending on the things I mentioned above. If they take less time, great. I personally wouldn't count on less time for these particular transitions unless I had a really good reason for doing so.

And BTW, I generally find these transitions the worst moments of any trip I have taken. They can be frustrating and tiresome and stressful and disorienting. I learned to expect to be in a terrible mood by the time I settled into a new location. Thankfully, I also learned to expect to rediscover the joy of travel an hour or so after I'd settled in.

So you might have time to explore once you've made it to your next destination. Or you might only have time to collapse.

All your destinations offer far more than you can see in the time you've allotted. I encourage you to think about how much time your are willing to devote to what could be some of your worst travel moments in your effort to skim the surface of some of Europe's great destinations.

Looking more into the days tours, I don't want to do that anymore. Is there a way to get to Bath, Lacock ( really want to see the Abbey there) and Stonehenge by public transportation from London?

I am guessing it is fairly easy to get to Windsor Castle from London via public transport, which train would I take?

Is there a good website for booking/looking at train schedules in London?

Thank you!

So I decided to add another additional 2 days. How does this itinerary look to you all now?

April 25th 1505 Leave MSP
April 26: Arrive in Rome 0935
April 27: Rome
April 28: Rome
April 29: Rome
April 30: Day trip to Pompeii via tour
May 1: Florence
May 2: Florence
May 3: Florence
May 4: Pisa 1/2 day, then train to La Spezia then Vernazza-Cinque Terre
May 5: Cinque Terre
May 6: Venice
May 7: Venice
May 8: Venice
May 9: Travel Day: Venice to Lucerne, Switzerland
May 10: Switzerland
May 11: Switzerland
May 12: Switzerland
May 13: Switzerland
May 14: Switzerland (travel to Paris on evening train)
May 15: Paris
May 16: Paris
May 17: Paris
May 18: Paris
May 19: Day trip to Versailles
May 20: London (take early chunnel 0700, arrive at 0830-2hr travel time)
May 21: London
May 22: London (1/2 day at Windsor Castle)
May 23: London
May 24: Salisbury & Stonehenge (either stay in Salisbury or travel on to Bath for night)
May 25: Bath & Lacock (stay in bath;train to airport early AM)
May 26: Arrive in US! Depart 1230 Arrive 1530

Thank you for your input!

I may take one day from Florence and add it to Switzerland, which is fine by me, but am going to do more research into it. Thanks again!

Check out www.walks.com for great day tours...and yes you can get to all those places by train and bus. Www.nationalrail.com will help you out with trains

for a railpass look strongly at rhe 3-country Eurail Select Saverpass - valid on trains in Italy, Switzerland and France. More info check out these sites - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com (click on this site's commercial link to Rail Europe for current prices and if booking Man in Seat 61 gets a deserved cut of the commission from Rail Europe!

Thank you PalenQ I will look into that!