Hi everyone,

I'm hoping the France and Italy travel experts out there can help me with a few questions about my planned trip to Europe in July 2015.

I'm flying with a friend into Barcelona from Australia on July 4 and we will spend a few days there before heading over (probably by train) to San Sebastian. From there I hope to head to the Pyrenees to watch a stage of the Tour de France (July 14 at La Pierre St Martin) but I am having trouble with the details of this bit. Specifically, to watch this stage of the Tour leave from Tarbes and head to the mountain finish, I am wondering if anyone could recommend the best vantage point and where to stay to easily access the Tour passing through. As we will be coming by bus from San Seb I would also like to know logistics like getting food for the few days (so location of accommodation would ideally be close to a supermarket and the stage! But we would hire a bike and ride in this area too, so can access shops that way - as long as getting to the bike hire is close by enough to walk or get a local bus!) I realise this is quite specific so hopefully someone can help!

From the Pyrenees we would head to Paris, which I realise is a 6hr+ trip by train via Bordeaux. We would then spend about four days in Paris before heading (again by train) to Chamonix.

From there we want to head to the Cinque Terre, which appears to be another longish day travel, spend about four days there, and then go to Tuscany, again four about four or five days and then head to Rome also for about four days. We would leave Chamonix on July 26 and spend that day travelling, then have from 27-30 July in CT, travel on July 31, and spend from August 1-4 in Tuscany, travel to Rome on August 5 and then I fly to London on July 9.

I realise this is a fair bit of ground but I have tried to account for travel days.

Thanks!

It all depends on what YOU want to see and experience, but FWIW, 4 days is a LOT of time for the Cinque Terre. It is not much time for Paris or Rome.

Hope that helps!

Thanks kja,

I guess I prefer the great outdoors and the world's natural beauty, but having said that Paris is one of the places I am most excited about seeing as this will be my first trip to Europe. Would four days be enough each for Tuscany and Chamonix? Perhaps I will cut one CT day and stay longer in Paris.

I haven't been to Chamonix yet, and the only place I visited in Tuscany was Florence, where I found 5 full days too little for MY interests. As I said, it really depends on what YOU want to see and experience.

OK - so the CT are 5 tiny villages on the coast with a bunch of hiking trails. So - unless you want to do a LOT of walking IMHO 2 days is more than enough for anyone.

I think Paris and Rome - for a first trip - each need 5 days (6 nights) to get a good overview - possibly with a day trip to the countryside thrown in.

IMHO on a scale of 1 to 10 - Rome and Paris are tens and the CT is about a 2.

Thanks Kja, yes it is a fine line between advice and opinion as the latter will always be subjective but there are some things which just come down to good ideas and bad I guess!

OK, then yes, IN GENERAL, I think cutting <u>at least</u> one day from the Cinque Terre and adding it to Paris makes sense. You might even want to consider further adjustments. For example, you might want to consider skipping one destination entirely, so that you can use that time to more fully enjoy the places you do visit. Your call!

At least you knew to set aside time for travel -- and many novice travelers don't, so kudos!

Thanks kja and nytraveler,

Yes I have done some travel - just not to Europe. But learned the hard way after packing wayyyyyy too much into just two weeks in Canada a few years ago. To be fair to myself, I let my then partner organise it and while it ended up being amazing, there were so many basic things he didn't think about - like how long it takes to get to places!! Suffice to say he is an ex ... ha ha ...

OK so I will revisit and spend more time in Paris for sure. I love the mountains though (hence found Canada amazing) and the natural environment in general ...

Also - I am definitely after advice on the bit in the Pyrenees, in terms of where to stay to access easily the TdF when it is at La Pierre St Martin, but also be able to access shops for food etc on foot/bike. We plan about three nights here, so two full days.

Hi everyone,

Hoping someone who reads this can give me some advice on my questions about the Pyrenees?

Thanks ��

A great many of the trails in the Cinque Terre are closed right now because of the risk of landslides; the Ligurian coast has taken a terrible battering from autumn storms this year. Virtually all of the lower trails (near sea level) are closed. The higher trails mostly require some hiking expertise. Of course, things may change by this summer, but some of the lower trails have been closed since 2011, when there were severe storms and flooding.

Here is the trail map of the Cinque Terre:

http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/s...sp?id_lingue=2

I would keep an eye on it and leave your itinerary flexible until late in the spring. I really can't imagine spending more than a day in the Cinque Terre unless you're avid hikers. The towns themselves are sinking under the weight of tourists during the high season, which is about seven months long. You might want to consider other towns on the Ligurian coast if you're interested in scenery and good food, but not necessarily hiking.

The trip from Chamonix to Monterosso (the most accessible Cinque Terre town from Milan) takes about 11 hours and involves four or five changes of train. If you miss even one connection, you may not be able to make the trip in one day. Also, you'd better pack very light, because changing trains with a lot of luggage is pure hell.

For train travel in France and Italy you may be doing enough trains long enough to look at the France-Italy Eurailpass, obviously valid on nearly all trains in each country and no pre-booking weeks in advance needed (though requisite seat reservations must be made prior to boarding the train) or go to www.voyagfes-sncf.com or www.capitainetrain.com for prices of individual tickets, including discounts, which however are sold in limited numbers and typically must be booked weeks in advance to guarantee and then I believe are non-changeable non-refundble.

Ditto for Italy - www.trenitalia.com is a site for advance discounts.

Weigh the cost of a series of discounted tickets, if you can get them, vs the flexibility of the pass that lets you wait until Europe to decide which trains to take when. (Like bvience mentions keeping a flexible itineray with the Cinque Terre) - anyway for lots of good info on European trains check these IMO superb sources: www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com (download their free online European Planning & Rail Guide for lots of train itineraries in each country) and www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets.
And folks like bvienci who posts above have proven to be invaluable sources too for any train-related question for Italy - and others too.

Thanks bvlenci and PalenQ. I think it may be best to keep the itinerary flexible until we are there, and that way can make decisions based on what is easiest, most logical at the time.

However, I would really like to organise the Pyrenees aspect in advance given the Tour de France will be on and that is the reason I am going there.