European itinerary help needed
 

We plan on a month in Europe May 2009. We have a timeshare booked for north of London for May 23-30. This can't change.

We have a second timeshare on hold in Spain, between Valencia City and Barcelona, from May 2-9. It's possible to change this to another week, but I have to do it today!

We want to add in

Rome (3-4 days)
Florence (2-3 days)
Venice (2-3 days)
Zermatt, Switzerland (1 day to ski).
Paris (3 days)
London (3 days)

Do you have a recommendation for order of destinations? We don't care whether we take trains or planes. Prefer not to take boats.

Are you sure there's skiing in Zermatt in May? Usually April, May, and early June are between seasons in Switzerland, between ski season and summer season. That's when they do maintenance on the lifts, etc.

And Zermatt is the obvious place to skip. It would take you too long to get there and get out.

Your order of destinations is good. You could fly from Barcelona to Rome, take the train to Florence and on to Venice. Then fly from Venice to Paris and take the Eurostar from Paris to London. (Get your tickets early for the latter; big savings.)

The only quibble I would have with your plans is it's all city (except maybe Spain -- and London). It would be nice for you to see something of the countryside, more than you see from the train. And small towns and the seashore. The English countryside is very beautiful in May. But to do this, you'd need to slow down and not visit so many spots. Maybe next trip?

The resort in Spain is on the beach and we plan to spend our time relaxing and experiencing the Mediterranean coastline. It's the only place our 17yo son has on his must-do list...castles, etc from the Moorish invasion and occupation period of history. He's very interested in El Cid. I haven't researched it yet to see how much travel that would involve.

According to http://www.ski-zermatt.com/summer-skiing.html, skiing is available in May.

I wish we could remove this from our itinerary, but it's my husband's life-long dream to ski there.

It looks like there's only glacier skiing available in Zermatt in mid-May.

Why can't your husband plan a real ski trip to Switzerland during winter time as a separate trip?

It doesn't make sense to me to travel all the way to Zermatt in MAY for one day just to ski.

Anyway, for those cities in Italy, you'll need at least 3-4 days per city. You'll soon find out that between checking in and out of hotels, getting to/from train stations to hotels, taking the trains etc, that each time you move, you lose 1/2 day.

Lastly, I'm not sure why you add in 3 days of London when you will be staying N of London for 7 days at the timeshare. How far North are we talking about? Is it not possible to go into London during those 7 days at timeshare? If you can, then I'd take those 3 days earmarked for London, and add 2 more days to Paris, and 1 more day to Venice or Rome.

The English timeshare is two hours north of London. We plan to rent a car and tour the countryside a little. We are tacking on the 3 days in London at the very end. We'll return the car in London, spend three days, then fly home to the U.S.

We've decided to take Fodorite advice and not try to squeeze in the time in Switzerland. Next trip!

which timeshare?

Is it Barnsdale by any chance? Or maybe Walton Hall?

If either one, I can give you lots of info.

I personally think your non-timeshares itinerary is very fractured and quite hectic.

The Italy part is sort of OK if you stick to the longest stays (4 days in Rome, 3 days in Venice, 3 days in Florence) but Rome really is huge and a couple more days would be better.

3 days for Paris and London is <u>nothing</u> especially when you deduct the travel/check out/check in. I'd maybe skip the Spain timeshare and add those extra 7 days to Rome (1) Paris (3) and London (3)

I'm not an expert on the history of Spain, but it's my understanding tht the Moorish kingdoms were in the south - in Andalusia - and that in the north of Spain you had the christian kingdoms. The major moorish sights are in Granada and Cordoba. (There may well be some in the north - but I would make sure you have located them near Barcelona so you son isn't disappointed.)

As already suggested I would skip Zermatt (sounds as though you already are) and perhaps even Spain. A month sounds like a long time but it really isn't for all the places you want to see. Keep in mind future trips! :)

I would allot more rural/countryside options to your mainly city ideas. However, you will be happy you are spending a week in northern England (my favourite part). The countryside simply cannot be beat.

janisj: Yes, we're staying at Barnsdale.

We've dropped the week in Spain. We're going to try for another timeshare week in Tuscany, between Florence and Pisa. Then we can have down time in the country in between touristy things.

Thanks for all the input! Keep it coming.

Just don't get your hopes up for a timeshare in Tuscany. They are very difficult to get. You might get lucky, but most of them don't have that many rooms, and often the rooms aren't all earmarked for timeshare stays. Good luck!

Problems with skiing for one day in Zermatt:

Glacier skiing: quite often can only be done in the morning because the snow gets too soft in the afternoon.

Weather: May can bring nice spring weather or rainy, cold weather with low clouds. I'd say chances for poor weather are higher than for great weather but you never know.

If you were to stay a few days in Zermatt, the risk of getting some skiing in would be considerably lower.

Hi F,

If you have dropped Spain, can't you add a few days in Zermatt for the skiing?

((I))

If you cannot get a timeshare in Tuscany there are wonderful agriturismos or apartments available. :)

Though you may want to say fly from UK to Spain and spain to Italy the rest is easily and best IMO done by rail. Especially Venice-Switzerland and thru Switzerland to paris and then eurostar Paris to london - now just two hours via the Chunnel. You may consider the 3-country Eurail Select Saverpass - good in Italy, Switzerland and France. This would also qualify you for a passholder fare - an excellent fare on the Eurostar train to london. For lots on european trains i always refer folks to two fabulous web sites that give you more than the usual pass prices and an 'add to cart button' - www.ricksteves.com (who also covers discount airlines) and www.budgeteuropetravel.com whose site has tons of content on using trains, trains in each country, etc. You can download their European Planning &amp; Rail Guide that is a fine primer to planning a rail trip - pass or not.

Here's a YouTube link to
an excellent 11 part series
on the Moors in Spain.

I thought I knew quite a bit
but I learned a lot from this
series. Your son may enjoy it...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wBsDDGCIFLQ

I am interested to know what time share you are looking at in Tuscany? I own two weeks and have never been able to get any place that I &quot;like&quot; in Europe.

MomDD, that's exactly why I cautioned her not to rely too heavily on getting a timeshare in Tuscany. I tried for several YEARS with no luck.

Susan - I have just never really found anything that works. There always seems to be the Marriott timeshare out by Disney in outside of Paris - and always in Malta... a very ugly one for 2 person in Rome has popped a fe times...

I think skipping the Zermatt and Spain stops makes a lot of sense.
I agree with janisj that adding time in the bigger cities would make your stays in Rome, London and Paris much more enjoyable.