My wife and I, along with two others, are planning to travel to Italy in July 2006. We are planning on leaving Florida on July 4th and returning on July 22nd. This will be our first trip to Europe so I am looking for some general help with the trip in order to make it enjoyable. We would like to see many places, but more importantly want it to be a relaxing trip. Rushing from city to city is not our idea of fun. We did want to see the majority of Italy, and possibly fit in a few days in Paris if time allows. The cities that are a must are Rome, Venice and somewhere to do some wine tasting. If Paris fits in that would be great. We will be traveling primarily by Eurorail with the possiblity of renting a car for the first week. The trip to Paris (if time allows) would most likely be an overnight train so that we do not waste too much time on travel and we would like to spend a couple of days there to make it worth our while. Any help on itinerary schedule or recommendations on what should and should not be seen would be very helpful. Things such as museums, colosseum, pantheon and old neighborhoods are what we are looking for, shopping and the like can just be fit in along the way and is not necessary. Thank you for any and all help and sorry about the long explanation.

Please see http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34742123

Best wishes,

Rex

i hate to be a jerk like a lot of others here (altho, now i see their point)...

you NEED to specify WHAT you need some expertise about (otherwise the best posters on the issue will pass you by).

the other issue is to use the search function first and, then, if you can't find what you're looking for, ask a SPECIFIC question.

i don't mean to put you off but if you want a specific answer to a specific question, ask and it shall be given you...

Hi Fla,

A few points:

July 4 is likely to be an expensive day for flying. Try July 6.

You can fly from Venice to Paris on www.myair.com for much less than the cost of a train.

There is no Eurorail.

>...we would like to spend a couple of days [in Paris] to make it worth our while.<

Paris is a destination, not a place to go as an afterthought. I suggest that you stick to Italy this visit and do Paris and France on another visit.

>...possiblity of renting a car for the first week. <

I would strongly not recommend renting a car for a first visit to Europe, especially Italy.

>The cities that are a must are Rome, Venice and somewhere to do some wine tasting.<

You can taste very good wines anywhere in Italy.

May I suggest:

Fly into Venice (6 nights visit Padua and/or Verona), train to Florence (5 nights, visit Siena by bus and Bologna by train), Rome (6 nights, visit Orvieto by train and/or Ostia Antica by local train), fly home.

You could build a visit in which you fly into Paris (6 nights), fly to Venice (3 nights), train to Florence (2 nights), train to Rome (6 nights), fly home.

Have a nice visit.

First things first, I would forget about Paris on this trip.

And if you leave out Paris, chances are that you will do much, much better with point-to-point tickets in Italy than with any railpass. Once you have an itinerary, go to www.railsaver.com, enter it, and click on "Only if it saves me money."

You will have 23 days in Italy, which will allow you to do a great deal without being rushed.

Book an open-jaw ticket, into one city, out of another, to save backtracking. Open-jaw tickets most often cost only a little more than regular return tickets, particularly if both points are in the same country.

You can start slow, with Venice, or plunge right into the thick of things, with Rome.

My suggestion would be the following:
Venice: 4 or 5 nights
Train to Florence (2.5 hours)
Florence; 4 or 5 nights
Rent a car in Florence
Somewhere in Tuscany: 7 nights
(Look at Vacation Rentals at www.slowtrav.com; particularly for Siena and southern Tuscany, which puts you closest to the most picturesque hill towns in Tuscany.)
Return the car in Florence.
Train to Rome (i.5 hours)
Rome: 4 or 5 nights

For trains, look at
www.trenitalia.com

The best are the fast Eurostar trains; the ticket includes a reserved seat. I generally do not find it worth while to go first class.

If you want to spend more time in places of natural beauty, you might consider taking days from the cities and using them in the Lake region (from Venice) or on the Amalfi Coast (from Rome). Both will take a little more travel time.

For hotels in Venice, Florence and Rome, enter <name of city +hotel>, without the arrows, in the Search Box, and you will find more recommendations than you will know what to do with.

In Venice, my preferred area is Dorsoduro or San Polo (many points of interest there, as well as easy transportation to San Marco by traghetto (public gondolas that cross the Grand Canal at a number of points), without getting you onto the "main drag" of crowds of day trippers from Rialto to San Marco).

In Florence, almost anything is central. Some people prefer the quieter Oltr'arno area (across the bridge from "downtown" Florence).

In Rome, try to stay in the historical center, within or near the triangle bounded by Campo de Fiori, the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona. Almost anything you might want to see in Rome is walkable from there, and if you don't want to walk, there are easy bus connections to St. Peter's and the Vatican at one end and the Colosseum and beyond at the other.

Look at a few well-illustrated books about Italy, read a few guide books, and decide on your own priorities.

I always recommend obtaining the free European Planning & Rail Guide for novice Euro travelers, especially those going by rail (go to www.budgeteuropetravel.com to request a free guide)
Though they sell railpasses, etc., the guide is well worth the price - tons of info on trains, packing, changing money, suggested itineraries, rail maps, fare charts and info on dozens of railpasses.
I know of no other free guide similar to this and wealth of info - if anyone does please tell me and i'll mention other ones as well.

Thanks for the help, I will look into what you have told me. We figured we would not be able to do Paris, but it was worth asking. As far as the title goes, by bad, did not see it as that big of a deal. I tried to go edit it, but for some reason this forum does not allow the editing of posts. I do see your point though, next time I guess. The last three posts were very helpful though, thanks for your responses.