First timer: Rome & Paris in 7 days??
 

I just made an impulse decision to try and do our first trip to Rome & Paris for late May or early June (yes, next month, hope I can pull of some last minute planning). I've been to Spain several years ago, but that is it for Europe and my husband has never been. I'm so overwhelmed about where to start.

First, we are in are mid-30's, very active and really just want to see the sights. We can probably only swing a 10day trip maximum which includes travel days. I've seen some package deals like through go-today travel and other websites that include airfare, hotels and then you can add on airport transfers, tours, etc. Because I don't have a ton of time to plan, I'm wondering if this might be the better way (and possibly cheaper) way to go.

Secondly, one of the package deals has 3 full days in Rome and 3 full days in Paris..is that enough? I also thought about just focusing on Italy and adding Venice and Florence, but I really am dying to see Paris too..I thought seeing Rome and Paris was a good compromise to experience both cities for a first trip, I just worry that we will be too rushed? I would probably want to add on at least one extra day in Paris.

Any advice for this newbie as far as how to book, time constraints with trying to see both of these cities in under 10 days, etc. I'm also a little worried because I am vegan so I worry that with the language barrier and all of the delicious Italian food with cheese in it that I'm going to have a hard time? That might be another forum question for me to pose. But, right now, I am just looking for any advice. This forum is awesome, so glad that I found it. Thanks for any advice!

There are vegans even in Italy too - whatever you eat here you should be able to buy there some place IME even though I am not vegan I think that will be so - restaurants serve salads and veggies just like here - bread and pastries and that lovely gelato may be a problemo though as would be pizza, of course.

But as to twinning Paris and Rome and not lose any time traveling between them check out the Thello overnight train that arrives in Rome the next morning. Check www.thello.com for advance purchase cheap fares - if willing to share a couchette-like compartment you can go as low as 59-69 euros I've read and you also save on the cost of a night in a hotel. Air travel necessarily require lead time getting to the airport, waiting for the plane boarding, waiting for bags at other end, getting into Rome - taking up much of a day.

Anyway for lots of info on overnight trains and what to expect in terms of various accommodations they have - from private rooms to multi-person tiered berth compartments check out these IMO superb sites - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. The earlier you book those trains the cheaper they can be as discounted tickets are sold in limited numbers and often sell out way in advance of the train.

We did a trip similar to what you are thinking of doing last year.

Here is my trip report.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

I think it is definitely doable to go to both cities, just realize the first day can be rough with jet lag. You will just need to prioritize what you want to see and realize that you won't get to everything. I planned everything myself with in about six weeks, however we were there in the winter.

We flew EasyJet from Rome to Paris Orly and it took about half a day (from leaving hotel to checking into apartment). We looked at the overnight train but it was significantly more expensive at the time and we weren't sure how well we would sleep on it.

I can't help you with the Vegan question. Sorry :)

Have a great time!

Use your ten days.
Book the trip yourself - multi-city: into Paris, Paris to Rome, Out of Rome (or the reverse)
Day 1 depart home
Day 2 Arrive Paris - 1/2 day Paris
Days 3,4,5 - (4 nts) Paris
Days 6 - Paris to Rome 1/2 day Rome
Days 7,8,9 - (4 nts) Rome
Day 10 depart Rome

This is easy. Get the tickets booked and central hotels reserved ASAP. Then read your guidebooks and plan what you want to do in each city.

Don't worry--All food in Italy does not arrive covered in cheese like Italian-American food.

Thanks for the responses and Ayla, I had already found and read your trip report before you replied and bookmarked it for future use, so helpful! I am going to start working on pricing everything out individually to compare to the package deal that I found online. Approx 4,200 for 7 nights (4nts Paris and 3nts Rome) which includes roundtrip airfare from the midwest, hotels, airport transfers, which seems like a good deal to me? I might add another night to Rome or Paris. I'll let you know what I come up with indvidually and will check out the overnight train idea too, thanks again and please feel free to keep any other replies coming..this is all so informative! :)

The one thing to be careful with about packages: often the cheaper hotels are not well-located. Check hotel locations to see if they are in the center of things or on the outskirts. With so little time, a central location might be worth upgrading to the next level of hotel.

Also, I know it is all about personal preference, but I did find a cheaper package for Paris and Nice (of course, I really don't want to miss out on Rome, but maybe saving Italy for when we could see Venice and Florence too might be better) and then we could see more of France..thoughts on this?

I would advise you to book your own hotels. You want to make sure the hotel is centrally located as another poster commented. Start looking on Trip Advisor, and start another thread asking about Paris hotels (or Rome). You will get many responses.

Several years ago (eek, I just realized it's been ten years) I took a trip to Paris and Rome with my college-aged daughter through go-today. We added two days on to Rome, so spent three days in Paris and five in Rome. I did look carefully at the hotel options in both cities and ended up very happy with the locations. I tend to book hotels and flights myself now, but at the time it was a good deal and I did not regret doing it this way.

You can book your own trip with a little work. Even if you book a package of air and hotel, it will be more economical--and a better experience.
Public transportation in France--and Europe in general is very easy fast and efficient.
Fly to Paris and spend your week there. You could do a day trip. You will have a ball.

Thanks again for your helpful replies. I have been pouring myself into research yesterday and today. I have tried pricing it out individually, but airfare is the killer! I can get a pkg deal cheaper than just airfare by itself. But, now what I'm trying to figure out is how not to get in bad hotels with these pkg deals. I will keep you posted and please let me know if you have any more advice.

Hi, we are headed to Italy and Germany in 3 weeks. Try airbnb.com for apartment rentals. I found them cheaper than hotels and you have choices throughout Rome and other cities/countries. We rented a car through Autoeurope and are driving from Rome to Pisa, Portofino and Venice before heading to Germany. Search the Internet as much as possible to get great deals. Good luck!

The packagers usually have several hotel price levels available. They also describe the hotels, but they are sales people, not impartial reviewers. So, if the package includes a particular hotel thet intrigues you, check its reviews elsewhere (tripadvisor, hotels.com, booking.com) before committing yourself. Often the lowest price is not desirable due to location and/or quality, while the highest price option is overpriced.

As to Paris plus Rome or Paris plus Nice, or whatever, it's up to you. Wherever you go, I am sure you will want to go back!

Hutch - is that $4200 per person or for two? If it is per person, I am sure you can make your own trip for less and make it more personal.

If that is individual pricing, then I'd really wonder about the quality of the hotels. Transfers don't add up to too much money IME.

My kids just booked Houston to Italy for end of May for about $1570, air alone. But all in, they are figuring about $3,000 for 8 (paid) nights on the ground. They are using public transit as necessary (they don't think they want to rent a car, they'll see). Also, they booked two lovely apartments - three nights in Rome for about 450 euro and about 470 euro for five nights in Florence. These prices will be divided by the three of them, so for them an apartment made a lot of sense financially and gave them space. (They are spending an overnight in Frankfurt using my hotel points for the return flight home.)

ANyway, my point is you can make your own trip, even though it's a little short on time. You can do Paris and Rome or just stay in Italy. Look into apartments. We've been staying in them for the past 8 trips to Europe and wouldn't do anything else outside of an occasional stay at an airport hotel.

One site I've had lots of luck with is homelidays.co.uk. There is another one I found here on Fodors but I can't recall at the moment. Something like "sleep in italy" that looked very nice.


Good luck and have fun!

The first time we went to Rome we had 3 WEEKS and planned to travel around
d Italy but we never left Rome and still had things we wanted to do left undone and !I can spend a month in Paris and not see all I want after 20 years of going there at least once a year!

Thanks again all for these helpful replies! We have decided to try and do labor day week instead of the end of May as it was just too stressful to try and do all of this last minute planning. I think we are going to do 4nts in Paris and 4nts in Rome. I like the apartment idea, however, I've heard for first timers sometimes hotels can be better so that we can get some help and translation with getting around. The $4200 that I found in the pkg deal is for two people and the hotels are ok. They are not extremely centrally located, but some of the reviews were still decent and ppl said they were very close to public transport. We've got more time now to figure it out..I can't wait to go! I will keep you guys posted, again, please let me know of any more advice! Thanks!

I'm new, so perhaps I missed it; but did you update subsequent to your trip?

Unfortunately, this is hutch79's only post. (Just click on the screen name and you will see all of that person's posts) I do appreciate it when people come back and tell us about their trip!