Message: My daughter and friend are touring for two weeks and want to hit london, paris,amsterdam and tuscany in two weeks can this be done and if so what is the best itenary and quickest mode of transportation between cities. would like to put tuscany at the end probably leave out of rome.
Tentatively i thought arrrive london,euro to paris, euro to amsterdam,air to florence depart rome. what do ya'll think?



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OK, I'll jump in! Two weeks and four locations. Let's do the math: Two weeks = 14 days. One day to fly outbound and one day to fly back leaves your friend and daughter with 12 days. Four locations in 12 days = 3 days per location. But wait! You have to travel from one location to the next, so let's subtract 3 more days. You have 9 days left. Uh-oh, you're thinking about arriving in Florence and departing from Rome. So let's subtract another day for travel and navigating the airport in Rome. You have 8 days left, resulting in 2 days in each locale. Frankly, I'd rather endure a root canal.

A more sane itinerary would be to land in London, euro to Paris and fly out of Amsterdam, saving Italy for the next trip. Well, you did want our thoughts!

Bon voyage

Well, I suppose it's doable, and your suggestion of transportatin is the most plausible, but I honestly would cut out one destination -- most obviously Tuscany. I can't imagine flying down to Italy and departing Rome without seeing Rome, for example. And you're talking about breaking this up with how many nights each? Four London, four Paris, three Amsterdam, and three Tuscany? Why fly down there for three days? This is sort of like someone in the UK saying they want to go to the US for two weeks and see New York, Boston, Washington D.C., and Yellowstone. It just doesn't really make sense.

And actually, now that I think about it, my analogy doesn't really make much sense. You CAN effectively see Yellowstone in three days. You CAN'T begin to see Tuscany (including Florence) in three days.

Well personally I'd much rather do that trip than have a root canal - but - I do think leaving Italy for another trip makes sense. This way they could get a much better feel for each city and possibly do some day trips. If they are really determined to hit a fourth "different" country, then maybe a little Germany would make better geographic sense.

Having said that though, especially if they have an entire two weeks (14 nights) not counting transatlantic travel days, then it wouldn't be that dreadful.

As the others have said, 2 weeks for London, Paris and Amsterdam makes wonderful sense - 2 weeks for London, Paris, Amsterdam AND Tuscany makes no sense at all.

5 or 6 nights in London 4 or 5 nights in Paris 2 nights in Amsterdam and 2 Transatlantic travel days totally fills 2 weeks. If their 2 weeks is in addition to the to/from Europe travel days, then they should add 1 day to both London or Paris.

On the otherhand - If Tuscany is the most important region for them - then they should spend the entire 2 weeks in Italy - with perhaps a flying weekend to Paris.

I go along with the others, leave Italy for another trip.

BTW, Tuscany is a region, not a city.

It does NOT sound like fun.

We've been to Europe twice in three years and have done four cities both times. We have two young teens. It was great, my husband is a very good organizer and had our whole itinerary laid out a month ahead of time. I would agree with the response about Rome. You have to visit there! You could spend two days and see many of the sights.
I say go for it.

We like a more lesiurely style of travel. Don't want to just hit the "must sees" in a rush and then move on. We like to get the feel of a place, and be able to find our way back to the hotel withoput a map.
We spent a week in Amsterdam, with day trips by train to Hoorn and The Hague, then took the train to Brussels for another week with day trips to Bruges, Ghent and Waterloo.

I wouldn't want to do London, Paris and Amsterdam in two weeks.

My two bits:

1) Less is more (emphasize quality over quantity)

2) Always take the attitude that you're going to return.

3) The places you want to go to are all good, but it will take you a bit of time to sort out the cities and get comfortable enough to enjoy them.

So... choose two or three destinations (London and Paris, for example) and save the other cities for a future trip.

I didn't get to Europe until I was in my 30's, but I've now been 14 times in the past dozen years. If you love it like I do, you'll find a way to go back again and again.

I've been extremely fortunate to have a lot of opportunities to travel, but each trip, I try to travel with the attitude that I might NOT be back. I'm an optimistic person, but I also believe that life can throw curve balls and that one never knows what can happen. If your daughter and friend want to visit London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Tuscany because that is their dream, more power to them!

While obviously, it won't be a relaxing vacation, and they won't be able to see/absorb as much of each place as they would if they had 4 - 5 days in each place, it's CERTAINLY doable.

If they are not overly concerned about hotel choices, they may just want to leave their itinerary open. We've traveled this way on a couple of occasions, choosing our hotels upon arrival from the lists that are available at every train station. On one last-minute trip to Paris, we stopped in a bookstore in the airport and looked at a few hotel choices & called to see whether or not they had vacancies. I deposited my husband at a cafe to watch our luggage, and I went to 3 or 4 hotels & chose the one with the room I liked the best. We've done the same in Geneva, Milan, Frankfurt, etc., and have actually been pleased with the hotels. Granted, they are not the same type of hotels we would normally pick with extensive research on Fodors, but they were budget hotels with a good location and clean, servicable rooms.

We've typically done this in the low or shoulder seasons, but honestly, the lists have literally HUNDREDS of two and three star budget hotels. I would think they'd be fine unless they are traveling at absolutely the peak season.

If this thing does go on as planned, AND trains are used instead of planes, then I would suggest London first as you have said, then the Eurostar to Amsterdam (which will bypass Paris); next high-speed Thalys to Paris from Amsterdam; finally take the "Artesia" France-Italy night service from Paris Bercy to Florence which will buy some extra hours.
If they cannot fly out of Florence they might find it just as easy to fly out of Milan as Rome since tghey would not have time left to do either of those departure cities justice.
As others above have said, they travel in different styles..some fast, some slow. I would disregard all the naysayers who tell you you cannot do a place "justice" in such and such an amoutn of time. "Justice" for some can take a few hours and for others it can take weeks...I am sure the travelers involved will already know they cannot, and are not, seeing "everything" but if seeing at least some of it is more important than an in-depth visit, i say that with careful planning it can be done..and even faster if they were to fly between cities although between the first three probably not worth it.
Good luck and always remember: it is THEIR trip and noone else's ultimately.

I agree with most of the posters. Leave Tuscany out this time. It is hard to imagine going to Italy and missing Venice and Rome! Your daughter will want to return so she can plan an Italy trip, including Tuscany next time. London, Paris and Amsterdam, with day trips outside the cities sounds like a wonderful way to spend two weeks and still get some familiarity for each stop.

thanks for all of your input. daughter has visited paris and rome before so extensive stay in paris not warrented and no need to see rome, just possibly as the cheapest place to fly out of.they want to spend 3 days in london, max 2 in amsterdam with main focus on buying a watch. she has heard that they are better priced there than switzerland. they plan to meet up with friends in siena on last 4 days. i will email her these comments. please keep anymore coming.

I am the daughter my mother is talking about. We have decide to drop London and visit Amsterdam, Paris & Tuscany.
I do feel dropping London helps--I've already been there as well as Rome. I could really care less about seeing Rome again--I am just going to visit the night before I fly out the next morning. I have devised an itinerary that is accurately scheduled to provide at least 2 nights in each city/region. I have been to Paris and Italy but not Amsterdam. So other than Amsterdam, I am familar with what to see and what not to see. Thanks for all of your advice!

"I could really care less about seeing Rome again"

I'm so glad I didn't waste my time responding to this thread.

p.s. I thought the root canal line was very funny.

Surely there must be more compelling reasons why they are going to Amsterdam than a "main focus on buying a watch"!