tigerofjiang

I'm leaving in 9 days, my itinerary is quite busy, but it's fine with me
I want to see more than just the cities, I'll be in Europe June (18)19-July 14

June 19-24: Milano
19-Arrive in Milan; go to hotel, look around the city
20-Gardaland, I'll stay there until about 5 or so, so I'll have some time to look around the city again
21-unplanned (BUT it will either be Cinque Terre or Varenna/Bellagio)
22- half-day or day trip to Switzerland (it's my only organized tour)
23-unplanned (Cinque Terre or Varenna/Bellagio)
24-train leaves at 8.10am to Paris, my hotel is very close to Milano Centrale (ticket bought)

June 24-28: Paris (Parigi)
24-arrive in Paris about 3:15pm; See Paris (maybe Versailles; I have Paris Visite and 4 day Museum Pass)
25-Go to Disneyland Paris
26-Train to Caen and the Beaches of Normandy
27-See Paris and Versailles
28-Train leaves around 8am to Rennes (ticket bought)

June 28-30: Rennes
28-arrive in Rennes around 10.30am; leave my luggage at my hotel, Nemours and go on a bus to see Le Mont St. Michel come back 4 or so hours later
29-See Rennes, maybe go see a castle around this area, if I have time
30-Stay in Rennes until around 5pm leave for Venice (Paris connection; tickets bought)

July 1-4: Venezia
1-arrive at Mestre around 10am or later; see Venice
2-go to Verona? possibly (if there is a better city around here I'd be glad to hear your suggestions!)
3-see Venice
4-leave Venice at around 9.30am for Firenze (ticket not yet bought)

July 4-7: Firenze
4-arrive in Florence around 12pm, leave luggage with hotel (check in not until 2pm)
see Uffizi (15 minute interval 2.30-2.45pm, I believe)
5-see Florence and Galleria dell'Academia (15 minute interval 12.15pm to 12.30pm, I think)
6-See Sienna (or Pisa/Sant'Anna memorial, which would be better to see?))
7-Leave around 9 or 9.30 am; where?: undecided could be either Chieti (Manoppello), Roma, or Napoli

The reason why Manoppello because my Italian Friend has offered me accommodation, I'm just not sure what days; I asked for July 7-13 (July 7-10 was for Roma, and 10-13 was for Napoli) Manoppello is about 2hrs from Roma and 3 from Napoli, probably longer, but how could I miss a chance to stay with an Italian friend and her family? my friend will be my guide for Roma

If you'd like to give any suggestions/advice I'd be happy to read it!

cathies

I hope you are young, healthy and extremely fit! I'm exhausted just reading your plans. You've made no allowances for anything going wrong at all ie trains running late/train strikes (common in Italy), getting a bit lost finding your hotel etc. I would suggest, and I think most other posters will also, that you slow down things considerably. You are going to spend more of your holiday time on trains and finding your way to hotels etc than you will exploring the places you want to visit.

If you are able to, I would dump half of this itinerary and focus on one or two cities and the surrounding area until the time you meet up with your friend in Manopello.

tigerofjiang

...oh no i've totally forgotten to think about train delays and strikes, i must have been thinking ideally..it's a habit i have

haha i see, i thought it might be a little much and exhausting, there's so many things i want to see, I'm 18 turning 19 there, I'm fairly confident I could rely on my physical fitness and......maneuverability..?? well I'm quite the energy person

adrienne

My advice to you (and I hope you pay attention to this advice) is to buy food and drinks and bring them with you on the trains. You will be on trains for 12 days of the above itinerary. Since you are young you probably have a good appetite and you'll need to keep up your strength for the amount of traveling you're planning to do. Don't get on a train w/o something to eat and drink. If the train does offer food/drink it will be expensive and not very good. At the very least bring water in case you want to brush your teeth.

I'll comment on your Paris itinerary. Did you really already purchase a 4-day museum pass, even though you'll be in Paris for a bit more than 1 day? If you haven't bought the pass you might want to rethink this in light of my next comment.

I'm wondering why you're going to Caen on the 26th and then coming back to Paris to go to Rennes on the 28th. Why not go to Rennes from Caen and not backtrack.

If you're set on returning to Paris after Normandy then check on tours to the D-Day beaches. It'll save a lot of time trying to find the bus from Caen plus you'll have a guide to tell you all about it.

On the 24th don't go to Versailles since it closes at 6:30 and you won't have time to see it. Stay in Paris.

When you take the train from Rennes to Venice it appears that you have to change train stations; arriving at Montparnasse and departing from Bercy. Check your train ticket. If this is true have a plan to get from one station to the other. Also check to see if your destination is Mestre or Santa Lucia. The station you want in Venice proper is Santa Lucia. If your ticket is to Mestre just get on the next train to Venice SL, I think there are trains every 15 minutes or so.

jamikins

Ok, I mean this in the nicest way…this trip is madness.  Firstly, you will lose AT LEAST ½ a day every time you change locations. Which doesn’t leave you much time to see anything.

You are making the classic error of thinking that you can jump all over Europe and see everything on one trip.

This is what you currently have (now think that every time you move you lose ½ a day and you will see that you will spend MOST of your time in a train station or in transit or looking for your hotel):

June 19 – arrive in Milan, see city
June 20 – Gardaland
June 21 – Cinque Terre or Veranna/Bellagio
June 22 – Switzlerland (day trip)
June 23 – Cinque Terre or Varenna/Bellagio
June 24 – train to Paris
June 25 – Paris Disneyland
June 26 – Caen Beaches
June 27 – Paris / Versaille
June 28 – Rennes (ticket bought)
June 29 – Le Mont St Michel
June 30 – Renne – Venice (tickets purchased
July 1 – Venice
July 2 – Verona
July 3 – Venice
July 4 – Venice – Florence
July 5 – Florence
July 6 – Sienna
July 7 - ?

I assume you have purchased your flights in and out of Milan? Next time purchase tickets open jaw (i.e. Fly into Milan and out of Paris) so you don’t spend time and money backtracking.

Here is what I would recommend:

June 19 – arrive in Milan, see city
June 20 – Gardaland – Is this an amusement park?? I would skip this but that’s just me.
June 21 – Cinque Terre OR Veranna/Bellagio
June 22 – Cinque Terre OR Veranna/Bellagio
June 23 – Cinque Terre OR Varenna/Bellagio
June 24 – Train to Paris
June 25 – Paris
June 27 – Paris / Versaille
June 28 – Rennes (ticket bought)
June 29 – Le Mont St Michel
June 30 – Renne – Venice (tickets purchased)
July 1 – Venice
July 2 – Verona
July 3 – Venice
July 4 – Venice – Florence
July 5 – Florence
July 6 – Sienna
July 7 – Rome
July 8 – Rome
July 9 – Rome
July 10 – Rome –
July 11 - Manoppello
July 12 - Manoppello
July 13 - Manoppello to wherever your flight leaves from
July 14 – Fly home

1. Pick either Cinque Terre OR Veranna/Bellagio and base yourself there. You wont see either doing a day trip, you will spend most of your time on the train or in transit.

2. Skip Disneyland, its not as big as the ones in the US and you are in PARIS! What about time to go up the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, museums, have coffee or wine in a café, take a river cruise???? The sights are spread out and will take a while to get to…as you have it now you will barely see Paris and you’ve spend all that money to take the train there…relax and enjoy it!

3. Skip Caen Beaches – look into a coach tour, but I would skip this and stay in Paris for the whole 3 days. The time it takes away from Paris and the cost is not worth it for the short amount of time you are in Paris.

4. In Milan you can make reservations to see the Last Supper

5. I would stay with your friend, not many people get that opportunity to see a non-tourist area of Italy.

Remember, you cant see all of Europe, or even all of Italy in a month! You will be back, and you will enjoy your trip much more if you spend more time IN the location, and less time traveling to the location.

Paul1950

I would forget Verona--you don't have enough time in Venice with the sidetrip, or without the sidetrip for that matter. Venice has a lot more to see and do than the Grand Canal and the sights around P. San Marco. It would also make your trip a tad less hectic.

bobthenavigator

Total insanity !
I suspect we have a troll here, so I will not comment further.

Nikki

In Paris, if you really already have the 4 day museum pass and the Paris Visite, you will only get value out of them if you use them. On June 25 and 26, you are not planning to be in Paris. If you have not already bought these passes, please look at what they cover and see if you really need them. I see no way that the museum pass will be useful to you for four days if you stick to your plans and spend so much of your time outside Paris.

StCirq

This is beyond crazy. I have a 22-year-old daughter and a 19-year-old son who are major Europhiles and used to planning vagabond-type trips in Europe and who have boundless energy, so I know about these kinds of trips, but this is absolutely nuts. I think it's pointless to try to give you any help, though. You'll just find out when you get there. Live and learn. And what you'll learn is that if you follow an itinerary like the one you've planned you won't remember anything about your trip except what the inside of European train stations looks like. I guess that's a start.

tigerofjiang

lol I'm not a troll
I'll get to modifying my plan though

tigerofjiang

ok so I've changed my Itinerary for Milan:
June 19-arrive in Milan
20-Gardaland (I don't want to skip this the ticket cost me 39 euros =O)
21-Cinque Terre/Varenna Bellagio (can't decide)
22-""/"" (I'm blowing off my tour to Switzerland, It only cost me like $25USD and it's a shopping one, so easier for me to decide not to go)
23-stay in Milan
24-leave to Paris

and I'm trying to Modify my Paris plan, I really do want to stay inside the city, and as for Paris to Caen I got it there because it's cheaper v Rennes to Caen
and the disneyland, I already bought the ticket, possibly a mistake T_T i know

I'll stay in Venice the whole time, no Verona

I'm gonna try to fix the rest!

tigerofjiang

I'll leave for Disneyland at around 8 and get there around 9:30
I did a rough look-up on ratp.com it's based off my memory
and the park opens at 10am I'll stay there until 3pm (I think 5 hours is plenty of time, maybe less if there becomes too much people) and I'll see the city from 3pm on. I'm trying to compensate for my mistakes I've made so far.

Sorry it's just that this is my first time outside of the States and i'll finally travel by myself, so I had the planning power, I guess i just over planned myself.

ellenem

Based on your adjustment, I'd adjust further:

Fri, June 19-arrive in Milan
Sat, 20-Gardaland
Sun, 21-stay in Milan--also to put non-travel day between Saturday and Monday
Mon, 22-Varenna Bellagio (I think as a day trip Lake Como is easier than Cinque Terre )
Tue, 23-stay in Milan
Wed, 24-leave to Paris

For your day to Lake Como, you might take a train to Varenna, ferry across to Bellagio and visit the mid-lake towns, and then take a boat south to the city of Como, enjoying beautiful scenery along the way. From Como you can train back to Milan.

Instead of daytripping to Verona while in Venice, you should consider taking a boat to the outislands of Burano and Torcello. If you decide you want to daytrip elsewhere, Padua (Padova) is closer than Verona and has a lot to offer. But I do love Verona.

Peter_S_Aus

Oh, and don't take the train to Mestre - you need to go to Venice - San Lucia. Mestre is a city on the mainland, 8km from central Venice. Forget Verona - you don't have time for it.

ellenem

From other posts, I suspect the OP is staying in Mestre.

adrienne

While Lake Como is very beautiful I think it will be a bit quiet for an 18 year old. It will take 3 to 4 hours to get to Cinque Terre from Milan. Your best bet is to stay in Milan.