SydTraveller1

Hi all,

My partner & I are planning our first Europe trip and would really appreciate some feedback and help. Our plan is to do the trip in April 2011 (9th till 30th), arriving in Paris, then to Switzerland and lastly to Italy and leaving from Milan.
We have our anniversary on the 14th and would ideally like to spend that in Paris. We love exploring the history and art of a country as well as local traditions and cuisine.

Following are the places we're keen on visiting:

France (6 nights): Paris, Nice, day trip to Amsterdam/Monaco
Switzerland (6 nights): Zurich, Lucerne, Geneva, Interlaken, Swiss Alps, Basel, Bern
Italy (8 nights): Pisa, Venice, Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Naples(Pompeii,) Amalfi coast(This may be a huge stretch!!), Milan

We're be happy if we could also squeeze in a quick day trip to Monacco and Austria.
Is this too much?

We're concerned that as we'll be in Italy in the Holy Week and during good friday and Easter, it might be too busy and a few places might be closed?
We also read about a public holiday on the monday after Easter Sunday. Is that reflected throughout Italy or just Rome?
Would it be possible on getting a suggested travel route for our Itinerary?(Paris-Milan) We love driving and would love to do some road trips if possible!

Thank you very much.

StuDudley

Start by eliminating 50% of the destinations on your "wish list". WAAAYYY to much moving around - I'm exhausted just imagining all the time you are going to spend traveling from A to B - especially in Italy. Geneva is the first destination I would cross off your list.

Amsterdam is fabulous - but it is not really a "day trip" from Paris.

If the weather is not good on the Amalfi coast in April, you might not enjoy your time there, and you will have waisted a lot of travel time getting there & back.

April in the Alps could be very "iffy" because of the weather.

I would suggest the following:

Fly to Paris & spend 4 nights there (1 to recover from Jet lag). I don't see how you could spend your anniversary in Paris & still adhere to an efficient schedule.

I would skip Switzerland because of the possible weather concerns.

Take the TGV to Aix en Provence & spend a night there.

Rent a car in Aix & drive to Nice & spend 4 nights there - visiting Monaco (better by train), and also the Nice Hinterland by car (St Paul, Vence, into the Alps a little).

Drive the French car into Italy (I know - there is a drop off charge but do the math & you might find the less expensive French car may off-set the drop off)

Pisa first - 1 night.

Florence 3 nights with a car trip into Chianti for a day.

Tuscany countyside around Pienza for 3 nights.

Drive to Orvieto, dump the car, visit Orvieto, and then take the 1 hr train into Rome.

Rome 4 nights with a day trip to Pompeii.

Train to Venice & stay 2-3 nights. Fly home from Venice.

Of course, you could do this in reverse order - starting in Venice & ending in Paris.

Stu Dudley

bobthenavigator

You seem to have 20 nites in Europe. Given the time you will need for Paris and Rome, you should consider a max of 4 more destinations. Hmmm! Have you clicked on your name to see the answers to your other post? My answer is the same.

SydTraveller1

Thanks for the response Stu!

We were worried that we had two many places on our list for 3 weeks.I guess it is more of a wish list so we can stick to the one's most recommended.
I think we may keep the Amalfi coast for another time. Not too sure about skipping Switzerland all together, but we could skip Geneva and visit the smaller cities.

Thanks for the tips on Orvieto and Chianti, good opportunities for us to drive out of the main city!

SydTraveller1

Thanks bob! Still working my way through this, I couldn't find a delete option on the other post and gathered my previous post was a little too vague and hence the need for a more thorough post here

bobthenavigator

You need to start with a good map and driving or rail times to see that your plan is not feasible. Trust the long term pros on this site---like Stu. Less is more !

jennlane

I agree with all of the above.
I would actually skip the sea altogether for this trip, Amalfi Coast and French Riviera(Cote d'Azur and Provence deserve much much more than just two or three days).. Maybe it's just me; I live in the desert so the minimum coolness chills me out! Haha. In my opinion Paris and Rome deserve 5 days each, so there you have about ten days in between to see parts of Switzerland and Italy. I personally would choose to stay in Italy the rest of the time but you really seem to want to visit Switzerland, so what I would do is: Five days in Paris, train to Bern spend 2 nights there, train to Interlaken spend 2 or 3 nights there.. if the weather is not cooperating skip it and move on to Lucerne instead, from there you have about 6 nights left.. I would do three nights in Venice and three in Florence, and then the rest in Rome. It seems like you could fit in more places but not really, the trip will go by very fast. You can take day trips though.. but that's another story!
And yes, Less is more. Hope I helped.

russwuf

yes agreed...your proposed itinerary makes us dizzy just from logistical travel from place to place....way too much traveling...for example a train from Paris to Nice say is gonna run you 5-6hours.... a "day" trip to Amsterdam via train is like roughly 3 hours to and 3 hours back...another six hours wasted...
stick to paris then if you absolutely must get to the french riviera then train to Nice see the sites around Nice/coast..take a cheap flight to Venezia..stay min 2 days if not 3....train to Firenze....use as base to explore surrounding Tuscany .ie. Pisa Lucca Siena....etc. train to Rome...and fly out of Rome back to US....
most flights leaving Venice for the US leave early in the morning which creates logistical headaches about getting from Venice proper to Marco Polo on the mainland so early in the morning...

Michael

Look at a map, France, Switzerland and Italy are separated by the Alps. To go from Nice to Geneva would mean either flying (half a day no matter how short the flight because you have to get to the airport ahead of time) or taking the train back to the Rhone valley and go up the Rhone to Geneva, with a possible change in Lyon. If you insist on seeing a bit of Switzerland, take the TGV from Paris to Basel and start there. Travel in Switzerland by train, and if the weather holds, you might get a taste of the Alps from Interlaken. But if you spend time in Switzerland, you'll have to cut out half your Italian itinerary, at least.

suze

I'm not a fan of Geneva, but I LOVE the towns nearby on Lac Leman. I'd suggest substituting a few days in Lausanne, Vevey, or Montreux intead of Geneva proper. They are only 1 hour outside Geneva and right on the train line.

You've listed 20 destinations(!!) for your 21 day trip. Yes this would be too much. Seriously. You need to remember it takes time transfering place to place, and yours are all over the map, literally. In a three week trip, even moving around quickly, I'd pick at the most 5 places.

charnees

When you recast your plans, remember that just being in a city for a day means you aren't really going to see it at all. Unless you just want to check them off a list and say you were there, even for a minute. You will also discover that it takes a long time to see things. You have to figure out how to get to the site, probably stand in line to get tickets and then to get in, etc. Every change of location is going to cost you a minimum of half a day, as well. And if a day trip involves several hours of travel to and from a place, it may not be worth trying to go.

nytraveler

IMHO in 3 weks you should stay in no more than 6 hotels. this will give you a couple of days to get to know a city a little bit and one day for a trip outside. What you ahve outlines above is nothing but a tour of the train stations of europe - and you would see literally nothing inmost places.

You should start with the thing you want to see most and figure out how long they will actually take to see, You can look AT the Eiffel tower in 10 minutes - but if you want to ascend and see anything of Paris you need to leave yourself 2/3 hours. Similarly notre Dame is 2 hours, one of the museums is half a day.

Then figure out the travel time from one place to another (typically this is most of a day if you consider packing, getting to the train station, taking the train, finding your new hotlel, checking in, unpacking and figuring out where you are.)

I have been to Europe 70+ times - many of them road trips - and beleive me what you have listed is 3 times as many places as you could actually see anything of - unless you count just driving through. Do not be fooled by itineraries in tour brochures - those are based on 7 am starts, sitting on a bus all day and many of the sights listed are "views" - out of the bus window - or "stops" a 5 minute photo op in front. You actually enter only if the itinerary says "visit" and then it's likely to be a very rushed one. The you pull into a hotle at 6 ot 7 pm grab a quick dinner and hope to get some sleep before the next day on the bus. More like the DDay invasion than a vacation.

SydTraveller1

Hi guys!
Thanks for all your input! We’ll revise our initial itinerary based upon all of your feedback and the rail/flight/travel times between cities and then work out a final one.
Thanks Michael for the tip on taking the TGV...will definitely check out that option. Suze, we love travelling through small towns so will definitely check up on Lausanne, Vevey, & Montreux.

Thanks once again all!!