Help: First Time Europe Travelers' Itinerary (Italy, France, and UK)
 

First, I want to thank you.. This will be a long entry so I'd like to extend my gratitude for your time.

My friends and I will be traveling to Europe for the FIRST TIME and we need your ideas, tips, comments or suggestions.

Here's what our itinerary looks like:

March 31 Fri: Arrive 6pm at Malpensa airport in Italy; take the malpensa shuttle to the Central Station our hotel is close to the station; we're booked for 2 nights

--> someone suggested that we should just sleep it off so the jetlag won't be too bad when we begin our day trip to Venice the next day.... we're coming from Los Angeles, CA.

Apr 1 Sat: Take a train to Venice; spend the day there; go back to Milan at night

Apr 2 Sun: In the morning: check out the places in Milan---Duomo, Last Supper.
In the afternoon, take the train to Rome (Termini Station).(We're booked for 3 nights). Perhaps arrive in Rome in the evening

April 3 Mon: Day trip to Florence (see the academia, uffizi) and Pisa; from Pisa, travel back to Rome (night)

April 4 Tues: Day trip in Rome (see Vatican, Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Coliseum, St. Peters')

April 5 Wed: Morning to noon trip to Naples; Go back to Rome by afternoon to get our stuff and board an overnight train to Paris

April 6 Thurs: Arrive in Paris (approx 9:30am based on the train sched); explore Paris as much as we can before we board the train to London the next day..

April 7 Fri: Take the train to London in the AM. Explore some sights in the afternoon and evening...

April 8 Sat: Traveling to Lemmington(?) for a friends' wedding; we don't know if we're spending the night in that town or if we're going back to London ]

April 9 Sun: Depart London at 3pm (airport)


* I know that we'll have to reserve our tickets to see the Last Supper and for the Academia and Uffizi museums... In saying that, the itinerary above assumes that we have reservations for the museums.

We know that it will be a quick paced trip. We hope that it won't be our last trip to these countries.. But in case, we want to be able to experience all the amazing sights in these places even if we're going through this trip really fast...

Thank you again!

You won't be experiencing all of the amazing sights in these places. You'll be lucky just to get oriented at the pace you'll be going.

However, you will be experts on the Italian rail system.

This isn't a troll posting is it?

I agree with RufusTFirely...

This trip will be an exibition, not a vacation! Trust me, you will be exhausted if you follow through with this itinerary.

Any particular reason you want to stay in Milan? Not that it isn't a nice city, but I think that spending the nights in Venice or Florence would make much better use of your time.

Rome has plenty to do to keep you busy; skip the daytrip to Naples. It doesn't hold a candle to Rome, and if you go you will be missing a lot of what Rome has to offer.

Paris is a wonderful city but hardly worth visiting in a day. I would either cut out London or Paris, and add the nights to the other.

I don't want to be a downer, but so many first-timers have these fantasies about traveling around Europe but they don't take into consideration the time it takes to get from place to place, checking out of hotels and checking into them, etc. You will lose at least half a day each time you travel.

Good luck!
Tracy

Whoa!...Way too much. Please rethink this.

And I think tcreath means expedition (not exhibition which could mean several things... :-B LOL, Tracy >:D< to you).

for starters, drop the day trips (some of which I think would be near impossible). I'm exhausted just reading this.

I see about 5 full days in Italy, 1/2 day in Paris, 1 in London.

First of all, skip Paris, just fly directly to London from Italy. If you can't spend at least 3 full days there, don't bother. The same goes for Rome, it also deserves at least 3 full days, and that's just skimming the surface (of any major city).

Have you already booked your flights? If not, I would fly into Rome and stay there, then fly to London.

That's an odd way of doing it.

Get a map (a good one), log on to www.trenitalia.it or to http://plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/quer...p;L=profi& (no prices shown, but it's often clearer), and also to www.viamichelin.com for distances and trip maps etc.

Now re-think this. To train it from Milan to Venice and back (3 hours each way on the fastest trains) for a daytrip means you spend more time on the train than in Venice. Makes no sense.

To train it from Milan to Rome but then train it back up to Florence for a daytrip also makes no sense. You go through Florence to get to Rome! So stop in Florence, get off, spend a night or two, then proceed to Rome.

Your Naples trip (1:35 hr each way) also makes no sense. You'll stick your head out of the train station, walk around the block, go back to Rome, and say "I've been there"... You won't have seen a fraction of what there is in Rome, so you can skip that Naples trip.

Those trains will cost you, and you don't seem to get much out of it - a few hours here or there to visit places where others spend a week and come back for more.

But, hey, it's your trip, so go for it.

WK

I also wondered if this might be a troll. All you will remember of this trip is the train. Not only are there too many stops, but they are spread out over a very large area. I doubt you will even have time to see the few things on your list for each city.

It's a physically possible itinerary, but you won't see much of anything. You're there for what, 10 days? I wouldn't try to do more than 3 cities in that time; even then, you won't see anywhere near everything, but at least you won't spend all your time on the train and transferring stuff from hotels. It's up to you which cities, of course (though the wedding kind of makes London a must); if I were doing it (and I'm not), I'd do either Rome, Paris, London, or Florence/Venice (pick one), Rome, and London. Doing it this way is just a waste of your time, you'll spend more time either on the train or asleep than you'll spend actually doing anything.

On the off chance this is a real posting and perhaps you are just excited because it is your first trip, let me give you just a few pointers:

The places you mentioned in Italy, such as The Last Supper, The Uffizi, all the museums etc now require an advance booking. You can get tickets ahead of time on the web. If you don't get them now, you are unlikely to get them once you arrive in Italy. The museums book up months in advance and the Last Supper is quite a challenge if you don't prepare ahead of time.

If someone suggested you "sleep" the next day on the train to Venice, they are idiots. I defy anyone, ESPECIALLY on their first trip, to sleep during the day - on a train - in the Italian countryside. Your eyes will be drinking in everything and sleep will be the last thing on your mind.

Wanting to see Italy, France and England in 9 days sounds ludicrous. You say you'll know you will be back, why not just spend a week in one of the places and plan another trip for next year? This is far too much, too quick. Unless you are doind a trial run to get you in shape to try out for the AMAZING RACE, I'd rethink the itinerary.

Do the Italian part of your trip but not as a series of day trips & get a cheap flight to London from Rome / Venice / Florence / Pisa / Milan

www.whichbudget.com

Thanks for your comments :-) . It is going to be a challenging trip for the me and my four friends.

We're landing in Milan... maybe we should just stay in Venice for the 2nd night.. But we'll definitely re-think about this itinerary.. Thanks!

Btw, I'm not a troll :-).

LOL! Thanks fun4all4...you are absolutely right, of course! I was trying to finish the post as my coworker came up to me and miswrote it...thanks for catching it! ;)

Tracy

It looks like your reason for being abroad is go to your friend's wedding in Great Britain. What makes you want to go beyond enjoying England?

I'm not saying it is wrong. I'm just wondering how to help you get the most satisfaction out of your adventure. There are easier ways to get a taste of both France and Italy than flinging yourself at the major tourist spots and then not having any time to see them.

Would you be willing to consider cities like Turin, Genoa or Nice or Marseilles? Willing to rent a car?

Hi, blinky. Glad you're not a troll.

Europe isn't as small as many people think it is. While the train system is good, it does take a good deal of time to cover some of those distances.

Have you checked the rail websites to see how long you'll be on the train for some of the legs of your trip? Such as:

www.bahn.de (Go to the Internat. Guests tab at the top of the page) and www.trenitalia.it

The temptation is great to cover as much ground as possible, but even though the scenery from the train is sometimes very nice, it doesn't compare to being on the ground and experiencing it.

I think you may mean the wedding is taking place in Leamington Spa.

This is a pleasant town very close to Warwick (great castle) and Stratford-on-Avon. However if you are flying out the next afternoon at 3pm you will have virtually no time to see either even if you stay in/near Leamington.

Please listen to what the other have said - you've too much planned and jammed into too few days. Your day in Rome staggers me - you can see all those places from a tour bus, but you won't have time to really SEE any of them.

Forget Paris and Naples this trip, and maybe Venice too, and spend more time in Rome or England. But have a great time anyway!

If the must do is the wedding I really think you need to keep this trip in England - or if you must do something else do 2 days in Paris.

What you have planned is not a trip - it's the Bataan Death March. (This is the equivalent of doing Boston, New York, Washington, Savannah, Orlando and New Orleans in the same time frame - think about it.) There's no way you would see anything - even if all your connections are on time. And if any of the trains is late (not infrequent in Italy) or if there is a strike (also not infrequent) you would be completely lost.

Just as one example - the items you have listd for Rome would take - at a minimum and in a very superficial way 2/3 full days.

So - if you must do Italy - Fly to Rome - spend 3/4 days there, then fly to London - to see a little of this and do the wedding. Drop Milan, Venice, Florence and Paris.

I often refer first time Euro travelers, esp those going by rail to the free European Planning & Rail Guide available at: www.budgeteuropetravel.com
as it has a wealth of planning info for novices - itineraries, rail maps of each country and non-train stuff like packing tips, using electricity - a wealth of info and it's free.

Sorry I didn't have time earlier to give more specific suggestions....some of them have already been covered now.

If you need to be in England, I would focus there with possibly a few days in Paris if you must.

Or, visit Rome then fly to London on one of the budget intraEurope carriers - they have some good prices.

If you already have your flight into Milan, then I suppose you could stay a night in Milan, go on to Venice for a few days and then fly Venice to London.

If you insist on multiple locations, definitely drop the day trip ideas.

It is tempting to want to see and do everything and not really enjoy. Please remember that often "less is more." Also, as said above, travelling from place to place takes TIME and energy - pack, check out, eat, find a bathroom, wait for train, get lost, check in, etc....

With 10 days, I'd focus on no more than 3 places and would take flow and routing into consideration.

Good luck and have fun! Please feel free to post with further questions.

Everyone else has said it - but on the off chance you don't truly believe how bad your itinerary is -- <b>it is absolutely insane</b>

Paris is wonderful - but you won't see it
Venice is wonderful - but you won't see it
Naples isn't so wonderful - and you'll see a bit of it
Florence is wonderful - but you won't see it
London is wonderful - but you won't see it.

Sound like a broken record? Sorry, but it is the truth.

If you are already flying into Milan, out of London I would EITHER:

- spend 5 days split between 2 cities in Italy (no extra day trips), fly to London and spend the rest of the time in London and Warwickshire

or

Fly immediately from Milan to Paris (Easyjet) and spend 3 or 4 days there, then on to London/Warwickshire for the rest of your time.

Actually what I'd REALLY do is land at Malpensa, get on another flight directly to Gatwick and skip France and Italy altogether. But if you must - pick 2 Italian cities <b>or</b> Paris and leave it at that.

Oh - I meant to add. DO NOT follow the advice to sleep off your first day. That will only guarantee that it takes even longer to get acclimated and over the jet lag. Stay awake and as much as possible out in the fresh air your first day. Have a light dinner around 7 or 8:00 local time and go to bed around 9 or 10:00 p.m.

Do you want to keep these people as friends? I ask because traveling for the first time to Europe with a group requires a FLEXIBility, not a tightly scheduled drill.

People adjust to jet lag at different paces, want to eat at different times, and have a variety of interests and goals for a European trip. There is a hilarious thread on Fodor's about a group called the Divas being led around Italy by their self-sacrificing friend. It'll give you a few laughs and many insights into group travel dynamics.

The best advice I can offer is settle down in as few places as possible, have a clear plan of who needs to be where and when, and bring a ton of patience. Group travel is hard in general, and young people tend to be less reliable at keeping schedules. Also, be prepared for everyone's tolerance to wear thin as the week progresses.

here's the link to my pics from my trip:

http://photos.yahoo.com/blinkygurl22

my trip was soooo fun... it was very worth it.... we were tired but felt good at the same time. i can't wait to go back! but next time, we'll be staying in one city for a longer time!

Youa actually took the trip that was outlined ?!? I'd ove a detailed trip report...

Hey blinkygurl...

Loved your photos - but how about a trip report - as SAnParis suggested.

Start a new thread when you are ready...

i will post a trip report soon. i'm borrowing my friend's notes lol... i will definitely let you guys know! grazie... merci!