molly32

My husband and I will be going to Europe for the first time in April. Looking for any comments/suggestions on our itinerary. This site has been a huge help in planning.

Day 1 - Arrive in Paris, train to Bayeux. We are staying at Hotel Churchill and going on the 2 day Battlebus tour (Utah and Omaha sector).

Day 3 (night) train to Paris and staying 2 full days. Staying at Hilton Paris on hotel points.

Day 5 - Night train to Venice for 2 full days. Staying at Antico Doge. No tours planned, sounds like the best part is getting lost anyway.

Day 8 - Train to Naples. Staying in Capri at La Minerva for 3 nights/2 days.

Day 11 - Train to Rome. Staying 2 days/nights at Hotel Columbia. Fly out of Rome.

Looking forward to any comments or suggestions. We wanted a balance between large and small cities.

Thanks in advance,
Molly

bugswife1

Boy, you are all over the place on this one. I suggest starting north and working south or vice versa, and not back tracking. Looks like you have 13 days. I would do 4 days paris, including that Battle tour, Then train to Venice for 2 days, Florence/Tuscany for 3 days, and 3 days in Rome and then out. Skip Amalfi coast. Save for another trip. You have too much moving around as it is for 13 days. You are going to spend far too much time running from place to place to be able to enjoy anything.
Day 1 is lost to jet lag. Days 2 & 3 on the battle tour, Days 4 & 5 Paris, Day 6 & 7 Venice, Days 8, 9 & 10 in Florence (with a side trip to Tuscany), and Days 11, 12, & 13 in Rome. Perfect. To get a taste of Paris and Italy. Next trip to Italy you do the Amalfi Coast and Sicily! Bon Voyage

Michael

It looks fine. I don't find Tuscany to be a better alternative to Capri.

bugswife1

Michael, Tuscany cuts out a ton of travel. They can take 1 train to Florence, 1 bus trip to Tuscany, 1 train to Rome and then fly home. If they do it the original way, it is a very long train ride from Venice to Naples (probably9 hrs), transportation to Sorrento, a ferry to Capri, and a taxi to the hotel. Taxi back to ferry, ferry to Sorrento, transport back to Naples. Naples train to Rome. Just doesn't make sense in order to have two days in Capri.

Another suggestion--with all that train travel--Pack Light!!!!!

Michael

It does make sense if you are planning to relax for two days. I would not consider Florence and a day trip in the Tuscan region as relaxing. A chacun son goût.

bugswife1

Okay, so I went back over the original itinerary and stand by my opinion. Day 8 is supposed to be one of the 3 nights in Capri. However, if you are looking to spend 2 full days in Venice, you will be taking an evening train to Naples. Assuming you leave at about 9 pm from Venice, you will arrive at Naples train station at about 5 AM. You will then need to take a cab for about 40 minutes to get to Sorrento. Now it is 5:45 AM. I have no idea what time the ferries start running in the morning, but I do know the ride to Capri is about another hour. Then you will need to cab it to the hotel. 10 + hrs of travel. And that means you really only need 2 nights at the hotel on Capri because you will be spending one night enroute. Day 9 and Day 10 to relax. Day 11 you repeat the whole process and arrive in Rome at noon. I just think it is a tremendous amount of running around. If I did that to my husband it would have been his first and last trip to Europe. Five hotels in 13 days and 3 overnights on a train. Yikes. But, I repeat, this is just my opinion and I have only been to Italy and France twice.

bugswife1

one more thought--can you fly home from Naples? you would cut out one train. Venice to Rome, Rome to Naples (Capri) and home from Naples.

bobthenavigator

Far too much travel for me. Great destinations--just too far apart.

nytraveler

Another vote that this trip is trying to cover too much territory. Have been to both Italy and France numerous times - and in fact once did a trip similar to this but in reverse (Rome to Paris but stopping in Capri, Venice etc). We took 3 weeks to do it and still found that we didn't have the time we wanted in each place. And we did it by car, which I think is faster and less wearing than train travel (no getting to the station at exactly the right time, trains that run only a few times per day, being stuck while the train waits for who knows what - has happened ever time we've trained in italy - dragging luggge to the right track,etc.). And once you have 2 people car travel seens to be a wash in cost.

I would recommend focusing the trip on fewer destimations otherwise you'll be spending 3/4 days just sitting in trains rather than enjoying the places you want to visit.

ira

Hi Molly,

I suggest that you make the first trip Paris and France. Do Italy on your next trip.

You can easily spend a week in Paris without being bored. From there you can do your 2 day battle field tour, a day to Versailles, a day to a chateau, a visit to Giverney, a day to Chartres, etc.