Lisa27

I have never been to Europe before and am very excited to go there Sept 1, 2013

We are planning on starting in Athens, Greece stay there a few days. Take a week to travel through Italy from Athens. Maybe stop at naples and Rome. And finishing up in Venice where we can take a couple of days to sight see and end on maybe a Touristy note, just relaxing and gathering our energy (so we don't need a vacation from our vacation when we get back home).

Any advise would be appreciated. Places to see, stay, eat? Cheapest way to get there? How much we need to budget for 2 people?

Thank You

RobIm

We need more details - how long is your trip? How are you getting from Greece to Italy?

Heimdall

The easiest (and probably cheapest, all things considered) way to get from Athens to Italy is by air. If you are ending up in Venice but want to see Rome as well, then a flight from Athens to Rome would seem the most logical to me.

If you are visiting an island while in Greece, it would work best to travel there first and save Athens for last. Most ferries leave Athens (Piraeus) in the morning, but there are flights to the more popular islands (e.g. Rhodes, Mykonos, Santorini) spaced throughout the day.

Lisa27

about a week in 3/4 of a week. so a few days in athens. then a road trip through italy (driving from athens to venice) for maybe 5 days then maybe 4 days in venice.

I would like to stay in Rome and Florence maybe a night each. I would like to hear of any other towns from athens to venice i absolutly have to see.

ira

Hi L,

With only 10 days, I strongly urge you to visit Italy and save Greece for later.

In addition, there will be a large charge to pick up a car in Greece and drop it in Italy.

I suggest that you fly into Venice - 4 nights, train to Florence - 4 nights, train to Rome - 4 nights, fly home.

Enjoy your visit.

neckervd

Count 3 full days for a visit of Athens and it's immediate surroundings and another 4 days for the Athens - Patras leg (visiting Korinthos-Micenae/Argos/Nauplia/Epidauros - Sparta/Mistras and Olympia.
Forget a car drive from Brindisi to Lecce - Alberobello - Castellana - Matera - Naplaout 3 weeks for that if you visit only the most important places.
So you will probably have the choice between either a direct Patras - Venice ferry or a Patras - Ancona ferry. Ancona - Frasassi Caves - Foligno - Assisi - Perugia - Florence - Faenza - Ravenna - Ferrara - Padova - Venice would need about 8 days.

clausar

It is not possible to take a rental car from Greece to Italy, but even if it was, it would be cheaper to fly to Rome and rent a car there.
Fly to Rome and work your way up to Venice with overnight in Florence.
Rome - Florence is 290 km and Florence - Venice is 260 km.

Lisa27

So we discussed it and we want to go to Athens and Venice as our main cities. and maybe some day trips around each town. I would like to see some countryside as well. My fiance is very active and will want to do some fun stuff and I am very history oriented and would love to see some cool stuff. We both love to try out new foods.

I would rather take a ferry then train to Venice, over a plane, or just a train going the other way around.

He's wanting to rent a bike in Athens to just drive around for a day or two.

So I guess we need train info, hotel info, best places to visit around the city, fun things to see and do, and a bike rental place. Oh and I would love to stay a couple nights in the countryside somewhere but I'm not stuck on it.

Lisa27

some web sites would be helpful.

Thank you for all your help.

yorkshire

You just need a guide book--you can pretty much find everything online as well.
First and foremost, you need to search ferries from Athens to Italy and figure out how you're going to do that without eating the whole trip traveling.

neckervd

Bus from Athens to Patras: every 30 min
Ferry from Patras to Ancona: twice daily
Train from Ancona to Venice: about every hour from 9.27 until 19.27
There are also a few direct Patras - Venice resp Trieste ferries
http://www.gtp.gr/