catherine_teh

Hi, I will be in Southern Europe for 4 weeks (Nov-Dec).I would be in Spain for 2 weeks, followed by Provence and then to tuscany. Can someone advise me on how I can get from barcelona to provence? and after that from Provence to Tuscany? If possible, I would like to avoid flying as we would prefer to see the sights .
Many thanks in advance

StuDudley

Driving would be an option.

There is a train that goes from Barcelona to Montpellier - which is next door to Provence.

Getting from Provence to Tuscany is difficult, time consuming, & requires several train changes. I would drive to Nice & catch the train from there. There is a 8 1/4 hr train that departs from Nice to Florence with 1 train change. I'm pretty sure you can drive there faster than that.

Stu Dudley

catherine_teh

Hi Stu
Thanks for your valuable input. Really appreciate it. Actually, we are still undecided whether we should go tuscany or just fly straight into Rome as Rome is our departure city. Any suggestions?

StuDudley

>>Any suggestions?<<

You can't beat Tuscany - although Nov & Dec is not the best time to be there.

Stu Dudley

StuDudley

When I stated Nov/Dec would not be the best time to visit Tuscany, I was thinking of the beautiful Tuscany countryside. It would be a great time to visit Florence because it will be much less crowded then.

Stu Dudley

catherine_teh

I agree with you that winter will not be the best time to visit tuscany. I have been to tuscany in Spring years back and the rolling hills with the blue skies are simply breathtaking. I only have 4 weeks and these are the places that I have planned for these 4 weeks.
Arrive in Madrid - Stay for 4 days
Take the AVE train to Seville- stay for 3 days
From Seville- Valencia - Stay in Valencia 4 days
Valencia to Barcelona - Stay in Barcelona 2 days
Barcelona to Provence - Stay in Provence for 5 to 7 days (still undecided)
Provence to Tuscany - Stay in Tuscany for 5 to 7 days
Florence - 1 Day
Venice / Rome - still undecided
What do you think of this itinerary? Is it too ambitious?

TDudette

Hi catherine_teh,

Stu is, right-on with his info.

As I've suggested to another poster, look at distances from Florence to Tuscan towns-you can make that a good base.

Also, Umbria can be a base for visits to Tuscany as well.

We trained from Florence to Venice and mostly saw tunnels-don't know if that would be true for your routes. Stu?

StuDudley

We went from La Spezia to Nice - and it was mostly tunnels.

Stu Dudley

annhig

Hi catherine,

IMO frankly you are dotting around too much. al lthat travelling wil exhaust you and you'll probably forgot what you saw in the first week by week three.

as you are [presumably] locked into flying into Madrid and out of Rome, this is what I'd do:

Madrid - 4 nights
Seville - 3 nights
BCN - 3 nights -
get train to provence base - stay 7 nights.

get train to CT - stay 4 nights.

train to Florence - 3 nights,

train to Rome - 4 nights [or whatever you've got left.]

or you could substitite Venice for the CT.

even the above is too much moving around for me, and if you really want to see Italy, I'd drop Provence, and leave it for another whole trip. also I'd pick Seville or BCN and drop the other. but that's jsut me.

have a great trip,

regards, ann

catherine_teh

Hi Ann
Thanks for your most invaluable advice. I also think that I am going to too many places, perhaps a litte too ambitious. Thus, I have done slight amendments to my itinerary
Madrid - 3 days
Train to sevilla - 4 days
Train to BCN - 3 days
Fly to Florence - ? days (As my husband has never been to Europe before, I would like him to see the country as well as experience the city, any suggestions how many days I should stay in the city VS country?)
Venice - 3 days
Rome - whatever we are left with

Is this slightly better? BTW, I heard from my friend that it is not advisable to arrive at a place on Sunday as most of the places would be closed. How true is that?
Many thanks in advance

StuDudley

>>BTW, I heard from my friend that it is not advisable to arrive at a place on Sunday as most of the places would be closed. How true is that?<<<

Very true - at least for France. I haven't spent much time in Spain - but I suspect it's the same. Many shops are closed on Monday morning too.

Stu Dudley

ribeirasacra

what do you mean by " most places"? Shops are normally closed on Sunday in Spain, unless they have a sort of tourist connection.
Dont forget with your planning you will loose a day to travelling every time you change locations. This day is not to be counted as a sight seeing day.

annhig

hi catherine,

not sure I'd describe my advice as invaluable as I've probably added to your troubles, but you're getting more of the idea.

AS Stu has said, sundays are a bit dead in italy and France, but that can them a good day to travel as there can be less to do. Mondays aren't bad too for the same reason.

looking at your new itinerary, you have a great opportunity to spend some time in the tuscan countryside before you hit Venice/Rome.

That said, i think this is what I'd do now:

Spain - as you have already. 10 days. [i might forget Seville and drive between Madrid and BCN so as to see rioja, but that's just tweeking]

Fly to VENICE! spend 4 nights.

Now you've got about 14 nights left, give or take. this would be an ideal time to hire a car and explore the area around Venice ["the Veneto"]. then bologna, Ravenna, florence, Perugia, Assisi, and so many lovely places in between.

At that time of year you wouldn't have to book [except perhaps florence and you could phone ahead a few days before when you knew when you wanted to be there] and prices should be cheap.

You could even think of an "agritourismo" but the time of year is not terribly good for that.

After 10 days return your car to orvieto, and train to Rome for your last few days.

if you were happy to stick to largish towns/cities, you could do all the above by train too.

good luck,

regards, ann

catherine_teh

Hi ann
You mentioned that we could drive from Madrid to BCN. Just wanna check with you whether the drive would be an easy one? But I heard that it's quite expensive to park in BCN city. So are you suggesting that we drop the car off the minute we reach the city?
BTW, is seville an interesting place to visit? or do you suggest that i spend my time in other cities (in spain) instead of seville?
thanks

annhig

Hi Catherine,

My suggestion to drive from Madrid to BCN and omit Seville was based on two things - SEville is out of your way, AND IMO you will need some down-time/countryside experiences in between your city stays. that way you can absorb them so much more easily. BCN is taking you in te hright direction and is a very vibrant exciting place. [as it Seville, of course, but perhaps better in spring/ealy summer with all the flowers.]

you could either go straight there [in which case the train might be better] or drive via logrono in the rioja region which would be more fun.

Drop the car when you get to BCN - you won't want to take it out of Spain anyway.

you might like to look at www.maribelsguides.com to give you a lot more very reliable detail.

regards, ann