Italy (and Paris) for Beginners
 

Having just returned from a two week "on our own" trip to Rome, Florence, Venice and Paris, I can truthfully say I will never take another tour to Europe. It was SO much more relaxing than the daily grind of getting up early and getting on the bus...we never once set an alarm clock for the entire two weeks, yet managed to see everything on our agenda without feeling rushed.

That said, I will admit to having booked a "package" through Costco travel that included airport transfers, hotels and train tickets. But now I don't think I'd even need to do that (although the hotels through Costco were all 4 and 5 star; not sure I could have gotten such great deals on my own). But Costco's range of packages are fairly limited and seem only to include the UK, Spain, France and Italy.

A great deal of pre-trip research was necessary, but if I can do it, anyone can. For Rome, I pre-booked our Vatican entry time, the Scavi tour, and our Colosseum/Forum tickets, and it was great to breeze to the head of the line in all of those places. It was so great to wander through the Vatican Museums on our own: we paced ourselves so that we were always in the empty space between herds of tour groups. Transport within the city was easy with a three-day bus/metro pass available through our hotel.

In Florence, I pre-booked our Accademia entry (and would have pre-booked the Uffizi but we bypassed it this trip.) I also pre-booked a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano throug Viator tours -- would have taken the bus from Florence for this but it was a Sunday and not many were running. We were pleased with this tour, which gave us plenty of free time and had very good local guides.

For Venice, I pre-booked St. Mark's entry and the Secret Itinerary Doge's Palace tour. We bought vaporetto passes on the spot to cover our trip to Murano and Burano, as well as the trips between our hotel and the train station. Again, easily done.

For Paris, I purchased a 4-day Paris Museum Pass at the Arc de Triomphe on our first morning. Used the Paris Museum Pass for skip-the-line entries to St. Chappelle, Conciergerie, Orangerie, Musee D'Orsay, Louvre, and Versailles. It definitely paid for itself. The Eiffel Tower is not included on the Museum Pass, but I pre-booked a "Behind the Scenes" tour through Cultival so no waiting in line there either. For in-city transport, I bought a "carnet" of ten tickets at the CDG-Etoile Metro station, which was 5 minutes from our hotel.

I was a bit intimidated at first about being confused in Italian train stations, but again, this could not have been simpler and it was gratifying to find our how clean, comfortable and on-time the trains really are. We "trained" from Rome to Florence, from Florence to Venice, and from Venice (via Milan) to Paris.

This was my sister's first-ever trip to Europe so we concentrated on doing the things first-timers do. I probably won't write a trip report with daily entries as most folks here are well beyond the "beginner tourist" stage. But I just wanted newbies to European travel to know that it's possible, and wonderful, to do it on your own.

...and now you are hooked : ) So much of the fun is in the planning. Many will appreciate your encouragement. Thanks for the post.

Welcome to our world, Azzure!

Congratulations! We felt the same way when we booked our first apartment in Paris after staying in hotels. Yes, it does take a lot of research, but planning adds months to the experience.

I have to give much credit for figuring out the trains. This was a challenge that we took on and were lucky to not have any mishaps---sometimes it was very interesting. But, you know what? All in all, most people are willing to give you a hand when you need it, don't you agree?

amamax2----perfect response =D>

Very nice of you to post this. The beauty of independent travel is that you can tweak your daily sightseeing as you go and discover gems. And aren't the trains wonderful? I was amazed at the clean pristine cloth seats recently on 2 separate trains out of Paris. You won't find that here out of NYC.

Great report thanks for posting...

There are lots of great tours for euroewbies too

I did one my first time out saved a lot saw a lot

For some it can make a lot of sense and can offer savings.

affordabletours.com Globus 40% off my personal fav for this

Currently prefer train self-guiding but for newbies

upscale tours can save and be lots easier with a guide

There is nothing like a trip that took months of planning...it is half the fun so that when you get there it is like you know just where to go and no regimentation of getting on the bus and rotating seats daily etc. Been there done that and never doing it again and yes people will help you out if you make a mistake as we have done many times but live and learn!

azzure--thanks for this post. I am in the midst of planning a trip to Italy in just less than a year. I am determined to do this on my own and posts like yours give me added assurance that I can do this!

Thanks to all. Here are a couple of other beginner tips that I learned:

1) Take advantage of restrooms at sites you visit. A couple of times we waited too long, and ended up paying 1.50 euro to use some none-too-clean public restrooms.

2) Carry bottled water at all times! Water is not provided free at cafes and restaurants as it is in the US.

3) Consider bringing a heating coil, and some coffee or tea packets, for refreshments in your room. Many European hotels, even top-quality ones, do not provide a tea/coffeemaker in the room.

4) Some hotels have a "business center" in the lobby offering free internet, but some charge...at one (5 star) hotel where we stayed, the charge was 10 euro per half hour. If internet access is important to you, you should research this before making hotel reservations.

The above advice is probably old news to seasoned Eurotravelers, but I thought newbies might benefit by the information.

YOu advice that water is not provided free at cafes and restaurants in Europe isn't exactly right. It depends where you are, there are some countries where they don't want to give it to you free (I assume you mean tap water, of course) and act as if they've never heard of such a thing and you just don't do it, such as in Germany (or so my German friend told me, I don't know why). I think when I was in Spain a few weeks ago (Barcelona), they don't routinely do it there, either, but I am forgetting. But since you went to Paris and I assume your advice is supposed to cover it, that isn't true there. I always drink tap water in Paris and have no trouble getting it when requested, it is very common for locals to drink it also. Yes, some people have a thing about wanting to spend on brand name bottled water and will order it in restaurants in Paris, but a lot of people do not. In fact, it is a law that they must give it to you free. I've never had a place refuse to give it to me. If you only eat in very expensive restaurants, I bet it is more a custom there to order bottled water in Paris.

Yes, you're right; I was forgetting that tap water in Paris was not a problem (although we still had to ask). In Italy, though, we always had to buy a bottle of regular (non-mineral, non-carbonated) water.