hermie

My husband and I are planning our 1 year wedding anniversary (ages 30/31) and we want to visit Italy and/or Spain. This would be our first time visit to both these countries. We'll only have 10 days and think we will go in late March or April 2006.

We're really torn with where we should visit. Here are some itineraries we are contemplating. In all cases, we definitely want to visit Rome. I'm ok with just doing the Italy only trip but my husband really thinks we should visit more than one country. We are not huge art/museum lovers but really appreciate history, love beautiful scenery and romantic places, drinking wine and having great food. Oh I should add that if we could, my husband would love to rent a motorcycle as well one of the days we're traveling. He's heard riding in Italy and Spain are awesome.

If you can, please comment on what you think would be best for our trip. Is it best just to stick to one country? Anyone out there visit Italy and Spain in a short time? Once we can finalize where we are going, then I'll work on the duration for each city.

Italy only: Rome, Venice, Amalfi Coast(Positano) and possibly Tuscany

Italy and Spain: Fly to Seville for few days and explore and then fly to Rome. (Based on some inital readings, I feel like we would enjoy Seville more than Barcelona.)After Rome go to Venice.

Italy and Spain: Fly to Barcelona and drive through France to get to Italy (final destination Rome) Would this even be enjoyable?

Thank you!

Robert2533

You're looking at covering half the area of Europe inside of two weeks. When are you going to have the time to enjoy anything except traveling? Pick a spot, plan on spending a few days, and enjoy it.

isabel

Ten days is not much. Your proposal to fly to Seville and then fly to Rome would work though. You really need 3-4 days in a city/area to see much, and any day you travel, the travel will eat up much of the day. Even if the flight from Seville to Rome is only a couple of hours, by the time you figure in getting to and from the airports, waiting, etc., the day is pretty shot. The train from Rome to Venice is 5 hours, so that kills a lot of a day too.

You could do 3-4 days in the Seville area (I haven't been there but have been researching a trip there and that seems like a very reasonable amount of time) and fly to Rome for 3-4 days and train to Venice for a couple of days if you had an open jaw ticket and could fly home from Venice. Otherwise, I'd stick to the two cities.

Alternately you could pretty easily fly to Rome, spend 3 days, rent a car and drive through Tuscany for 4-5 days, dropping it in Venice, spend the last couple days and fly home from there.

I would definitly not do the driving through France idea in that amount of time. Unless you really prefer alot of driving and one night stays. Most people will tell you that idea is crazy, but some people like a really fast paced trip. I rhink the other suggestions are better.

nytraveler

Agree that in 10 days you can do a couple of places in either country - or one city in each country (with a day trip from each). Any more than that and the whole trip would be nothing but a blur of airports and train stations. You would have little time to see/do anythng and no time at all to relax and smell the flowers.

As for renting a bike - if your husand is an experienced rider he should do fine - once you're out of the city (inner cities are hell for bikes - esp in Italy - few traffic lights, no rules and a massive game of chicken.)

He must be aware that speeds are much higher than in the US, and drivers are serious about rules of the road. You CANNOT ride in the left lane except for momentary passing - or you will be run down by something much biger, faster and VERY impatient. (I was in the left lane doing about 110 passing someone and was pushed over by a Porsche riding up my tail - at like 130 - because he was being pushed over by a Ferrari going god knows how fast.)

zootsi

I would definitely only do one country. Both have soooo much to see, why spend half your time travelling? Even though we loved both of these countries, if I had to choose one it would be Italy. They both have beautiful scenery and architecture, but Italy wins hands down when it comes to food. In general, Andalucia's countryside is somewhat like southern California - dry and rugged. Central Italy is more lush and green (and slightly cooler this time of year).

bobthenavigator

With only 10 days, pick 3 destinations in one country and make them within a max of 4 hours for each other. Plan your next 2 trips to Europe before you leave on this one. After 13 trips to Italy and 4 to Spain we still have not seen it all. That time of year I would do Andalusia for better weather.

suze

With ten days I would suggest only two places. If you're flying in between wouldn't matter if they are in the same or different countries (i.e. 5 days Seville and 5 days Rome OR 5 days Rome and 5 days Venice). Oops, actually Rome to Venice I'd probably go by train.

But how important is motorcycling thru the countryside? You could plan an entire 10 days around just that.

The other thing I'd consider important is to book your plane ticket "open jaw" so you fly into one place and depart from a different one. Saves backtracking time and expense on the ground.

Intrepid1

I would be VERY careful about the time you allot to Seville. I realize that many people here will tell you that it is "worth" three or four days.

However, in this short time period I would advise you to research carefully the sights in Seville and try to decide if they are really worth three or four days.

IMO THE major site is the cathedral and, frankly, for us, everything else kinda paled in comparison. How, if you are also interested in flemenco, bullfighting, and just wandering around looking at the architecture then that, obviously, requires more time.

I love Spain but I do not feel that Seville compares with a city like Rome or even Venice.

As to the bike riding: I'm a biker and whereas I think it is a great idea I think THAT should be limited to one country in this short period of time, also. Riding in Spain and Italy can actually BE quite wonderful but it depends upon where you do the riding.

If you do two countries I'd try to do no more than three cities max.

Brian_in_Charlotte

Rome - 4 days
Montepulciano (or another small Tuscan town) - 3 days (maybe rent a bike here)
Florence - 3 days.

Save Spain for next year and enjoy Italy.