Itinerary Advice for 2.5 Weeks in Europe
 

My wife and I will be spending some time in Europe from June 14-July 1. We fly into Barcelona from Canada and here is what I have planned for our trip.

June 14-18 - Barcelona (3.5 Days)
June 18 (am) - Fly Vueling to Nice, France.
June 18-21 - Day 1 in Nice, Day 2 Cannes, Day 3 Monaco
June 21 (am) - Train or Bus to Cinque Terre, Italy
June 21-23 - 2 Days to relax in Cinque Terre
June 23 (am) - Travel to Florence/Tuscany by Car or Train
June 23-25 - Spend 2 Days in Florence or Tuscany. 1 Day visiting each.
June 25 (am) - Travel to Rome by Car or Train
June 25-July 1 - Rome. Make 1 day trip to Naples/Pompeii
Jule 1 (am) - Fly back to Canada

So in summary, 3.5 days in Barcelona, 3 Days for Nice, Cannes and Monaco, 2 Days in Cinque Terre, 2 Days for Florence/Tuscany, 5.5 Days in Rome with 1 Day trip to Naples/Pompeii.

I know this is a lot of traveling around for 2.5 weeks and we are prepared for a busy vacation. I also know that I won't have enough time in any 1 spot to see all of the attractions. This is our first trip to Europe, so our goal is to get a taste of the great spots from Barcelona to Rome.

Right now we are starting with a more detailed itinerary for Barcelona and I think 3.5 days is good enough to see quite a bit. We are now starting to plan more details for our next stop in Nice, but I wanted to ask what you all think of my overall plan for our travels.

We are also considering using AirBnb for all of our stops. I have heard nothing but great things and I think it would be a great way to save some money on hotels so we can spend more on attractions.

Thanks!

The way you are spelling it out is misleading. You really can't count the same date as a 'day' in two places.

What you really have is:

June 14-17 Barcelona
June 18-20 - less than 1/2 a day in Nice, 1 day in Cannes, 1 day in Monaco
June 21-22 - 1 Day to relax in Cinque Terre
June 23-24 - 1.5 days for Florence OR Tuscany. <strike>1 Day visiting each</strike>.
June 25-June 30 - Rome. Day trip to Naples/Pompeii
July1 - Fly back to Canada

You must have reasons for your choices of places to see, so no comment on that.

Look carefully at your travel times.
You do not have two days in CT or two days in Florence.
Day 21 will be quite a lot of travel, so it can't count as a relaxing day in CT and
Day 23 you travel to Florence, so that is only one day to relax in CT.
You have only 1 & 1/2 days in Florence, the afternoon of the 23rd and the whole of the 24th, since you are leaving for Rome on the 25th.

It will be hot everywhere, but Pompeii will be super hot, so not a good day trip from Rome in the heat of summer.

I also like airbnb. However, it usually takes a bit more time to find the apartments and settle in than it does to get to a hotel. I do not try to save money on them either because I want the apartment to be well located and well cared for and there is a booking fee and a cleaning fee.

Regarding Barcelona, you are correct. But the rest you are not.

I will be in Nice by 10am, so I don't see how this is less than half a day.

We will be arriving in Cinque Terre early as well. So as I said, 2 days in Cinque Terre.

The same for Florence/Tuscany. We will arrive in one place, stay for the day and see some sights and then have the next day for the other.

I understand we have to include travel time but we will be travelling quite early in the morning to make the best of our time.

You may be at Nice Airport by 10AM. But by the time you get to your hotel, get checked in and are ready to explore it will be lunch time - so yes 1/2 a day in Nice.

>>We will be arriving in Cinque Terre early as well. So as I said, 2 days in Cinque Terre.<<

How can you get to the CT early if you are taking a bus? It is at least a 4 hour drive (and that depends on which village you mean - could be longer. So again IMO you are overly optimistic.

>> The same for Florence/Tuscany. We will arrive in one place, stay for the day and see <<

You say you are traveling by 'car or train' to Florence -- well the drive will take more than 2 hours - and then what do you expect to do w/ your car?

You really aren't accounting for 'logistics'

Ok, I appreciate you explaining what you meant.

So what would you suggest? Maybe eliminate Cinque Terre and have more time for Nice and Tuscany? I would prefer not to eliminate but I also don't want to feel too rushed.

My justification was basically because I was told 1 day is enough for each of Nice, Florence and Tuscany.

All of them look so amazing! :)

They are all amazing! Too amazing for a single day!

Whoever was telling you a day was enough for each of those is someone you shouldn't be listening to. You can see the bare basics of Florence in a day, but there is much more there than that.

And Tuscany - that's a whole province! In a day you could see Siena, or maybe Siena and San Gimignano. Or you could day-trip to the Chianti. You'd need more like three days to venture to the Val d'Orcia (around Montepulciano), which is an area that can't logistically be seen in a day unless you never step out of the car. So which of these days is that person referring to? Cuz he sure isn't referring to all of them.

Artsnletters is absolutely right.

You got some interesting travel advice from somebody about one day being enough for these places. I wondered about the choices of places to visit on your first trip to Europe as several would be way down on the list for many people. It might be good for you to study some guidebooks for yourself to see what these places have to offer.

Iif you share what your personal interests are (history, art, architecture, food, wine, partying, etc.), there will be well experienced posters on here who can give very good ideas and advice.

If it were me I would cut out the whole Nice/Cannes/Monaco section - loads of travel time and not enough bang for the buck imho. Were there specific things you wanted to see/do in those places?

You can fly veuling from Barcelona to Florence, spend some time in Florence/Tuscany (seriously, someone told you 1 day in each was enough!?!?!), train to Cinque Terre and then train to Rome.

Hez, so right!

If they cut that stuff, they could even take a day from Rome, and use one of the days they cut from Monaco to go to Naples or Sorrento for a night or two and see Pompeii.

Agree, I would cut Southern France as well. Everywhere is going to look amazing but you won't have time to actually enjoy any of them if you are running from place to place. Pick fewer places and see what each of the remaining places have to offer!

With the amount of time you have, I would visit Barcelona, Florence, the Tuscan countryside and Rome. As your itinerary currently stands, you have no time to actually experience any of your stops. If you spend 5 days in Barcelona, 5 in Florence and the countryside and 5 in Rome, you have time to squeeze Cinque Terre in.

<< I was told 1 day is enough for each of Nice, Florence and Tuscany.>>

That's patently absurd. I have spent the equivalent of half a year in those 3 locations and I can't come close to claiming I've seen even a third of what's on offer.

Hez is spot on. Drop the South of France and you might have the beginnings of a reasonable trip.

You are all reassuring some of my doubts about my travel agent. I phoned a travel agency here in Canada called Flight Centre and have been speaking with a girl. She is very nice and looking into things like Hotels, Flights, Car Rentals etc for me, but this is the easy stuff that I can do myself. I need someone who will give me good advice and I am obviously not getting that. I sent the exact same travel plan to her and she told me it was a great idea. She was also the one who told me 1 day is enough for Florence. So needless to say, I am disappointed.

My personal interests are the following and in order:

Architecture
Scenery
History
Art
Food

I also hope to spend a day or two at a beautiful beach possibly along the French or Italian riviera for some relaxation time.

Again, we are fine with a busy schedule, but at the same time don't want to feel rushed and stressed out about not having enough time in each place.

Obviously our must see locations are Barcelona, Florence and Rome. But I was looking at some stops on the way between the two and that is when I came up with Nice/Cannes/Monaco since they can all be seen within 3-4 days? And I also heard about Cinque Terre and looked online and it looked AMAZING!

So I guess I have to make a decision to either eliminate Cinque Terre or Nice/Cannes/Monaco. How would you compare? French Riviera or Italian Riviera? Which has a nicer beach since either one will be the stop to relax a little bit as we hope to do. I guess I also have to consider travel between Spain and Italy with one of these in between.

To be honest, if I had to cut one I was leaning towards keeping Nice and eliminating Cinque Terre, but I could be wrong, which is why I am interested in your opinions.

Thank you all for your feedback! :)

Monaco is nothing but a huge, overpriced pile of rocks and condos on a beach. It deserves a couple of hours, if that. Cinque Terre was stunning 25 years ago - now it's awash, literally shoulder to shoulder, with tourists. The French Riviera is glitzy and expensive with miles and miles of rocky beaches (if you want sand and relaxation, there are far better venues, such as in or near Sète, but that of course lacks the glam of the French Riviera). The Italian Riviera has some lovely spots, but in general is more shabby chic than the French.

I think the idea to dump the Cinque Terre and keep Nice is a fine idea.

And that is exactly why most of us never use a travel agent!!!

The beaches in the two areas you are considering are not great...cinque Terre has 5 villages on cliffs, only monterosso has a beach and I didn't think it was great. Most are rocky. People go to hike between the five villages.

Personally I would stick to your must see places of Barcelona, Florence and Rome and add either rural Tuscany OR Cinque Terre OR French Riviera. Anything more wouldn't give me enough time to enjoy and would waste too much time and money in logistics of getting between places for my taste

One of the reasons I was considering Southern France was because Nice just looks like a beautiful city to venture around for a day or 2. Cannes I was actually thinking can be our day at the beach? And Monaco for an afternoon just because it's Monaco. It looks like a nice place to walk around for a few hours.

We are not into hiking very much but Cinque Terre just looks BEAUTIFUL so that is why we added it. But maybe we should remove it.

Florence and Tuscany look very close together, so I was thinking to use airbnb for a few nights in Florence with a day to travel through some close spots in Tuscany.

Would this plan make more sense?

Barcelona 3.5 Days (June 14-18)
Nice/Cannes/Monaco 3.5 Days (June 18-22)
Florence/Tuscany 2.5 Days (June 22-25)
Rome 5.5 Days (June 25-30) with 1 Day trip to Naples/Pompeii

This gives me a little bit more time for my 2nd and 3rd stop by taking out Cinque Terre. I am leaving the most time for Rome because I research that you need 4 full days for Rome. This would give me 4.5 and 1 for Naples/Pompeii.

Two quick comments --

You are still counting two places on the same dates. It honestly doesn't usually work that way. By the time you check out/travel/check in/ etc you will lose more than half a day.

And IMO Cannes and Monaco are not worth the time/effort - Monaco is really not a nice place to 'walk around' and Cannes is not a god place for a 'beach fix'.

I agree with you. We definitely need to figure out all of the logistics but this is pretty much what is in my mind right now.

Must See: Barcelona, Florence, Rome (1 day Naples/Pompeii)

Nice to See (Maybe pick 2?): Nice, Cannes, Monaco, Cinque Terre, Tuscany

So what I am trying to figure out is what makes the most sense from my Nice to See list. If I eliminate Cannes and Monaco and stay in Nice for 2 days, would it make sense to spend more of my time in Florence and try to get to Tuscany? Or eliminate the French Riviera all together and do Cinque Terre? I don't want to skip both French and Italian Riviera.

Maybe you need to tell us what <i>you</i> expect from visiting the Riviera (either French or Italian) . . .

Florence is IN Tuscany; it's the capital of the region. While staying in Florence, it's possible to make some day trips outside of the capital. Another idea is to stay in some other place, such as Lucca or Siena, and visit Florence as a day trip. If you want to visit more than one museum or more than two of its churches with art treasures, you should stay in Florence. If you only want to see the city, a day trip from Lucca or Siena would be fine. The advantage of Lucca is that Pisa is an easy train or bus trip from there. The advantage of Siena is that there are a few of the famous Tuscan towns that can be easily reached from there.

I've never been to Nice, so I can't comment on that.

There are really no beaches worth the trip to the Cinque Terre. Most of the towns have only a very narrow strip of rocks and sand. The beach at Monterosso is also very narrow. The scenery is beautiful, but there's beautiful scenery in many other places in the world. I've been there twice, and the towns themselves were sinking under the weight of the tourists both times, including once on a rainy day in October.

If you go there, I would stay a minimum of two nights to be able to do a little hiking and breath a little air. If you're not interested in hiking, I would skip it, as the only other thing to do there is buy postcards. It takes a fair amount of time to get there and back from nearly anywhere, so I don't consider it a good day trip destination, especially since you'd be there at the same time as the hordes.

Like I said above, I would only pick 1 additional location. As you will be in cities for the whole trip I would pick rural Tuscany. But I would do that with a car.

If 1 day is enough for Nice, Florence and Tuscany depends entirely on what you want to see and do.

IMHO you need at least 3 or 4 days in Nice (you had better not be moving to Cannes or Monaco - that would be a huge waste of time - visit everyplace on the Riviera from Nice. And drop Monaco unless you have a LOT to spend and just really want to watch the uber rich at play and shop in designer boutiques.

Florence IMHO is worth 2 full days PLUS the day you arrive - and as for Tuscan you can visit one town or a dozen in a week of more. Which town(s) do you want to see and why. Sounds like you spoke to someone who did a :it;t Tuesday this must be Belgium bus tour - or who doesn;t really want to explore europe.

I think you need to makea list of what YOU want to do - and then check with Michelin green guides to see how long it takes to see.

>> Sounds like you spoke to someone who did a if it's Tuesday this must be Belgium bus tour - or who doesn;t really want to explore europe<<

Per the OP's posts -- he got most of this advice from a Travel Agent (who probably has either never been or has only been on a TA junket)

hi nightfawl,

it's worth looking at what flights are available, before finalising your plans - for example, easyjet fly from Barcelona to Milan, which would put you in an ideal place to go to the CT.

from there you could go straight down the coast on the train to Rome, or detour to Florence.

you could also hire a car, and tour northern Tuscany, taking a day trip to Florence.

Then return your car, and catch the train to Rome.

in 2 1/2 weeks, staying in just 4 places would make sense, so that you don't lose too much time as you move from one place to another.

you could do something like this:

June 14 - arrive Barcelona.
June 18 - fly to Milan. [the easyjet flight leaves at 8.45 am, arrives at about 10am] train to CT
June 21 - train to Pisa, pick up hire car or train to Florence
June 25 - train to Rome.
July 1 - fly home.

This gives you at least 3 nights in each place, but quite a lot of variety if you want it.

I'm considering your option for Milan, but I really do want to see either the French or Italian Riviera.

We are definitely settled on Barcelona, Florence and Rome but would like to add something between Barcelona and Florence. I am still leaning towards parts of Nice (for 2 days) and as suggested by some other posters to remove Cannes and Monaco from our trip.

Once I figure out what cities we will be going to and when, I will then be digging deeper and figuring out what we will be doing on each day. But for now, here is an option I am considering.

June 14 arrive in Barcelona (Stay for 3.5 days)
June 18 fly Vueling to Nice arriving at 10:30am. (2.5 days for Nice/French Riviera)
June 21 travel to Florence later in afternoon with possibly a stop in Pisa on the way. Maybe we can rent a car for this trip?Stay until June 25 to allow 3 FULL days. 2 for Florence and maybe 1 day trip through northern Tuscany (Sienna?). I have to put more research into this but wondering if this will work.
June 25 travel to Rome. We would then have 5 FULL days for Rome. We can then use 1 of those days to travel to Naples/Pompeii.

Does this make a little bit more sense? Again, I know I have to figure out logistics after Nice. Not sure if Train or Car is best for travels through the stops in Italy we would like to do.

I hate to eliminate Cinque Terre from our trip, but with time being against us, we can only pick one more stop between Barcelona and Florence and Cinque Terre seems like it is not very easy to get to.

You absolutely do not want a car in Florence, for a lot of reasons, but in particular the ZLTs - no one wants to get a hefty fine in the mail a year after the trip is over.

For rural Tuscany you almost certainly want a car. Problem is, your time is so short, and a 1- or 2-day car rental is an expensive proposition. There are good bus lines around some of rural Tuscany, so that's likely going to be what you'll need to use.

Nightfawl - you can get a train from Nice to Florence, it'll take between 7-8 hours. [see bahn.de]. Whatever you do, you DO NOT want a car in Florence. I've driven in loads of places, Crete, Tunisia, London, even Toronto on an 18 lane highway straight out of the airport after an 8 hour flight, but I wouldn't dream of driving in Florence.

if you want to see Florence AND some of the countryside, you can either split up the time you have between city and country, or do a day trip. There is a bus every hour from Florence to siena [it goes from the bus station next to the SMN railway station in Florence] and itself takes an hour or so, and drops you in the middle of Siena. [better than the train which requires a bus journey into the centre]

or you can hire a company like Hills and Roads to put together a day trip into the countryside for you.

http://www.hillsandroads.com/

[i haven't used them but they get very good reviews here and elsewhere].

I was in both Nice and CT this past summer. Personally I wouldn't choose either - I would go north of CT to Santa Marghuerita Ligure, still Italian Riviera but not nearly as touristy as CT. CT was crazy crowded and touristy. Nice just didn't grab me at all - as my sister-in-law said, Nice is where one goes to be seen, not to see.

Vueling fly from Barcelona to Genoa. The train is an hour or so to SML. After few days of beach time (it's all rocky beaches where you can rent a beach lounger -don't expect beautiful white sand) you can take the train to Pisa which goes via CT so you could spend a couple hours there to see what it's about and then head on to Pisa, see the tower, and train on to Florence. It would be a full day, and if you have lots of luggage could be a bit difficult, but doable in my opinion. I believe there are left luggage facilities at Montorosso train station in CT - trains go up and down the coast very frequently.

There is left luggage at the Pisa Train station and then about a 1 mile walk each way to the tower. I believe there are buses as well, and surely taxis.

Hez - that's a nice [excuse the pun] plan.

Nice in mid-summer does not seem particularly enticing.

Thanks annhig. :)

Depending on your interests, you may want to eliminate CT, spend less time in Monaco/Nice to have more time in Florence. Despite the heat in Pompeii, I would make it a priority, but your interests may differ.

A lot of the feedback I am getting is telling me to skip Nice as I may be disappointed that I didn't spend more time in either Barcelona or Florence/Tuscany. It also seems like Nice is extremely expensive for meals.

But on the other hand, I also read some opinions that Nice should only be used as a base and I should use my 2-3 days to visit places like St. Paul De Vence, Corsica or VilleFrance.

I'm having a very difficult time making up my mind. Spend an extra day in Barcelona and Tuscany and only have 3 destinations, or maybe try another spot to stop in between???

I'm having a very difficult time making up my mind. Spend an extra day in Barcelona and Tuscany and only have 3 destinations, or maybe try another spot to stop in between???>>

Nightfawl - there is very little danger that you will run out of things to see and do [or day trips to take] on any of those places - they are in themselves excellent bases [as of course is Rome, which I remember is your third/fourth destination]. some of the best trips we've done have been where we've spent 5-7 days in one place; you can explore the city one day, do a day trip the next, and so on, always coming back to the city and getting to know it a little better every evening.

My advice would be to leave those "other spots" to another trip.

annhig - I very much appreciate all of your feedback. The reason I am thinking about trying to add a stop for a couple of days between Barcelona and Florence is pretty much because we have been wanting to do a Europe trip for YEARS and I really want to try to get in as much as possible. At the same time I don't want to rush things, which is why I went from 5 stops to 4.

I totally agree that we won't get bored if we had 5 days for each place but I think we can squeeze it down a little bit because I really feel that 4 stops would be ideal.

I'm just trying to figure out what I should do for my 2nd stop. It doesn't HAVE to be southern France (Nice). I have heard other suggestions to fly to Milan or Genoa and work my way down Italy from there and stop in Cinque Terre or somewhere else along the Italian Riviera like Santa Marghuerita Ligure. I'm open to all kinds of suggestions! :)

<<I'm open to all kinds of suggestions!>>

Actually, that doesn't seem to be the case, as you've already been given a huge number of suggestions, by helpful folks who have traveled extensively in this part of the world, and you seem bound and determined to ignore those suggestions. Not sure what in the world you want us to keep suggesting. You have conflicting goals: get in as much as you possibly can and not be rushed. Not possible, so toss a coin and get on with it.

StCirq - I'm not sure what you're talking about. Maybe you should try re-reading the entire thread again before you criticize me. I've already taken many suggestions like to skip Cannes and Monaco (which was actually your suggestion) and to choose between Nice and Cinque Terre since its too much to do both. I'm also considering going to Milan like one of the posters suggested. Sorry for keeping the conversation going, but isn't that the point of a message forum? If you don't want to add anymore to this thread, that's fine. But I do appreciate your input.

No, I had the same impression as St.C.-- you are still going to Nice, etc. Just so you know.
I think those places are a waste of your time--but you seem fixated on Nice-maybe you let go of Monaco.
Tell us WHAT you are now doing.

I suggested a perfectly good itinerary with four stops so not sure what else you're looking for. In case you missed it...

Barcelona
Santa Margherita Ligure (fly to Genoa on Veuling, train to SML)
Florence (via train stopping at CT & Pisa on the way)
Rome

And btw, as far as I can tell no one has suggested going to Milan - just flying there to go to CT.