pamelaca2002

We are planning our first trip to Europe for this September. I would like some input as to our proposed itinerary. I realize to some this may be aggressive - but we really want to hit, at a minimum - London, Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence. I'm not sure that our ordering of cities is right in Italy. I welcome all comments:

Day 1: Leave Home
Day 2 - 4 - London
Day 5 -8 - Paris (arriving morning of Day 5 via train, leaving on Day 8 taking overnight train to Nice)
Day 9 - Nice
Day 10 - Genoa or Cinque Terre
Day 11 - 13 Florence
Day 14 - 17 - Rome
Day 18 - Assisi or Orvieto
Day 19 - Ravenna
Day 20 - 22 - Venice
Day 23 - Home


We are flexible on where we leave from (Venice or Rome - whichever makes the most sense).

Thank you in advance for your comments.

pamelaca2002

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JudyC

I think your itinerary is quite feasible; however, in order not to back track and fewer changing trains (if you are travelling by rail), perhaps you could adjust the route in Italy as following:

Nice to Genoa
Genoa to Venice (change train at Milan)
Venice to Ravenna (change train at Ferrara)
Ravenna to Florence
Florence to Assisi
Assisi to Rome.
Flying back from Rome.

LoveItaly

Hello pamelaca. You are flying from the US I assume? Correct me if I am wrong.

To me this itinerary is too aggressive, to use your words. But we of course all have different styles of travelling.

You have not been to Europe before? I mention this because usually one has a bit of jetlag when arriving in Europe. I am fortunate that I don't have jetlag until I fly home to the westcoast of the US.

I have no idea what time your plane arrives in London on Day 2. You must of course allow time to get through immigration and customs and then get to your hotel in London. You I would think will be feeling a bit tired (less so if you are flying from the East Coast of the US versus the WestCoast of the US). So you have whatever remains of Day 2 for London. And Day 3 and 4 is a full day in London.

Day 5 you go to Paris, arriving in the morning. So you have the ramainder of day 5 plus day 6 and and day 7 and day 8 when you will take the overnight train to Nice. Have you travelled by overnight train before. I have known people that have that really never got any sleep, but everyone is different.

So day 9 in Nice.

Then day 10 to Genoa or Cinque Terra.
Personally I would opt for Genoa. But when will you travel there? I guess during Day 10.

Then you show day 11 through 13 for Florence. Assume you will go by train from Genoa (or Cinque Terre) to Florence on day 11. So you will have the remainder of day 11 plus day 12 and 13 in Florence.

Day 14 through 17 in Rome. I assume you are planning to go to Rome on day 14 via train. So half a day to get to Rome, get to your hotel etc. So you will have the remainder of day 14 in Rome plus day 15 and and 16 and 17.

Day 18, Assisi or Orvieto. Assume that is travel time from Rome plus enjoying which either city you want to see.

Day 19 Ravenna. Assume that you will travel via train to Ravenna on day 19 and enjoy that beautiful city.

Day 20, assume you will travel to Venice on that day via train so will arrive at your hotel in Venice probably around noon? You will have day 21 and day 22 for Venice.

Day 23 fly home.

Well, one good thing is that you are planning an Open Jaw flight. That IMO is perfect. No doubt your flight home from Venice will be very early in the morning.

But pamaelaca, since you welcome all comments I am taking the time to make a few because although I absolutely love your itinerary I do not think you have enough time to really enjoy all the wonderful places you want to visit.

I think that landing in London is fine. And being in Paris is great. I guess if it was me I would then fly to Venice. After Venice I would go to Florence. Then while on the train to Rome I would visit Orvieto. And then enjoy Rome and fly home from Rome.

I love Genoa, I love Ravenna. I do not care for Cinque Terre as much as I did years ago but it certainly is beautiful

But I truly feel unless one is NOT jumping, so to speak, from one place to another every other moment they truly will not get the feel, the atmosphere of whereever they are.

No matter how much time we have it is impossible to see everything we want to visit. You indicated the places that are important to you, so I had this in mind when I made my suggestions.

Travelling takes time. Checking into hotel, checking out of hotels, packing and unpacking (even if you leave everything in your luggage there are the bathroom items etc.). Getting to the train station or airport. The travelling time. Time consuming and a bit tiring if the truth be told . And them getting aclimated to your new locations. And IMHO unless one has time to just "flop" at an outdoor cafe in a lovely piazza and watch the world go by, soak up the atmosphere etc., walk down a lovely residential street, poke around a shop or two etc. then one does miss the real Europe.

One suggestion. Rather then thinking in terms of "days" do think in terms of "nights". For example Day 2 -4 London. To me that means you will spend night 2 and night 3 and night 4 in London. And since you are arriving on day 2 you will have basically 2 full days without arriving or departing London.

If you relate your trip to the number of nights you will find that for example. Day 5 -8 days means 2 nights usually. You arrive sometime during day 5 and check into your lodgings and then have the rest of that day. You stay there that night and then have the next day without checking in or checking out of your hotel. That would be night 6 The same for the next day. And you stay that night which would be night 7 You stay there for that night. Then the next day you leave the hotel and area and travel to the next spot you are visiting.

LoveItaly

Hi Racheal, just a question. Is your posting an advertisement???? If not my apology but it seems to me that it possibly is.

pamelaca2002

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ira

Hi Pam,

I fear that you are planning an "If it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium" trip.

I think that you should consider that each time you move you lose 1/2 day. This will cost you about 4 days of your vacation.

I suggest that, with 3 weeks, you could have a very nice visit to Paris, London and Rome or Venice.

If Rome, Florence and Venice are your first priorities, I suggest dropping London. You might even want to leave Paris for another visit.

Do you have urgent reasons for spending one day in Nice and one day in Genoa?

Hope this helps.

jay

I agree with some of the other posters. My advice would be to keep it to 4 cities and spend more time in each one. especially if you havent ever been. Paris is easily 5 days, so is London. Don't pack in too much in. Once you go you ill be hooked.

pamelaca2002

What about this revised itinerary?

Day 1: Leave Home
Day 2 - 5 - London (4 nights, 4 days)
Day 5 - 9 - Paris (arriving morning of Day 5 via train, leaving on Day 8 taking overnight train to Venice - 5 days, 4 nights)
Day 10 - 13 Venice (4 days, 4 nights)
Day 14 - 17 Florence (morning train from Venice on Day 14 - 3 1/2 days, 4 nights)
Day 18 - 22 Rome (morning train from Florence on Day 18 - 4 1/2 days, 5 nights)
Day 23 - Home

bardo1

<<What about this revised itinerary?>>

Perfect!

ira

Hi pam,

Much, much better.

Enjoy your visit.

jules4je7

My husband and I made it from London to Istanbul in 23 days, hitting the major cities of London, Paris, Rome, Athens and Istanbul -- and several small ones along the way (Venice, Florence, Izmir, Turkey) -- so you can easily do this trip (although I wouldn‘t go back up to Venice after being in Rome). However, it looks to me like you’re spending a lot of time trying to travel for a day here and a day there, and I can tell you it will get very tiresome to pack and repack several times over. Plus, I think you’ll wish you had a little more time in the bigger cities since there is so much more to see. We had four nights in Rome and Paris, and it barely enough time. Plus, there are places like Cinque Terre that are out of the way and beautiful enough that once there, it’d be better to just stay for a couple of days.

Here’s what I would suggest:

Day 1: Leave Home
Day 2-5 London
Day 6-10 Paris
Day 11-13 Cinque Terre
Day 14-16 Venice
Day 17-18 Florence
Day 19-22 Rome
Day 23 - Home


Happy Travels

Jules