We're planning a trip to Italy and France for April 6-May 3, 2010. With our open jaw ticket we arrive in Rome and depart from Paris. We've each been to Italy separately many years ago, neither has been to France.

I'm asking fodorites:

1) Is our Italy itinerary too busy? We could live with dropping either Cinque Terre or Lake Como (DH hasn't been to either, I've been to Cinque Terre) and spend more time in some of the other places.
2) Is Lyon and the countryside surrounding Lyon interesting for 3-4 nights? (considering Lyon as of today after noticing direct flights on easyjet from Venice)
2) make any suggestions about length of time in each place or a more efficient itinerary.

Rough outline
Rome 4-5 nights
Cinque Terre 3 nights
Lake Como 4-5 nights
Bologna 2 nights
Venice 3-4 nights
Fly via easy jet to Lyon?
Lyon area 4-5 nights?

Paris 7 nights

Thanks!
Bronwyn

Sounds absolutely perfect to me. Lyon is fascinating; 4-5 nights there would be excellent.

St Cirq-

Can you recommend any villages/small towns near Lyon that might be pleasant to visit or stay in?

Bronwyn

Another question regarding the Italy portion of the trip: with 4-5 train trips within 2+ weeks, does it make sense to buy some sort of pass? If so, is it better to buy through trenitalia or eurail?

Bronwyn

Will you have a car in Lyon? I see you are flying into it from Italy, but a village or town would only be a good idea if you're planning on having a car, which you likely would NOT want to have IN Lyon.

It's probably less expensive to buy point-to-point tickets for Italy, but do that comparison.

Looks like a great itinerary. I do have a question, though. You're only visiting cities, except for any time around Lyon. Do you have any interst in visiting more of the countryside? If so, you might want to build in some time for that.

Also, lots of people love Lake Como, but it never clicked with DH and I. And the two portions of your trip where you'll have waterside, relaxing time, the Cinque Terre and Lake Como, are right next to each other. The order of your destinatioms makes sense otherwise, but that's something to keep in mind.

Nice trip !
I love Lago Como but you will be there in mid-April which can be early and a bit chilly--be advised. Weather wise, I would prefer the French Riviera to Lyon--not sure if Easy Jet goes there.

St Cirq & Lexma
I was kind of thinking we would just fly into Lyon then rent a car and toodle around. It looks like the beaujolais region is nearby...Lyon itself sounds interesting, but then again we will be in Paris the last week so spending time in the countryside prior to Paris appeals to me.

Bob-I have also thought about changing the itinerary around to put Venice after Rome then Cinque Terre, then train to Ville Franche, etc and on to Paris. The downside would be many hours on the train--valuable travel time! I'm not too worried about chilly temps as we live in Alaska--anywhere will be warmer than what we are used to in April!

Thanks for all the input, keep it coming!

Bronwyn