Itinerary Help required.
 

Hi all.

I am almost into it and about to finalize my Honeymoon trip in december. Decided with France, Italy and Siwss. Pls help me out with the itinerary. We have planned the following way::

Swirzerland --Day 1 to 7-----Arrive in Zurich- Train to Zermat. and check in hotel
Zermatt whole day.
Zermatt -> Interlaken and check in hotel
Interlaken- Jungfrau excurision
Iterlaken to Lucerne-- Mt Titlis
City tour to Berne.
Flight from lucerne to Rome and rest the whole day.
Italy --------------Day 8 to 14--- Rome- Illumination tour of Rome.
Trip to Vatican city.
Rome -> florence by train and check in hotel.
Florence- day trip to pisa.
Florence-> Venice by train and check in hotel.
Venice- half day trip to murano, burano & torcelo.
Flight from Venice to Nice and check in hotel
France --------Day 15 to 21--- Nice full day.
Nice- trip to manocco, monte carlo+ Eze.
Nice -> Paris by train and check in hotel.
Paris- Panoromic tour to paris with scenic river cruise and Eiffel tower.
Paris full day to explore.
Paris- Euro Disney full day.
Final departure back to home.

Is it fine ..?? or any changes can be made keeping in view that Xmas and New year have to be celebrated......Are all the places covered that can be visited in these cities in respective countries..... Pls help me regarding this itinerary....


Regards,
Aravind.

I'm sorry - but this is a disaaster in the making. You are spending so much time traveling from one place to another that you will have practically no time to actually see or do anything. As far as I can see you have 19 days on the ground (including travel between all of these places) and want to visit 13 different cities. If you allow a half a day transit from one place to another you will have 10 days for seeing 13 diffeent places. This simply will not work.

I think you will find you have a very comprehensive - and expensive - tour of the train stations of europe.

Also, you say this is December. Have you allowed for short days (dark at 4 pm), cold foggy/rainy/snowy weather? Sights that are open shorter hours due to the off season?

And what about the holidays? Christmas Eve and Day and New Year's Day many things will be closed (which days are those in your trip?)

You have listed twice as many places as you can actually see. For instance - the idea of seeing Murano, Burano and Torcello in half a day. This MIGHT be possible by private helicopter. Certainly not by boat - and even if you could get to all of them and back to Venice that fast - you wouldn't be have time to ever get off the boat.

I don't know who put this together - but you really need to cut out half - at least - of the places you have listed if you want to have time to actually see any of the sights. As for Disney on a honeymoon - and in December - I just can;t even begin to imagine it.

Please, take advice from someone who has been to europe many times - this trip just isn't going to work.

Agree with nytraveler. This doesn't sound like a honeymoon to me.

One full day in Venice during which you spend most of the day visiting the islands, IN DECEMBER! When will you see Venice? One full day in Florence during which you do a day trip to Pisa. When will you see Florence? Three days in Paris, one of which is scheduled for EuroDisney. What about Paris! You will be experts on the trains of Europe and on the best ways to get to and from your hotels and the train stations. You won't see much of Europe.

Consider dropping one country and adding enough time to the others to actually see them.

Have a great honeymoon.

Aravind, I see this is your second thread on this subject. Keep going you will get a good trip. So to be clear Christmas is going to happen whatever happens so you need to book meals (lunch and supper) for this and the day either side to ensure you are fed. Generally it will be cold and you may find at least one train/flight gets delayed due to the weather. This whole being out of doors when the weather is bad is worth thinking through. I suspect Disney in the rain might be horrid, but ask others for advice. I might also take out the Pisa trip. If you decide to put it back in there are regular local trains you can catch there.

Monte Carlo has no attraction for me, in the winter even less. Why do you want to go?

I'm somewhat confused. Is this your itinerary?

Day 1. Arrive Zurich, train to Zermatt (3.5 hours)
Day 2. Zermatt
Day 3. Train to Interlaken (about 2.5 hours)
Day 4. Interlaken area
Day 5. Train to Luzern (2 hours)
Day 6. Sleep in Luzern but day-trip to Bern
Day 7. Fly to Rome (From Zurich?)
Day 8. Rome
Day 9. Rome
Day 10. Train to Florence (about 1.5 hours)
Day 11. Sleep in Florence but day-trip to Pisa
Day 12. Train to Venice (2+ hours)
Day 13. Venice
Day 14. Venice
Day 15. Fly to Nice (easily half a day)
Day 16. Nice
Day 17. Train to Paris (about 6 hours)
Day 18. Paris
Day 19. Paris
Day 20. Paris
Day 21. Depart Paris

If the above is more or less accurate, my suggestions are:

Visit either Zermatt or the Interlaken area but not both. Too much travel time is involved at a time of year when weather could be bad.

Skip Nice and plan to visit another time between spring and fall.

From the days saved, give one to Luzern, one to Rome, one to Florence, and if there's anything left one to Venice. It's still more moving around than I would do, but this is your trip.

"<i>Is it fine ..??</i>"

Unfortunately, mostly no.

As the others have said - it is winter with very short daylight hours, likely cold/rainy/snowy weather, and a LOT of travel to a LOT of places. That is not a good combination.

Cut way back on the number places/amount of travel and you will have a much nicer honeymoon.

Hi.

I was wondering the same about weather all time.

So its going to be worse in Swiss or France??.....i think it will not be that bad in Italy in december when compared....

@Jean....Yes...may be that's right..... Giving more number of days for Italy...

Any suggestions on how to plan out.....??

You cannot be serious. This is impossible. Do you have a map of Europe? Get one if you don't.

First of all, eliminate one country. I'd suggest you eliminate Switzerland if you're concerned about weather.

Second of all, eliminate beach destinations like Monte Carlo (little appeal to begin with, absolutely zero in winter).

Focus on Rome, Venice, Nice, and Paris. That's more than enough for 21 days, maybe even too much. If it were MY honeymoon and I wanted to see more than one country, I'd just do Paris and Rome. And I wouldn't go near Disneyland, especially at that time of year.

Switzerland will be coldest - esp in the mountains, followed by France and Italy. But you need to understand you can get snow in any of these places at this time of year. As well as for or other bad weather that can delay flights and on/around the holidays the trains can be mobbed by people going home or to visit relatives.

I am not sure what - if anything will be open Christmas Eve or Day or New Year's Day. You need to organize your meals in advance - since most restaurants will be closed.

An any case you will need warm winter coats, hats, car and gloves, sturdy folding umbrellas and 2 pairs of broken in waterproofed walking shoes or low boots - definitely with non-skid soles for Switzerland and other places you may run into snow, ice or sleet. You may be lucky and get days that are 40 degrees and sunny - but 20 and snow is also perfectly possible. There is no reason to go to beach resorts in winter. And you do;t have time to tour the southern part of France to see the quaint towns, gorges and museums - even if the weather isn;t too nasty.

Really - you need to

1)look at a map
2) check out the train schedules involved
3)look at weather records for average temps and precipitation

As for Zermatt, Interlaken and Lucern - are you planning on skiing or sledding? And, if not, what will you be doing?

I agree (and I love Switzerland) but it's too much and doesn't really fit with your itinerary or the season.

Stick with just Italy and France. And make sure you have at least 3 days in Venice (I don't know why everyone always wants to rush thru it as a day trip, and I wouldn't bother going out to the islands myself).

"<i>So its going to be worse in Swiss or France??.....i think it will not be that bad in Italy in december when compared....</i>"

It is <u>winter</u> all over Europe. There <i>might</i> be nicer weather in Italy. Or it could be worse. It can even snow in Rome.

Nothing says you have to move every couple of days. Why not slow down and enjoy each other and not be stressed and running crazy every day???

A couple of points on the Swiss section:

First, at that time of year I don't think the Jungfraus is going to be worthwhile - too much chance of overcast skies and no views from the top. Secondly, Bern makes more senses as a trip from Interlaken than from Lucerne. I think, actuallt, I'd expand on Jean's suggestion to drop one of Interlaken or Zermatt, and pick just one spot in Switzerland.