I'm working on our (me & hubby) itinerary for a first time Europe trip for 28 days this mid September/October. We're in our late 50's, traveling on a somewhat moderate budget, traveling light with just carry on (Yikes!) wanting to stay mainly in B&B's, doing lots of picnics, a few dinners out, and the usual sightseeing stuff, museums, and people watching. The first week we have set, 4 nights in Paris, then flying to Barcelona for 3 nights there. For the next 3 weeks we plan to be in Italy. This will be Sunday the 21st of September, I'm thinking fly to Pisa to stay in the Cinque Terra area for a couple nights. we have reservations at italyfarmstay for 10/1 for 4 nights. This is located outside the small town of Sora, between Rome & Naples, but east. We leave for home 10/11, leaving from Milan. Here is what I tenatively came up with: 2 or 3 night Cinque Terra, 4 or 5 nights between Florence & Sienna, 3 nights Rome, then the 4 nights at the farm stay, then up to Venice for 2 nights, then Lake Como 2-3 nights, then Milan final night. Is this a good spread for a first trip, who knows maybe last!! Or am I not allowing enough travel time to get around and should cut something or missing something that I should add in. Thanks for your time & help.

Hi Mare - I might be tempted to cut out the Barcelona...and fly to Paris spend 5 nights there (give yourself a day or two to work through jet lag) and then head over to Italy.

I think 9 stops in 28 days is too many, and you definitely don't have enough time in Rome. For starters, I, too, would skip Barcelona and add 2 of those nights to Rome and 1 to Venice. That's still a LOT of moving around.

Ditto the above comments. Too many kilometers, even for 28 days.

I hesitate to tell you to cut Barcelona, as I don't know your personal reasons for wanting to go there, but I have to say that it isn't geographically convenient for the France/Italy concentration.

I don't like to stay anywhere for fewer than 3 or 4 nights unless it's just a stop on a longer transit.

FYI, if your time in Lake Como is in the mid-lake (Varenna/Bellagio/Menaggio) area, be aware that hotels begin closing for the season after the second or third weekend of October. There will still be a couple of hotels open (some year-round) in Varenna and Bellagio and more in Menaggio, but your choices will become limited. Same issue with restaurants. It's an economic decision for the hotels based on confirmed reservations (anticipated revenue), and we've had reservations cancelled a week prior to arrival. In this case, the hotels will find alternative lodging for you, but it won't be your choice unless you want to start the process all over again.

Jean,

That is very interesting about the Lake Como. I was toying with changing a week of our Italy trip because honestly it just seems like a nightmare right now - and I thought to go to Lake Como for 3 nights but it is Oct. 18 - Oct. 22.

Hi Mare,

oh my goodness - Paris, BCN and the whole of italy - and only 28 days to cram it all in. [you're actually planning to see more places than I've seen yet and I live here!]

remember that every time you move, you lose at least half a day. at least.

so far as I can work out, this is your itinerary.

14/-18/9 - Paris
19-21 BCN
21-22 CT
23-27 tuscany
28-30/9 Rome
1/-5/10 farmstay between Rome and naples
6-8/10 Venice
9-10/10 Lake como
11/10 milan.

I may have got the odd date wrong, but that's your general idea. and i agree that you've got far too many stops - you'll need a holiday when you get home and I'd bet a penny to a £ you won't come back to europe.

however, you do have the making of a nice trip, if you are prepared to slow down and give yourselves a chance to see the places you are visitng properly.

Firstly, [and i agree with the other poster] jettison BCN. you're only allowing yourselves 3 day there anyway.

that gives you another 2-3 days in Paris - if you got bored [unlikely] you could do any no. of day trips while you were there.

from there, I would fly to Venice, if you are intent on seeing it this trip - it's rather out of the way from your other destinations- and flyin will be a lot easier than, for example, getting the train there after your farm-stay. alternatively fly to Pisa and go to the CT - your farmstay will be pretty similar in tempo to the tuscan countryside, whereas the CT will be very different.

if you stay there 3-4 days, you can then give yourselves longer in Rome - where you can never staay long enough.

after your farmstay, you have now "done" Venice, so you could go down to the amalfi coast or fly up to the lakes as you wish, allowing yourselves a night in milan on the way back.

now your itinerary looks like this:

14-20/9 - Paris
21-24/9 Venice OR CT
25-30/9 Rome
1/-5/10 farmstay between Rome and naples
6-9/10 amalfi or Lake como 10/10 milan.

it's not ideal, but it's loads better.

my preference would be to mix up the cities and countryside rather more, so i think I'd prefer this:

14-20/9 - Paris
21-24/9 CT
25-30/9 Rome
1/-5/10 farmstay between Rome and naples
6-9/10 Venice
10/10 milan.

I'm sure you can think of your own permutations.

Have a great trip,

regards, ann

my preference would be to mix up the cities and countryside rather more, so i think I'd prefer this:

14-20/9 - Paris
21-24/9 CT
25-30/9 Rome
1/-5/10 farmstay between Rome and naples
6-9/10 Venice
10/10 milan.

I'm sure you can think of your own permutations.

Have a great trip,

regards, ann

====
Ann - that looks excellent.

I'd really prefer Barcelona instead of CT..and then flying direct to Rome, there are a wealth of low cost flights from BCN. I think annhig itinerary is great , though.

If you're on a budget, the less you move around the more money you'll save.

If it were me I'd either do Paris 7 nights, Rome 7 nights, extend your farmstay to 6 nights, then Florence or Venice or both over 7 nights, then last night Milan.

Or, to keep Barcelona- Paris 7 nights, Barcelona 7 nights, Rome 7 nights, farmstay 5 nights, 1 night on route to Milan (if needed, otherwise tack on the night to the farm)then Milan last night.

I'd rent apartments in the cities and get a taste of the outlying area by taking a daytrip or two. What a gorgeous amount of time you have, I'm jealous.

You all have given me much food for thought, thanks for all the replies. I was thinking since we are flying between the far away cities we wouldn't lose much time. But I don't want to be "so this is Tuesday must be blah, blah, blah. So, I'll revamp, really want to see Barcelona after hearing from a good friend that it was one of her favorite places. So we will cut Lake Como, Venice & Sienna, spend more time in Rome. Something like this Paris 5 nights, Barcelona 4 nights, CT 3 nights, Rome 5 nights, farm stay 4 nights, Florence 4 nights, then Milan 3 nights. What do you think? Better?

Better - but still too much IMO.

Your inter-city travel days are not really sightseeing days. Well - they are about 1/2 a day but when you consider packing, checking out, travel to a sometimes remote airport, advance check in/security, the flight, passport control, travel in from the airport, checking in. unpacking. Now multiply that by your 7 destinations. Then subtract one day at the beginning for jet lag, and one at the end for the extra security/check in requirements for flights to the States.

28 days flies past before you know it. I REALLY think you aren't planning enough time for Paris - you will be dragging on those first couple of days.

I'm one who likes Milan, but in this trip I think you could take at least one night from Milan and add it somewhere (like Paris or Rome). I know that sounds like it contradicts my earlier post, but I would consider Milan in this itinerary to be just a stop in a longer transit (being the trip home). If you have one full day in the city, you can see the major sights and be well positioned for the flight out of Malpensa.

And is this really the order? Barcelona to CT to Rome to farm to Florence to Milan? How will you get from Barcelona to CT? Pisa? Are you aware how close Pisa and the CT are to Florence and the time you'll be spending covering the same transit twice (Pisa to Rome, and later Rome to Florence)? Or is this entire itinerary planned around the farm stay? Are those days "locked"?

I guess I was thinking Italy seems about the size of California and we could easily visit 7 cities in that state in a 3 wk period, we are traveling light, so packing up will be no big deal. What i think we will do is just play it by ear and have a rough idea of what we want to see, but nothing set in stone other than the 3 things we have booked, if we feel burned out we'll hang around longer in one spot, if not we will move on. One more question, we fly out of Milan and it looks like the international airport is quite aways from Milan, is it better to stay in a hotel near the airport or is there pretty good train/bus transportation from the city to the airport? Our flight leaves at 10:00 am. Thanks again for help!

Your analogy isn't very applicable. In 3 weeks in CA you are unlikely to visit more than 3 "cities" -- SF, LA, SD - the rest of your time would be in small towns or exploring the coast/rural areas. Monterey/Carmel, Big Sur, Yosemite, maybe Sonoma or Santa Barbara.

While those are all "worth seeing" -- they are not Rome, Barcelona, Paris - which have MUCH more to see/do than any of those. Even SF which is wonderful and scenic, can really be seen in about 3 or 4 days - Paris can't. Rome can't. Just apples and oranges.

I know you have 4 weeks total - but after you subtract all your travel time you really only have about 3 weeks free over the entire trip - three countries spread over a much bigger area than CA.

The idea of playing it by ear only works to a point. At the hotel in Rome where we've stayed on multiple trips, the owner told us that October is now her most requested month. I think you'll find this holds true in most tourist destinations in Italy. You'll need reservations in CT, Rome, Florence and Milan unless you have a very flexible budget, aren't very particular and don't mind spending time away from sightseeing to find available lodging.

Malpensa is about an hour outside of Milan but easily accessible by bus or train from the city. The bus leaves from Milano Centrale train station, and the train leaves from Milano Cadorna Nord station. For a flight a 10:00 a.m., there's no need to stay near the airport.