Itinerary - London, Paris, Italy
 

Comments please - should things be moved around - missing items, items to delete

Going in September. Flight booked into London, out of Rome

Day 1 - Saturday - arrive am - London - Westminster Abbey, Cabinet War Rooms, London Eye

Day 2 - Sunday - London - National Gallery, Double Decker Bus tour, Cruise down Thames

Day 3 - Monday - London - Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Globe (see play?)

Day 4 - Tuesday - London - British Museum, Harrod's, Ceremony of the Keys

Day 5 - Wednesday - Train to Paris, Louvre, Eiffel Tower

Day 6 - Thursday -Paris - Versaille (arrive before 9), Walk Ile de la Cite, Notre Dame, Latin Quarter, Saint Chappelle, Montmatre Walk featuring Sacre Coeur

Day 7 - Friday - Paris - Musee Rodin, Champs Elysees, Tuilleries Garden, Orsay Museum, Seine Cruise

Day 8 - Saturday - Paris - Marais Walk, Pompidou Centre, wander

Day 9 - Sunday - Fly to Venice - shop, wander, gondola ride

Day 10 - Monday Venice - Secret Itineraries tour at Doge's Palace, St. Mark's Basillica, Correr Museum, Campanile Bell Tower

Day 11 - Tuesday - Venice - Frari Church, Accademia, Scuola San Rocco, cruise grand canal in vaporetto

Day 12 - Wednesday - day trip to Udine (husband's grandfather born here) - or maybe Murano

Day 13 - Thursday - train to Florence - Accademia, Museum of San Marco, Bapistery, wander

Day 14 - Friday - Florence - Pisa in morning, Uffizi, picnic at Piazzale Michelangelo

Day 15 - Saturday - Duomo, Santa Croce, Pitti Place, Boboli Gardens, Oltrarno walk

Day 16 - Sunday - train to Amalfi Coast, relax

Day 17 - Monday - Amalfi - day trip to Pompeii

Day 18 - Tuesday - Amalfi - relax

Day 19 - Wednesday - Train to Rome - ideas??

Day 20 - Thursday - Rome - Ancient Rome - Forum, Colosseum, Pantheon, Arch of Constantine, Tour Palatine Hill, Trajan's column, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps

Day 21 - Friday - Rome - St. Peter's & the Vatican all day

Day 22 - Saturday - Capitoline museums, Borghesse gallery

Day 23 - Sunday - Fly home


If you are still reading this - I'd love comments - we would like to start booking hotels and trains and making museum reservations - so I'd like to get my itinerary firmed up soon.

Thanks!!!

I am glad you have built in some relaxation time on Day 18 - that is, if you make it that far.

Seriously though, without picking apart your itinerary, you are trying to do way too much. For instance, on Day 5, your first day in Paris, you have pencilled in two attractions that may have the longest lines in Paris. You would be lucky to do one of them. My overall suggestion, in big picture style, is to group together about five things you want to do in each city, and leisurely try to cover them along the way, allowing for time to stop and be seduced by things that you haven't planned for. In short, allow for an adventure to happen. You will feel less like a list checker and more of a traveler.

Good Lord.

The most glaring thing that leaps out at me is the things that are packed into traveling days. Getting in and out of these places, finding your hotel, checking in, taking a pee, ingesting some food and drink - all take time, and are necessary for survival. I would plan on being lucky to fit in one attraction on a departure/arrival day, with the rest spend on orientating where you are, finding a place to eat, maybe visiting an ATM, a pharmacy, taking care of the necessities that pop up. Day 6 seems impossible, Day 14 most definitely is impossible - unless you want to see all of these things at the speed of sound.

Really, it looks like you enthusiastically planned a wonderful trip, I am envious of the amount of time you have. Skip the Amalfi coast....build in a bit more time in each city, and limit yourself to 2 or 3 attractions a day, with some time to soak it in.

Have a really wonderful time. I hope my comments haven't dampened your enthusiasm, but if you are going to make muesum reservations, you may want to re-think it a bit.

P.S., If you can, read this trip report that has been gradually building all day.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34645606

Ignore the fact that it is a family of 5 - these people covered some serious ground on their trip, and the great detail of each day really illustrates how much time it takes to move from one place to another. There is a point where Dad takes a tiny detour to from what was a far less-packed itinerary than yours, and it resulted in a delay of many hours, and the scrapping of a planned stop. Oh, and it is a pretty entertaining and endearing trip report, too!

I have to smile because before I went to Europe in May, I too had a very detailed itinerary that I prepared with things I had to do. And of course I realized once I got to London, Paris and Italy that I had to be flexible and couldn't do everything I wanted to.

One of the nicest things I remember in Paris was spending an afternoon with my husband and just strolling down some streets, eating lunch at a bistrot and finding an internet shop and then going to a Monoprix. All this in place of going somewhere that was on my to do list.

As long as you take your itinerary as just an outline and are flexible you should be okay. I agree that your Paris days seem very full. Day 6 in particular. Versailles will take a morning. So that leaves the afternoon and evening for the rest of the attractions.

Dear harrowgirl, I am afraid I have to join the chorus here and say that although your enthusiam for your trip to Europe is wonderful your itinerary is impossible. I assume that this is your first trip to Europe? Please believe me, it will not be your last trip.

You have obviously done some homework and know some wonderful sites to visit. But you are not taking into consideration the time involved in seeing these sites. And as other's have said, you are not taking into consideration the time it takes to get from one place to another, to check into a hotel, to check out, to get to the next place.

I would encourage you to go through your list and mark the most important sites you want to see. And leave time for what all humans need, time to shower, to tend to things, to pack and unpack, to eat, to take a rest, to just enjoy your surrondings perhaps at an outdoor cafe with a bit of people watching. Even if you do not want any relaxing cafe time you will need time to eat, and that can take more time then it does when one is in familar surrondings in their own home town.

I wish you best wishes in trimming this itinerary down to where you will enjoy what you do see and yet will not be totally exhausted and arrive home with Europe being nothing more then a big blur. I have known people that have stated they felt that way after arriving home.

harrowgirl: You have obviously worked on the London bit since your first thread. It is much better now. (Do you already have your Keys Ceremony tickets?)

Unfortunately once you hit Paris it sort of all falls apart from there on.

Paris/Italy needs a lot of work - you probably didn't want to hear that, huh?

Take to heart what the other posters said about simplifying and slowing down.

Great feedback - I'd love to know what items I should cut and which I should leave - based on YOUR experiences.

here is revision #1. I'd like to go to Versailles - but I guess I just don't have enough time:

Day 1 - Saturday - arrive am - London - Westminster Abbey, Cabinet War Rooms, London Eye

Day 2 - Sunday - London - National Gallery, Double Decker Bus tour, Cruise down Thames

Day 3 - Monday - London - Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Globe (see play?)

Day 4 - Tuesday - London - British Museum, Harrod's, Ceremony of the Keys

Day 5 - Wednesday - Train to Paris, Louvre, Eiffel Tower

Day 6 - Thursday -Paris - Walk Ile de la Cite, Notre Dame, Latin Quarter, Saint Chappelle, Montmatre Walk featuring Sacre Coeur

Day 7 - Friday - Paris - Musee Rodin, Champs Elysees, Tuilleries Garden, Orsay Museum, Seine Cruise

Day 8 - Saturday - Paris - Marais Walk, Pompidou Centre, wander

Day 9 - Sunday - Fly to Venice - shop, wander, gondola ride

Day 10 - Monday Venice - Secret Itineraries tour at Doge's Palace, St. Mark's Basilica, Campanile Bell Tower

Day 11 - Tuesday - Venice - Frari Church, Accademia, cruise grand canal in vaporetto

Day 12 - Wednesday - day trip to Udine (husband's grandfather born here) - or maybe Murano

Day 13 - Thursday - train to Florence - Uffizi, wander

Day 14 - Friday - Florence - Pisa in morning, Accademia

Day 15 - Saturday - Florence - Duomo

Day 16 - Sunday - train to Amalfi Coast, relax

Day 17 - Monday - Amalfi - day trip to Pompeii

Day 18 - Tuesday - Amalfi - relax

Day 19 - Wednesday - Train to Rome - Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps


Day 20 - Thursday - Rome - Ancient Rome - Forum, Colosseum, Pantheon, Arch of Constantine, Tour Palatine Hill, Trajan's column

Day 21 - Friday - Rome - St. Peter's & the Vatican all day

Day 22 - Saturday - Capitoline museums, Borghesse gallery

Day 23 - Sunday - Fly home

Oh - and I do intend this to be a "guide" to our trip and not a set in stone plan.

PS - you guys are GREAT! This is really helpful - I know Italy needs work - but I'm getting there.

It is hard to figure this all out when you haven't been there before! Your experience is invaluable.

Hi harrrow,

Getting better.

Keep in mind that each time you move you lose 1/2 day.

Day 5: Louvre is open until 21:30 on Wed and Fri

Day 6: Go to www.mappy.com "Routes"
Click "Vias"
Enter your route.
change "express" to "pedestrian".

You will get approx walking time.

Sacre Coeur is a definite outlier.
I suggest you take the Metro to Pigalle. Get on the Montmartrebus (no.18)and take that up to the Church. You can walk down to Metro Abesses and go home from there.

Day 9: Are you flying www.myair.com from Orly to VCE or ryanair from Beavais to Treviso. The former is much easier.

Day 12: I can understand a trip to Udine, but not Murano.
If you have gotten bored with Venice go to Burano and Torchello or train to Padua.

Day 14: Unless you absolutely must have a picture of yourself holding up the Tower, do not bother with visiting Pisa.

While in florence, take the no. 7 bus up to Fielsole in the late afternoon. Watch the sun set over the city from the terrace of the Bar Blu.

Day 19: Do you have questions re getting from the AC to Rome?

Day 20: Much too much.

I would skip Rome entirely and add 2 days to Paris and 2 to the AC. Fly home from Naples.

Enjoy your trip.

((I))

I understand your ancient Rome theme for Day 20, but it would probably work better to move the Pantheon to Day 19 when you are visiting Trevi and Spanish Steps. It is not that far and would work well to see as you wander in that area. You may still find you want to give up one more ancient Rome thing on Day 20.

I can't comment on Paris, but London and Italy definitely look do-able. A couple of suggestions for venice:

1. I would add Scuola di San Rocco to the same day as the Frari. It is right behind the Frari, compact and very easy to see. Personally liked this more than the Accademia.

2. Tour the Accademia in reverse order, i.e. instead of going from room 1 to room2, go through the rooms in descending order. The better paintings ( the later Rennaisance period) are in the higher numbered rooms. The same holds true for the Uffizi in Florence as well.

Good luck and have fun!

If the Pantheon is moved to the previous day, Day 20 is very do-able. Again, a couple of suggestions:
1. Buy tickets for the Colloseum, Forum and Palatine Hill at Palatine Hill. Much shorter lines.
Here are the approximate times it would take to visit your sites on day 20 (minus Pantheon):
Colloseum - 1 hour
Forum - 2 to 3 hours
lunch - 2 hours
Palatine Hill - 2 hours
Trajan's Column - 30 minutes
Arch of Constantine - 30 minutes

So if you start at the Colloseum at 9, you should be done by 5 or 6 pm.