ellinteoh

Hi I am a Malaysian and I'd like to understand which is the most cost and time effective sequence to visit the said 3 countries in Oct 20120 for 14 days excluding flying in and out of Europe.

I'm thinking flying to and fro London as air tickets are cheaper to and fro the same country, but i'm open to other options.

My initial plan was

Malaysia - London (2 days) - Paris (4 days) - Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome) (6 days) - London (2 days) - Malaysia

Also do advise the best options to train btween countries and cities. I feel so lost trying to understand Europe's train system.

Many thanks in advance.

janisj

6 days is really not long enough for the three cities in Italy. In fact your whole plan is very rushed.

You lose quite a bit of time with every change of location.

>>London (2 days) - Paris (4 days) - Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome) (6 days) - London (2 days)<< is really more like:

London 1.5 days
Paris 3.5 days
Venice 1 day
Florence maybe 1 full day
Rome 2.5 days
London 1.5 days

W/ 14 days, you might do London/Paris/one city in Italy (Maybe Rome) - or - all the time in Italy - or - something like Paris/Rome/a day trip to Florence/Venice.

Even if the flights are a little more expensive (and they often aren't) it is usually better to fly in to one city and home from another. This saves the time and expense of returning to the arrival city to fly home.

This is called open jaw or multi-city.

mamcalice

Your plan is far too rushed. You are giving some of the most wonderful cities in the world far too little time.

As janisj says, it is more economical to fly into one city and out of the other so, once you have firmed up your itinerary, check multi-city options.

To get the most out of your trip, choose two or at most 3 destinations. London and Paris would be my choice - there are lots of day trips from both cities. Venice, Florence and Rome would be a great trip - again, lots of day trip possible.

nytraveler

I think if you look at open jaw (multi-city flights) you'll find you can fly into London and out of Rome for no more than London RT. This will avoid wasting a day returning.

Agree your itinerary is very aggressive. I would want at least 5 night (4 day) London and the same for Paris and Rome. This will use up your time - but you might consider taking a day trip from Rome to Florence.

Take the Eurostar from london to paris and fly paris to rome.

ellinteoh

Hi peeps,
Thank you so much for the swift replies. Appreciate this a lot as I hope to get air tics booked today! The earlier the cheaper yea?

I've made changes to my plan based on feedbacks provided as per below

I'm gonna fly in London and out of Rome. Found my set of affordable tickets. Yay!

Malaysia - London (heathrow) - switzerland - (Geneva) - Italy (Venice, Rome) - Malaysia
Took out Florence.

Breakdown
London- 4d
Switzerland - 4d
Venice - 2d
Rome - 4d

Still aggressive? Italy is a must. I like the idea of 2 countries only actually but seeing its my first and only time for a long time coming, therefore .... But I agree if it's too rushed, i'm not gonna enjoy it either.

charnees

How are you traveling from Geneva to Venice? I think unless you fly it will take a lot of time from your itinerary. I suspect you will need to take that fourth day of Switzerland and devote it to travel.

Also, do you have four days? or four nights? Four nights gives you three days of sightseeing. Two nights in Venice gives you one day to see it. etc. Take another look at your schedule and see what that means for you.

ellinteoh

Charnees, it turns out we have more days now. Yippee 16 days minus travelling so I do have extra day to spare for switzerland. I'm actually planning to do Lucerne (3d2n) - interlaken(2d1n). But it seems travelling via train to Venice is journey which will take up 8 hrs or so.

I'm thinking of now popping by Milano fr interlaken. Then only Milano to Venice. Or do you think flight is still most convenient choice. I checked easy jet they don fly Switzerland - Venice route. Any budget airline you can recommend pls?

This a ton