MorningMist

Hello to all and I hope you are all well and safe.

My husband and I are planning a four to five-week long trip to Europe this summer, leaving in late July (if possible, based on the vaccine rollout). We are planning a few days in Prague, then flying to Naples, spending a few days, then renting a car and driving south down the Calabrian coast to Tropea, then onto Sicily, where we are planning to drive along the eastern and southern coast before ending in Palermo.

To end our trip, we want to spend the last week in either Malta, Cypress, Corsica, Corfu or Minorca. They seem to be all so wonderful. We enjoy small, medieval towns, good food, architecture, art and some time at the beach.

Which one would you choose?

Thanks for your help

dreamon

With your itinerary, I would choose Malta (if you have time). I'd take the ferry from Sicily.

Unless Prague is of special importance, I suggest skipping it as your journey from Naples to Sicily could easily fill your whole time. Prague seems like a real outlier in your plans.

I think safe travel in July is looking very dubious but who knows for certain?

Traveler_Nick

July I wouldn't count on the vaccine having done much yet.

With your list of choices I'd think about what sort of beach you want and what else you're looking for? What's more important to you? The quality/type of beach? Or the other things on your list?

Taking the ferry would be an option but will your rental let you? Even if it does it'll likely be cheaper to drop it and pick up a new one in Malta.

The other choices you'll need to deal with flights. Those aren't major airports that will have multiple flights every single day. You'll need to check schedules and see if there is one that fits for you. The other option would be to connect in Athens or Barcelona but obviously you likely don't want to waste too much time in airports.

balthy

Assuming you mean Cyprus, it doesn't have small medieval towns, it does have some old traditional villages and castles from the medieval times (Kolossi, Paphos) along with large towns. It does have beaches, antiquities (mosaics etc) & good food, you would probably have to connect in Athens or Rome to get there so it might be a bit of a pain for you to get to. Corfu might suit you better, Corfu Town is more Italian than Greek in style but again might be awkward to get to from Sicily.

Corsica is just terrific, loads of beautiful traditional small villages in the mountains to walk around, great swimming beaches and I found the food to be really great. But it could be a tricky place to get to from Palermo. Maybe check which ones of the islands you can get to from Palermo to help you decide? Sicily has it's own islands that might be suitable for beach time (eg Lampedusa or the Aeolian islands? )

KayF

As already noted, it's Cyprus. Malta makes the most sense from Sicily. There is the ferry and also flights are easy. We flew from Malta to Catania in Sicily with Air Malta, flight time was about 25 minutes. We loved Malta, it's got an enormous amount of history and beautiful architecture. Also stayed on Gozo which was great too.

Lipari is one of the Aeolian islands and is close to Palermo. We had a couple of nights there on our Sicily trip and really enjoyed it. Not sure about beaches. That would make your trip easier, less time making connections and more time enjoying time on an island.

I'd check flight or ferry connections to the other places on your list. You might find some are too difficult or expensive to reach. If you end up taking a European budget airline somewhere (e.g Easyjet, Ryanair), be aware that luggage limits are usually less and it can be expensive if you are have excess baggage.

I think travelling to Europe in July is optimistic but you can research and plan and go once it's safer.

bilboburgler

Late July is the high point of the European holiday season, if, if, the corona virus situation is sorted the places you are thinking about will be crammed as most Europeans head south for their 2 weeker which this year might be a three weeker. I've been to all of these except Malta.

I'll not be joining you but if I were to I would look at Corsica or Sardinia south. Good luck and book carefully.

BlakeOHSAYUSA

Corfu