TripQs

Thanks to all the tips on this forum I have come up with a plan for our first trip to France and Italy with my wife.

We will be travelling from mid-Sep to end of Sep for two weeks to France and Italy.

Here is the what we plan:
Paris - 4 days
Nice (French Rivera) - 3 days
Venice - 2 days
Florence/Small town in Italy - 2 days???
Rome - 3 days

We plan to travel by train and we will be getting tickets once we arrive in Europe except the Paris to nice one which we will be getting over the internet in advance. Is that good?

Apartments for Paris - Plan to get it from vacationinparis.com
Could you please let me know where we can get apartments/hotels in Nice, Venice, Rome.

I welcome all suggestions/tips. Its our first trip to Europe and it would have been really hard to plan for it without this forum.

ira

Hi T,

There are Paris/Nice PREMS fares as low as 32E available for mid-Sept. Buy your tickets now.

The Nice/Venice night train isn't available on the internet. Buy it when you get to Paris.

You can buy your Venice/Florence and Florence/Rome tickets when you get to Venice OR buy them online at www.trenitalia.com.

Enjoy your visit.

ethrush

What level of accommodation are you looking for? It's hard to make recommendations when we don't know what your price range or expectations are. Do you want a place with a concierge who will make reservations at restaurants for you or a place with a bed? We stayed at Le Petit Hotel in Nice- a real bargain, walking distance from the train station, clean and comfortable with a charming woman who checks you in AND cleans your room! It's got 3 rooms per floor, no elevator (but she carries the bags up if you don't stop her). Each room has a bathroom that looks newly done.
In Rome, we stayed at Caesar's Rooms B&B. It's on the third floor of a building walking distance from the Vatican. Just a few rooms of different sizes and a breakfast room. The owner is very helpful- called cars for us to get to our cruise and the airport.
I highly recommend both- if you're not the kind of person who would be happier at a Hilton!

TripQs

Thanks ira and ethrush. We are looking for a place less than $200... not sure what we can get for that. Something close to the train stations would be nice. I will check out your recommendations ethrush. Are there sites like hotwire (hotels) for Europe?

msdotliz

Personally, I would spend less time in Nice area and more in Italy. I just came back from a cruise and that was one of our stops. The little time I spent there seeing a little of Nice, Monaco and Monte Carlo, I was not really impressed. Just alot of highrise condos and a vulgar display of wealth. There are so many beautiful places in Italy. Cinque Terre was my favorite.

fun4all4

You can try venere.com for hotel booking. Also, tripadvisor.com for reviews. Hope that helps.

If it were me, I would probably drop one of those destinations as you are leaving yourself a lot of traveling time which will limit the time you have to enjoy the places you are going. However, everyone is different -just food for thought.

Happy travels!

TripQs

Thanks msdotliz! Just the kind of stuff I am looking for. I have still not made any reservations, so I can make changes to our plan. Maybe we'll drop Nice for Cinque Terre. The post about Rome made me wonder if 3 days was too much for Rome... if its too "touristy".

msdotliz

Rome is extremely crowded unless it is August and Rome is a "desert", as our Italian friends say. The traffic can be just awful.

We had an excursion to Sorrento and it was fabulous. Another place I wouldn't mind spending more time in. It is near Naples, thought, and that may be a bit far for you to go on this trip.

I'll tell you, taking a cruise was a wonderful way to see a little bit of everything. Now that I've seen some parts of Italy that we couldn't do on a land tour, when we go back on a land tour, we can focus on certain areas that we really enjoyed seeing.

Ninkette

We stayed at this B&B in Venice and really enjoyed it. Large rooms and a great breakfast served in the courtyard. I think its near your price range.
WWW.CORTE1321.COM

If you want to travel by train, stay in Florence. If you want to experience the Tuscan countryside, rent a car when you leave Venice and stay in a small town and do day trips (don't be scared of the driving - very easy).

I don't think 3 days in Rome is too much. That was about all we had there and there was so much we didn't see.

GranthamMommy

We are just back from our first trip to Italy. I'm not an expert by any means.

I might suggest cutting out the Florence stop and adding some time to Rome. Rome needs more than three days to scratch the service and you can make a day trip to Florence if you like.

We found staying near the Pantheon was a wonderful centralized place where we could walk anywhere.

Enjoy. My husband wasn't all excited about going at first. But now he says "When we go back, let's....."

Felschurch

Are your arrival days in these numbers? Are these days or nights ie do you arrive in Venice day 1 and leave day 2. Every trip is a half day or more from checkout to checkin--so you lose a lot of time changing location. Skip Nice! Stay in Florence and enjoy.

TripQs

Thank you everyone. So here is the revised plan:

Paris - 4 days
Fly/Train to Venice - 2 days + 1
If we take the train to Venice we would like to stop at a small town in France or should we go through Mount Blanc?
Cinque Terre - Train/Fly? - 2 days
Rome - 4 days

Is this a better plan?

TripQs

Felschurch, it is nights. fun4all4, thanks for venere.com

msdotliz

I would think you would see more either by train or renting a car from Venice. You don't want to miss the beautiful countryside. Tuscany and Umbria regions are breathtaking.

After our cruise, we flew back to Rome and spent three days with our Italian fiends. They have a house north of Rome, Viterbo, and from there, we did day trips to Orvietto, Civetta (sp?), and Lake Bolsena. These were very easy drives (like 30 minutes from their home) and I thought to myself that we could do this on our own. I would never drive into Rome, however.

StuDudley

I would strongly suggest that you drop 1 of your destinations. 1 day in Venice isn't enough IMO. Neither is 1 3/4 days in Florence, and 2 1/2 days in Rome.

Travel into Italy from Nice consumes quite a bit of time - 8+ hrs to Venice with 1 or more train changes (that's why you'll really only have 1 good day there - getting to/from your hotel may consume a lot of time also).

Also, the trip from Paris to Nice consumes quite a bit of time (5 3/4 hrs), and if you drop Nice & substitute Cinque Terre, it's a 10-11 hr trip with multiple train changes.

As you can tell, a good portion of your limited vacation will be spent on trains. If this was my trip & it was my first time to France or Italy (we've spent almost 2 years total in these two countries), I would limit myself to only 1 country just to reduce the travel time. I think the "classic" trip for a first timer is Rome, the beautiful Tuscany countryside (by car), Florence, and then Venice.

If I were to do a France only vacation I would do Paris, Dijon, Avignon (plus Provence countryside by car), then Nice.

I've been to Nice too may times to count and I don't agree with msdotlz about Nice (Monaco yes, but not Nice). There are no high-rises in Old Nice, and if you get 1 block off the Blvd des Anglais, there are few highrises there also - mostly 3-4 story lovely Belle Epoque buildings.

In your original itinerary, I don't know which destination I would skip. Dropping Nice would make the Paris to Venice/Cinque Terre train trip too long for me (fly to Venice).

Also, you may find yourself in big city overload. Vinice, Florence, and then Rome are quite crowded that time of year - so is the Cinque Terre. I think you would welcome some quiet isolation about mid-way through your trip. That's why I suggested the Tuscany & Provence "relief" in the two itineraries I suggested.

Stu Dudley

TripQs

Stu Dudley, thank you! Looks like we have too little time and too much to visit. Let me attempt to chalk out another plan.

Fly into Paris - 4 nights
Fly into Venice - 3 nights
Train/Car to Small town in Tuscany & Provence - 3 nights
Train to Rome and Fly back - 4 nights

Does this seem like a better plan?

TripQs

I meant rent a car in Tuscany countryside - 3 nights in my previous post

Ninkette

I think your revised plan is good. We were able to fly from Paris to Venice on Ryanair for 50 euros total (well, I had to pay extra for my suitcase). If you aren't familiar with the discount airlines - they are very cheap, but lack in service, have strict baggage limits, etc. Still worth it to me though.

msdotliz

I think you will have a wonderful trip. Be flexible, if possible and just have fun. You will love Paris and you will love all of Italy!!!

Watch out for the gypsies in Paris and Rome, however.

ira

Hi T,

>Fly into Paris - 4 nights
Fly into Venice - 3 nights
Train/Car to Small town in Tuscany & Provence - 3 nights
Train to Rome and Fly back - 4 nights<

Looking much better.

Forget about Provence for this visit.

Rent a car when you leave Venice, tour Tuscany and drop the car off in Orvieto.

See Orvieto and train to Rome. You might even wish to consider a night in Orvieto.