Help! I was orginally going to Italy, Greece and Turkey. Now, after recent events, we've decided to wait to do Greece and Turkey. We have three to four weeks and I'm travelling with my daughters, a 20 year old and an 8 year old. I was planning on spending most of my time in Italy, but after reading the posts, it seems very hot. Any suggestions on how to travel between countries (train vs plane) day tours, and what are musts to see, etc. would be greatly appreciated. I'm in the beginning stages of planning and the site has always been a great help.

Well, what time of year do you plan to travel??? Have you been to Europe before?
Would you rather spend 4 or 5 days at a time, in a big city, and not see many small towns? Or the opposite, more time in small towns and just a day or two in the big cities? (my preference).
If worried about the heat, Spain will be as hot as Italy, but you will find more air conditioning in Spain.
Let me know more specifics, and I might be able to give you some tips.
EK

Thanks ekellyga. Sorry, forgot to give dates! As I am a teacher, I have to travel in the summer. We were planning on end of June, or beginning of July. Yes, we all have been to Europe before. I'm definitely a in the city person for only a couple of days, as I want to see Rome, Paris etc. , but then want to get out and see small towns, etc. The only thing I know for sure is that I want to see Florence, my 8 year old wants to see Monet's gardens, and my 20 year old wants beaches in Spain. Thanks again.

Monet's garden is in Giverny, near Paris. Somehow Spain seems out of the way between Italy and France, and not worth the detour just for the beaches. It can be hot all over the place, but of course either beach or mountains might provide some cooler weather. Without more precise information, such as how you plan to travel, it is difficult to give more specific suggestions.

Hi Cronen,

May I suggest that you keep note of the fact that France, Italy and Spain are *countries*? Each would fill up your three weeks.

Have you considered the wear and tear on an 8-year old as you do your 2-3 days in Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona, Nice, Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples?

I suggest that you pick one country and tour it.

HI. If you have 3 to 4 weeks you can most certainly do three countries. People on this board are always saying stay in one place but that's just not how all people want to travel. You could do a week in each.

The main information you need to decide on is how you are going to get from one place to the next - car, train or fly. Car will give you the most flexibility but your twenty year old won't be old enough to drive a rental (check that out though, there may be some company that allows it, most say you have to be 25). She could be your navigator. Haven't been to Spain but Italy and France are great to drive in - except the cities.

One suggestion would be to start in Rome, train to Florence (maybe first to Venice and then to Florence) and then get a car when you are done with Florence. See some of Tuscany and then drive to Provence and down the coast to Spain for your daughter's beaches, then up through France and drop the car as you get to Paris. (Maybe do Monet's garden first cause it's very easy to do with a car but I hear not so easy without one). That way you won't have the car for the major cities. Having a car (just make sure it has AC) can be almost relaxing (again, except in the cities). Try to plan your traveling for afternoons, then you can sightsee in the morning and evening when it's cooler and be in the air conditioned car during the hot part of the day. Your 8 year old could nap in the back. Have a great time planning it.

I'm not sure which beaches in Spain your daughter wants to see. There are beaches north of Barcelona which you might be able to fit in - but you definitely won't make it to southern Spain. What about the riviera beaches instead?

Driving in Spain is easy - there are a lot of highways and not much traffic until you get right near a city. Don't underestimate the heat in Spain - it's hotter than Italy if anything. (Southern Spain is routinely over 100 in the summer - we were there in the beginning of May and it was in the 80s.)

Thanks for all the info. My brother had suggested driving, but I was very intimidated at the thought of driving in countries where I can't read signs. I do live in NY and drive in the city all the time. I have also have driven all around Ireland. How many people have actually driven in Italy, France and Spain and how was it? Is it something I should fear?

Here's what I'd recommend:

Fly into Pisa ( can be done with a short stopover through London, or can take the train, which is about an hour and a half trip from Rome).

Pick up car in Pisa and visit: Pisa, obviously,Florence, San Gimignano, Lucca for a few days. (You can easily combine San G and Lucca into a daytrip)

Drive to Santa Margherita Ligure.Spend two-three days. Visit Cinque Terre, Portofino. Turn in car.

Train from Santa Margherita Ligure to Nice.

From Nice visit: Cannes, St. Paul de Vence, Antibes, Eze, and Monaco. All of these can be done by train and/or bus very easily.

Fly from Nice to Barcelona. Stay in Barcelona for a couple days, then do a few days on the coast north of Barcelona.

Fly home from Barcelona. (This is the part I don't know much about-- haven't been to Barcelona in some time, so you may have to fly out of Madrid?)

Good luck, and have a wonderful time!

Hi there,

I should have previewed my message! I was thinking of FLorence when I wrote about the hour and a half train trip from Rome. You could fly into Rome, then take the train into Florence, and pick up a car there, near the Florence train station.

Sorry for the confusion in my other post!

Hi Cronen
I agree with others. Do not try to cover too much.
If I had 3-4 weeks I would still chose one country and stay there. For me that would be France. Did you ever consider going to Dordogne, visiting prehistoric caves? Dordogne region is breath taking and there are so many charming villages. Before or after you could drive through Loire Valley, stop there for a few days, then continue to Normandy for a week or so to one day visit Monet gardens. There are some beautiful beaches in France. You could even take a ferry to Corsica for a few days. You may also fly from Orly airport near Paris directly to Seville in Spain, we did this with Air France and tickets were below $100 euros per person. It is very easy to drive from Seville airport but one needs to avoid driving in the city. As someone mentioned it could be extremely hot in Southern Spain.

We have driven in Spain, Greece (including Athens), France (including Paris). We did not have any problems with driving in Paris but in Athens it was a challenge. Now when we look back we wouldn't do any other way. Taking a few wrong turns took us to some amazing spots and we met a number of wonderful people. We spoke only minimum Italian and only a few phrases in Spanish. All signs in France, Spain and Italy use Latin alphabet so you won't have any problem reading them. Just get a good map and always give yourself an extra time.
Do not rush, take your time.

Hi! Thanks again for all the replies. I'm now convinced I'll definitely drive, though I realize it will be trains, planes and automobile. Also, appreciate the all the advise about scaling the trip down to 1 or 2 countries. If I did that, it would be Italy and France (maybe because I just finished The Da Vinci Code) Any suggestions regarding Itineraries such as Weadles did on this post?

I think it would be more pleasant and interesting to concentrate on just one country, or at most, on adjacent regions of two countries (Italy/France or France/Spain), so at the end of the trip you will really feel like you have been immersed in the culture of a particular place. I haven't driven in Italy, because I am not comfortable with the idea of driving in foreign countries. I find the thought of driving in Italy particularly scary, even though it's my favorite country to visit, and even though drunkenness is comparitively uncommon among Italians. I also hate sitting still for a long time in a car, regardless of who is driving. My first trip to Europe was with my parents when I was 16. It was extremely stressful, to put it mildly, to be trapped in a car for hours with my parents, not having anyone else to talk to, and being either a participant or listener in endless arguments or what I might euphemistically describe as less than soothing conversations. I think it is easier to travel by car with freinds than with family, unless you are an especially compatible, peaceful family. If you travel by train, you are not islated in your cocoon while traveling, and you get a sense of the foreign culture during the trip. In a train, you can all have a break from one another, and there are other new and potentially interesting people to talk to, or, if you prefer, ways of feeling alone, even while surrounded by strangers. It's possbile the train might be easier on everyone.

Hi Cronen,

Why not start with weadles's suggestion, but leave out Spain and go up to Paris?

Cronen,

If you wanted to leave out Spain, you could opt instead to visit the sandy beaches of Juan-les-Pins, which is just east of Cannes. You could then continue on to Marseille, and grab the TGV from there to Paris. The trip takes about three hours.

If you decide to go this route, and need some hotel recommendations, just post again!

Good luck!

If you have driven in NYC and Ireland you will find driving in Italy and France a breeze. It's definitly helpful to have a navigator to read the map and tell you which towns you are looking for, as signs tend to highlight the next town on the road rather than the road numbers. Other than that it will be just like driving in this country, only better. You can't and don't want to drive in tiny hilltowns but they all have well marked signs directing you to parking areas outside the old town centers. I would most definitly avoid driving IN Rome or Paris but that's easy to do, especially if you put them at the opposite ends of your trip. I'm from NY and drive in Manhattan when I need to and having been to Rome (but not driven there) I was sooooo glad decided not to. The roads in both France and Italy are much better than in Ireland plus you won't be worrying about remember which side of the road you need to be on.

If I had 3-4 weeks I might do something like this:
Rome 3days
Venice 3 days
Florence 3 days
Rent car after leaving Florence
Tuscan town of your choice 3 days
Cinque Terra 2 days
Cote d'Azure 3 days (Vence would be my pick)
Provence 3 days (Aix or Avignon with day trips)
Burgundy 2 days
Paris 5 days

If your 20 year old really still wants to see a little of Spain you could go there after Provence (instead of Burgundy) and train or fly to Paris from Barcelona, You'd probably want to shave a day from a couple of the locations to give more time in Spain. I've never been to the area between Provence and Barcelona but I've started researching it and it sounds great.