CathyM

Actually I'd add 2 days to Sevilla for a total of 4 days (with 1 day for a daytrip to Cordoba).

sam86

I agree with CathyM but only if you are interested in history and architecture. I am, for example, so I would skip Madrid and maybe even Barcelona and just stay in Seville and Granada or maybe Malaga.

But that depends entirely on you = )

I like the rest of your itinerary though = )

sam86

Actually, let me add something - I didn't mean Madrid and Barcelona are not rich in history and architecture. My personal preference would be to see Seville, Granada, Cordoba, and Malaga.

= )

chazzarelli

I got to say this - Stonehenge is about a 1 hour site. That's about it. There is nothing else to it, it is in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, it is very cool to think about how long they have been there, how they got it set up and what it was used for but after that, there isn't anything nearby. I've been there numerous times, only because I lived in the UK, and use to travel to Newqauy/Lands End. And each time I went, it was a good spot to stop, stretch and of course show the new person I was with at the time Stonehenge.

With that out of the way - London is a great place to visit, and if I was to suggest cutting out a part, it would be Portugal. I know you said you want to avoid flying, but even with the discount airlines jacking up the price of the ticket due to a heavy bag - the cost will most certainly be less than a train from say italy to Barcelona.

You can fly Iberia or Vuelling airlines from Rome to Barcelona for under $120 per person w/up to 20kg bag check. You are going to spend that easily on a train, plus spend triple the time on the train. I would say based upon the logistical route do the following:

Fly to Venice
train to Florence, CT and then to Rome
Fly Rome to Seville
Train to Madrid
Train to Barcelona
train up into Bordeaux
train to Paris - provence trip can be done from Paris
then train to London - fly out of London back to the US.

Now you just need to decide how to split up your days.

krgystn

chazz, that is a great, creative routing!

PalenQ

Kaydoll - with the last proposed itinerary, which i find to be perfect - both in time alloted to each stop and time to travel in between - i would look at a Eurail Select Saverpass - a 3-country pass good in Italy, France and Spain. Saverpass is two or more names on one pass for folks traveling together and cheaper than two single passes - too bad one is 26 as no longer able to do the Youthpass, for folks under 25 - but with the Saverpass - first class which does have many many benefits IMO - if you take the single adult first class EurailSelect Pass price and add it to the Youthpass price, which one person could get but in 2nd class - with the Saverpass you both go first class for the same price one would with a solo first class pass and solo Youth or 2nd class pass. And with the distances you are traveling this pass will save you lots of money and also provide flexibility in case you want to change your plans as you go along.

franco

IMHO two days in Venice makes it doubtful whether it's worth going there at all - it's nothing for a city that needs minimum two months if you want to see all of it. Though hardly anybody can stay that long, of course, in two days, you won't even have time to start scratching the surface. Two days Venice, that's an emergency schedule, not what you'd want to get on a 45-days-trip. So if you're not that eager to see it, I suggest skipping it altogether; or if you are, to assign at least four days to it.

michele_d

Hi KayDoll,
Apartment rentals are the way to go when you are in a city for a week. Really saves on eating out costs. You can get some laundry done and it is just a change up from your regular routine. A little home away from home to come back to at the end of every day.

Lots of people have stayed at these apts in Paris http://www.parisbestlodge.com/ . The owner, Thierry is very attentive and helpful and highly recommended. You can also get a lot of recommendations from this site.

A lot of people don't like Rick Steve's books but don't discount them. They have a lot of basic advice for the first time traveler. I really felt familiar with a city before I arrived due to the info he provided. Of course there are lots of other guidebooks but his are very budget minded...which is what you want and need.

Michele

KayDoll

Hello all! Well first I want to start by saying thanks to everyone for all of your help and that it's inspiring to be among such passionate people! We all have our own tastes and styles as well as likes and dislikes so I love that I'm getting so many different types of recommendations and opinions. Since my time frame is so short I'll only be able to go to a few places and i'm finding it very hard to narrow it down as there are so many places to go with so much to see!!!! I know that I won't be able to fully immerse myself into the culture (as much as I'd like to be able too) so the main objective is to see as many places as we can without spending too little time in each place. We'd love to travel wildly and see everything (without running ourselves ragged of course) with the knowledge that we will be back on day. I'm still researching several things for each of these countries so we're still a long ways from having a final itinerary.Please keep the comments coming! And if anyone has anymore information about apartment rentals it would be very much appreciated. Thanks again!!

PalenQ

To economize you may want to consider B&Bs - like in Florence i recently stayed in a B&B right near the train station for 30 euros - much less than any hotel -in a flat with the family but private room with bath-shower in it and humungous breakfast - just Google B&B in any city - Rome too has some near the Termini station.

franco

KayDoll, two threads on apartment rentals (in Venice and Rome, respectively) that may be interesting for you:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...comodation.cfm
and
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...odistricts.cfm

KayDoll

PalenQ: might u be able to email me the name of this B&B and do they have a website?

sam86

KayDoll, try bedinflorence - they have two B&Bs close to SMN, B&B Peterson and B&B Cassia.