Our proposed Itinerary to Europe, is it any good?
 

Hello,
I am trying to put together an itinerary for a family trip followed by a couples trip!!. Please let me know if this sounds ok. We are travelling from Australia to Rome with 3 teenagers, and then they are flying out of Rome leaving my husband and i to have our first ever holiday alone. All comments and suggestions welcome!!

London 5nights The Arch Hotel
London to Paris eurostar
Paris 3nights Hotel Bel-Ami in St Germaine de Pres
Day train Paris to Venice
4 nights Venice Hotel Al Ponte Antico
Train to Florence
Florence 3nights Relais Piazza Sigorina (side trip to PIsa)
Train to Rome
5 nights Babuino 181 (side trip to Pompeii) Children fly home
Then my Husband and i plan to pick up a car and drive to Casa Portogiaio nr Cortono 3 nights
2 nights Cinque Terre at La Toretta
overnight somewhere i havent worked out yet, but i hate heights and windy roads so any suggestions great
2 nights in Aix en Provence L'Hotel Particular 28
Train back to uk from Aix then pick up another car and spend 8 nights around uk, Heading to Cotswolds and including 2 more nights in London before flying home to Australia.
We dont want to rush rush rush, am i trying to fit in too much through Italy and Provence. And being scared of heights and windy roads i want my poor husband to enjoy himself without me being a mess and ruining his trip.!! Sorry to sound like such a novice but this is such a long awaited and dreamt of trip!! Thanks so much in anticipation

I think it's fine.

If train schedules from Aix allow (and it's sometimes easier to change at Lille than changing stations in Paris), the easiest way from the south of France to the Cotswolds is to get off at Ashford or more often Ebbsfleet, where the car hire places are close both to the motorway and to the station.

Then take the southabout route round London, which is much less prone to congestion than the northabout. Usually 2.5 hrs from train platform to the first "Welcome to the Cotswolds" sign

I also think it looks good. But if you don't like heights and winding roads - and you don't hike (per your other post) then perhaps you could skip the Cinque Terre. It's beautiful but with those three things against it you might not enjoy it as much as somewhere else. I suggest you add those nights to the south of France. Nice and surrounding towns have good views of the coast which is the only thing you'd miss from your itinerary if you took out the CT.

Only other suggestion is that Paris is kind of short. I'd add one more day there, probably taking it from Venice. Or maybe from London, especially since you are going back there at the end of the trip. And you do have a lot of time in the UK versus elsewhere. I would probably take a couple days out of the UK and stop somewhere between Aix and England - maybe Belgium or Holland.

One obvious snag in an otherwise doable plan - you mention picking up a car in Rome then returning it in Aix en Provence. If allowed at all by the rental company, this will incur a heavy one-way drop-off fee as you'll be returning it in a different country.

I'd personally not relish a very long and tedious train journey from southern France to the UK, when there are so many budget airline alternatives available.

I agree with a couple of the suggestions above. I suggest taking a day from Venice and adding it to Paris. Paris has so much more to see and do. Venice is magical but 3 days is enough to spend there. We loved Cinque Terre for the hiking but with some of the things you are trying to avoid - hights, windy roads and even hiking, it is probably not the place for you. You are spending so little time in Provence - I would either add a couple of days or skip it altogether and add the days elsewhere.

It all seems a bit zig-zaggy and geographically inefficient, but I assume that's the result of combining a family trip and a couples-see-the-countryside trip.

You can't really drive between the villages of the CT. You'll just have to park your car during that time. To move between villages you walk or take a boat or a train. The drive north into France from the CT has a lot of tunnels and fast traffic, so isn't as enjoyable as you might think. So maybe just use the car in Tuscany, dropping it in La Spezia or earlier. Use the train to the CT and north to Aix.

Any particular reason for Aix? If you want to see Provence, Aix is n bit out of the way.

Nice would make a nice stop. And then you could fly Easyjet from Nice to Bristol to start your Cotswolds tour. If you really want Aix, there's a similar Easyjet flight from Marseilles to Bristol. But 2 nights seems a bit short for either Nice or Aix, especially the former. Maybe flying instead of that long train trip to the UK will give you some more time.

>>>overnight somewhere i havent worked out yet, but i hate heights and windy roads so any suggestions great<<<

Cortona = windy roads and heights as does much of Umbria/Tuscany.

Where does all this nonsense come from about "long train journeys" from Aix to the M25?

Leave Aix 0725, change at Lille, you're at Ebbsfleet at 1315. No hanging round airports, no perves groping you, no nonsense about advance checkin, no trekling out to somwhrere hideous, no being strapped in - and no queue at UK immigration or at baggage carousels. And no guilt about the amount of carbon you're pointlessly dumping in the atmosphere

And anyone who thinks that's tedious obviously has the attention span of a goldfish.

personally i like your trip a lot - you've obviously worked really hard to cater for the tastes of the changing members of the tour party - not an easy thing to do at all.

the main change I would make is in relation to the CT - definitely I would cut that out for more time in Paris. I would also consider getting the train from Rome to Orvieto, spnding half a day there, then pick up a car, tour umbria/tuscany as you will, then return the car in Italy and get the train to Aix.

What time of year are you traveling? If it's high season, I'd stay 3 hours in Cortona, not 3 days. The place is mobbed with tourists in mid-summer and quite unpleasant, IME.

>>>Where does all this nonsense come from about "long train journeys" from Aix to the M25?<<<

Well in my opinion an 8-HOUR train journey (your own figures Flanner, not mine) does indeed qualify as a long train journey. You don't think so? Fine - but I make this point because the OP may be unaware of flying as a faster alternative.

For example, there's an easyJet flight from Marseilles to Gatwick dep 11:25, arr 12:15 for £37 per person on a randomly chosen date in May 2011. Or a Ryanair flight direct from Nimes to Luton dep 09:40, arr 10:35 for 31 Euros per person.

The Provence also has very winding roads once leaving the Rhone valley unless one takes the <i>autoroute</i> or follows the immediate coast; and even there the <i>corniche</i> can be breathtaking. Perhaps train travel might be the best option.

Oh My goodness, this is all absolutely amazing. You have all been so much help, miles better than the 100's of hours i have spent on the internet. I really am thinking of leaving out CT now, i think our trip may be more leisurely if we spend more time with aix as a base. Thank you so much too for all the car hire info and ideas on trains/cars. I will get busy researching!!

Cinque Terre is very much cliff and walk. Why not just visit Genoa. if hubby wants to do the walking thing then he can catch a bus and Genoa is wonderful

I think you have a great itinerary - not rushed at all, at least on The Continent.

If doing all that train travel in France and Italy then at least investigate the France-Italy Railpass - it would take you all the way up to Lille-Europa to hop the Eurostar train to London. For loads of great info on planning a European rail trip I always spotlight these fab IMO sites - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com

If you want to do daytrips by car in Provence, Aix (charming as it is) doesn't make the best base. It's a little out of the way for the most popular destinations. And Aix itself can get a lot of car traffic.