JLW326

I spent 18 days doing the Paris-Florence-Venice-Rome circuit in 1985 (my only trip to Europe!), but things have changed considerably since my husband and I did the whole thing spontaneously without reservations or a set itinerary. We traveled by train and stayed in pensiones. Next summer I'd like to bring my college grad son to Europe for the first time, and would like any tips you can give me re: the best way to do this. We will be 3 adults going for 2 weeks. Since I haven't been back since 1985, I'd appreciate any tips you can pass along! Thanks.

JLW326

Can anyone recommend places you stayed at that are really nice but not too expensive, local places to eat that you loved, the best way to travel, if we should definitel book ahead, etc? We'll probably be traveling the middle of May 2009.

capxxx

Ok, so what's changed...

1. Travelers checks out, ATM cards in. You get the best rates and lowest fees by just using your card to withdraw money from the machine.

2. Definitely book your hotels for your arrival and departure cities. Opinions vary on this board about what to do in between ... some prefer to book everything and save having to waste time looking for lodging; some prefer not to have a planned itenerary. Trying to find lodging for 3 adults may tip the scale towards book ahead, IMHO. They got this new thing called the Internet that makes it a lot easier ;-)

3. Look into cheap flights Paris .. Italy on, for example, Ryan Air.

thursday

I'll add to the ATM suggestion a lesson learned from experience--take out large sums of money at a time. It sounds counterintuitive to carry around hundreds of Euros in cash, but divide it up in different places, hide some of it in different spots in your room, whatever--but the bank charges per transaction. First time I used exclusively ATM, I pulled out the equivalent of $20-$40 bucks at a time, just as much as I needed for the afternoon, and literally came home to HUNDREDS of dollars in transaction fees. Not fun.

Mirella

be careful with RyanAir. The Venice airport which they use is actually Treviso and about a 30 minute train ride away from Venice. Most of their airports are not the usual ones used by other mainstream carriers. You will need to factor in extra $ and time to get to and from the airport, plus extra charges for baggage. Read all the fine print carefully. Why not take the train from Paris to Milan, stay overnight in Milan, see the city the next day, then take the train from Milan to Verona, stay overnight, then train onto Venice. The train from Milan to Venice is about 3 hours without stopping en route in Verona.

morgiesmom

thursday - how long ago was that? You've really made me think, so thank you.
Morgiesmom

gard

Hi

Well, I can give you that much info on moving around but if you want to brush up your knowledge about these cities, you can check out my trip reports from some of the places you are going to. My wife and I went to Florence last year and you can check it out here http://gardkarlsen.com/florence_italy_travelogue.htm . A couple of years back we went to Rome and the report is here http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm and finally Paris can be found here http://gardkarlsen.com/Paris_France.htm . I have included info about where we stayed, where we went to eat and I have also made maps of the cities. Hope this helps in the planning phase

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures