Please check our France/Italy itinerary
 

We are planning a four-week trip to France and Italy in early June. I have been to Europe before, but my wife has not. I was wondering if the following itinerary is too ambitious. Land in Paris and stay there for 7 days. We would explore Paris and do a couple of day trips while we were there. We would then take the train and then stay in an Alpine village in either France, Switzerland or Italy for a couple of days. We would then head for The Lake Como region for a couple of days. After Lake Como, we would head to Venice for four days. After Venice we would go to Lucca for three days, then the the Amalfi Coast at Postalano for five days before ending up in Rome for four days where we would depart for the USA.

I think it sounds like a wonderful plan. Of course you'll run into those that say to explore in depth you should spend your entire four weeks in one spot, but ignore them. You are not rushing. It sounds great!!!

This sounds like a really reasonable and lovely vacation to me. Not too ambitious at all. The only thing I might change is take away one day in Venice and add one to the Italian lakes. I think you can cover Venice well in three days, and I think you'd appreciate the extra day in Como (those Italian Lakes make you want to stay forever!)

Hi ginn,

Nice plan.

I would suggest staying in Florence or in the town of Fiesole, just outside Florence, and visiting Lucca for the day instead of staying in Lucca.

You might want to consider staying in Praiano, about 6 km from Positano. See my trip report
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044

What a wonderful trip! Your trip covers a lot of territory but doesn't seem hectic. I agree with Ira, I would spend the 3 days in Florence rather than Lucca. In fact, unless you have a special reason for going to Lucca there are many wonderful places nearer to Florence to visit.

I agree with Mamc and with Ira re Florence instead of Lucca.

You cannot cover Venice well in 3 days--unless you limit yourself to just the most popular sights along with the rest of the sheep.

The reason that we were planning to go to Lucca was that we had read that it was a nice relatively out-of-the-way Tuscan city that would offer more quiet time. We felt that we could go to Florence and Pisa from Lucca if we wanted. Is this not valid? We don't know; that was just our idea.

I think you'll find that if you do a Lucca search, there are many folks who will say it is the loveliest of towns to use as your place to stay in Tuscany. Stick with your plan. Your itinerary sounds dandy. Good luck choosing your "alpine village" -- that's a mind-boggling decision. J.