Young - I'm in your age group, and I am always one of the few who advise to do as much as you can. Especially since it's your first trip to Europe. My only experience in Europe so far has been six countries in two and a half weeks. And I wouldn't change it for anything! Like you, my plan was to get an overview and remember the places to which I want to return. Not surprisingly, every place I visited is on that list!

Although many Fodorites would advise against it, I did Rome in a day, Venice in a day, Paris in a day, Florence in a day and a half, Salzburg in a day, etc. And I had a fabulous time. Your initial itinerary is nowhere near this crazy, allowing you several days in each city. Also, the train ride from Florence to Rome affords you some great scenery (and a chance to stop in Siena or another little town).

I say go for it!

I answered your other post regarding Holy Week in Madrid, where I advised you to try a day trip to Sevilla. I noticed Chele advised the same in this post. I think it's a great idea. The train ride, again, is beautiful, and a day in Sevilla would be so much fun.

Ceb and Chele--Thanks for the Sevilla advice. I was thinking of it anyway, but now that I know there are Easter festivities going on there too, it's a go. And Ceb, it's good to know that you've packed even more than I'm planning into a vacation with no regrets. I'm starting to get excited for my trip to start!

For gifts I also *love* the leather bookmarks, I really wish I bought more. Check out a cute little leather shop named Cellini Firenze, along the Ponte Vecchio (or at least that area) in Florence, she sold them for only a few Euro each.

I liked her's the best because the florentine designs she presses into the leather are slightly imperfect, the lines aren't perfectly symmetrical, beautifully handpainted --they have a great handmade aesthetic. She has her own workshop in the back of the store where she has reams of leather and different pieces in progress. Take some of her pretty Florentine designed business cards to give away with the bookmarks -- turns this into an elegant gift. I'd gladly pay her another Euro for several of her business cards so I could include one with each bookmark. (I ran out otherwise I'd know the exact address)

For the girls/women who don't read, I bought silk blend "pashminas" for around 10 Euro at the outdoor San Lorenzo markets. They're not actually cashmere at this price of course, but they are a silk blend and are softer than most of the genuine cashmere I own and they come in great colors, I actually use them all the time for myself. I look for the Made in Italy tags (that's what my friends and family look for...), otherwise you'll see those same scarves in NYC Chinatown, etc. Buy several and get 30-50% off their initial asking price.

Nice genuine leather journals also at the outdoor market with old maps of florence printed on them for 9 E. (Not to be confused with the ones with ornate designs but aren't real leather -- these are pretty but if the leather is real, they'd run closer to 35-40 E). see, this is already too much, I swear, just bookmarks next time.

Hey everyone! I should probably keep it a surprise for my trip report, but I'm so excited to finally have all my trip days nailed down as far as hotel reservations and flights between places, that I wanted to post what I have reserved:

March 31st: arrive in Paris at 10:30 am. Stay at Hotel Monge.
April 3: fly MyAir to Venice at 7 pm. Arrive in Venice at 8:40. Stay at the Locando Barbarigo.
April 7: take a morning train to Florence. Arrive around noon. Stay at the Tourist House Ghiberti.
April 8: take an evening train to Rome, arrive around 8 or 9. Stay at Fellini Inn B&B.
April 12: Fly to Madrid. Depart 9:15 pm, arrive 11:30 pm. This will be a hassle arriving so late, but if we took a plane in the morning we wouldn't get an extra day to explore Rome. Stay at the Intur Palacio San Martin Hotel.
April 17: Depart Madrid at noon, arrive in San Diego at 6 pm.

Well, thanks everyone for all your tips!! I'm glad I was able to glean good travel info and hotel recommendations from your posts on this thread and the website in general. Now that I have the major details decided it's time to figure out the nitty gritty: museums, sites, restaurants etc. Oh man, my work has just begun!

How late does Fellini B&B do check-ins? Sometimes B&Bs have limited check-in hours, and if you are delayed, you want to be able to get in the building.

Arriving in Madrid at 11:30 PM should be fine. You'll still be able to go out to dinner right on time!

Hi young, I sure wish you two a beautiful time in Europe. I, like WillTravel, was thinking you will be right in time for dinner in Madrid. Good thought WillTravel had also regarding how late you can check into the Fellini B&B. We don't want to read in your trip report that you spent the night wandering the streets of Rome while dragging your luggage behind you because you were locked out!! Enjoy and don't forget to eat lots of gelato while in Italy.

I would cut Rome down to 2 days or cut it out altogether and make sure you see Florence, especially if you can take a day excursion to some of the Tuscan hilltop towns. There's nothing in Rome you'll remember your whole life, but Florence and Tuscany will give you memories forever.

"There's nothing in Rome you will remember your whole life"...what??? Well we all have different thoughts but that is a new one for me, LOL.

Thanks for the Madrid dinner hour advice. We can take a little nap on the plane and be ready for the Madrid night life! How fun! Well, checking in late at Fellini will not be a concern as they cancelled my reservation this morning! They had overbooked themselves through venere.com. I'm having the hardest time booking in Rome! I think I'll go with Hotel Aberdeen, as they just emailed me back with availability and a few people have mentioned it positively on Fodors.
As far as cutting back on Rome, no way! My husband is from Mexico City so he loves big cities, and there's so much to see in Rome, so I assume we'll love our time there.

youngandrestless, at least Fellini's told you now, rather than later. Did you know about the Rick Steves discount for Aberdeen?

I'd also have the same check-in concern about Venice, in terms of what their staff hours are.

Can I get the Rick Steve's discount if I don't have his book? Also, is the Aberdeen a good location?

No, the Aberdeen page says the discount is for people with the "book in their hands". It might be worth getting the book depending what the discount is. It's a reasonable location - it's not in the most popular area, but as robust young people you'll have no problem walking most places in Rome from there.

I just booked the Aberdeen with the Rick Steves discount (10E less per night). Don't worry, I ordered all my guide books online just now, including a Rick Steve's guide. I may keep checking around for hotels closer to the hot spot areas, but it's good to know that I have something reserved!

I am glad you got reservations for Rome youngandrestless, that must be a big relief to you.

You're so sweet to say that, LoveItaly. Yes it is a relief, and it's an even BIGGER relief that I just booked Hotel Giardino which is even closer to all the hot spots we want to walk to. Now I'm satisfied that we have a good home base location in all the cities we're staying in.

Oh young, sounds perfect!!! Wishing you two a beautiful trip and hope you will find time after getting home and rested etc. to share your trip with us. BTW, like your DH I enjoy large cities too.

Y& R , I almost didn't want to respond,so much info, instead I am responding and just signed up on this site because of your request for help. We are heading to Italy ( only ) for our 25th year anniv. and husband's 50th, by the way I still feel young enough to to your first itinerary, what's up with you 40 and 50 year old's? I have never been to Europe so I can't wait, and I want to stay in the best and eat in the best, my first trip is not going to be on a budget. So those of you out there and can reccomend the best for accomodations please let me know. Rome , Venice and Tuscany area. Also is Venice worth seeing or just to many tourist, I have heard both. Y & R , can't wait again to hear about your trip. Also for those interested in food and where to eat , check out Faith Willingers book Eating in Italy, it has been highly reccommeded.

Hi Islanders. Thanks for the vote of confidence for a faster paced trip. Also, you may have better luck getting a response to your question if you start a new thread, as not too many people are reading my thread any more (its almost a month old). In order to find my hotels I didn't even start a new thread, I just searched for "Rome hotels", "venice hotels" and "florence hotels" (seperately of course). Sometimes it takes a while to narrow down even the area of the city you want to stay in, but just keep reading all those posts and you'll start to see that there are hotels that LOTS of people recommend (like the Locanda Orseolo in Venice) that you can't go wrong with--check right away for vacancies in those places, because they fill up quickly. If you don't luck out and get a room at the best places, keep plugging away and you'll find something very good that is a little lesser known. Find out the cancellation policy, if you can cancel with no charges in a reasonable amount of time, go ahead and reserve something pretty good while you keep looking for something better. That way you have a strong backup if all else fails. Well, good luck with your hotel search! I am going a little more budget than you are, so I can't offer much advice on more expensive hotels (all my hotels were less than 150 Euro/night).

You'll have a great trip. Our family is lucky in that my husband works a great deal in Europe so we have the option to join up with him when we can. That being said, we were in Spain last year for a 13 day trip which included the Easter holidays. We were in Madrid for Good Friday and found that the processions were incredible. The people will line up 5-8 deep on the sidewalks. Start/Finish is at the Westin hotel. The only place we found open for dinner that night was the Hard Rock cafe in the same block as the Westin (just a word of warning....). We took the train to Seville the next day and spend Easter Saturday/Sunday there. Amazing...if you have a chance to do a day trip and Easter Sunday is an option..do it. The alcazar will be open, cathedral (obviously...). We did not have any difficulty finding a restaurant open there. Have a great trip!

Thanks for the Spain tips, cmeyer. I'll see if I can make some dinner reservations for good Friday in Madrid, as Hard Rock Cafe isn't really the type of dining I've been envisioning! I'm so excited for seeing the Semana Santa festivities!