Rome/Nice/Paris
 

My husband and I are planning our first trip to Europe. After many discussions of time and narrowing down the locations of interest without being too rushed we came up with the following: 3 days in Rome(possibly a day trip to Florence), 2 days in Nice (day trip to Monaco or Cannes), and 3 days in Paris. Additionally we are thinking of getting a europass to cover the trip from Rome to Nice and Nice to Paris as well as the day trips. For the cities I have heard that you can walk every where, is this true? Additionally I was told that Holiday Inn, Mercure & Sofitel?, are nice moderate hotels. <BR>Comments would be greatly appreciated.

One other comment - on the hotels we have tentative booked near Vatican City in Rome, the Beach in Nice, and St. Germain des Pres in Paris. Are these nice areas?

Yes you can walk almost everywhere and take the bus or the metro for longer trips. You'll find one day is really short for Florence. Just walking around the city will take most of your day and you'll miss the Ufizzi museum and the MichaelAngelo David museum. Also Pisa and the tower are just 30 minutes train from Florence and can be done in two or three hours. In Rome is better to stay near Stazione Termini (the main train station and main bus station as well) We booked the Montreal hotel close the Santa Maria Maggiore church and found it pretty convenient. Paris is nice anywhere and Saint Germain des Pres is as nice as any other spot, get the orange pass to the metro and that'll get you anywhere you wish. Versailles is a good idea for a half day tour. <BR>We are also planning our first family trip to Europe for july and will stay two weeks: Paris, Nice, Florence, Venice, Rome, Bruges is our plan.

Sandy <BR> <BR>I have reade and re-read your posting to come to grips with your statement of "not being too rushed". <BR> <BR>Firstly, I am presuming that the time that you have allocated for Rome, Nice and Paris doesn't include travelling time between those cities. If this is correct then you will at least be able to get a small look at them. For instance: <BR> <BR>Travelling time to Florence from Rome by rail is 2 hours, so a day trip is really only going to give you the briefest of a view of this magnificent city. My suggestion would be to attempt to stay in Florence after leaving Rome, At least that way you can get extra time in Florence as you are already aprt of the way to Nice. <BR> <BR>I dont have the time for the rail trip from Florence to Nice as I'm on a borrowed computer and my Favourites are all stored on my own PC. If you like I will send them to you after the Easter Holiday break. Or do a search for Swiss Railway, I think that it is www.sbb.ch. It will give you all that you will need for your entire trip by rail. <BR> <BR>The TGV from Nice to paris, via Marseille will take about 6 hours. Nice and surrounds require a lot more time to explore than the time you have allocated, as does Paris. A month in Paris and you will still have things to do and see. <BR> <BR>If you want to discuss this further please eMail me and I'll reply after the 26th. <BR> <BR>Just remember that Europe is not going away and you can always see the parts of it that you have missed on your next trip. <BR> <BR>David <BR> <BR>

Dear Sandy, <BR> <BR>With your time limitations, I'd skip Florence this time. You will love Rome and will want your full 3 days there. 2 days for Nice is fine for a first taste of the Riviera, skip Cannes (it's kinda like your basic glitzy resort town)and do take a day trip to Monaco. You can walk everywhere in the cities, but you might reconsider your Vatican city location in Rome. You can't comfortably walk from there to the other sights in Rome--although it's just a short bus ride to central Rome. I don't like a train station area hotel in Rome. My favorite areas are near the Piazza Navona and Campo dei Fiori. The Hotel Santa Chiara is my recommendation--rooms are about $150/night. The beach in Nice and St. Germain are excellent locations. I have found Holiday Inns to be in the expensive category in Europe. Mercure and Sofitel are indeed moderately priced chains.

If you can afford to fly Nice-Paris, I'd do it to save time, unless you can book an overnight train.