jupiterfla

Hello! I am in the beginning stages of planning a 2week trip for mid-April 2014 leaving US to Spain, Southern France, and Italy. So far my list of must-see's are Barcelona, Provence, Nice, Venice and Rome. My 24yr old daughter will be traveling with me as it is her 25th birthday! I have stopped in Barcelona before but did not have adequate time to explore - same with Nice. Been several times to Venice and Rome. Sooooo - Should I:
1. Fly to Barcelona and drive thru the south of France? If so - what are some memorable stops along the way?
2. Fly to Barcelona, take trains thru south of France - again what are memorable stops?
3. From South of France - fly to venice, train or drive?
4. I want to take the train from Venice to Rome.
5 - Reverse the entire order? start in Rome and end in Barcelona taking into effect any festivals that may be happening.

We love architecture, grand hotels, ancient churches, outdoor markets and being a traveler not a tourist..... So any help with length of stays in each location would be gratefully accepted!

Thanks

adrienne

Some initial thoughts - you have far too many destinations for a 2 weeks trip. You've mentioned that you didn't get to see much in Barcelona and Nice and if you keep all these destinations you'll have only another cursory look.

I spent 8 days in Barcelona this spring - my first trip. I'd recommend 4 or 5 days there. You could easily spend 2 weeks in Provence. 2 days in Nice (providing you do not go any place outside of Nice), 2 days in Venice, and 5 days in Rome. When I mention the number of days, that does not include travel time to get there.

If you cross borders with a rental car you'll pay a very high surcharge for dropping off in a different country than the one you rented in.

You do not need a car in Barcelona, Nice, and Rome. In Provence you can get by without one but having a car is very desirable as you won't waste time waiting for bus/train connections and you can get to small towns not served by public transportation.

Nice to Venice is 8 to 9 hours on the train so you would save a few hours if you fly. However, since your itinerary is so packed you might enjoy a rest day on the train.

jupiterfla

Adrienne,
Thanks so much for your response - I had been thinking i was cramming too much in there. it would be so hard to leave the italy part out of the trip. so what would your recommendations for south of france be? length of stay and what locations? things to do - etc.

mamcalice

Your trip is so terribly jammed that you risk repeating the past - not having adequate time in each place.

I would consider dropping one destination - either Barcelona, the South of France or Italy. I won't tell you which I would skip - it's your trip. If you drop Barcelona, fly into Nice, see the coast and Provence for the first week and fly to Venice, seeing Venice and Rome for the second week. If Barcelona is your "must see" skip one of the other destinations.

As for what to do, use the "Destinations" tab on this site and look at guidebooks. Read trip reports for the stops that interest you. Have your daughter weigh in. Have a wonderful trip.

StCirq

<<I have stopped in Barcelona before but did not have adequate time to explore - same with Nice>>

And now you're repeating the pattern.

Drop one destination or add another week or two.

jupiterfla

Thanks All,
I kind of knew it was too much, but one can dream.
Now - which location/area to drop? so in April the places to visit would be:
Barcelona?
South of France?
Italy?

In italy we'd be approaching the Easter holiday and that might be either wonderful - or too crowded?
Another thought we've had is to spend the entire time in South of France? thoughts please and possible itineraries?

PalenQ

Another thought we've had is to spend the entire time in South of France? thoughts please and possible itineraries?>

Well you can do Barcelona and southern France easily in two weeks at a leisurely pace - fly into Barcelona or out of it and take the train to France - then either rent a car - probably the best option for really spending several days there - drive from say a town near the Spanish border where you can rent a car - like Perpignan and drive perhaps up to the Dordogne then over to Provence and onto Nice - fly back from Nice.

For good info on trains if that is your option then check out these IMO fantastic sites - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com - you can get some discounted fares on Barcelona to Perpignan/Montpellier at www.renfe.com - the Spanish Railways site though regular fare ain't all that much.

Continental_Drifter

We spent two weeks just in Provence and Barcelona, with two nights in Zaragoza and a night in Madrid.

I think you're spreading yourself too thin for this trip.

To me, I'd narrow by a country. If I had to pick one that deserved it's own trip, I couldn't. Spain, France and Italy each deserve their own time.

We flew into Nice and had a rather leisurely drive from Nice, throughout southern France and wonderful time in Northern Spain. You can certainly drive this. Roads are well-marked and in excellent condition.

isabel

I think dropping Italy (which is actually my favorite of the three areas you are considering) makes sense especially considering it would be Easter. Personally have not been to Italy around Easter but have read/heard that it is harder to get hotels, more expensive, etc at that time. Plus the other two go together better.

Can you fly into Barcelona out of Nice or Marseille - - or other way around? If not though, those distances are not so far that you couldn't do a round trip (start and end in either place). That would also allow you to rent a car and not deal with two countries (huge drop off fees). At that time of year I would stick to Provence/Cote d'Azure. I would split the time essentially evenly between Barcelona, some place in Provence (St Remy?) and Nice.

You could also easily narrow down still further and really do a more in depth visit. One trip I did Barcelona then rented a car and drove to Carcassone, Ceret and Collioure France and Cadaque and Besalu Spain (returning back to Barcelona). OR you could do Provence and Cote d'Azure with maybe three bases - St Remy, Aix, Nice - or something like that.