oriole1251

My wife and I are in our early 40's. We are planning a Europe trip for June 2014. My ques. Is should we plan an escorted tour or do it ourselves independent? Places of interest are: Madrid,Barcelona,Paris,Rome,Venice. We live in the States and our budget is 10,000US for 12-15 day. Any infor. Would help. Thanks

adrienne

I would plan your own trip. It's so easy to do and you get to see and do what you want, when you want and stay as long or as little as you want. You have almost 2 years to plan.

Don't plan on too many places during your 2 weeks. For instance, from Barcelona you can stay a week and plan day trips to Montserrat, Girona, a beach and have time to thoroughly see Barcelona. Same with any other major city.

Fly into one city and home from the ending city so you don't have to backtrack and lose time.

Rome and Venice and a couple of places in between is perfect for 2 weeks.

Read some trip report or other information on this board. Get some guide books from the library and start reading; get some travel DVDs from the library to see what these places look like.

Aduchamp1

Ten grand is plenty. And as noted too many places for two weeks since you are not considering traveling time between cities.

You could take the 10 grand and use it for two two week trips if you carefully select clean safe and comfortable hotels and eat at less expensive restaurants. That way you can see most of the palces you want unhurried. This is the way we have been traveling for 40 years.

Go independently these are all well travled paths and they are used to tourists and in most hotels they speak English.

There is wonderful and up to date advice on these boards for hotels and restaurants. And if it is possible travel just a little earlier when the airfares are ususally a little lower and there are usually less people

traveller1959

>>>Madrid,Barcelona,Paris,Rome,Venice<<<

I am afraid this is not possible within 15 days.

Doable would be either Paris, Venice and Rome or Paris, Barcelona and Madrid. If it will be your first trip to Europe, I would recommend Paris, Venice and Rome with flights between cities.

ira

Hi O,

Good to see that you like to plan ahead.

>Madrid,Barcelona,Paris,Rome,Venice. .... for 12-15 days

London and Paris - 14 days
Rome, Florence, Venice - 12 - 14 days
Barcelona, San Sebastian and Madrid - 12 -14 days

Mimar

Posters on this site are, overwhelmingly, independent travelers. They will never recommend a tour over traveling on your own. They enjoy researching trips, seeking out sights of particular interest to them, finding cute local hotels and good restaurants, expensive or not. And this poster prefers leisurely starts to the day as opposed to bags out at 7 AM.

However, if you really want to see all those places in 15 days, a tour is the way to do it. You won't have to worry about transportation or what to see.

On the other hand you will see those places very superficially. 5 cities in 15 days is 2 full days each plus travel time. Paris and Rome in particular really need more time, something like a week each.

So it depends on what you want.

greg

You have 3 clusters: Madrid+Barcelona,Paris, and Rome+Venice. If you were do all three clusters, you would need to fly between clusters to fit into your schedule.

Almost 2 years away, but in June? June is one of the most expensive time for US travelers to fly when the airlines try to extract maximum revenue from travelers tied to school schedules. Along with this, the hotels charge high season rates. If your itinerary allows shoulder/off season travel, you might be able to get two trips out of the same budget to cover more clustered destinations with less time constraints.

Michael

In 15 days you have enough time for three cities, maybe even four, particularly if you decide to fly the long distances (Spain to Paris, Paris to Italy, Spain to Italy). Do an open jaw ticket to reduce your travel time in Europe.

It's nice to spend a week in a major city, but if you are first time travelers to Europe, a taste might be better. You'll go back. I think that we never spend more than 4 or 5 days in any major city when we travel in Europe. But I do not claim to get the local flavor, particularly when I do not know the language. I am enjoying the city as a tourist; but we return to many of the cities.

StCirq

I would choose three of those places in a 15-day trip, two if you only have 12. You lose a half to a full day every time to move on to a new place. Your budget is ample, though as noted you are traveling at the most expensive time of year. If you must see all those places, a tour is probably a better idea than independent travel, but it will be a tour of superficialities and overviews.

oriole1251

Thanks you all for if wonderful kind reply. My wife and I will take all ur information in consideration . Thanks

oriole1251

After sitting down with my wife we both decided to narrow it down to: Madrid, Barcelona , Paris & Rome. Staying 3-4 days in each place. Take a train from Madrid to Barcelona then fly from Barcelona to Paris after fly to Rome from Paris. Any suggestion any helpful infor. Thanks.

Aduchamp1

There are many reliable cheap airlines in Europe. The downside is that have strict rules and penalties about luggage and the weight of luggage which they enforce to the Euro.

Check Ryan, Vueking, and Easyjet.

larrya

I would book your own travel, start by flying into Barcelona, train to Nice/Monaco, train thru Milan, on to Florence, Rome and fly out of Venice. 3 nights in the larger cities and 2 nights each in the other. Then start saving and planning for your next return trip for Paris, Bordeaux, San Sebastian, and Madrid. Have a great trip.

BigRuss

<<After sitting down with my wife we both decided to narrow it down to: Madrid, Barcelona , Paris & Rome. Staying 3-4 days in each place. Take a train from Madrid to Barcelona then fly from Barcelona to Paris after fly to Rome from Paris. Any suggestion any helpful infor. Thanks.>>

Still too much. You lose 1/2 a day arriving in Europe and another 1/2 day each day you switch accommodations. Can't do much in Barcelona or Paris or Rome in 3 days other than surface scratching, although you could wring most of what you'd want out of Madrid.

Figure out why you want to go to ___ and you'll be able to pare this down. Best option is probably Barcelona-Paris-Rome with internal flights, drop Madrid. Or Paris-Venice-Rome.

You should also fly open jaw: that means from home airport to Barcelona, and back to home airport from Rome. What is your home airport? Is it Dulles or Philly? (E.g., is "oriole" an indication you live in or near Baltimore)? If so, do you have United or UScAir miles to make the trip cost less?

mamcalice

I guess, looking at a map, I would fly from home to Rome, then to Barcelona, Madrid and last to Paris.

I agree that these 4 cities are too many for 15 days and woud either add a few days or drop a city. One of the major delights of a European trip is getting to know the culture and ambience of a city. Three days is far too short.

oriole1251

I'm flying out of Miami, Fl. Should We fly to Rome or Spain 1st. We are thinking of staying in the center of each city for 3-4 days and use the local transport to get around. Is Bacelona, Paris & Rome a better route to spend more time in each one?

jgg

Yes, I think cutting down to 3 places in your 15 days would be ideal. I would look at airfare flying into Barcelona and out of Rome and vice versa and see which one is cheaper. Also, I would check out the airfare from place to place and see which one fit in best with your schedule and make the decision that way. Several of the low cost airlines only do certain routes on certain days of the week, so I would check those out in order to see which fits best with how many days you plan to spend in each place (I would recommend 5 days in each city - they are all equally deserving of your time). Also, I would go as early in June as possible to avoid the heat.

oriole1251

I really appreciate all ur answers to my questions it helped us alot. We will start our planning thanks again. I know along the way I will have more ques. Thanks

ellenem

Be sure when you check airfares that you use the "multi-city" function on the airline websites in order to find the open-jaw flights mentioned. (Do not search for one-way flights or ou will see much higher fares.)