First time, early 50's travellers to Europe, not sure when we can return.We have been advised not to try and cram too much into our 5 week trip, better to experience more fully one city than snapshots of several so we have planned accordingly. We are unsure, however, of the following 2 options for a 10 day component of the trip- basically should we squeeze Venice in- and would welcome comments.

Option1
5 nights London
5 nights Nice( incorporating the grand prix and a day trip)
31.05.11 - arrive Paris by train
1,2,3 June - Paris highlights, day trip
04.06.11 - depart for rome (fly)
5,6,7,8 - Rome highlights, day trips
09.06.11 - Depart Rome for Greece and islands(booked)

Option 2
5 nights London
5 nights Nice
31.05.11 arrive Paris by train
1,2 June - Paris highlights
03.06.11 Paris- Venice(fly)
04 - Venice highlights
05.06.11 Venice - Rome(train)
6,7,8, - Rome highlights
09.06.11 Depart Rome for Greece and islands

Seems doable to me, but I'm puzzled why you are going from London all the way down to Nice, then backtracking north to Paris, and than going south again. My thought would be to start in London, Eurostar to Paris, fly to Nice, then to Venice and on down to Rome. Just seems a more logical to progress in one general direction.

Open jaw flight, of course, starting in London and back from Greece. The train is a time and money waster from Nice to Paris, IMO, with the easy availability of low cost air tickets

I would definitely fit Venice in no matter what, even if just for a day! You have to see it at least once in your life.

Thanks. Already paid for open jaw ticket,and our departure date is not flexible so staraight to London.We had to change in between travel and Grand prix was decided as after thought so have to fit in with those dates thus Nice first then Paris - unless we miss Paris!

Don't miss Paris!!! And definitely spend more than 2 days there. There is a reason it is one of the most popular destinations in Europe.

Can you do 4 nights London and 4 nights Paris and still get to nice for the grand prix? If not, I would, reluctantly, skip Paris and add the two days to Venice.

I like option 2 the best, but agree that I'd try at least to cut Nice to 4 nights so you could add another to Paris. If I had to chose between Paris and Venice, however, I think I'd take Paris. BUT as a first trip, I think Option 2 is quite doable, and you'll know where you want to go back to in the future

"The train is a time and money waster from Nice to Paris, IMO, with the easy availability of low cost air tickets."

I have to disagree with that. It's been a few years, but I remember posting here my experience. When I added up the time it took to get from Nice to the airport, the time from a Paris airport to the city, and most importantly the required hour and a half before the flight you need to get to the airport, I found that door to door from Nice to Paris the train was actually quicker! And taking in the double transportation at each end with airports (taxis, that is) -- the train was even cheaper!

Still considering your restrictions, I'd probably not do Paris but do Venice instead between Nice and Rome.