deniseredeker

We are taking our soon to be 18 year old son to Europe for his high school graduation gift. Thanks to all of the help from this board, we've finally narrowed it down to Italy and Greece. Now I could use your invaluable help again narrowing it down further. We have a hard and fast two weeks. Our son wants to do beachy things, wants to go to clubs and experience the nightlife thing, wants to "do" more than just "see", and is not that into museums. Where would you recommend we not miss? We're thinking in Italy we would like to see Florence and Venice for sure, I would love to take a cooking class there somewhere along the way. In Greece, I'm not really sure - Athens, and then maybe an island? Our time frame for going is late June early July. Is it financially feasible to fly into one city, say Rome and fly out of Athens? Are there any books you recommend that cover both the nightlife and the things his parents might want to do?
Thanks so much for your help!

Jean

Flying into Rome doesn't make sense if you intend to spend your Italy time in Venice and Florence. Fly into Venice, Pisa or Florence.

Frankly, I think you'll be moving awfully fast to hit Venice, Florence, a Greek island and Athens in two weeks. I'd stay in one country or the other.

dutyfree

Its really two different trips if you only have two weeks and you want to hit the above mentioned.You lose a whole day traveling between the two countries and also lose alot of time traveling between the mainland of Greece and the islands (depending on your transportation choice).Italy would be my choice for a high school graduation gift as the varied cities are amazing for the whole family-transportation between Italian cities can be done by train,bus or flying.

christabir

I just want to encourage you to do things with your adult son that might not be of any interest to him. DH and I "made" my nephew go to Robben Island in S Africa. It was one of the highlights of our trip (as long as we forget the big fight before we went). And he dragged me into a surf store and we met some really fun locals, another highlight.

In two weeks you won't see Italy and Greece, but maybe Rome and Athens and a couple of beaches. Check on open jaw flights - it'll be less expensive than flying or training back to the original airport, and is your best option.

travelerjan

It sounds very much as if your son wants to go to Greece and the parents want to go to Italy. Now if he wanted to go to GErmany and you wanted to go to FRance, it would be simpler ... all on land, plenty of trains planes, busses etc Not so with Italy/GReece.

No matter how experienced the experts are on this board (and I"ve been to GReece 8 times, taking people everywhere, have been to 20+ islands multiple times) ... We cannot solve a family disagreement about a vacation in two such complex and interesting countries, with the transportation challenges they present. I think you need a family discussion... and also need to remember, you guys are the parents, he is the kid. He is lucky to get a trip out of state. For graduation, I got my first watch.

deniseredeker

Thank you for your advice. Actually, the parents are interested in Greece as well as Italy, but I think the kid is more interested in Greece than Italy. Is the travel between the two places just too daunting for a hard and fast 2 weeks time. What if we fly into Rome, spend a few days there, take an evening train to Venice for a couple of days, fly to Athens and travel to an island (Crete, Santorini, Rhodes?), then back to Athens and fly home. Is that reasonable? Are we still trying to bite off more than we can chew? Thanks again so much for the help - this is far more overwhelming than I thought it would be.

Jean

You're still trying to hit four places that aren't exactly around the corner from each other. Start looking into the transportation logistics of this plan and then decide if you'd rather enjoy a couple of places in geographic proximity or experience multiple airports, train stations and ferry docks. We can't make this decision for you, but I think most of us would say this isn't a vacation we'd want to take.

dutyfree

Like I said above-two different trips or you need more time.And as others have said above,don't do EVERYTHING that your son wants to do because I have learned with my own kids that some of the things that they did not want to do-after the fact they thought that it was a great suggestion and were glad we did them.
Your airfare (I think?) will be cheaper if you open jaw ticket flying into Rome and out of Venice (or vice versa) OR fly into Athens and fly to the islands and back to Athens and then home.

deniseredeker

Thank you for your advice. Does anyone out there think that this current Greek stike will be affecting anything travel related in June/July? I know it's impossible to predict and travel in Greece must be a nightmare today, but am hoping that someone with more knowledge of Greek politics than I have will be able to tell me that this issue is either shortlived, or has legs and might very well be around in the summer. We do really want to see two countries, but if Italy and Greece are logistically impractical, then Greece and ?, Italy and ? Can you sense how overwhelmed I am? I'd be happy anywhere - heck, it's Europe! But, I want to make this a great 1st trip for son and hubby.

rex

<< We do really want to see two countries >>

Go to Sicily. It's like four or five countries in one. I do not know about the night life, clubs, etc in Palermo, but it really is a big and vibrant city and can probably give your kid a feel for/glimpse of how Italians "hang out" at nights.

I'm not saying that you should go only to Sicily, nor am I really knowledgeable about the nightlife scene in any city in europe for the under 25 crowd. But I think you can make a great trip out of Rome (4-5 days; one of those could be a day trip to Florence) plus Naples/Pompeii/Sorrento (3-5 days) and then 4-5 days in Sicily (maybe 2-3 in Palermo, plus 2-3 in the Scopello area for excellent beach time and/or snorkeling/boating in the Riserva Naturale dello Zingaro) would fit together very well, logistically.

If it's archaeology you want (comparable to a visit to Greece), you can get it in spades by going to Agrigento or Selinunte (or Siracusa/Taormina, but that's at the opposite end of the island from Palermo). And of course, Pompeii would provide a day to scratch that "ancient civilzation" itch also.

Best wishes,

Rex

wug

We took out daughter and her best friend to Greece and Paris for her graduation. We did Greece for two weeks and Paris for five days. Flew into Athens and out of Paris. They absolutely loved it and talk about it all the time. (that was three weeks ago) I would agree that trying to do two countries in two weeks is pretty daunting. If we didn't have the extra time we wouldn't have added Paris on to the trip.

We did Athens, Mykonos (mainly so we could take them to Delos), Santorini and Naxos. The highlights for them were the Acropolis, Delos, sitting on the terrace taking in the caldera view in Oia on Santorini, and the day of kayaking we did when we took a boat over to Antiparos for a day while on Naxos.

They also loved Paris. We allowed them to wander Paris on their own some and enjoyed going to the Louvre and mainly just walking and taking it all in.

I know guys are different than girls but, it was definitely a trip they will never forget.