isabel

I know many fodorites love a trip planning challenge so see what you can do with this one.
Places I would like to include (in no particular order):
Rovinj, Croatia; Ljubljana and Bled Slovenia
Venice, Italy
About a week in North-Central Italy towns such as Ferrera, Parma, Mantova, others?
Netherlands: Haarlem, Delft, Leiden
Luxembourg
Iceland: Reykjavik and Golden Circle Day Tour

Trip will be for about 4 weeks, beginning the last week of June 2012

So which order to do them in, and how long for each?

I’m trying to figure out the best way to get from place to place – open to planes, trains, buses and boats. But do not want to rent a car. Would like to keep train or bus rides to about 4 hours or less (each).

Will fly in/out of Boston, MA (although could do NYC if got significantly better/cheaper flights)

How did I come up with this list? Well, except for Venice , these are places I’ve wanted to see but have not been able to work into other trips. A friend I’ve always wanted to travel with suggested we go to Venice, as that’s one place she’s never been (we have both traveled quite a bit) – but I’ve been three times in the last decade - so I’m looking at places that aren’t too far from Venice to combine with it. Most of my summer trips I try to split my time between someplace with a high chance of hot, sunny weather, with some time in Northern Europe.

zeppole

I would want to go to central Italy first, before it is too hot and muggy.

Coming from Boston, I would look for round-trip tickets from Boston with Icelandair, with an immediate connection to Milan. From Milan it is quite easy to get to Mantova or Bologna.

I might go to Mantova first, get over the jet lag, then proceed to Bologna, and use it a base to see Parma, Modena (you can see both in a day) and Ravenna on a different day. I would leave at leaast a day to tour Bologna but see Ferrara en route to Venice.

After staying in Venice however long you wish, move on by train to Croatia via Trieste.

I don't know how you move about that area with public transportation. If you don't get an answers here, you should try Tripadvsor forums.

I would look for a flight from that area to Amsterdam. After the time you want in the Netherlands, fly back to Iceland and take the time then to do the Golden Circle tour before flying home.

zeppole

Just out of curiosity, I checked Icelandair for imaginary dates in june2012, flying out of Boston to Milan, and back again in july2012 from Amsterdam to Boston. They quoted a price of $1095 per person/economy.

isabel

Thanks for replying. I was also thinking of Icelandair. But I don't see an option for Milan (or anywhere in Italy). So how did you find that. I was able to find Boston to London and Amsterdam to Boston for $890 which I thought was petty good. And then I could easyjet to Italy (or Slovenia). But that will require a day/night in London - which I don't mind at all really, but if I could skip London and go straight to Italy that might be better. I just don't see that option on Icelandair website.

For the Italy portion are you suggesting I do two bases - Mantova and Bologna? Do you think I could do Mantova as a day trip from Bologna? And can you think of anywhere else that would make sense as a base for that area besides Bologna? I've been to Bologna twice in recent years and I do like it alot so wouldn't mind staying there again but I'd also like to see new places. But it does look like that makes the most sense in terms of trains.

Also, do you know anything about the ferry from Rovinj to Venice?

zeppole

When I go to the Icelandair site, I see an abstract route map that includes Boston and Milan as having airports where Icelandair operates.

http://www.icelandair.com/

Then I clicked on the option for "North America", and when I chose the option for "Book Flight", I then followed that up with another click on 'Advanced Searc: Iceland Stopover, Multi-City"

I didn't bother to try to factor in an "Iceland Stopover," but I did try a multi-city search, plugging in imaginary travel dates for June of next year. The multi-city route I asked for was depart Boston, arrive in Milan, and then in 30 days depart Amsterdam and arrive in Boston. It offered to quote me a price, which turned out to be $1095 for one traveler in economy class. I assume you switch in Iceland -- but that's a short flight plus an easy airport.

You could fairly easily see Mantova as daytrip from Bologna. But if you don't like Bologna alot, I would recommend you not stay there. Consider instead staying in Modena. It's about an hour from there to Mantova by train, and even less to Parma. You could even see Ferrara as a daytrip from Modena if you didn't want to see it enroute to Venice. (Although I think you would need to switch trains in Bologna).

Another possibility would be to keep on traveling a bit after you land in Milan and then relax in Mantova for a few days. Then go to Parma and relax for a few days (see Modena and/or Torrechiara nearby). Then take a train to Venice, but on your way, stop in Ferrara to have lunch and look around.

If it sounds grim to land in Milan and keep traveling by train, you could just stop in Milan for a few days and take a day trip to Mantova, before taking a train to Parma....

I don't know a thing about the ferry from Rovinj to Venice, or vice versa!

If it turns out you'd rather travel by land, I'm not recommending you linger in Trieste if Italian cities don't much interest you (even though I quite like Trieste.) I was only pointing out that the train goes there, and from there you can probably find an easy way to get out of Italy an on with the rest of your trip.

zeppole

If you don't know Modena, it's a smallish antique city (much smaller than Bologna) that is a UNESCO World Heritage art city and a gastronomic destination for its famous balsamic vinegar, and many other treats, and outstanding restaurants. Luciano Pavarotti is its local saint.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modena

zeppole

PS: And Ferrari is worshipped too.

tdyls

Not knowing who you may have frequent flyer points with, I'll take a shot in the dark:

Icelandair BOS-KEF or Delta BOS-JFK-KEF
(See Iceland)

Fly KEF-AMS
(See Netherlands and Luxembourg)

Fly to Croatia/Slovenia from BRU, LUX, AMS, or DUS. Any airline will work.
(See Croatia and Slovenia)

Train to Venice
(See Venice)

Train to Northern Italy
(See Northern Italy)

Train to Milan

Fly back home.


If you know how to use the advanced routing codes of matrix.itasoftware.com, (they're cryptic at first but worth learning how to use), you can figure out what is the best combination of airlines to do all of this transportation. Even with 4 weeks, that will mean seeing a lot of places and not seeing much in each place. Figure that you will lose 0.5 to 1.0 day per travel from city to city. Can it be done? Yes. Will it be as fun as you imagined, after all of the schlepping? Maybe not.

zeppole

Hi Isabel,

Just wanted to add to this thread that if you prefer having 'bases" and doing daytrips in Italy, you could pick Mantova as one base and see Parma from there, and pick Venice as your other bases and see Ferrara from there.

And I might as well add that I actually like your plan of seeing the things in Europe that you want to see based on their content and your curiosity about them as opposed to putting together a package of places to visit mainly based on their proximity to each other. The places you've chosen to see in Italy are not megasites except for Venice, and you've already been there. Likewise in the Netherlands. I don't see a huge problem having a relaxed pace over 4 weeks.

Were I undertaking such a trip starting in the US, one puzzle I would want to solve in advance is where I could get laundry done so that I could pack very light. Were it me, I would probably bite the bullet on cost and have it professionally done several times during the trip. Otherwise, I'd have to bank in days to do it myself somewhere, meaning either renting an apartment with a washing machine along the way or finding a laundromat (my least favorite option).

isabel

Thanks for the ideas. tdyls - I don't have any frequent flier miles - I use Capital One Miles so can take any airline. Iceland Air most definitely has the best prices (by close to 50%!). But you may be right about too much moving around. I think what I want to do is very doable but for an entire month I probably do want to slow it down a little. I am now actually thinking I might drop Luxembourg.

Zep - thanks for the info that icelandair could take me to Italy. Apparently you have to choose the multi-city tab instead of the stop-over tab, even though you can then add a stop-over. The timing is not good - a ten hour stopover in Iceland - not enough to do the things I want, but too much to sit in a tiny airport - but the price is good - $1001. You can even go to Ljubljana but then the price is $4000! Guess I won't do that option. But I'll keep playing around with options.

I will look into basing in Modena instead of Bologna. I was in Bologna for several days last November and one of the day trips I did was to Modena but the scaffolding was still covering everything. I assume by next July it will be gone. Basing in Verona is another option. I did that as a day trip a few years ago - I had based on that trip in Padua for a week and did day trips. I really liked Verona and would love to stay there. But if I remember correctly the reason I stayed in Padua instead of Verona on that trip was that the hotel prices were very high in Verona in July due to the opera. I assume it will be that way next year as well.

I had not though about laundry. I usually do three week trips and have managed to get by with doing just hand washing on most trips but I guess for a month I would have to do actual laundry.

Keren

Isabel, I think Modena would be a great place to base yourself. I was there for half a day last week and felt sorry to leave, wish I could stay until the evening but had to go back to Bologna, where I was staying. It's beautiful, clean, not touristy, and when I was there had 2 temporary interesting looking art exhibitions to choose from, I only made it to the photography display and it was amazing. Behind Piazza Grande there's a fabulous covered market, I got a divine chestnut cake from one of the vendors. But the Duomo is still almost 100% covered from the outside, the inside is very beautiful. I thought the BW Hotel Hotel Libertà had the best central location, in the street running along central and pretty Piazza Mazzini.
Also, I think it would be easier to visit Mantova from Modena rather than Bologna; the latter only had one direct train connection in the morning, Modena might have more.

Iceland_Tour_Guide

Isabel,

This is what I recommend for your stay in Reykjavik.

Stay three nights in Reykjavik, preferably over the week-end. Do the Reykjavik Bike Tour on Friday morning, the local market, Whale watching and perhaps the Blue lagoon on a Saturday. Party Saturday night. Do the Golden Circle on Sunday. Depart on Monday and do the Blue lagoon on your way back to the airport if your flight is in the afternoon.

Michael

Land in Venice. Go to Trieste. Rent car that can be driven in Croatia and Slovenia. Go to Rovinj. Then go via Postojna and Ljubljana to Bled. From Bled drive to Ferrara and the other towns in the Po valley--it might take a couple days from Bled to the first town, and the drive will not be pretty. Return the car in Venice. Visit Venice. Fly to Amsterdam and visit the listed town using public transportation. Go to Luxembourg. Take Icelandic Airlines from Luxembourg to Iceland (if it still operates from the Luxembourg airport). Iceland back to the States.