chefguy

Hi everyone; am working in Madrid until the summer and my girlfriend is coming to visit for one month when I am done. I have never been around Europe much besides Ireland and Spain, and she definitely wants to hang in Spain for a week or so. Afterwards, we have begun planning our trip and so far have come up with this:

June 9-13 : Madrid
June 13-18 : Barcelona
June 19-21 : Rome
June 22-25 : Salerno
June 26-28 : Florence
June 29-1 : Venice

We are flying back to Canada from Paris, as we want to check out there for a few days from July 6-8, before flying home on the 9th. Any recommendations on somewhere to go before Paris? We were thinking Switzerland. Also is this timetable sounding too ambitious? We are thinking we might want to check out Rome and the coast more, and skip either Florence or Venice. Thanks for any feedback!!

PalenQ

Are you traveling by car or train or plane or boat - I say boat because there are overnight boats between Barcelona and Italy - Livorno I believe near Pisa and Florence and if taking the trains you may even want to look at the Spain-Italy railpass good on trains in both countries and also for a sizable discount on the boat.

and for lots of great info on trains in both countries - and each country now has very modern fast frequent trains - check out these sites - www.seat61.com (good info on online discounted tickets that could be the cheapest way to go if you want to lock yourself into an often non-changeble non-refundable train weeks in advance to secure these limited in number seats - for flexibility to chose trains when you are there then the railpass may be a good deal even though you do have to pay about 10 euros a trip for a mandated seat reservation with it - and www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

PalenQ

Any recommendations on somewhere to go before Paris? We were thinking Switzerland>

Well yes Switzerland would be dandy - still not the busy season and if you go to a place like Interlaken you will have lots of really cheap hostels and budget hotels or pensions to chose from at that time of year. Interlaken is the railhead for the wondrous Jungfrau Region - to me and many both literally and figuratively the highlight of Switzerland - the Switzerland etched perhaps in your minds' eyes - glacier-girdled soaring peaks - toy-like trains going to mountain tops, thrilling aerial cableways - and right on a main rail route from Italy (Milan) to Paris - about half-way from Venice - the Swiss Railpass cana be great even for a few days so check that out too - take you from Italian border to French border.

PalenQ

The French Riviera would also be neat at that time of year - just before the July and August crush - there is a lot to see and do besides beaches - hill towns like St=Paul-de-Vence, Vence, Grasse and towns like Antibes, Nice and Monaco.

Can take an overnight train to Paris if you want from there or the bullet TGV train.

suze

Don't skip Venice. The Geneva area of Switzerland would work between Italy and Paris.

PalenQ

ttt