lasoon

Some older relatives (65+) from India will be visiting me in London this summer. They have never been to either the UK or Europe before.

I am in charge of planning an itinerary which gives them a taste of continental Europe within 12 days. Given the time constraints, I am thinking it might be best to split the trip between two countries and between 2-3 cities within each country. Which cities/countries would you choose for such an itinerary? The trip will be in early September.

I am currently thinking of spending 8 days in Italy and 4 days in either France, Spain, or Portugal. In Italy I had three cities in mind: 3 days in Rome, 3 days in Florence, and 2 days in Venice. Not so sure about France, Spain, or Portugal. Does this seem a good selection or would you do things differently?

Within the UK, they will be spending roughly 1 month in London, 1 week in Edinburgh + Scottish highlands. I will also take them on day trips to Oxford/Cambridge/Bath/Bristol.

janisj

OK -- how much time do you actually have for the continental bits? To get 8 days in Italy requires 9 nights, and 4 days in different country would require 5 nights. I know they are from India so can probably handle the heat, but southern Europe can be really hot which will probably eat into their sightseeing endurance.

But working with 12 nights, I might do 8 in Italy divided between Rome and either Florence or Venice (5 nights in Rome and 3 nights in the other city) + 4 nights in EITHER Paris or Portugal. Keep it simple with less moving around

Sassafrass

Since it is easy to take the train to Paris and it is such an iconic city, I would definitely choose Paris.

If they are pretty fit and active, I might rush Italy a bit and spend 4 nights in Rome, 2 or 3 nights in Florence and 2 or 3 nights in Venice, depending on their interests.

From London, since they have a month there, could they take a train to Amsterdam & Haarlem for 3 or 4 days?

Rubicund

There are lots of options and a great deal depends on what their interests are. However,by the time you take this trip I'm guessing that they will have been acclimatized to UK time, so no jet lag to worry about. With such a short length of time on mainland Europe, less is more and to see both Italy (Rome and Venice) and Paris, I think I'd split my time equally between the three places and take each one a bit more slowly. All three are worth longer than that, but they'll get a taste of three wonderful places.

setmm40

I think this is a good idea. In fact, it's similar to what was recommended to us for 15 days split between Italy and Paris with two adults and two teens. We were advised to pick Rome OR Florence considering Cinque Terre was a must, as is Venice for our teens. Rome being the farthest from those "must destinations", we decided on 5 days Paris, high-speed train to Florence from Paris, Florence to Cinque Terre, Cinque Terre (La Spezia) to Venice, with no less than three nights anywhere in Italy (our flight home is from Venice, or I'd have planned this order differently!). Taking the Frecciarossa from Italy to Paris gets you views of Switzerland and six hours of rest on train- a "bonus" country sighting, if you will . Florence lends itself to day trip in Tuscany. Just a note, some ticket classes on train were already unavailable, so look into booking those soon if you plan to use train. Enjoy your trip and time with family!

lasoon

Thank you! Were you in Paris all 5 days or did you do any one day trips to other areas?

setmm40

Hi, there-haven't gone yet, as our trip is in June. We do plan to do one day trip from Paris during our 5 days there, just not yet sure which! So many good options!

shelemm

If you want to give them a taste of different countries, then fly to Rome (at least 5 nights there) and then to another country, maybe go to Prague or Krakow or Copenhagen. I don't like the idea of taking time out from Rome to spend a couple of nights in Florence. Too much running around.

uktravelover

The fast intercity trains in Italy are great and remove the time lost at the airport. June can be very hot in Italy so you may need to pace yourselves. I would suggest. Rome 4 nights, Florence 2 nights, (3 nights if you want to spend a lot of time in the art galleries), Venice 2 nights and then take the train to Nice for 3 nights to explore the Côte d’Azur and possibly Avignon. Leave Paris for a separate trip using Eurostar when your relatives are in the UK. It is really easy to go from St.Pancras to Gare du Nord. You can often get a good deal booking train + hotel with Eurostar. I recently saved about £100 doing that rather than booking separately, but do price both.