I will be studying in Nice for a few weeks in June, and I plan to take day trips to Monaco and the French Riviera. After that, I intend to travel with some family for two weeks. We are considering visiting various cities in Italy, a couple of Greek islands like Santorini and Mykonos, and ending our trip in London. Could you kindly suggest the best route that is both logistically efficient and budget-friendly for this 14-day trip? There will be four of us traveling, ranging in age from 19 to 60 years old. We are on a tight budget, and our travel dates are from June 21 through July 7 or 8. I would appreciate your advice!

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Fodors

Honestly -- there isn't one Realistically two weeks is at least two weeks too short to even scratch the surface of that list. Two weeks is barely enough for Athens, a couple of Greek islands, and maybe a quick visit to one or two cities in Italy. Plus the more destinations the more it costs.

What sort of budget-friendly advice are you looking for exactly? Lodging? If so, please provide your price per night. Also, one room? Two+ rooms? Keep in mind that the time of year you are going sways prices.

If you're looking for transport, generally public transport is "cheapest" but a car might be economical for portions of your trip. Greek islands do have car ferries, I believe, but can be slower. But you would have to research those options.

I'm afraid that your itinerary to cover both Italy AND Greece islands will involve a flight - not always economical.

Where in Italy specifically?

To be honest, I think you might be biting off more than you can chew for only two weeks of travel...

As others have said, this plan is not realistic at all. I would strongly encourage that you, and other family members who will be involved, consult some decent guidebooks. You should be able to browse them at your local library.

For lodging, consult booking.com
For transportation options, consult rome2rio.com

Good luck!

I don’t think your plan is compatible with a good time (way too much in the timeframe) and all that travel is the opposite of budget friendly. I would narrow your scope of travel and widen your enjoyment.

Personally, I’d choose one country and one or two regions within that country. Relax and enjoy yourselves.

It occurs to me that although we are all saying your plan isn’t realistic, we haven’t been very clear about why. To that end, I’m going to lay out a route that captures your wish list as well as I can. For the purposes of this illustration, I picked Rome, Florence, and Venice as your “various cities in Italy.”

Starting in Nice:

· Train to Florence, more than 6 hours + packing and unpacking, checking in and out, getting to/from your hotel to the train station, getting oriented and lost … basically, the day is gone. Night 1 in Florence.

· 2 days (and 2 more nights – N2 and N3) in Florence … barely enough to scratch the surface there.

· Train to Rome, about 2 hours + all the transitional stuff … you MIGHT have a half day to begin seeing the city. N4 in Rome.

· 2 days (and 2 more nights – N5 and N6) in Rome … again, barely enough to see more than a few highlights.

· 4 hour train to Venice. If you all move quickly, you’d have a bit of time that day to being exploring. N7 in Venice.

· 2 days (and 2 more nights – N8 and N9) in Venice. Maybe OK if all you want to do is roam, but is that really all you want?

· Flight to Santorini, about 5 hours, reaching this vastly overrated island by nightfall (N10)

· 2 days (and 2 more nights – N11 and N12) on Santorini.

· Ferry, 2 or 3 hours, to Mykonos, probably time to begin exploring, N13.

· Maybe just one day on Mykonos? N14

· Flight to London, 4 or 5 hours, assume there in time for dinner, N15 … but you have only 14 days, and you’re now beyond that with no time in London!

So about a third of your time devoted to transportation, some legs of which would be pricey, and time to at best scratch the surface of some wonderful destinations.

For comparison, I spent the better part of a month along the French Riviera and other parts of Provence – see A stellar month in southeastern France … I spent about 2 rushed weeks in Florence, Rome, and Venice (no trip report) … I spent a month in Greece (though only about a week in the Cyclades) – see With Gratitude for a Glorious Solo Month in Greece … and on my first trip to London, I felt rushed to see what I most wanted to see in 5 days.

Only you can decide … but to repeat, I think you would be wise to do a LOT more research. And if you’re talking about June/July of THIS year, you would do well to start SOON!

I'd add it's late to be booking lower budget places and flights for this June or July.

I'm not going to quote kja's second and extremely detailed reply. But instead will add this comment related to it: all of that moving around will be extremely costly. A point janis made above as well.

My suggestion would be to choose one post-Nice; either Italy or Greece. Look into what is cheapest to travel from Nice and maybe go from there. I'd consider skipping London as well unless it is absolute must, but ymmv.

I guess it's possible if you want to spend all your time and money just traveling from place to place but no time to actually explore or enjoy any of your destinations. It will be high season for Europe and crowded with tourists and costs will be pretty much at their highest. Also if you are from the US, the dollar is tanking. What do you mean by a tight budget? Will you need one room or two? As others have pointed out moving is expensive and time consuming. Each move will lose you at least a half a day and more likely a whole day. London is also very expensive and huge with lots of things to do. You need at least 4 full days for London itself if not more. Santorini and Mykonos are also expensive.
What places in Italy interest you? Recommend reading some guide books to get a more realistic idea of what you might want to do with your budget and time. What you propose is not realistic.

Look at the website rome2rio.com

fly from Nice to Santorini
Ferry to Mykonos
Fly to the city of your choosing in Italy.
Go on to 2 more cities in Italy of you choosing
Fly to London.

This will give you an idea of costs and transport options. You can find price of lodging on any of the booking websites.

only you know what constitutes a tight budget. You’ve chosen expensive destinations. And a bunch of them. Most people here would cut down on the number of destinations even if money were no object.

You are correct. We are still looking for suggestions on how best to maximize the 2 weeks. I realize that we would have to knock off Something. Nice is where we will be. Greece, we would like to go to at least one island. These are a must

noted with thanks

This makes sense. Thank you for your suggestion

It looks like we have to go back to the drawing board. We will be in Nice and will tour neighboring cities. We will probably take on one other city will see which city will be the most economical from there

I think you are wise to re-consider!

If you could describe the interests that you and your family have, Fodorites might be able to suggest some options for economical options with Nice as a starting point.

It would also be helpful to know the departure airport to home and the number of nights as opposed to days for this trip. Also a ballpark budget per person per day not including airfare to/from Europe. I, and I imagine others here backpacked through Europe on a budget in our youth so it can be done. All of us are constrained by time or money or both for our travels. One way to economize is food. In my student days we rarely ate at restaurants but would put together meals at markets and grocery stores. Cities are more expensive than the countryside. London is especially expensive but possibly doable depending on your budget and what else you do.

i struggle to imagine Nice and a Greek island in one holiday. Italy and France has a load of little islands as nice as Greece's just pick one and go there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_Italy

I don't think it's impossible or even that hard to combine Nice and one Greek stop. The problem is likely flying home. The OP will need to head back to Athens or somewhere else to find a direct flight home.

Maybe start with one Greek island then head to Nice? If Greece is important.

If the OP wants Italy there might be an Easyjet flight from Nice to Venice or Rome. But it's late to be booking for June if the OP wants good prices.

Both Easyjet and Wizz have Nice to Rome flights at good prices in June. Add in any options.

Won't promise hotels will be cheap

Rent a car and that will open up so many opportunities to visit the villages of the Cote d"Azur. It's a fantastic and stunningly beauiful region. Bot don't stay in cities. Get out into the countryside. You will have a great two weeks without gallivanting off to Italy or Greece.