Suggestions
 

I am travelling to Aix-en-Provence,France in the middle of May'11 and stay there till 24th.My wife and 17 yr. old son wish to accompany me for their first trip to Europe.I plan to utilise this trip by showing them some other countries like Spain & Italy or to be more specific,Barcelona and Rome.What will be the cheapest way to plan the itinerary including travel and accommodation ?
Please advise.
Thanks

You will get more responses if you repost on the Europe board - use the Change Forum button. At first sight you are trying to do too much in too short a time.

and when you re-post over on the Europe forum -- it will help if you use a more descriptive title than 'Suggestions'.

Include some detail -- something like >>Trip to Aix-en-Provence. How to see other countries?<< Or anything else you think would get you the help you want.

As Thursdaysd and janisj have suggested you'll get a lot better response if posted on the Europe board with a more descriptive title.


Mid May til the 24th... that gives you about 10 days. Three cities, at least two of them enormous, in 10 days is fast enough that you really wouldn't get to see any of them well. In traveling to another country you would generally lose half a day, and depending on flight times, often closer to a full day. I would suggest picking one city to add, but not two.

How long are you in A-e-P? I assume you're on a set schedule for that portion. If you have to be in AeP for 6 days, that limits your other options more than if you have to be there for only 2 days. How many days do you have in addition to your time in AeP?

For example, if you have to have two days in AeP, you could plan on 3 or 4 days there and then 6 or 7 days in Rome, with day trips out of Rome to places like Orvieto, Ostia Antica, Tivoli, etc. Remember that at least a good chunk of a day will be spent traveling from point A to point B (you have to get to the airport, be there early, fly, get any checked bags, get to the next hotel from the airport, etc). A 2 hour flight can end up taking up 5+ hours of your day.

in 10 days you will not see much in 3 countries

just fly into Paris then TGV to

Aix Arles perhaps lecalendal.com my fav perhaps Nice

You could do a bit of Italy by train like San Remo

Otel.com good values

ricksteves.com good planning site

Happy Planning,