You might also work Pisa into the trip, which can be seen in only a few hours. The Cinque Terre are overcrowded and a bit overrated, but at least they are much closer and easier to reach compared to Amalfi. If you want to do Sicily you can take a train from Naples or possibly even fly. We’ve been to Tuscany and Rome but want to go to Venice Florence again and then down to Amalfi coast. I definitely want to visit Pompeii so will keep in mind your Sorrento tip. Should you include Spain on this trip, those would be the highlights and best choices. You can get some cheaper lunches, but you’ll probably want to do some nicer and more expensive dinners. And you could even spend a day going to the Cinque Terre if you liked, and still easily be back in Florence for dinner. But there aren’t many Airbnbs there, as I just discovered when I was there again a few weeks ago. . Let me know if you have any other questions I might help with. The two best places to add in that extra day would be in Florence or Paris. Nine days is pretty tight for what you have in mind, especially if you are only allowing 5 days for Interlaken, Venice, and Rome. Q4. Unfortunately, there are no convenient beaches or islands that you could visit easily on this route. Ushma. I’m finding your site really good. Hi, this article is very informative. It would even leave an extra day or so to go somewhere else or take more day trips. If you want to see the Cinque Terre, that will be another day, though it’s so crowded I really wouldn’t recommend it. We bought Paris pass for four days, need to book accommodation and start rest of the planning. We will try to cut a day from Florence and add one more night at Sorrento. 9. The Eternal City is also quite expensive, especially by Italian standards, which is another reason to save only a few days there rather than a full week. So you’ll obviously want to spend time in Paris, I’d recommend 4 nights if you can spare them. If you are going to France and Italy for sure then start with Paris and Rome as the foundation and add cities in between to the degree you'll have time. Your itinerary looks very good as it is, but maybe there are minor changes. -Roger), mistakenly hit the the submit button there, anyway, so we have decided to leave the amalfi coast for another trip, our next holiday, we will dedicate 1 week between rome, Venice and pisa, an a week for the amalfi coast. -Roger. DNQ – Did not qualify One problem with going to Sorrento is that you’ll want to spend 4 nights there just to see all the great things nearby, and you probably won’t have time for that. Meaning Florence to Bologna to ??? Originally I was thinking Paris London and Brussels, but I still think Rome, we only have 10 days, what would you recommend?? to Nice. In fact, the islands are mostly closed from November through early April, and then the season starts slowly. However, my standard recommendation is to spend 3 nights in any (larger) city that you visit, so you could fly from Rome to Barcelona for three nights and then a train to Paris for 3 nights and then the Eurostar train to London for 3 nights. -Roger. But there are nice-looking lakes in almost every European country. St. Martin/Sint Maarten You’ll notice that the typical costs for Paris are quite high, yet the rest of France is a bit cheaper. You could potentially take the coastal train from Genoa through Cinque Terre on your way to Florence. If lucky enough, I’ll be able to go back this March. The train to Venice is less than two hours. As for modestly price accommodation for 3 people, you should probably focus on Airbnbs or other apartment rentals. I found an awesome place in Sorrento on airbnb that is right by the water, only a couple steps from the ferry. We have found the info you have given here along with many other links that we have checked out as well, extremely useful! April 2, 2016 at 7:00 am. 3. Do you think we are cramming too much in our trip and will end up with just a blur of a holiday or you reckon we can work it out by tweaking our existing itnerary? Oct 13 – Switzerland morning then train to Venice.. Definitely taking them on-board. St. Lucia Thank you for your input, i will remove Lake Como, Clique Terre, Milan, Venice, Sicily out of my list. If you are the sort who loves all the famous museums then a Paris Pass could be a perfect option, but even if you just drift around town admiring the scenery you are guaranteed to have a good time. Thanks for your other insights and suggestions too. Rhodes, 2 days in Venice AK. But if you stay on the edge of town, you’ll have breakfast and then go into town for sightseeing. 3 nights in Barcelona Thank you so very much for creating this and giving me and Many The opportunity to stimulat my Imagination. This will be our first trip to Europe. As you probably know, Naples claims to be the birthplace of pizza. However, the local trains, such as the ones that stop in the Cinque Terre cities, have fixed (and cheap) prices. Once you get to Italy you’ll be able to use credit cards at all hotels, but there will be plenty of restaurants and cafes (in Italy, cafes are called “bars”, weirdly enough) that insist on cash. I have made a rough itinerary but would like some feedback: 3 nights Paris -Roger. In the Tuscany region you’ll obviously want to stay in Florence. Finland Cinque Terre (1-2 nights) Now, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples are all within about two hours of each other by train, so you can get in some sightseeing on those travel days, but still, the process of checking out of one hotel up until you are checked into your next hotel and ready to go out will take 4 to 5 hours of the middle of the day even for the closest cities. We would be using mostly trains and then a flight in and out of Prague. I hope this helps, and feel free to ask more questions if you have them. Stay the night (Night 6). or is it best to fly from Rome to Paris and just enjoy the city of love? What would be your take on the hot water springs in Florence. Florence, Six places in three weeks sounds ideal. 7. – 10-14 (5 days) Paris, This is my first trip to Europe and the above also includes travel time in the allocated days in each city. Antigua, Honduras Both of those hotels look like fine places, but neither is particularly near the Sorrento town center or the main train station. Auckland, The way it is now, you’ll be spending nearly an entire day getting from one place to another. I’ll answer the questions in the order they appear…. They mostly consist of small towns and villages so they don’t get too crowded because there isn’t much accommodation in the centers of them. Shouldn’t we spend some time exploring places in France? We are planning a 2 week trip to France – Italy this July for a family of 4 (my kids are 14 and 12). Thanks. The winter weather in London and Paris will be chilly, but it’s rarely below freezing or snowy, and most of the attractions are indoors anyway. I am open to suggestions really. They get more expensive as the date nears, and they are very pricey on travel day. The flights from Nice to Venice will be cheap if you book well in advance. Malaga, Pompeii Most attractions in Europe’s larger cities are indoors, and the weather even in December is usually mild enough that walking around for a few hours a day is enjoyable, as long as you have warm clothes with you. It’ll almost be like watching the cities on TV as they pass before your eyes as your bus just keeps moving. There are no good rail passes for what you have in mind, so just buy early. Puerto Plata, The challenge then is that it might be a 30-minute tram ride into the city center for your sightseeing, so you’ll probably only want to do that once per day, which can take some of the fun out of visiting an amazing city like the ones on your list. Including soccer sights on this trip could also be a bit tricky. -Roger, Thanks so much—We will overnight in Cinque Terre (Vernazza) and add a night onto the Barcelona stay Trinidad and Tabago Using local buses and trains, Lyft, or Uber for closer locations. Verona – 1 day You should have time to include Madrid after Barcelona at the end, and I’d schedule 3 nights in each one if you can. You can buy tickets online and (I’m almost sure) you can store them on your smart phone so you don’t have to print them out. One is Interlaken, which is a town at the base of the Alps. Thank you. Marseille isn’t really a tourist city, although I’m sure it’s interesting if you want to see a large French city known for its immigrant neighborhoods. Do you have any thoughts on mixing in a cruise into this trip? But, based on your response and reading similar comments elsewhere, I am now encouraged to plan it on my own and can certainly take your help. It's better to plan to go slower and if you are getting bored you can do a day or overnight trip to something nearby. Let me know if you have other questions I might help with. 5) I was amazed that no one mentioned Greve in Chianti given that i understand Chianti wines are famous? As a result, I won’t be confident in giving you specific advice on where you might try, although I do envy you. Also, what route would you recommend traveling from cinque Terra to Venice/Verona? The Amalfi Coast is primarily a string of summer beach resort towns in a gorgeous setting, so by the time late October arrives the season is winding down and it will probably be too chilly to sunbathe most days. Athens is worth 2 or 3 days, though most of the islands are pretty much shut down in winter, and it’s nicer to combine Athens with an island or two to justify going all that way. Thailand I’ve written articles with recommended hotels in all of the cities you’ll be visiting except Interlaken. Those two countries are quite different from one another, mostly because Spain was shut off from most of the world for those decades. Even though Europe is filled with amazing tourist destinations these two countries seem to stand above the others, with France being the most visited country in the world and Italy having the most UNESCO World Heritage sites. Santiago, 4.) I’ve not heard that about Nice to Genoa trains, and the one I took quite a few years ago was a normal international train. Budapest Can you suggest an itinerary for us? From London to Paris you’ll have to take the Eurostar train. I’ve spent most of my Tuscany time in Florence and Siena, but the hill towns are popular and obviously it’s a famous food region. Better still, there is a Metro station on every other block, so you can stay in the cheaper areas far from the center and it only adds 10 minutes or so each way. Bariloche, 3 days Lucerne, Zurich With only 2 or 3 nights I agree that spending time in Nice itself is wise (it’s a major highlight and the best transportation hub), and half a day in Cannes and half a day in Monaco are the two best day trips (each 20 minutes away by train). As for Austria, you’ll love Salzburg but I wouldn’t recommend Vienna if you aren’t fond of big cities. It used to be that round-trip tickets were always much cheaper than two one-way tickets, but often that is no longer true. Here’s my article about where to go in Germany in 1 to 3 weeks, which should help. On the other hand, you can certainly do it cheaper on your own and you obviously have the freedom to see exactly the things that interest you, and avoid the things that don’t. But there are pickpockets in the big cities, so you have to be careful with your possessions. Is there any way you would allow me to send it to you privately? You might even do Cinque Terre as a day trip from Florence instead of staying there. You can fly from Venice Airport or nearby Treviso Airport pretty quickly. I do have another question regarding trains. – 3 or 4 nights total in Siena and perhaps Tuscan town (any suggestions) Since I have a couple of more spare days where should I spend that time? We would definitely need to spend at leaf 3 or 4 nights in Rome but at the end of our trip since we want to already be in Rome for our flight back home. 4 days in Naples and its surroundings : sorrento, almafi coast Thank you for your inputs. Belgium For history and Catholic churches, not to mention many other reasons, you’ll definitely want to spend at least 3 nights in Rome and at least 3 nights in Paris. Thanks for sharing lots of great content, value with your specialized knowledge, giving lots of great suggestions and ideas to create the experience of a lifetime, with your blog, answers and recommendations. I’ll throw out a few more possibilities and you can see what you think and I can help you with more info later if you like. -Roger. I get this question a lot so I wrote a detailed article about where to go in Switzerland on a short visit. Hi Roger, I posted earlier today but have re-thought our itinerary, as deciding between Paris OR Rome seemed too hard. Many of them stay in hotels nearby on the mainland, while many others just come in for the day on part of a bus tour. -Roger, Thanx Roger! Manila I was going to take her last year for her 80th birthday but when Italy had their first earthquake last year she says I’m not going anywhere I don’t care. 2. I have read mixed reviews about the cold weather and the rain. Venice – 1night Is there a multiple pass for this kind of itinerary? DNP – Did not participate. You should go in whatever direction you prefer. This sounds like a wonderful trip you are planning, and unfortunately I won’t be of much help. In Italy you should consider the “Big 3” which are Venice, Florence, and Rome. Nice is the best base, with still very nice weather in October. 3 nights in Paris, If you were to visit the south of France, the obvious choice is to base yourself in Nice, which is described a bit in the article above. If you want to spend time exploring Provence then it would mean extra days, and unfortunately I have little experience there myself so you’ll be best off getting advice on that elsewhere. It’s all explained in the article. It’s very scenic, although if you saved it for a future trip you might be just as well off. Paris -2 nights. Tanzania Porto Do you think Florence is worthwhile for us? From the Naples area to Sicily most people take the train. I haven’t spent much time in Piedmont and there aren’t many obvious tourist spots there, but there are obviously some important cities and wonderful sights. That is part of the flooding season in Venice, so it might not be ideal. You might be able to park in a public lot near the town square for maybe €10 for an hour or two while you walk around and have lunch, but even that might be challenging in some of them because they are crowded and just weren’t built for auto tourism. Both airports are on the commuter train lines, so getting between them isn’t difficult, but it may not be worth the hassle. In those months you get pleasant weather that isn’t scorching, and smaller crowds and lower hotel rates. 2> Swiss Alps (Interlaken?) Again, it’s mostly the beach towns that attract the local holiday crowd, so most of your non-beach sightseeing should be just fine. We wanted to stay in Paris for 4 days then to Interlaken, Venice and Rome. I’m not a big airbnb fan in European cities because the central places tend to be more expensive than hotels, and the cheaper places always seem to be in remote locations. Three nights in Nice is also great, and it will take some time to get there from Venice. June 10,11,12,13,14 paris 2 days in cinque terra , Hi Roger, what a wealth of information you are! Your flights from NYC into Rome or Milan or Paris should run about US$700 per person round-trip in autumn, or maybe a bit higher if oil prices go up in summer. I think your itinerary looks nearly perfect. Cheers The tickets will be quite cheap if you buy early, or somewhat expensive if you buy as you go. Sit-down meal prices in Italy are somewhat confusing because the traditional Italian way is to order at least 3 different courses. Vancouver It used to be that Paris was one of the cheapest, and it's still competitive, but it doesn't rank high on the list of European cities that are cheapest to fly into. Hi Roger, we are a family of 3, two adults and 15 yr old, and we are looking to travel to Italy, France and England in April this year from Melbourne Australia. Instead of staying in Amalfi I’d recommend staying in Sorrento and visiting Amalfi by bus or hiring a car and driver. There are a handful of very photogenic areas in the 5 Towns area, but at this point the crowds in peak months (such as June and July) are just so overwhelming that it’s become very hard to enjoy. After about 4 or 5 days in Germany, take a train to Lucerne, Switzerland. That bus is an excellent look at Paris and it stops near just about every major attraction. The support, help, assistance I am wanting is for the experience of taking The vacation of a lifetime for my mom who will be 81 this year. He is a well-trained 2 y/o 18lb, westie. For this type if trip you’ll definitely want to focus on trains, and the individual tickets within Italy are reasonably priced (and even cheaper if you buy online in advance). For Interlaken I recommend staying in the wonderful little village of Gimmelwald, or the larger town of Murren just above it. Florence – 2 nights Hi Roger, Many people seem anxious to see as many cities as humanly possible on these trips, and a cruise is one civilized way of actually pulling that off. We also have the desire to hit Cinque Terre. 2. And on the article above you’ll see Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which can be enjoyed in one day and is a major highlight for many tourists. Here is the current plan: August 2nd (ar in Paris 7AM) to August 17th (dep Rome 10:50AM): + maybe a few days in sicilia. So if you have a 4pm train you can check out at 10am and come back to get your bag several hours later after doing your last sightseeing. Is that what you were wondering about? It’s the later trains that are late and cause delays on other lines that become a problem. Then on the 26th you can take a train down to Naples and then the local train down to Sorrento, and use Sorrento as a base to see the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii and a day trip to Naples itself. Montreal, and then returning to Rome. Not only is Spain quite large and somewhat remote for this trip, but English is not widely spoken there so it can be trickier than the others. Here’s the main website for Italian rail. Things like the hop-on, hop-off bus tours and river tours are fun for young people. In other words, it’s sort of like market research. But for basing yourself in a spread-out area like Provence, I think it’s ideal. It’s an ideal base for day trips to Naples (great city but best as a day trip), Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, and the Isle of Capri, all of which are close by. After that you can take the high-speed train down to Naples and then the Circumvesuviana to Sorrento. Spend 2 nights in Venice, which is plenty of time to see everything there. I,my wife and my three year old son are planning for 16 days (including travel time) trip to France -Italy and Switzerland (My wife is keen)/ Spain (I am Keen), so could you advice what is the best option in your opinion?? Many, many thanks! Both sides needed a win to progress to the next round. thanks! Your itinerary draft looks pretty much perfect, which of course I would say because it looks like you are following most of my advice in the above article. In beach destinations it’s not too hard to find rooms with 3 singles or 1 queen and 1 single, but that is rare in the cities. Do you think I should wait a few more years to make this trip or would be okay if I bring my little ones? what a following you have! Or you could visit Lisbon, which has the best weather in Europe in winter, and perhaps Porto as well. Day 13 Travel to London Spend about 22 hours in Venice, departing midday on 21 September. Loved the way you have penned down everything. I think your plan for the France and Italy coasts is good, although parts might be tricky. Train from Rome to Naples onto Sorrento for 3 nights as a base to do the Almafi Coast -Roger. -Roger. One nice thing about Italy is that these cities are all fairly close to each other and connected by high speed trains. Should I cut a day or two off Athens and Thessaloniki? I’m not sure how much more trouble it is to get a Schengen visa for a second trip, but hopefully it’s not too bad. The southern coast also gets massive tourism, but most of that is from other Europeans on sunshine holidays, and they aren’t very interesting from a cultural standpoint. As you might have seen, I highly recommend 3 nights in almost any place you go, which I think is the sweet spot between traveling quickly and staying long enough to see the highlights. -Roger, Thank you thank you! Cairo, France is a deceptively large country so travel will eat up some time unless you are flying or taking the bullet trains. Historical Sites Dublin: 20-23 October If you have 30 days I highly recommend shooting for around 10 total stops, so 3 nights in most places. I am thinking to take the train to transport between each city and fly back from rome to London at last. The main thing to take away from those articles is that it’s usually a better idea (at least on quick trips like yours) to pay a bit more for a central location and smaller rooms rather than trying to save money or get larger rooms by booking places out by the airport or in distant suburbs. I have a lot more advice on my review of the Paris Pass. Rome (4 nights) – To include a day trip Pompei. This sounds like a great trip, and 20 days should be long enough to see almost everything on your list. From Toulouse to Nice the fastest train is 6 hours 20 minutes, although most options are a bit over 7 hours. I’m very interested in historical places, including castles, churches, famous battle sites, etc. One thing I can tell you is that the trains between Barcelona and Italy are quite slow and do make many local stops. I wanted to know, in that case, if i take paris schengen visa and my entry to Europe through Paris, will that work? Also what if we want to include London at the end of the trip. Chiang Mai, Have a great trip and let me know if you have other questions. And a few days in Nice will also be wonderful, even if it’s more crowded and expensive than other times of the year. 13 may My wife and I are planning a 15 day trip to Italy in mid September. Thanks so much for this site, this page especially simplifies the “planning” for a first timer significantly. I think your trip will be wonderful as long as you plan it carefully. Once again thanks a lot for your advice, it’s really helped us a lot, will update you on how it went on our return When I was there for a day recently I kept one hand on my iPhone and another on my small camera the whole time, which gets a bit exhausting. I guess the other option would be to head straight from Nice to Lugano to return the car, then take some trains to see the things we’re keen on in Italy. I noticed you mentioned that about 60 euros a day is about right for France when it comes to accommodation and food, what would you suggest it would be for Spain and Italy? Then those tickets within Italy are fairly cheap, and will be even cheaper if you book them on the official Italy rail site about 3 months in advance. I obviously don’t know your schedule or goals, so I’ll keep it basic to start. Rome 12-16 Tuscany/ Florence Area: 7 nights We intend to do it in 12 days commencing end May. Laos Paris – 4 days That said, I’m sure there are restaurants in and near the other hotels, so if you prefer a larger chain hotel like that you should have a great time as well. Paris 1-4 June 5,6 Nice Santa Margherita Ligure (1 night) Sarajevo check out -Roger, Great site and such a wealth of information—-I have spent along evening reading and feel I have already travelled, My husband and I have 10 days travel We are from NZ and this is our first Italy trip so we want to balance getting a taster to return. They are rarely cheap, you miss all the scenery, and I never sleep well on them. -Roger. You’ll see several things and start getting a bit tired so you head back to your hotel. If you use a guide such as Lonely Planet (and I’m a fan of theirs as well), they tend to have a small section on nearly every notable town, so it’s much harder to know which are really the stand-out ones. 2 days in Venice Thanks for your comments once again Roger. From Sorrento we are not sure where to go and are we trying to do/see too much in 20 days. Let me start by laying out what I’ve got: Paris (5 nights) – must get in all the sights and spend one full day at Versailles. First of all, we come from the Philippines. Leave at ~7AM to reach Lecerne ~noon Fortunately I do research things well before booking, so I usually find the options if cars aren’t easy in particular places – but it’s all a matter of having the time to look into it properly. And both France and Italy are packed with non-beach destinations that are excellent, so you might want to mix more of those in. New York City, You reach Lake Como on a suburban train from Milan that takes about an hour. Having 3 nights in Florence will mean that you’ll have enough time to see the major sights there AND half a day for Pisa. I am based in Bournemouth and will be travelling with my wife and an 18 month old baby. The bus for the Amalfi Coast leaves from in front of the train station, and of course the trains to Pompeii and Naples leave from the train station, so staying in that area is easiest. Q2. Vietri Sul Mare is near the eastern edge of the Amalfi Coast. I really liked your suggestions. I’ll try to help if I can. We were thinking of basing ourselves in Cannes and then maybe Genoa and Florence. In twenty days I think I’d visit no more than 6 or maybe 7 cities in total. The same is true of Venice. After Florence you can take a train to Rome and stay there until Christmas. Still, I only spent time in Naples during the day, so maybe it’s a bit more frightening at night. You can get better information for those places if you Google the one that interests you. I’ve yet to make it to Calabria or Sicily myself so I can’t really judge, but I can say that Nice is really wonderful for visitors. After May 8, nothing is carved in stone so I’m open to any suggestions. My partner and I want to go to Italy and include the French Riviera from this September for about 5 weeks. If you did go I think you’d need at least 3 days. Athens 16-20 I don’t think they have any wide, sandy beaches there though, so most people use it as a base to stay and then head to the Amalfi towns for some beach time during the days. If you are going to Italy for 14 to 18 days, I’d do 3 days in Rome (it’s a big city but it’s also a bit crazy and gets old pretty quickly), 3 days in Florence, and 1 or 2 days in Venice. June 25 Rome to New Jersey, May 26 fly into Rome I’m quite puzzled which cities to prioritize and how to cover each city. Sorry I can’t offer any good suggestions, and hopefully you can find answers on lonelyplanet.com or wikitravel.org. Airbnb should be a good option in the cities you are visiting, especially for a longer stay in Florence. because i am trying to picture what does visiting the Amalfi coast mean. The places we would like to cover are – Tuscany, Switzerland, Germany and Paris. Driving is a great way to see what different areas are like, though we’d mostly be on motorways in Italy. What clothes to bring? OK! We will most probably be using the train most of the time getting from one location, town or village to the next. But really the main thing is that the experience is about a million times more pleasant on the train compared to hustling to the airport and all of that. Of those three, I’ve only been to Cinque Terre, and it’s probably worth going there on this trip. On 17 June, Italy and France met in the round of 16 of the 1986 FIFA World Cup, which ended with France eliminating Italy from the tournament 2–0 with goals by Michel Platini in the 15th minute and Yannick Stopyra in the 57th minute.[8]. Guadeloupe Pisa is about an hour from Florence, so a day trip takes a half a day before you are back. > Florence 2 days : visit to Pisa / i more country side I hope I’m allocating enough time to the various cities. Then you’d want to fly from Rome back to the UK because the train would take forever and cost a fortune. You can get very cheap flights around Europe, especially that time of year. Rome 4 nights I will take your suggestions and leave out Greece for another trip in the future and will add Lucerne and Interlaken in Switzerland instead. The Paris Metro is great, and there are stops everywhere. And then he is heading for Spain for 3 weeks, we still need to plan this, then joining me in my city in Bordeaux for Christmas. Hi Roger, You can have a great Venice visit in about 24 hours, as mentioned in the article above. South Korea So with that in mind, it sounds like you have a specific reason for visiting, which is great. I’ll also recommend that you spend those first three nights in the wonderful town of Sorrento. Grenada Hi, You could even stay a bit out of town and take the bus in, or the same train 1 or 2 stops into the center. So, it’s quite easy to do, and depending on which rail pass you are considering, it’s probably worth a travel day. Second, do you have any hotel recommendations in Sorrento? Florence, or Sorrento? We don’t want to focus on the big cities and would prefer more local experiences rather than traditional tourist sight seeing. I think your itinerary looks excellent. – 7 July head to Venice It seems that Sorrento has more to offer in its immediate surrounding, but I may be ignorant as to what Florence has to offer. I am in the process of planning my honeymoon and wanted to run through some ideas. From La Spezia to Florence you can take a fast train. Maybe a 3 day? If you have only two weeks total then the above minimums will also pretty much be your maximums, give or take a day. Spain is a wonderful country and even those two cities are just scratching the surface, so I vote for saving Spain for another trip when you have more time. Nice to Milan by train: About 5 hours but is there a different train that can be taken with out local stops?