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Critique my itinerary!
Planning a big France/Italy 2 week trip for September and I'd love some advice! We want to see:
Paris, Cannes, Florence, Rome, Naples (Pompeii), Bolonga, Venice, Milan, then flying out of Paris (or Milan).
Are we crazy to think we can do it in 14 days??
Keep in mind that we are both experienced international travels i.e. we know our way around airports and customs. We have both been to Paris before but were in our early teens so we would do semi-different things now. We would be taking the high speed train to every destination. We aren't too in to scenery so would most likely just be doing the major attractions. And we aren't museum people so don't need much time for that.
Thanks!
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Re: Critique my itinerary!
Eight cities in 14 days seems like a lot to me, and I tend to go to a lot of places in a short amount of time when I travel.
If you're taking high speed trains the airport/customs portion is only a few hours so being experienced there doesn't really save too much time.
If you want to keep with this schedule, you'll be spending so much time getting to your hotel, checking into and out of hotels and waiting at train stations/on trains. Even if the trains are high speed, it can take some time to get from your hotel to the train station that has that train leaving to where you need to go next. Not to mention, there's always a chance of a strike/broken down rail that can seriously mess up your packed schedule.
I think you should figure out which places you really want to go to and spend a few days in each of those places instead of just one or two nights. However, if you want to keep those 8 cities, my suggestion is to reorder it. So, go to Paris then Cannes. Then to Milan. Then to Venice. I've been to Bologna before and unless there was something you really wanted to see that you know takes a lot of time, it's an easy day trip from Florence. So, after Venice I would go straight to Florence and do a day trip to Bologna. Then down to Rome. Pompeii is an popular day trip from Rome, then leave out of Rome. It's cheaper than flying out of Milan (usually) and you don't have to back track so much.
This, and it's especially true for the larger cities like Rome and Paris.
I knew you guys would say this, haha. It's just really hard to narrow it down. This is a once in a lifetime trip for us aka we will probably never be able to go again. So I struggle with cutting things out because it's not a "we'll go see them later" sort of situation. We've saved up to be able to fly over there and now we want to take it all in. I've cut down quite a bit. This started out as a 3 week trip starting in London! Haha.
So of the cities I listed, which would you cut out? I've obviously never been to any of them so all I know is of research I've done. We will not be cutting out Paris or Rome, that's for sure.
And I would love to do a open faced ticket like fly in to Paris and out of Milan or Rome, but that is a way more expensive way to fly. I found round trip to Paris for $980 a person and that's about as low as it gets right now.
I would cut out Cannes, Milan, Bologna and possibly Venice. What's the price difference you are finding for flights r/t Paris vs. the open jaw out of Rome? Keep in mind that you'll be spending both money and time to go back to Paris if you decide to do that, so it may not be worth it.
If it were me, I would stay in Paris for a few days, fly to Florence, then take a train to Rome. Possibly do day trips to Bologna (but, like I mentioned earlier, I'm not sure what you want to do there that would be worth it) and Pompeii. Then you can fly back to Paris at the end if that's where your flight leaves from. But, that's what I would do based on what you stared with.
You said you don't care much for scenery or museums, so what is it that you want to do in the places you originally mentioned? I ask because, for example, if you wanted to go to Cannes to either break up the train ride from Paris to Milan or to go to the Mediterranean, then flying to Italy and possibly going someplace along the Med. within Italy might make more sense. Like, Naples or Sorrento or something. But, if there was something specific you wanted to experience in Cannes that isn't doesn't exist somewhere else, then maybe take something else out of your itinerary. And while Florence is a beautiful city, I think a lot of people go there for the museums, so maybe it's not the best place to go. If you listed why you wanted to go to each of the places you mentioned, it might be easier to give you suggestions based on your preferences instead of my own. (I like scenery and museums to a point.)
You still have some time to find flights. When I was a travel agent, I often suggested for people to keep looking until 3 months prior unless they saw something they really couldn't pass up. I'm sure that makes you nervous, but it's just something to consider. I think there are fare-tracker websites that tell you when it's a good time to book and when it's a good time to wait.
Anyway, you mentioned that you want to take it all in, but it's really hard to take it all in when all of your time is on a train or packing & unpacking suitcases. I think you'll have a more enjoyable trip without having to rush from one thing to another.
I've heard amazing things about Bolonga from a friend who recently spend some time there. He says it's a great place to really see what the Italian culture is like and they have the best food. That is the main reason we are going, we really want to just absorb as much of the local culture as possible.
I've heard Cannes has amazing beach's. But it won't really be swimming season in September so that seems reasonable to take off the list. Though I would like to see something on the Mediterranean, and something further south would have more sun right?
Okay so we can cross Cannes off our list. That helps a bit...unless we replace it, haha. The deal for the flight ends on the 15th...so I was really hoping to make up our mind by then. I would hate to pass up a good deal.
Then book it! You can figure out all the details later. Look how much roundtrip tickets (flights, not trains) are Paris to Bologna or Rome. Perhaps you can spend less time in Paris since you've both been there and that gives you more time to do Bologna and Florence if you think there's something in Florence worth seeing.
FWIW, everyone always clings to the area of wherever they visited as the one with the most local culture/best food. It's so regional in Italy that you can have a very authentic Italian food and culture experience in every city, but have very different experiences overall. I have a friend living in Sienna and swears that's the best city/food in Italy, but my H prefers the south. I loved Rome (which a lot of people don't really like). I think the key to having a good time, though, is not having to change locations every other day.
I agree with Cheryl. On Yapta it looks like you can fly into Paris and out of Rome via Icelandic Air for under $1300/pp.
Also, have you considered taking the overnight train from Paris to Florence? It may be slightly more expensive that flying and a night hotel; but with your limited time schedule; it could be beneficial to save some day-travel time.
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