Hey folks!
I have been following the RS forum extensively. Such is the scale and depth of the answers posted on this forum, I did not need to post a single query for the first seven years of my summer sojourns to Europe. I feel heartfelt gratitude towards all the prolific posters here - you guys have no idea how valuable your unbiased opinions and recommendations are, and how MUCH they are helping not just the Original thread starters, but passive readers like me. So...THANK YOU :)
Now, to the matter at hand - I am in the process of planning a 24 day trip to Europe and I was wondering if ya'll can critique the itinerary so far? All suggestions are very welcome! Especially regarding most picturesque areas to stay in (we'll be Airbnb-ing the whole trip) and whether each macro-area mentioned in the itinerary is worth the time dedicated to it. We have not made any reservations (other than my international flight landing in Munich on 13 June, and departing from Nice on 7 July) yet, so we're open to moving days around here and there, according to your recommendations.
13 June - Arrive in Bolzano at 11:15AM and rent car.
13, 14, 15, 16 June - Dolomites.
How should we structure this? Stay in one place for all 4 days or split it in two each? Val Gardena and Cortina d'Ampezzo are our current top runners.
17 June - Drive to Lake Como area.
Should we be taking the long scenic pisturesque route (~8 hours) or the faster one (~3.5 hours)? Do we miss much on the picturesque route given we've spent the last four days in the Dolomites? If so, we will probably leave on the 16th and spend the whole day driving to the lakes, so that does take 1 day away from the Dolomites.
17, 18, 19, 20 June - Lake Como area. We would love some quiet, so a village by the lake (maybe Lezzeno or thereabouts?) works best. Maybe something central to the major sights, as it were.
Would you recommend us swapping out of the Lake Como days with the Dolomites?
20th eve - Drop car in Bergamo and Easyjet to Paris
21, 22, 23 - Paris. I think we're good on this :)
24 June - 0730 iDTGV to Nice, arrival at 1pm. Rest of the day in Nice.
Rent car in Nice on 25th morning.
25, 26, 27 June - The Riviera (one day), St. Paul de Vence and the coastal villages (one day) and Luceram/Sospel area (one day).
We are very conflicted about that last day in Luceram/Sospel, and wonder if it can be better utilized in another part of the trip? Paris, maybe?
28, 29, 30 June, 1, 2, 3 July - Base ourselves around the Apt/Menerbes region, and make day trips to each of the areas we're interested in. The furthest south we're intending to go is St. Remy/Les Baux, and giving Aix, Cassis and Camargue a miss (also Avignon) -we'll take our verdant hills and lakes and lavender fields over Roman ruins any day of the week :) We're really looking forward to exploring the Sault region! Since the first week of July will be the cusp for lavender blooming season depending on the Spring in 2015, we read a few forums and gathered that north Provence lavender blooms before the Valensole peninsula, we decided to drive to Apt first from Nice, even though Moustiers would have been closer and the more logical choice, geographically)
4 July - Drive from Apt to Moustiers through the Valensole peninsula. Spend all day exploring the area, checking in around our Moustiers base only by late evening.
5, 6 July - Explore the Verdon Gorge and thereabouts - we're super pumped about this, but curious whether two days might be overkill? We are really looking forward to canoeing in the Verdon and maybe exploring the villages in the area and north of Castellano?
6 July - Leave Moustiers base at 7pm to return car by 10pm and take the flight home.
Any thoughts, kind folk of RS' Europe? :)