16 day itinerary

You have lots of options. If you are trying to do this without a car, you could go back to London and head north to York, and then on to Edinburgh to see some of Scotland. You could go straight to Edinburgh and visit not only Edinburgh, but also up to Inverness where you can do some nice day trips. Or you could stay in France and do a trip to the Loire River Valley. It easiest if you rent a car, but you can do tours and Amboise is a nice base. I'm sure you'll get more suggestions.

Pam

Thanks for your input, we are leaving out of Rome though so I don't think that will work. We would like to just take trains and planes, I don't think we really want to rent a car if we don't have to.
Is this too much to do in 16 days?

Is it reasonable for you? That's what matters.

What it is not is sixteen days. It is more like fourteen, with at least three of those days devoted (mostly) to transportation and settling in.

If you think you might have too much on your plate, weigh dropping London or Amsterdam. You can add two days to your existing destinations with no fear that you will exhaust the possibilities at any of them.

You could also fly from Paris to Rome and distribute those days among your existing choices.

If, on the other hand, you are looking for an interesting stop between Paris and Rome, I suggest a day or two in Provence. Though it's nice to have a car there, you could spend a day in Arles and/or Avignon and get a taste of Provence without one.

Your choice! Have a great time.

If you're flying out of Rome, I'm curious as to why you're not just ending the trip in Rome or maybe Florence or Sienna. Maybe you've been there before? Another option on the way to Rome would be to take the train to Chamonix or somewhere else in the Alps and then head south to Rome. Pam

Either I am missing something or the others are! Angie - you are goung from London to Paris and want to know where to go between Paris and Rome - right?

Go to the south of France or Cinque Terre. You can spend three days (allowing foe travel) quite easily in either of these places and they give you a chance to relax after and before what will be hectic sightseeing in cities.

Villefranche-sur-Mer is close to Nice and Monaco, and quite scenic in its own way. Choose any of the five villages in CT. They are close together and you can see all of them in 3 days.

Hi Angie,

Is there a reason you're only spending 2 days in London? I think you might be short-changing it, you could easily spend a week there.

Otherwise, personally, I'd go somewhere in Italy, although I've never been anywhere but Rome in Italy so wouldn't know what to suggest.

That is correct we were looking for something to do between Paris and Rome. Thanks for your input, we will look into that! :)

Hi Angie,

I really like Iain's idea. Work your way down from London to Rome. I am also wondering if Amsterdam might be better for another trip? Having to take a flight in the middle seems like too much. Why not start in London, then into Paris, head down through the Loire Valley into Provence/Riviera, then off to Italy/Cinque Terre and end in Rome? That way, you're not having to take any flights and the longest train would be from Nice to Cinque Terre and you could take an overnight cochette for that.

I'm just brainstorming a little. You know your desires better than any of us.

For Nice to Cinque Terre (example Vernazza), day trains make the trip in around 6 hrs. I didn't find any night trains (i.e., sleepers or couchettes) on that stretch, but regular overnight coach trips take 10-12 hrs and have multiple changes in the middle of the night, often with a long time in a station.

I agree that dropping Amsterdam makes sense - it is a lot of travelling for what amounts to a single day's visit. Spend an extra day in London, keeping in mind that on your first day you may well be jetlagged and tired. Then take the train to Paris.