First time in Europe - Planning a 14-day trip for 2 adults (late 20's) in October 2009. Itinerary will cover PARIS (3 nights) + ROME (3 nights) + VENICE (1 night).
Please suggest 1-3 additional must-visit cities. I read that Swiss Alps, Rhine Valley, Florence, Barcelona or Amsterdam are excellent choices though not sure which fits best considering transfers.
From your list I would choose only Florence with a possible side-trip to Siena. Venice would be even better at 2 or 3 nights.
I would recommend you consider the Berner Oberland area of Switzerland, The Cinque Terre area of Italy, and the Florence/Tuscany area. While you may not be able to do all three, that is where I would start researching to see what interested me the most. I would also consider adding at least one more night in Venice. Have a great trip
Venice, this is an improvement over your earlier question. But you still need to do some homework on your own. When we change cities we always plan on losing at least half a day or more of productive time -- check in/out hotels, packing, finding hotel, finding trains, waiting on trains, traveling, etc. There are substantial distances between these three cities. To be efficient you need to shorten travel times.
Also you have not indicated your arrival and departure points. For example I could see flying into Rome and departing from Zurich. Rome-4, Florence-2, Venice=2, Milan-2, and Luzern/Zurich-4. Save the rest for the next trip.
My wife and I did a similar 14-day trip last summer. I would recommend a couple of days exploring the Tuscan hill towns by rental car, using either Siena or Orvieto as a home base. The countryside is beautiful, and you'll definitely appreciate the change of pace from the big cities.
When we were planning our trip, we strongly considered trying to get up into the Swiss Alps, but it would have required a LOT of rail travel time from Italy with multiple changes. It was really too much time to get there and back, just to spend a night or two. We'll save it for the next trip.
Thanks for all your feedback! Based on your input, I have narrowed down our itinerary to: Rome (4) --(train, AM half day)--> Florence (2) --(train, AM half day)--> Venice (2) --(train, overnight)--> ??? Lauterbrunnen (2)??? --(train)--> Paris (4). Fly-in Rome, Fly-out Paris, and taking the train in between.
Louis, same as you I am really intrigued in going to the Alps and taking the train up Jungfrau. Still need to research more if this is doable (especially in late October). Otherwise, might just cut-out that part altogether and take the plane from Venice to Paris.
add Florence with day trips to Pisa and Sienna. 1 night in Venice is not nearly enough.
