2 weeks in Europe...Ireland and Italy and beaches

Tim,

With only two weeks for the trip, that's a tall order! I suppose it would be possible, but it would take some very precise planning.

IMHO, it's not going to be possible to see "the best of Ireland" as well as Paris and Italy in two weeks. I'd suggest using open-jaw flights, inbound to Paris and outbound from Rome. You'll lose the first day in flight times and time zone changes, will need at least four days to see Paris, and at least part of a day to travel to Italy. Depending on what time of year you're planning to travel, you could perhaps enjoy the beaches in Monterosso al Mare on the famous Cinque Terre?

If this is your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading the Guidebook Europe Through The Back Door before you get too far in your planning. It includes some excellent tips on Itinerary planning, as well as tons of other useful information.

Cheers!

Little known fact... Dublin has a beach, although I doubt this is what she is looking for.

The first time I went to Italy I too wanted some beach time, and after lots of research, I discovered what a lot of people already know: Europe, including Italy, is not known for beaches. Go to Florida or Hawaii or the Carribean if you want nice beaches. European beaches are incredibly crowded in summer; many place have serious problems with pollution; beaches are often private so you pay for that beach chair that is crammed up against the next one. Here's an example of a popular Italian beach (at Rimini):
http://www.hotelstmoritzrimini.com/img/location2_b.jpg
The prettiest parts of the Italian coast, like the Amalfi Coast or Cinque Terre, are rocky and rough and have only a few small beaches.

Remember if you have 2 weeks, you lose 2 days to travel time. So you only have 12 days. Start working out how many days you want in Ireland, how long it would take you to travel to Italy and Paris, and you'll see how crazy the trip would be. I think you could do Ireland and Italy by taking a flight, but then you'd lose that day to travel too, leaving you 5 days in one country and 6 in another. Certainly that would give you a taste of each country, but you'd have to stick to one or two destinations in each country.

I tend to agree that many of Europe's southern beaches aren't that great. Usually rocky, small, crowded and very hot in the summer. I tend to prefer the wide sandy beaches on the coasts of Belgium and the Netherlands. Although the weather is cooler, it can be a nice escape from the heat of summer in the cities.

Aer Lingus has really cheap flights. We spent three weeks in Europe - 1 in Paris, 1 in Germany, and 1 in Ireland. In Ireland we stayed on the West coast and enjoyed the laid back atmosphere. Rented a car and explored from there. We also rented a house for the week while there. In Paris we didn't drive at all, just used the metro to go everywhere. The flight from Paris to Ireland on Aer Lingus was like 50 euro (mostly tax). The only thing aout Aer Lingus is that you have to pay extra for everything (including reserved seats). If you only want to spend 2 weeks though I would spend most of it in Italy, skip Paris, and spend the last few days in Ireland.

On the contrary, the best beach I've ever visited was on the southern, western coast of Italy. The beach material is small, ocean smoothed rocks (not pebbles or gravel). The water is warm. And, it's a great experience to swim in the shade of a cliff on a very hot summer day. Take a look for yourself by searching for this "Via Fornillo, Positano, Italia" in Google maps and zooming in on the satellite photo. We are not alone by the way in liking this town. Denzel Washington (in a party of 4) ate my pizza as an appetizer one evening. (Yes, the one that I ordered was delivered to his table. I completely understood what the proprietor was doing and didn't mind as it meant my wife and I ate her pizza while it was hot and then shared mine, when finally delivered, when it was hot.) It's a great place for a beach break during an extended trip. Happy, safe travels.

In Ireland there was a stunningly beautiful beach called Inch Beach. I was there in Feb. so there was only this older gentleman taking photos and a jogger and her dog on the beach. But, it was wonderful and supposedly has this very scandalous past, as that is the place where the vicar and his lover used to meet (or something like that) Anyway, in the summer I imagine it would be great, and it was sandy.

3 countries in 2 weeks? Yes, it's too much unless all you want to do is get a very brief taste of each by sticking to one small area for a few days (ex. Western Ireland - 4 days, Paris - 4 days, Italian beaches - 4 days - and those are rough approximates as you will lose at least half a day or more flying between the 3 countries - plus your arrival day and departure day are also cut short as far as sightseeing time. Ireland has lots of beaches - many sandy. But even in the summer it is far from being truly hot and the water is still pretty chilly even in July and August and Irish weather is always changing. Great surfing, though (just wear a wetsuit). For sunbathing and warmer water temps - Italy or France would be better. Each of the 3 countries you want to visit have enough to keep you occupied for 2 full weeks without even going to the other 2 and all 3 have beaches - not all the beaches are rocky and the ones that are rocky are still decent beaches as long as you resign yourself to the fact you won't be laying on a towel (you'll be renting a chaise) and you'll need water shoes to protect your feet when you go out into the ocean until you are in deep enough to tread water. If you still want to visit multiple countries, the best bet would be 1 week per country - save Paris for another trip if that's all you want to see in France.

Has anyone noticed that this question was asked 2 1/2 years ago? This is another example of a person new to the Helpline responding to old questions. I'm sure the OP has gone on his trip, and now he will get multiple emails telling him he has new responses to a now irrelevant question.