2 Weeks to visit Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Venice are we crazy?

Ok that seems pushing it to me....
I mean you could easily spend 2 weeks in Paris but I am bias. Could you do it...yes you could.....but I think it is just a bit much
I think I would ditch Barcelona (as much as I love it)you have to figure in travel days ect.
Especially is you would like to do some smaller towns in the mix.

4 nights rome
4 nights venice
5 nights paris
then maybe a night somewhere else

Our family of 4 adults traveled through Europe for 4 weeks(airfare/railpasses/lodging/food/etc.)on the same budget you mentioned for 2 weeks. The exchange rate was high at that time too, with careful planning it can be done!
I do not think you will have time to visit all of the places you mentioned in your post and "smaller towns along the way" in two weeks (* please see the numerous posts regarding time to travel between cities in Europe posts...)

Crazy? Perhaps. First, before passing judgement on your sanity, let's first see if you're simply being honest or not.

What exactly do you mean by "2 weeks"? Does that include the day you arrive or the day you depart? How many FULL days will you have there, not counting your arrival or departure day (no matter what time you think you'll be landing)?

Most people underestimate how zonked-out they will be after flying half-way around the planet and trying to force their body and mind to shift across 9 hours of time zones. Expect your arrival day to be a complete wash-out. The next day - the day AFTER you arrive, your first full day in Europe, you (or someone in your group) will probably still be at half-strength at best.

After you've come to terms with all that, a couple other points to consider: you will surely lose a full day when you zoom between the cities you list. Even with the most efficient transpiration connections, it pretty much uses up a whole day to completely relocate (check out, get to the train station/airport, travel, find your way to your hotel, get lost, find your way, check in, eat a meal, etc.).

While a train makes the most sense between Venice and Rome, the other legs are too long for the train on a trip this short. Fly instead. Either way, each relocation will kill a whole day (the only exception being moving between Rome and Venice, which will only consume MOST of a day).

Night trains? I've tried them, several times, and never slept for more than 5 seconds, despite being exhausted. Some people just do not sleep in something that's moving constantly and vibrating and loud. Maybe you or someone in your group is one of them. I've learned my lesson: night train = no sleep + misery the next couple of days. YMMV.

To your original question, are you crazy? Probably. On a trip this short you could reasonably do Rome + Venice plus one other major city. If you have your heart set on Paris/Barcelona, I'd suggest you pick one of them.

Another way to think about this question--leaving your sanity out of it--would be in terms of planning the best two weeks you could have for the five of you. Consider the following points.

1. A group of five, of different ages and, probably, tastes, is not going to be terribly nimble. Packing up and shifting venues, say from Barcelona to Paris, will not go swiftly, and sights and activities that you all do together will eat up a lot of your time.

2. The destinations you have picked are far apart, adding to the transit time. By rail this is probably three whole days of your two weeks.

So a better use of your time might be (a) fewer destinations, with day trips instead (minimizing transit time), and (b) destinations that flow logically, such as Paris - Provence - Rome.

On another note: Even with your original itinerary, it is not clear that a Eurail pass beats point-to-point tickets.

You can have a really great trip in two weeks. Good luck!

Why not just visit 2 places, for a week at a time?

if you read Rick Steve's book and plan well, you can do

Paris - 3 days
Barcelona - 3 days
Venice - 2 days
Rome - 3 days

that leaves you with 3 days for travel and transit...i don't think that's enough. Also, if you only go to Venice and Rome, you are missing out on Florence in the way, missing out on Capri and Naples.

Also doing just Barcelona, you are missing out on Madrid...

It's better to skip Barcelona cuz it's out of the way and just fly into Paris, then fly from paris to Venice and then take the train to Florence, then take a train to Rome and then fly back to Ohio. You'll save a lot of time and money and headaches of jumping around.

Good suggestions so far. It certainly can be done, and it probably happens pretty frequently. The first my wife and I took was 15 days that included Paris, Venice, Siena (+ days trips to hill towns), Florence and Rome. Overall we had great fun, but we certainly shortchanged many of the locations, and the pace got somewhat tiring towards the end of the trip. Keep in mind that in June you'll also have the summer heat and crowds to contend with, likely to make your traveling party a bit cranky at times.

I agree with the previous comment that a global rail pass MIGHT be overkill and could cost you a lot more than point-to-point tickets. For example, the rail pass may not cover the night trains, if my memory is correct. Take some time and do the math once you've set your itinerary.

Also, consider your option between night trains vs. one-way flights on a budget airline (EasyJet, Vueling, etc.) between cities that are far apart. The budget airtlines can be surprisingly inexpensive, especially if you can pack light and avoid a lot of baggage fees. Of course you'll have to pay an extra night's hotel if you don't go with a night train, but you'll probably sleep better.

Good luck and have fun planning!

I agree with Ken. Leave Barcelona for another trip.

I think it depends upon the kind of traveler you are. I like to see a new place every three days -- one week in Paris or Rome would be too much for me. I'd rather do three days this trip and plan to return another time.

Don't get me wrong, if I could go spend a month somehwhere and time wasn't a consideration, Paris would be the place.

No reason you couldn't fly into Barcelona, spend three days, fly to Venice on Vueling or EasyJet (or other). The discount airlines in Europe save tremendous time and money.

I like to plan time out of cities too. Consider a few days to recharge the batteries. You could squeeze in a few days in Cinque Terra on the way to Roma and then fly Roma to Paris. After a few days in Venice (crowds, excessive commercialism), CT might be a well needed tonic.

Personally, I wouldn't do so much. I had 15 days for my Italy-only trip and that was pushing it. You have to, of course, plan two full days for the flights there and back, which now gives 13 days in Europe. When you figure your train time, I would say those are best-case scenarios because there will be time spent waiting for trains, connections, delays, any potential strikes, etc. I've never slept on a train, and don't know how restful it would be; but you will need as much energy as possible once you get to a destination city.
I would really consider cutting at least one country and seeing more of one, maybe two, in that timeframe.

Thank you all for your great replies! We will definitely rethink our itinerary. Since we all seem to agree on Barcelona so far, I'm thinking of leaving out Paris. I will look into point to point train tickets rather than the pass (good suggestion)and I was thinking about Cinque Terre in Italy. It looks beautiful
Thanks again for all of your help and suggestions. Love this website!

Karen

I went to Madrid, Barcelona and Paris earlier this year. I think your plan is doable if you fly some instead of only taking the train. I was shocked at how long it took to get from Barcelona to Paris by train. (although I think they are opening a high speed connection but I don't know when.) We paid approximately $70 a ticket to fly from Barcelona to Paris on Iberia. I do not know what type of connections are available between Paris and Rome or Venice, but I would suspect you could find a flight at a similar price if the train trip is really long.

I would do it this way: plan on open jaw, such as fly into one of the cities you want to visit. Use the train between Rome and Venice, but fly to Paris and Barcelona, unless high speed train connections are available. Fly home from the last city you visit.

For example: fly into Barcelona, fly to Paris, fly to Venice, train to Rome. If you can find flights at $80 per person, that eats up $800 of your budget, but you get a lot more time on the ground. Just plan your legs for whatever gets the best price.