My husband and I are traveling with another couple and plan to visit Spain, France, Italy and a one night stay in Switzerland if we decide to travel all by car. We have 20 nights to complete our itinerary. We will spend time in Salamanca, Burgos, San Sebastian, as well as Barcelona and some surrounding sites. We are going to spend two nights in Paris and visit Normandy as well but really are not that familiar with travelling by car in France or Italy. Since we are going to Venice and Florence, I am wondering if it would be better to rent a car and then take a train and then rent a car. I also would like to know if it is possible to do some of the trip with a tour and then do Spain independently as we know it well and have friends to meet there.
Posted by
Portland
3592 posts
In my opinion you have way too much for a 20-day trip. I counted 8 destinations without even including the vague "surrounding sites." Normandy is also a large area with much to see. You'd be spending a lot of your time seeing highway scenery and train stations. There are many ways you could better structure your trip. Just one idea that pops to mind is to eliminate France. After Spain get a cheap flight to Florence or Venice. Depending on the number of days you allot to the Italy portion, after those two major sites, you could fill out your time exploring the hill towns of Tuscany.
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
With 20 days and 3 great (and large!) countries, choose any 2.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
Even if you keep the list as-is, flying is a good value for both time and money between Spain and Paris, Paris and Italy, or Spain and Italy. See www.skyscanner.com.
Posted by
2081 posts
anita.scherer,
you may want to invest in a map and plot out the area you "wish" to visit. YOu can find some laminated ones so that you can mark them up and wipe them clean again. Then look at rome2rio for an idea on travel times and costs to the places you want to go from/to and so forth. As mentioned skyscanner is a good search engine for flights.
Also, look at seat61 for train info.
I think you need to do some more homework and figure out WHERE you want to go first. That will usually help you in HOW you want to get there.
im partial to trains and use them as much as possible. Just so you know, their train network/infrastructure is way more developed in Europe than the USA. But if you like driving, they will accommodate you and your pocketbook. Just a note. If you cant drive a manual you may want to learn how. There are automatics over there, but i woudlnt bet on getting one every time. Also most of the cars are diesel and its sold by the liter, not the gallon. Im sure some of the locals would be more than happy to let you know how much a liter of diesel costs.
France is large along with the other countries. Normandy is just a small corner/area, but its still large. If you plan on going to the USA WWII sites, plan on at least a 1 day and then dont even consider the Canadian or UK sectors. Mont Saint Michel would be out too. I spent 4 full days in Paris and that was just in the city itself. No Palace of Versailles either and i could have seen way more in Paris too.
good luck and happy trails.