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Advice on Itinerary

Hello all,

After piecing together all of the advice I got from my last request, I put together an itinerary that 3 of 4 travelers were very happy with. My teenagers were on board. However, my son's girlfriend had to let go of her three bucket list spots...Greece, southern France, and Cinque de Terre. Can someone please look at what we have scheduled and identify how we might be able to fit in southern France and Cinque de Terre. Greece is definitely out because of expense.

July 12-15 Grindlewald (day trip or additional night to Interlakken?)
July 15-17 Lake Como
July 17-19 Venice
July 19-26 Slovenia
July 26-29 Croatia
July 29-Aug 1 Florence
Aug 1-5 Rome

Im thinking Cinque de terre could piggyback on the Florence trip?
My gut is telling me Croatia would be the easiest to cut out if we wanted to replace it with Southern France (sandwiched between Grindlewald and Lake Como?). Is that a good swap? Curious about comparisons of time/distance/expense/desirability between Southern France and Croatian coast. My son will be disappointed because he is teaching himself Croatian and is super excited about going, but he would also be happy with southern France. Or do you think Southern France is too out of the way/expensive and it would be wise to convince girlfriend to save it for another trip? And for anyone who might think girlfriend is being difficult, she's not at all. I'd love to accommodate her wishes if it makes sense.

I was originally not planning to rent a car. However, I've read quite a bit that suggests it might make sense to rent on in Venice to take through Slovenia (and Croatia if we keep that on the itinerary). Thoughts?

Thanks so much everyone!

Posted by
7175 posts

You have cross border expenses with a car from Venice to Slovenia & Croatia.
Wondering what your plans are for Slovenia with 7 days and Croatia with only 3 days.

An idea ...
Grindelwald > Lake Como > Venice > Florence > Rome
Fly from Rome to Split. Rental car for Croatia & Slovenia

Posted by
12 posts

We all love to hike and play in the outdoors and Slovenia just looked like a smorgasbord of outdoor fun and adventure! I'm sure Croatia has more to offer than we can see in 3 days but we were going to stick primarily to Pula. What is your opinion about southern France?
What kind of border crossing expenses are we talking about? In other words, is it a pretty major expense to factor in?
I should have mentioned that we fly into Zurich and fly out of Rome. So the starting and ending points are determined. Just trying to figure out the most logical way to travel in between our arrival and departure!

Posted by
6113 posts

Sorry, but I think that you are already trying to squeeze in too much. Two nights means one day somewhere. Lake Como to Venice by train will be c 5 hours minimum door to door, so you only get 1.5 days in Venice. You need 3 full days there at that time of year to make all the travel worthwhile, as you will have to queue to get into everywhere.

Cinque Terre will be very busy too.

If you go to the south of France, drop Slovenia and Croatia and add nights elsewhere too such as Venice.

Hiring a car with a one way drop between countries, if you can find any company that is prepared to offer this, is likely to cost you hundreds of Euros.

Personally, I prefer Slovenia and Croatia to Italy and the south of France, but different things appeal to different people. It would be a pity if your son couldn't practice his Croatian - it's not as though it is widely spoken.

Posted by
12 posts

Ok, I am hearing people loud and clear that our itinerary is too ambitious. Now to figure out how to scale back. 😬

If we don't rent a car are Slovenia and Croatia widely accessible by train?

Posted by
7175 posts

I think time is against you to consider including a diversion to South of France. In fact I would add a night to Grindelwald and Venice.

July 12-16 Grindelwald
July 16-18 Lake Como
July 18-21 Venice
pick up hire car when departing Venice
July 21-29 Road trip from Italy making a loop thru Slovenia (& Croatia ??)
return hire car in Trieste then resume by train
July 29-Aug 1 Florence
Aug 1-5 Rome

Posted by
7175 posts

Ideas for an 8 day road trip thru Slovenia (from Venice to Trieste) ...
Day 1 - Vipava Valley and Goriska Brda
Day 2 - Soca River Valley
Day 3 - Lake Bled
Day 4 - Lake Bohinj and Vintgar Gorge
Day 5 - Maribor and Ptuj
Day 6,7 - Ljubljana
Day 8 - Piran

Posted by
451 posts

I agree with David. I am not sure of Slovenia. You will lose a half day with each change of location.