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Barcelona & Italy 17 days.

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This June, we're doing Barcelona, Venice, Florence, Rome (possibly Naples day trip). We'd love some feedback on our itinerary and recommendations.

Our family of 5 (parents & 18, 15, 15) have traveled to Paris & England with previous trip (Carryons only, no checked luggage-stayed at hostels, so we're used to roughing it).

We'd love to do open-jaw but can't find any that would beat the RT flight to Barcelona price of $1100 each, btw, so we decided to take that 1K-2K difference (flying open-jaw for 5) and backtrack to Barcelona.

  1. June 8 (Monday) Land in Barcelona 9AM (after 19 hours from West Coast US). From past experience, we're writing Monday off as a sleep and recover from jet lag day.
    -Sleep in Barcelona for 3 nights.

  2. June 11th (Thursday) Fly to Venice (I'm the only one in family who's been to the 3 cities in Italy (except Naples) and I thought Venice would be a nicer & gentler introduction to Italy than Rome.
    Sleep Venice 2 nights

  3. June 13th (Saturday) Train from Venice to Florence.
    Sleep in Florence 3 nights.

  4. June 17th (Weds) Train to Rome.
    Sleep in Rome for 5 nights. (1 Day trip to Naples to see Pompeii and possibly lunch with friend who lives there).

  5. June 22 (Monday) Fly to Barcelona
    Sleep 2 nights in Barcelona.

  6. June 24th (Weds) Fly home at 6:45AM to West Coast.

We like to stay at VRBO places to save money on meals etc... We do not plan to drive in Europe at all. We like to see culture, architecture, art etc... Not big on wines or fine dining, so winery tours are out.

As mentioned, we'd love some feedback on if you think the days I'd allotted for each place is adequate and any recommendations on side trips? I wasn't as fond of Rome as I was with Venice and Florence when I traveled there as a single woman backpacker nearly 3 decades ago, but my husband feels he wants 5 nights in Rome to see everything he wants to see.

Much thanks for your help!

Cat

Posted by
663 posts

Seems to me like you'll be wasting a fair amount of time getting from one place to another. If you are set on Barcelona, why not just concentrate on Spain for this trip? Or if the ultimate plan is to see Italy, you can usually find round trip tickets cheapest thru Milan, and there is certainly enough in Italy to keep a family entertained for months.

Otherwise, I suppose your plan is reasonable. I personally would try to go directly to Italy almost as soon as you land in Barcelona, then spend the the last few days in Barcelona instead of breaking it up as you did. But that is just my preference.

Posted by
922 posts

I agree with Angela and recommend heading straight to Italy when you land. My choice would be Venice. I checked skyscanner.net and there are quite a few cheap flight from Barcelona to Venice (<2 hours) on Ryan Air (11:15 AM for $36 per person) and Vueling (2:00 for $63 per person). You can also look at Easy Jet for their schedule/fare. Also, see if you can add a hop over to Venice on your original ticket. That way, if your overseas flight is delayed, the airline will have to make arrangements for you to get to Venice. By starting in Venice, it saves you one hotel change and allows you to stay in Barcelona for consecutive days. I think 5 nights in Barcelona is too much for my tastes and would change Venice to 3 nights and Barcelona to 4 nights. Rome has plenty to occupy you for the 5 nights, especially if you are going to Naples/Pompeii for an entire day. Otherwise, I think you have a good itinerary.

I also highly recommend getting train tickets as soon as they become available. The cost savings for 5 people will be significant. You can usually purchase 120 days in advance. I usually use trenitalia.com - make sure you have an account so you can go back and find your tickets in case something happens. I have also used italotreno.com. They have comparable prices but the schedule may not be as good for your needs. Another site I have recently read about is www.capitainetrain.com. I have never used them but have seen some posts on these fora recommending them. Good luck!

Posted by
69 posts

Angela & Stephen,

Apologies for the delay (difficulty with email account to sign on forum!) in thanking you for your extremely helpful suggestions!

We adjusted and tweaked our travel plans accordingly and we are now in process of buying train tickets early as Stephen recommended.

Cat

Posted by
2 posts

just got back from Italy and Spain. Spent 3 nights in Barcelona. Suggest you get online tickets to the Sagrada Familia. We went there several times and it is crazy busy and booked up. Rick Steves suggest getting there when it opens at 9, which we did - got in line at 8:45, but when we got up to the ticket booth, first available tickets were for 1pm. Its worth the 15euros!

Posted by
69 posts

Thanks, Hailey! So helpful.

Took your advice and booked tickets online! This forum is so helpful!

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