Efficient European Sightseeing

It's important to know how much time you have, in nights on the ground. That looks like a three week trip to me.

For planning for first-timers, the Rick Steves Guidebooks are great. But to take the burden off you personally, I'd consider just taking one of the RS tours so you can avoid the stress of logistics. It may seem expensive, but it's actually more efficient for someone else to do the itinerary and manage transportation and meals. You lose a lot of time in transport between your destination cities, even if flying.

I don't think any of Rick's tours will cover all your cities, but another tour provider might at least go to all but Normandy. If you don't have much time, tours are the most efficient way to see a lot of places in a short period of time.

I have never been on one of their tours-they are a standard big bus company., but Trafalgar has a European Dream vacation of 8 days. It ends in Paris, so you could go to Normandy from there and then London.

I've been on a Trafalgar tour. I definitely prefer RS for quality of guides. But it's fine and if you like the itinerary. Just know that when you look at prices it excludes optional experiences and tipping. Edit not sure of your budget but 4 people on a tour would add up .

Welcome to the forum!

To me your wishlist is 2 trips - London/Paris/Normandy and Rome/Venice and maybe Florence. However, it's your trip so you get to choose what you want to do!

I plan my trips going by how many nights I will have. 2 nights = 1 full day.

I'd want to do the following nights:

London - 4 or 5 nights minimum. With 5 nights (4 days) you could consider 1 day trip. (More is better)

Paris - 4 or 5 nights minimum. (More is better)

Normandy - Some people do a day trip from Paris but I do not recommend this. It's a long day and there is a lot to see so I recommend at least 2 nights in Bayeux with a specialist DDay van tour for your full day there. I assume you are including Normandy for the WWII landings.

Venice - at least 3 nights, 4 is better. If you need to get everything done on one trip, then you can fly from Paris to Venice on EasyJet (low cost carrier - be aware of the restrictions before you book. The forum can help you with this)

Rome - 4 or 5 nights and again, more is better.

As to not traveling because your husband doesn't like to travel....have you considered going to Europe on your own? The Rick Steves tours are an excellent starting point for a solo woman traveler. There are always a few of us solos and everyone is so friendly. No reason to clip your wings when you really want to travel!

IF you have unlimited time and budget, then look at Rick's 21 Day Best of Europe tour. It does not hit Normandy or London. When I did it I added 4 nights on ahead of the tour in London and took the train to Amsterdam/Haarlem. You could also add time on in Paris afterward and go to Bayeux for a couple of nights then.

I'm glad you are starting planning early!

It's going to be difficult to be efficient with time, energy and money to see all those places. You're going to feel rushed if you worry about time and money.

Add 6 travel days to begin with, the day to London and home from Venice, and then write off a day for each time you switch locations. If by "Normandy" you just mean a daytrip from Paris to see the beaches, then maybe you only have 5 travel days. Then, depending what is on everyone's list, I'd think you need a minimum 3 days in each city, but personally I'd want a week in London as absolute minimum. Some will say the same for Rome and Paris so it will depend on what your must-sees are.

I remember when my daughter took the CA Bar, then took off for Europe for six weeks with a fellow law school graduate. She used eatery penny she had, saying she'll never get time off like that again. (She did have a job secured in the fall.) And, she was right correct- the demands on new lawyers are almost inhumane for the first few years.
This is a big deal, so enjoy your family and have a great adventure!

Courtney, good luck to your daughter on the bar exam! I still remember taking it—2 1/2 excruciating days of mind-numbing questions on a metal chair with a flat cushion. I'm sure it's a little different now, and I think it's all online but it is still mind numbing, lol! And then you have the agony of waiting for three months until you get the results. 😂

So I'm sure she will be ready to let her hair down and get out and travel! Good for you for taking her! I'm taking my daughter to Iceland, Sweden, and Norway for three weeks this summer to celebrate the end of her first year of medical school, so I get what it's like.

At any rate, I agree with Stan in that I would say going to London, Paris, Normandy, Rome, and Venice would definitely be a 3-week trip. If you need to cut it back to 2 weeks, then I would suggest skipping at least one, if not two, cities. Going in August, and I'm assuming that's when you are going, can have some advantages in that many locals in the cities head out of town, especially Paris, during that month, so it would be less crowded. If you wait till September, Paris gets more expensive, so there's that as well.

Going on a tour would probably be easier, and if you're averse to doing all the planning (and it sounds like you would be the one doing the planning), you might want to think about that. But then again, I'm a 71-year-old woman who's traveled solo to Europe for over 30 years, I do all my own trip planning, and it's not too terribly difficult to plan everything. In fact, I enjoy it, but that's me. If it sounds like a pain to you, then I would suggest looking at some of the tours listed above.

But really, since you're staying in cities and I'm assuming you would be traveling by train or flying between each city, it wouldn't be that difficult to plan. You just need to book flights and hotels for the most part, and then some of the attractions need to be booked ahead of time, like the Louvre in Paris and so on. But you've got plenty of time to do that. Although you don't want to wait too long for popular destinations, it's good to book at least six to nine months ahead of time if possible. That gives you the best hotel choices in the best locales with the best price. 😊

If you decide to do the planning on your own, please come back here for help. We all love to share information (sometimes too much, lol!), but we really like helping travelers plan their own trips or find a tour if that's what floats your boat. We can recommend hotels, and if you need a flight, we'll tell you where to look.

Congratulations on your daughter! And what a wonderful gift to everyone — a family trip. Those are great stops you picked too.

Pacing is always a personal choice and what and how much you want to see per day to day varies person to person. For your targeted cities, I’d suggest something like 3 nights in London, 4 nights in Paris— using one as long day trip to Normandy, 2 nights in Venice and 3 in Rome. That’s twelve nights. My kids — one just turned 30 and the other in their twenties would be fine with this pace and time allocation. (My wife and I would go slower nowadays.)

If you have more time — say 2 more days — add an overnight in Normandy and then add a day in any of the other cities. There is plenty of things to do to fill the time-- including resting!

If you have a full month, well, all the better!

Our first trip to London with our kids, we spent a week. We had day trips to Bath and Oxford. Our first trip Paris we did a long rushed day trip to Normandy— train, overlord tour, and late train back.

Our first trip to Venice we did 2 nights and our first trip that included Rome, we did three nights. (Our first Italy trip hit Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Siena, tuscan hilltop town— 2 weeks by train and rental car.)

As others will stress, traveling between these places eats up a lot of time and energy. And it’s days that count more than nights too.

If any of the pacing sounds like a lot for you, then slow down. It’s a common refrain heard on these boards. I personally understand the impulse to not miss something— especially when you don’t think you’ll be back. There are tradeoffs between doing too much and missing out.

One person mentioned Rick Steves tours. While they don’t match your itinerary, they are absolutely fantastic. We’ve taken 5 tours and loved every one. The closest to your list would best of Europe 14 days— https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/europe/europe-14-days. To hit London and Normandy, add a few days on the front.

Whatever you choose, I suspect you’ll have a grand time.

Happy travels

Sadly, since I don't know when I'll be back (my husband isn't a traveller), I'd like to cram as much as I can into this trip.

When you say, "My husband isn't a traveler" and "I'd like to cram as much as I can into this trip" those two statements don't seem like they would go together. Can you leave him at home?

Regarding what to see/do and what to skip, I'd suggest you have as much conversation as possible with your family members on their interests. You may want to jointly view some Rick Steves scrap books to see what lights their eyes up, watch some RS travel shows (Monday night travel talks viewable on YouTube, especially the ones that compare two European cities) - great ways to get more specific on what to do, see, and eat.

Re: tour vs independent - if you are "taking" these three other people, that is a huge responsibility for planning and making them happy, whereas if four are traveling together, you can all own parts of the trip planning. If they don't want to be a part of the process, and you are in charge of everything, I second the suggestion to consider a tour. We've gone with both RS and Trafalgar, and both have pros/cons. Trafalgar is more high end, RS has you do more for yourself and the hotels are more locally flavored vs "you could be in any big city in a lovely hotel." This is another area where talking to the other three will be important.

As a completely side note to the real topic, Marty raises a legitimate question , "Can you leave your husband at home?" Not necessarily for this milestone family celebration, but for those future trips that you want to take and he isn't very excited about.

My mother loved to travel. My father did not. She simply learned to go and do it on her own with his full support. If you have never traveled alone, it can seem intimidating at first but one soon gets used to it and it works. You can join tours, either weeks long or day tours, and that help with not feeling so alone and logistics.

I encourage you to consider really cutting down on your destinations unless you have a great deal of time for this. Each of those major cities you described deserves 4 nights and then you have to add in the travel days.

You can fly from London to Caen and rent a car there for your Normandy tour (or join an organized one). Then take the train to Paris. Fly home from whichever airport offers direct flights, Rome or Venice (or Milan, I guess).

Can it be done? Yes. But it will be hectic. As far as time, I immediately thought at least three weeks.

I am anti-“cram” and pro “being there”. Make this a journey allowing the time to create wonderful memories of experiencing the destinations. Perhaps avoiding creating memories of travel might make your husband more inclined to travel.

Buy or check out from your library Rick Steves Europe Through the Back Door guidebook and read the section on planning your trip itinerary. Lots of other useful info for newbies to European travel. Congrats to your daughter and have a great family trip!

Courtney,
Perhaps I missed it. How long do you plan for this trip? With your "wants" places, I would say you need almost 4 weeks. If you drop Normandy you are left with 4 major cities so transportation from one to the other would be easy and not cause you to lose lots of time. Then, if you have only 3 weeks, it is doable. (3 weeks, 20 nights on the ground, arriving London, departing Rome) London 6 nights (5 full days), Paris 6 nights, Venice 3 nights (2 full days), Rome 5 nights (4 full days). Or add/subtract a night from one or the other. Eurostar train from London to Paris. Fly Paris to Venice. Train Venice to Rome.

Just a suggestion. Maybe have each family member list 1 or 2 things that would like to see or do in each city. Probably some overlap will occur. You could make sure each person gets one "want" in each place, whether a museum, a performance, a castle, a day trip outside the city......everyone is invested in the trip. The planning can be fun and you have lots of time. Give everyone a week to come up with their ideas. No discussing it with each other.
I am excited for you and your family! Amusez-vous bien!

Can you leave him at home?

Or send him home and continue - or go home early and let your daughter continue on her own?

Your plans include the UK, France and Italy.

1) London: 4-5 days is good, but suggest visiting some sites away from the city. Windsor Castle and Stonehenge are good. Other places a bit farther away are Winchester, Bath, Canterbury and Oxford or Cambridge. Need more time if you visit outside the city.
2). Paris and Normandy: 4-5 days in Paris and take a tour of Normandy. Tour should be at least one full day or include one overnight. Look for tours. (TripAdvisor.com).
3) Italy, you skipped Florence, which should not be missed. Still, if you do Venice, Florence and Rome you need minimum of 10 days, with Venice 2-3, Florence 2-3 and Rome 4-5.

Consider flights that fly into London (Heathrow) and out of Rome. Called open jaw.

If you rent a car in France or Italy, you will need an International Drivers Permit. AAA can help you. Don't need in the UK. Still, driving in the UK on the left requires a lot of concentration, instead of looking at the scenery. The rail system in Italy is great, there is a high speed train from Venice to Florence and Florence to Rome.

Check TripAdvisor.com for lodgings and use map feature for lodging close to main sites. Also, use it for day tours.

In the alternative, you could look at Rick Steves or another group tour for portions of your trip.
Gate 1 Travel is great and their prices can't be beat. You don't need a group tour for your time in London or Paris.

You will need separate ETAs (online visa) for the UK and the EU. You will need passport photos and copies of your passport to upload.

What a lovely thing to do for your daughter! :O)
This:

When you say, "My husband isn't a traveler" and "I'd like to cram as
much as I can into this trip" those two statements don't seem like
they would go together. Can you leave him at home?

I'm thinking the same. There's no better way to make someone who already dislikes travel to REALLY dislike travel is to make them sightsee at a dead run, to attractions that are overrun - as they will be during high season - and in the summer heat. The travel enjoyment for the rest of you may be proportionate to his level of misery?

I'm also in Pam's corner above in thinking that, efficiently, you really have two trips here: London/Paris/Normandy OR Rome/Venice and maybe Florence. We've spent a week in both London and Paris, nearly that in Florence, and collectively two weeks in Rome without running out of things to do. It's your trip and you absolutely do what makes you and your family happy but I think you'll have a more enjoyable, memorable trip if you take a "less is more" approach: less packing up and checking in/out of hotels, dealing with trains/buses, managing tight daily itineraries, and worrying about something going wobbly that could throw tight itineraries out the window.

A more relaxed program will also provide your adult children some time on their own to do some evening exploring while you and your DH relax and review the day and/or take some leisurely strolls about. He may have a better time if given some breathing room?

Soooo, as far as efficient sightseeing, choose your cities and time you'll allot to them, then sit down and make a list together of what you'd like to see/do in each. You do not HAVE to do everything together depending on what appeals to each of you. The most efficient thing you can do is identify which attractions require advance, timed-entry reservations to either miss long tickets lines or get in AT ALL, and note how far in advance to make those. Don't be taken in by touts for "skip the line" tickets sold by 3rd parties or independent companies: ALL timed-entry reservations sold by the official websites for top attractions skip ticket lines, and NO one skips security-check queues. If you don't know what those official websites are, we can help + they'd be listed in a good guidebook.

Editing to add: request help from your adult children. They are likely to internet-search savvy (to a point) and this is a great opportunity for them to learn what sort of effort goes into planning/executing a big trip if they've not done that on their own already.

CST,
All great advice has been givenhere. My one exception is to check lodgings at Booking.com instead of TripAdvisor. Customer reviews on Booking.com are all from people who have stayed at a place. On TripAdvisor that is not always so. You don't have to necessarily book through Booking.com, but they will give you a good idea of places to stay.
(By the way, we have often used Booking.com and are pleased with the selection, prices and service, but sometimes I just use them for the search, then contact the hotel, etc. to rent.

Guess I should add, I don't mean to diss on my husband!! He enjoys travelling once he gets there.

This is key. Don't lose hope. I've "worked" my non-traveler homebody husband into agreeing (and enjoying, no less!) 2 trips per year.

If I want to hit London, Paris, Normandy, Rome and Venice, how long should I plan to be away?

3 to 4 weeks. One week in London, with day trips.
One week in Paris with day trips out to Versaille and Normandy - day trip or two nights
One week in Rome with day trips
4-5 days in Venice
One day each week is a travel day from city to city. So really you only have 6 days in each location.
Ask your daughter what she wants to see and do in each city. All of you should Read the RS Guides to each city and decide what you want to see and do and do a tentative itinerary. I suggest you DO stuff, not just see stuff. Those activities you participate in are usually the best memories, IMHO.

From your statement, your husband doesn't like to travel-- and he will hate economy class on any airline. So spend some money and fly Premium Economy Class.

Doesn't sound like your husband would enjoy a group tour (I'm reading between the lines), But for first timers, with 3-4 weeks, the Best of Europe 21 day tour sounds like a good way to see Europe with minimal planning. But RS tours, have a NO-GRUMP policy, only you know best whether your husband will the GRUMP during your vacation.

I take it you will be the one doing all the planning. Good luck!

Add me to the "send him home early" club if he doesn't want to, have time for or pay for a longer trip. My wife no longer enjoys the amount of travel that I still enjoy. She may join me for a week or so during a three-to-four week trip. Or, she may let me travel on my own. She has a couple of friends that she travels with occasionally. The travel without me and they rarely go for more than a week.