Europe - London Paris Itally - 11 Nights

Day 4: I would choose either/or Paris or Normandy. There is no way you can do these two in one day. If you go to Normandy, the only Paris you will see is on the way in and out of Paris. If you do Paris, there is so much to see and do that one day is not enough! Weigh your interests between Paris and Normandy.

Thank you - intended that to be an "or" - but likely Normandy. Is that doable in one day from Paris?

Here is but one of many choices for a day tour of Normandy from Paris-- it can be done , but it is a long day

https://www.viator.com/Paris-tourism/Normandy-Tours-from-Paris-tours-tickets/d479-t3331?pref=02

Suggest fly to Venice and work your way to Rome ( trains)-- 2 nights each in Venice and Florence and the rest (3) in Rome

Given your parameters, I think this makes the best allocation of your time.

London/Paris-- If you do choose to do the trip to Normandy, you may want to consider leaving London early in day, so you have some time to at least take a hop on hop off bus tour of Paris.

Yes, going to Normandy from Paris is do-able in one day. It will be a long day though and you will get up early and get to bed late. Have fun!

Great - appreciate the feedback. @joe - any particular reason for Venice to Rome and not Rome to Venice? Also help the novice traveler in me - but train or fly between London and Paris.

No not really, but you're attempting to "do" London in a day and Paris or more likely Normandy in much less than a day, so maybe a better idea may be to get over your jetlag in the area that you are really interested which is obviously Italy.

Your day 1 will be on a jet, probably overnight, with you arriving in the morning of day 2. So Day 2 you will be a zombie (probably but some people say they are ok) and by the time you clear the airport and reach your hotel in London it will be pushing noon. Lunch, check in and getting to your first attraction by early or mid afternoon. You will be tempted to take a nap but you don't have time for that, and it is best for jetlag if you stay outside in the bright daylight. Early to bed.

Remember that it is likely that one or more of the 4 of you will suffer more than the others, yet the entire group will have to move at the speed of the slowest person or people.

Day 3 you may be able to see a few things from the outside. What things are top on your London list? If you plan to fly to Paris you will need to budget an hour to get to the airport (which one?) and 2 hours to check in, and at least an hour from the Paris airport to your hotel. So flying takes about 5 hours, plus you will lose an hour changing time zones to Central European Time.

Or you could take the Eurostar train which goes from centrally located St Pancras International in London to equally central Gare du Nord in Paris. You need a minimum 30 minutes (strictly enforced) check in time but an hour is what I currently advise. 15 minutes or so to get there, 2:20 on the train, 15 minutes to a hotel in Paris means that the train experience is much faster at around 3:50 instead of 5:00. Oh, except when you fly you also need to collect the check in luggage (which you have to pay for) and go through Immigration after you land which all add time, whereas with the Eurostar you go through both French and UK border control right after security, and since you carry all your luggage onto the train with you there are no waits to reclaim it.

Day 4 I will assume that when you say Normandy you are using shorthand for the WW2 US D-Day invasion area. The Normandy beaches and bocage area are huge and very poorly covered by public transport. You will probably need a guide. Most tours are a very full day but with trains taking over 2 hours each way you clearly won't be able to do that so you will be stuck with a half day tour which will give you a much smaller overview of the battles. Even with a half day tour you will arrive back in Paris very late.

Unless somebody is deeply in love with Paris or Normandy or London which are all getting just a lick and a promise perhaps giving over the whole trip to Italy would work better. Fly into Venice, fly out of Rome.

On the other hand if you want to properly see some of any of those you should take time from Italy so you can see enough of them so you don't look back and see yourselves as the Griswolds or the group in If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.

Into Venice and out of Rome because flights to the US back from Venice tend to be between 5 and 7 am, and it is not easy or cheap to get to the airport that early from the islands of Venice - all boats and that.

You may be attempting to see too much on an 11 day trip. I would have no more than three stops on a trip of this length.

This is great information - exactly why I posted originally. Hopefully someone can share additional thoughts on Italy. Are Venice / Florence / Rome all must see? Should we substitute time in another locale for one of these. I know it is personal preference and so forth, but any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

I would not have such an itinerary. Too much, too many places. In 2011, we took a trip with our kids (21 21 24). We did
Vienna 4 days
Budapest 4 days
Split 3 days
Ljubljana 3 days
We spent no fewer than 3 nights in any one place. 3 nights is minimum. We spent 22 days, and did 4 places with 1 short stay on the way back to Vienna.

This is a Reader's-Digest-condensed itinerary. You will get the plot, but you will not feel satisfied.

I would eliminate Italy. Do London and Paris. While in Paris, you can go to Chartres. In London, you can do day trips. But 11 days is a very short time. Drop Italy, or drop London.

Many travelers visit the Italy big three cities: Venice, Florence and Rome. As others have mentioned, starting in Venice and finishing in Rome would be a good strategy, with multi-city airline tickets. Rome is worth a week by itself. They have a saying in Italy: Roma non basta una vita - for Rome, one lifetime is not enough.

All these places deserve more time. I know you think you will not be back, but your kids are young and surely they will be.... Once you retire perhaps you can too, as you'll have "the bug" after your first trip.

If you can not add days to your trip, you should cut some stops. It adds a lot of expense to have stops in three countries and any of the three countries could consume the entire time at your disposal. If you cannot see restricting yourself to Italy, then do only Paris and Italy. Fly into Paris, have 2 full days there PLUS your day trip to Normandy. Then fly to Venice for 3 nights and take the train to Rome for 4 nights. You will have a trip to remember instead of a blur of checking-in/checking-out and not remembering where you did what.

As noted already, the flight scheduling for departures to the US, ( assuming that is your destination) are much better. Venice departures tend to be VERY early and getting to airport has unique challenges in Venice in the dark of the morning.

You have a very busy schedule, but if this is realistically likely to be your only trip, do it.

Venice, Florence, Rome are the big 3 and I have no recommendation for a substitute for any one of them, that would be a better choice.

Train from London to Paris is about 2.5 hrs. Basically from city center to city center. For that short a trip, the hassle of flying is not worth it and total trip time may actually be longer by flying. Paris to Venice makes sense to fly

I agree with many of the others. You are trying to see too many places in to few days, and shortchanging yourself in the process. Once back home, your strongest memories will be airports, train stations, and going to and from hotels.

Your current plan only gives two half days to London, one of which will have you all jetlagged and exhausted. You'll only see the bit of Paris between the train station and your hotel, and only the most superficial, fleeting sights of the Normandy Beaches ( and with no time for any of the more immersive experiences like in the museums). DH and I spent 3 full days doing nothing but visit the various D Day sites. If you also do all 3 Italian cities, Venice and Florence will only get a day and a half- the other half day will be spent on the train to your next destination.

I think that you need to re evaluate your priorities and eliminate some of these cities. You could easily fill your time with just London and Paris, with one or 2 day trips outside the cities. Or just do the 3 Italian cities, starting with 3 days in Venice, then 3 in Florence and 4 in Rome.

quality not quantity, not easy for many Americans to comprehend this

@going234 - what was the point of that? Yours was the only post that provided zero useful insights. Geeze.

Everyone else - I appreciate the comments.

What sorts of Day Trips from London/or Paris would you recommend if we extended our stay at one of those locations. Also - is Venice favored over Florence, or visa versa? Thanks

On a different thread, someone commented that a day in Europe is 1 thing in the morning, 1 in the afternoon.

In London, there are dozens of things - Windsor Castle, the British Museum, Houses of Parliament. London is a great city, with easily 2 weeks of sights.

Same with Paris. There is the Louvre, the restaurant, Mont Martre, Notre Dame de Paris, Champs de Elise, Touleries, Tomb of Napoleon, the Parthenon, I can go on and on.

You must be selective. You cannot see Europe in 11 days. See 2 cities, see them well, you will be happy. 4 cities, travel all the time, too much traveling.

We just came back. We spent 5 days in the Finisterre, in far west France. I could have spent 2 more days there. In that time, we visited 7-8 small villages, and got a strong feeling for the area. We spent 3 days in Chartres, a small town 40 km west of Paris with the great cathedral. Chartres is a great day trip from Paris. The Loire valley can be reached in a day. Drop Normandy. Go to Chartres, Loire, other locations near Paris.

Less is more in travel.

What sorts of Day Trips from London/or Paris would you recommend if we
extended our stay at one of those locations. Also - is Venice favored
over Florence, or visa versa? Thanks

Here's the thing. You can literally spend weeks in any one of these cities, and still not have experienced everything. The last time we were in London, we spent a week and never left the city. We can all supply a list of sights to see or side trips to take; but they may hold no interest to you, or your family members. We can recommend Venice over Florence, or vice versa, but for all intents and purposes, it's a matter of personal preference.

I think you and your family need to do more research before deciding where you want to go and what you want to see. Get a bunch of guidebooks on each of these areas from your library, and read. Check the internet for city or national tourism websites. Once you've narrowed things down, this forum can help you refine your plans.

Day
1. Arrive London (3N)
2.3. London sights
4. Eurostar to Paris (3N)
5.6. Paris sights
7. Fly to Venice (2N)
8. Venice sights
9. Early am train to Florence. Store bags whilst sightseeing. Evening train to Rome (3N)
10.11. Rome sights
12. Depart Rome

Venice vs Florence ---- Is chocolate ice cream better than apple pie? Really no right or wrong answer

Florence has DAVID; Venice has the Canals and St Marks.

If someone put a gun to my head and said pick ONE, I might say "just shoot me"

David in Brisbane has something to really consider. You could use one of the Paris days to do your trip to Normandy

Having been to all these places, you need to bite the bullet and choose either London or Paris and only 2 cities in Italy. Transiting between cities consumes energy that could be better spent sightseeing. Plus you don't know how many days jet lag will be a problem for you. Or consider making London and Rome bases and daytrip to Paris and Florence. Based on my own favorites, I would trim this trip to London, Florence and Rome. If you have enough time in Rome, you can do a long day trip to Pompeii and if its a bus tour, do the Amalfi coast drive. We went to Venice on our first trip to Europe. We've been to Italy two more times since then and have never even discussed returning to Venice-some people love it, some of us feel we would not have missed much if we'd never been there. In contrast, every time we go to Italy, we increase the amount of time we spend in Florence(if you like Renaissance Art).
Also I would not cut the time in London to have time for Normandy. If Normandy is a must for you, I would cut out a day in Italy and leave your 2 days in London intact-there's so much to see in London-it's my second favorite city after Florence.

Thank you all again. It is really helping inform us as we plan our best possible trip. With that, using Rome as a base is intriguing. Are two day trips to Florence and Amalfi / Sorrento truly feasible if we are in Rome for several days - or are we still trying to do too much?

You could do the Vatican Museums and Colosseum in 1 hectic day. Paying for a guided tour maximizes your time at Vatican Museums instead of waiting in a long line. It would also help if you stay really close to one or the other(we love the Hotel Alimandi, down the steps from the Vatican Museums), or for the trip to Florence, the train station. I think your adult children would find Pompeii really interesting. If you just want to do Pompei and not the Amalfi drive, Enjoy Rome used to provide bus transportation(easier than taking the train to Naples and then the Circumvesuviana, both of which are reportedly favorites of pickpockets). Having been to Rome 3 times and doing day trips to Pompeii on two of those trips, I would find 2 1-day trips from Rome doable- to Florence and Pompeii, but I love Florence so much that I would choose more time there. If you're not a real lover of Renaissance art, I think you could be satisfied with a day trip to Florence-seeing the Duomo, Baptistry, and either the Uffizi or Academia(Michelangelo's David is at the Academia) would be doable in a day.
I do like djp_syd's itinerary.

A day trip from Rome to Pompeii is a really long day. If you want to see the ruins of an ancient Roman city, you can go to Ostia Antica, in an easy day trip from Rome

Trying to make it to the Amalfi coast and back in one day is suicidally pointless. You will get there in time to turn around.

Have you a revised itinerary you care to share? Or are you still working from the original?

Be careful planning day trips with such limited time.
3-4 hours spent in transit getting to/from Florence or the Amalfi Coast is wasted, compared to a full day when the sights are right at your door.

Thank you - the feedback has been very valuable and we are refining our trip based on the above comments. I am glad there are some passionate folks willing to provide their insights. While not set in stone, we are revamping our itinerary and leaning towards the outline below. Is it looking more realistic ?

D1 Fly London
D2 London
D3 London
D4 Train to Paris
D5 Normandy
D6 Paris
D7 Fly to Rome
D8 Day Trip or stay local
D9 Rome
D10 Florence/Tuscany
D11 Rome
D12 Fly to DC

If you are planning a trip to Florence why not fly Paris to Florence and then on to Rome to eliminate some back 'n forth?
This way you have just one train trip, rather than a round trip

If Florence is in the undecided or "TBD" category while there, then your plan to go Paris to Rome is sensible.

I still think you are doing too much. But it's your trip.

I would take the train from London to Calais, rent a car, do the battlefields/beaches/D-day, and then drive to Paris. You build in a needless backtrack. Probably consider hiring a guide, or doing a lot of planning ahead of time. Driving on French roads is not difficult, but you will become very familiar with the "round-point" or roundabout. Also watch for the "speed zones". We got a $25 ticket early in the trip.

When you say "fly London" on day 1, what does that mean to you? The great majority of flights to London from the east coast are still overnight flights---meaning you arrive the following day (Day 2).

There are a few daytime flights, but they will have you arriving in London late at night---so you will go straight to your hotel and will not see anything of London that day.

I just want to be sure you understand about the flight timing.

For a first time visitor you would be well occupied in London/Paris/Rome for at least 3 full days. Ie. no need to be travelling out.