Feedback on 30 Day Itinerary for Paris and the Meditteranean

When is your trip? If it's to be in the summer, consider that you're spending almost all your time at hot destinations.

Have you ever traveled like this before, taking 7 or 8 flights within a month? Airports are inherently stressful, and you're going to lose a lot of sightseeing time with all those flight days.

I think trying to combine Spain, Italy and Greece on one trip is at least one peninsula too many, and I'd encourage you to visit those destinations over the course of two trips rather than cramming them all into one.

You've sketched in more flights than are strictly necessary. You can get from Venice to Rome on a fast train in less than four hours. There are TGVs between Paris and Nice that take less than 6 hours (which I'd prefer to a flight, though not everyone would), and there are some under-5-hour trains between Nice and Milan.

I still think it's too much moving around, but you could travel Paris-Nice-Milan-Venice-Rome-Greece-Barcelona and need to fly only to, from and within Greece. I checked, and there are non-stop flights between Athens and Barcelona. But I'd drop at least Barcelona from this trip. Two days plus a couple of hours is not enough time to do it justice; I wouldn't fly to a country for such a short time.

Alternatively, three days on the Riviera would not be worth two flights to me if I could instead fly straight from Italy or Greece to Barcelona, so Nice is something I'd consider cutting if you want to stick with the original basic route.

It would be better to have more time for Greece, since it's awkward to get to. I'd like for you to see an island that isn't as touristy as Mykonos and Santorini.

In sum: although your time allotments are not crazily short, there are many wonderful places to visit near those cities that would not require so many long train trips or flights.

8 cities in 30 days is a lot in my opinion - great for checking things off the list but not so great for actually seeing those places.
Bear in mind that you lose about 3/4 of day when you change locations - packing, checking out, getting to the airport, flight to new location and then travel to your hotel (remember, airports aren't located in city centers!). So that works out to be about 6 full days - and that's assuming everything runs on time and that flights aren't delayed/canceled. Only you however can decide if the trade offs (in terms of time and energy) are worth it.
As for the itinerary, I'd personally drop Barcelona and add time to Italy - Milan, Venice with a few days in Florence and then onto Rome, finishing your trip in Greece. Backtracking through Athens to Rome is a lot of wasted time IMO so unless you've already booked your tickets, I'd re think that one.

Thank you! I really appreciate the feedback. I'll look at dropping Barcelona. We may have to double back from Mykonos to Athens because of the limited flights out of Mykonos.

I was thinking that it would be too many flights, but then the trade off is a few hours on a train, which would make us lose time as well.

Oh and acraven, where in Greece would you recommend in lieu of Santorini and Mykonos? We are definitely open to suggestions!

I talked to my husband, and I think we are going to do Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, and wherever else in Greece next year. Then do Paris and Italy in May 2019. Thank you for the suggestions!!

My trips to Greece are too far in the past to be helpful. (Mykonos and Santorini were already overrun in the early 1990s.) I suggest creating a new post in the Greece forum to attract the attention of our experts on that country. Be sure to re-state the length of the planned trip and when you intend to travel. It would also be good for responders to know the degree of your interest in classical sights vs. picturesque villages vs. beaches, etc.

I can get you started with this: I'm sure Nafplion (in the Peloponnese) and Naxos are going to be recommended.