First European Vacation, at the End of August- looking for where to start...

Have you been to Europe before? If so, when? If not, you should get a copy of RS "Europe Thru The Back Door" guide book and read it completely. If it has been some time since you were in Europe, to read it is still recommended. If you do not have a copy of that book, you can purchase it elsewhere on this web site and it is on sale right now. I have been to Europe in 13 of the last 14 years and every year I get a RS guide book to help in our planning. A good investment for an expensive trip.

I agree with Charlie about getting the books.
And for first time travelers, I suggest splitting your time equally between London, Paris and Rome. Take the Eurostar London to Paris (2 1/2 hours) and a budget European air carrier from Paris to Rome.
Rome is a minimum 4 day city, spend a couple of days in Florence and the remainder of your trip in Venice. Save Cinque Terre for a future trip, because you will be back.

Thank you Charlie and David. It's been over 15 years since I went to Spain when my sister lived in Europe. We are deciding to pass on London this trip because we know we would prefer to spend more time in France and Italy. We did purchase the RS book you suggested. Very helpful. I'm hoping to come up with a tentative itinerary and then book an appointment with a RS rep to do the fine tuning. I've been told that Venice may be a bit stinky in late August? My sister suggested we each pick our top 3 "must sees" (by country or city) and then figure out logistically what that would look like so we can see what we might need to save for a future trip. I love that you have gone every year--lucky!! Just figuring out where to start, trying to avoid packing too much in, remembering it's hot at the end of August and the Europeans may be on vacation! Thank you!!

Don't worry too much about August being the "European vacation month." Unless you need a dentist (or some other local specialist), or have your heart set on a particular restaurant (in which case you should indeed make sure it will be open), the things you are going to see will all be open (hotels, museums, tourist attractions, city streets, villages, etc).

In fact, worry more about September. It's still high season in Italy, and it's a VERY busy month for Paris with lots of trade shows and conferences. You will want to book accommodations as soon as your dates are finalized.

In answer to your question about starting in Paris and heading back to the US out of Rome - definitely yes. It's called an open jaw flight and it's the way to go. You have plenty of time for what you're hoping for, with or without Spain. You could do
Paris - 5 nights, fly to (OR You have time to go down to Barcelona and then fly to Venice)
Venice - 3 nights, train to (OR if you skip Spain, you have time to add Florence if you want)
CT - 3 nights
Rome - 5 nights.

You've got plenty of options. It will all be hot, but Spain will be hotter.

Yes, fly into one city and fly out of the furthest one at the other end. Into Paris and out of Rome makes a lot of sense, because they are both big airports with lots of international connections. Madrid or Barcelona would work for one as well - where in Spain are you thinking? I put in Barcelona or Madrid as a guess.

Fly into Paris. 5 nights. This may sound like a lot, but remember you will be jet lagged at the beginning. I like to add time at my first place because of exhaustion! You could get away with 4.
Fly to Venice 3-4 nights
Train to Florence OR Cinque Terre - 3 nights
Train to Rome - 4 nights or 5 depending on how interested in Rome you are.
Fly to Barcelona or Madrid - 4 nights. Fly out of Barcelona or Madrid.

I think this is pretty reasonable. A lot of people like to go slower, and if so I'd drop the Cinque Terre and Spain. Split your time between Rome, Venice, and Paris, and do day trips from there into the countryside. Orvieto from Rome, or even Pompeii if you are ambitious, the Loire from Paris, Verona from Venice. And so on. You'd have a week in each.

This can be done from either direction.

5 nights Paris.

Afternoon flight Paris Orly-Pisa (PSA).
1 hour 40 min. Easyjet.
Train Pisa- CT. 1 hour 20 min.
3 nights CT.

Train - CT-Florence.
2 nights Florence.

Train-Venice. 2H05m
3 nights Venice.

Train Venice-Rome. 3H43m.
Rome 4 nights.

For trains use Trenitalia.

You might want to look at apartments
They generally give you more space for about the same amount of money.
Check Vacation in Paris, VRBO, cross-pollinate.com., booking.com. Read reviews carefully.

Base your flights on whichever combo is the most direct and least expensive.

If you do your homework you'll have a great trip. Get your girls involved. Have them pick sights they want to see.

18 nights is not long. Here goes.

Paris - 4 nights
Berner Oberland (Interlaken) - 3 nights
Milan / Lake Como - 1 night
Cinque Terre - 2 nights
Florence - 2 nights
Venice - 3 nights
Rome - 3 nights

ehot,

That's a fairly short time frame for a Europe trip, but you should be able to cover most of the places on your list. I'd suggest skipping Spain this time, as it's somewhat of an outlier from your other destinations. I may have missed it, but where are you flying from?

There are lots of possibilities but would something like this would work.....

• D1 - Flight to Paris
• D2/N1 - Arrive Paris, check into hotel and light touring as you may be jet lagged
• D3/N2 - Paris (you may want to purchase a Paris Museum Pass, depending on what touring you have planned - at the least it will minimize queues at a very busy time of the year - if you want to go up the Eiffel Tower, reserve online WELL in advance)
• D4/N3 - Paris
• D5/N4 - Paris
• D6/N1 - Train to Switzerland (rather than stay in Interlaken, I'd recommend staying in the Lauterbrunnen Valley - Lauterbrunnen or Mürren would be good - Lauterbrunnen is the transportation hub and is more central to both sides of the valley - this is a great place for hiking in quintessential Swiss scenery or taking the spectacular mountain lifts to places such as the Schilthorn, where the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service was partially filmed).
• D7/N2 - Lauterbrunnen Valley
• D8/N3 - Lauterbrunnen Valley
• D9/N1 - Train to the Cinque Terre (this will be a longer travel day with several train changes, but it's a relatively easy trip - you'll have to decide which of the five towns you want to stay in - everyone has their favourite and I prefer Monterosso as it's the largest and has the best beaches - it also has the best choice in hotels, restaurants and other tourist amenities).
• D10/N2 - Cinque Terre (I'm typically there in September and while the weather can be warm, it's not oppressive especially as it's right on the ocean - the towns can be crowded with tour groups during the days but evenings are much more pleasant - if you're touring and minimize use of the local trains from about 10:00 - 16:00, this should be a minor concern).
• D11/N3 - Cinque Terre
• D12/N1 - Train to Florence (this is an easy trip, about 2-3 hours with a couple of train changes - I'd suggest planning to arrive in Florence in mid-afternoon, as your hotel room should have been serviced by then - this will provide about half a day to start your touring in Florence)
• D13/N2 - Florence (possible day trip to Siena, Lucca or Pisa if you're interested - those are all easy from Florence - for the trip to Siena, using the Corse Rapide express bus is the easiest, while train is good for the other places - if you're planning to visit the Uffizi or Accademia, reservations are highly advised).
• D14/N3 - Florence (you could do a day trip to Venice, about 2 hours each way - this would avoid uprooting your group and changing hotels - if you plan your touring carefully, you should be able to have a good look at the place - be prepared for crowds here also, especially if there are cruise ships nearby - this is one small example from last September).
• D15/N1 - Train to Rome (very easy, 90 minutes - again, if you arrive at noon your room should be ready and you can start touring)
• D16/N2 - Rome
• D17/N3 - Rome
• D18 - Train or Taxi to Rome / FCO for flight home

You might consider packing along at least the Pocket Paris and Italy guidebooks, as there's a lot of information there that will help your touring to go smoothly. There are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using trains and other public transit in Italy. If you need more information, post another note. I've also been going to Europe every year, and have been all the places you want to visit.

Good luck with your planning!

I can't thank you enough for the great tips and ideas. It has helped us come up with an initial itinerary that we are building on- esp. as we receive more ideas. It looks like we are heading to Paris (4-5 days) Interlake (2 days) Venice (2-3 days) Florence (3 days) Pisa to CT (3 days) Rome 4-5 days. Getting more excited to identify the details of the trip. Everyone's suggestions and advice are so valuable to us.

BTW.. we are traveling from Seattle, WA. We are looking for easy bike trips, canal rides, simple hikes, and looking forward to experiencing not only the typical tourist activities since it's our first trip but also getting a taste for the local life.. I am looking into all the ideas posted...

OK, reality check time...sorry, confront this now, not after everyone has their hearts set on an itinerary...

You say your "trip" is Aug 28 through Sept 15. That is not three weeks. Three weeks is 21 days. I think you actually have 18 days.

Stop counting the days you have off work or available for your trip. That cheerfully (and unrealistically) ignores the fact that you're flying to the other side of the planet (and back). You need to count (only) the full days you have in Europe, not including your arrival day or your departure day. If your trip begins on 8/28, you will arrive in Europe sometime on 8/29. On that arrival day you will be pretty much wiped out from all the pre-trip stress, time spent in an uncomfortable seat (counting on getting a solid 8 hours of restful sleep, are we?) and jet lag. Your arrival day shouldn't be counted as useable time. If all goes well - you're resilient, you're healthy and you recover quickly from displacement effects - you might be back to about 50%-75% on the day after you arrive (but for most of us, we're not really at our sharpest on that day either - it usually takes me 2 days to feel decent...but OK, count your next day, but not your arrival day). Of course, if your trip "ends" on 9/15, then you shouldn't count that day, either - no matter what time your flight leaves, that day will be 100% consumed with getting to the airport, etc. (you have a non-stop return flight, or at least a reasonable routing that won't take more than a day to get you back to the US west coast? check that...if you have multiple connections, it could mean you have to leave on 9/14 to be back in SEA by 9/15, so you could lose a day at the end, too).

So start by being honest with yourself about how many full, usable days (and nights) you really have there. A day where you spend any part of it in airports and on the plane (or crossing an ocean) is not a usable day (exception: for intra-European flights, you can eek out a half-day, but flying within Europe kills part of a day too, so take that into consideration).

It looks like we are heading to Paris (4-5 days) Interlake (2 days) Venice (2-3 days) Florence (3 days) Pisa to CT (3 days) Rome 4-5 days.

That adds up to 17 to 21 days. I think you have 16, 17 or maybe 18 at most. I'd call that "two and a half weeks."

With two and a half weeks, if your "for sure" list is Paris and Italy, I'd recommend you skip Spain (it deserves a trip of its own) and maybe skip Interlaken, too - the logistics of getting to these places will eat up portions of multiple days. and you don't have that many. Plenty of awesome stuff to see/do in and around your "must see" places. Remember, you'll be back.

Hope that helps, have fun.

Thank you David, in my excitement I may not have listed my dates correctly. We have some flex on when we start our trip but must be home 9/15 or 9/16. We are planning a total of 21 days-- 2 days travel to/from Europe if we needed, we can add another travel day. Anyway, you have provided some very valuable information!! Once we firm up the dates and fine tune the travel plans, I am considering sitting down with a RS representative to make sure we aren't missing something with our logistics, etc.. again, thank you!!

It looks like you are planning to visit primarily large cities, but then state "We are looking for easy bike trips, canal rides, simple hikes, and looking forward to experiencing not only the typical tourist activities since it's our first trip but also getting a taste for the local life." What you looking for sounds more like rural destinations than cities. (and the Cinque Terre, while more rural, is no location for bike trips or canal rides!)

Consider whether you want to drop one or two cities and add towns or villages, instead. Think about your prior (U.S., I assume) trips with your family - did you visit big cities, or small towns? Hiking or art museums? What you have enjoyed on your trips closer to home will help you know what you all will enjoy when you're in Europe, as well.

First and foremost, see what you want to see. It's your vacation. Maybe start by watching the videos online here and reading about your different choices.

I realize your time is set. One consideration for me is weather. August is a high summer month. Certain locations in Europe lend themselves to an August visit:
1. Scandinavia - the only time of the year when the weather is somewhat reliable.
2. North Coast of Spain - this is rainy most of the year but the beaches become ideal in high summer.
3. Mountains - mountain weather is always unpredictable but it's generally best in August.
4. Beach resort destinations - the locations where the entire point is to sleep on the beach all day and party all night (Ibiza, Spain and Greek Islands for example) are hopping in the summer months and relatively sleepy the rest of the year.
5. Northern countries also experience the most daylight change from summer to winter months, so you want to visit when they will have the most daylight.

Some places are avoided during the hot summer months:
1. Spain, especially southern Spain - temperatures are regularly over 100 f. The locals shut down, literally, in the middle of the day for a siesta.
2. Italy - Italy is always somewhat crowded. During the summer it's hot, muggy, and crowded.

Some places don't matter:
1. Amsterdam rains about every other day year round. It's a little less in the summer but not enough to count on dry weather.
2. England, Scotland, Ireland will have rain pretty much year round and it's windy (so can be cold any time). They get more of a maritime weather pattern so it doesn't get as cold in winter as destinations further inland - but the days do get very short.

I've been to Europe only once in the summer (start in July/end in August) to visit Scandinavia, Finland, St. Petersburg, Gdansk and Tallinn. I was glad I went then but there are limited places I want to see in summer. I like April/May or September/October more. I was in Rome in late October/early November. It was comfortable. Even then you could sense the mugginess that might make it very uncomfortable in the summer.

That said, any place is worth seeing anytime as long as you have reasonable expectations and are prepared for the weather you are likely to experience.