Help with our Europe itinerary? (late June 2020)

Hi there, and how exciting to be planning your family’s first trip! :)

First off, do you have flights booked? If not, you should book what’s called “open-jaw” or multi-city, meaning you arrive Europe in one city and depart out of another. It’ll save you a ton of time in transport and buy you more time on the ground, which I think you need for this list of destinations.

I’ve only been to Munich so I can’t really help you with Germany. You can scratch the surface with two days there but I’m sure a third wouldn’t hurt.

Your Venice and Florence time is just too short. I would either find something to cut or add days so you have a minimum of 2 full days in each place.

3 full days in Paris and Rome each would not allow me to cover everything I personally would want to see. Have you started laying out your daily itineraries to see if you actually have enough time in each place to cover your own personal must-sees?

Thanks so much for the reply! Yes, our flights are booked and I got a fabulous rate - I plan on booking a hopper flight from Rome to save time so hopefully that will help. We thought about multi city but the round-trip rate was too good to pass up.

I can think about cutting Florence to add days to Venice and Munich. I read somewhere that Venice only really requires one day but maybe that wasn’t accurate. Or I guess I could keep Munich as is and add a day to Rome.

Also the Paris dates are set as I already booked an Airbnb, and I haven’t gotten to itineraries at all. In Paris I have a short list of things we are interested in, but I honestly haven’t gotten super far with that.

I think you have too many stops 8 in 17 days, excluding arrival and departure days, so you will be spending lots of time in transit, not visiting places.

You need to fly open jaw to avoid back tracking to Paris. Three full days in Paris is a bit short, even just to see the main sights if you haven’t been before. Five full days minimum is a good visit to see the essentials.

Is Paris a must see? It would make more sense to fly into Frankfurt, as Paris to Oberwesel will take about 8 hours door to door by train.

You may want to consider missing Venice on this trip, as it will take about 10 hours door to door from Munich, travelling by train and with only one day there in peak season, you aren’t going to see much. Fly from Munich to Florence or Rome. Rome ideally needs 4-5 full days.

Our flights are set and so are the Paris dates, so unfortunately those can’t be changed. We do really want to see Paris, though.

I see your point on the travel times, and consider possibly cutting Venice, especially as it is the busy season. I am probably not taking into account train travel times in my total number of days.

It’s a pity about your flights, as you are going to waste a day back tracking and most likely you will have to buy flights to get you back to Paris, which may negate much of your saving.

Trains are excellent for relatively short hops, but as you are trying to cover half of Europe in one trip, you should look at flying between countries. Flights are already available for June and prices only head in one direction.

I have never seen anywhere that suggests Venice can be seen in a day - most would recommend a minimum of 3 full days. I had 6 full days there in January, when there were no queues and we didn’t run out of things to see.

If you are tied into Paris for the return, consider having a week there and limit your other travels to France and Germany or France and Italy.

When I priced it out, the multi city price was $1200 more for our family of four, but the hopper flight from Rome to Paris was an extra $250 - I got a fantastic deal on the round-trip tickets.

I will take all of us into consideration. By the way, I remembered where I saw one day for Venice - the Rick Steves Europe Through the Back Door section on Italy says 1-3 days. Given that it is summer, I guess I should go for the high end of that if we go to Venice at all.

Some visitors just want to see the big-name sights. Others want to have enough time in a city to enjoy the ambiance, make their own discoveries away from the teeming hordes, etc. One day in Venice will get you to the Rialto Bridge and market, Piazza San Marco and a vaporetto trip along the Grand Canal. You'll be in a tourist throng the entire day, there's an excellent chance you won't much like Venice, and you'll probably tell your friends that one day was enough (or too much).

I think Rick's itineraries shortchange every single city of size/importance. They cater to folks who want to see 6 places (or more) in 12 days. Although some travelers like that pace, most move away from it as soon as they have experienced the alternative.

robinlamerson, just a note regarding Bacharach. You said ". . . stay there so we can explore the castle . . . ". The castle isn't open for touring: its a working hostel. You can hike up to it, and have some great views of the river valley from the outside, but its not an all day event. Nevertheless, Bacharach is a great place too visit or stay.

I think I'd skip Munich.

I agree with acraven that RS can cut time short; I used the Europe through the Back Door book when backpacking in college. It was incredibly helpful and a fun and unforgettable trip. But, I was exhausted by the end! And I was 21 at the time. LOL. It all really depends on your travel style. I have found over the years that we prefer a slower pace. The big cities are chock full of things to see and do. There are also some really wonderful day trips from each of them. I’m guessing you and your family will be happier with a slower pace (it’s a lot less stressful for one). So, maybe you all sit down together and decide what your highest priorities are for this trip and go from there. I think Jennifer’s idea is excellent - combine France and Germany or France and Italy.

One other thought - could you inquire with your AirBNB to see if they would let you rearrange your dates?? If you fly immediately from arrival at CDG to another spot, that could help save you some backtracking. I figure it can’t hurt to ask.

limit your ... travels to France and Germany

There’s a lot of sense in this, although you’ve already bought your tickets from Rome.

think I'd skip Munich.

I agree, Munich is overrated and it’s adding 2 full day train trips. Ask on the Germany forum for ideas near your castle, then fly to Italy.

Depending upon the children I’d be more likely to skip Florence than Venice.

The only thing we confirmed at this point is Paris, but I’d say Rome is the most important to me, honestly.

My question would be is Bacharach/Oberwesel enough of a German experience? Maybe there is a closer town we could visit (like you said, a question four of the German forum) then fly from Frankfurt to Venice, then train to Rome? I’m not sure what else we want to see in Germany besides beer halls for my husband, lol.

Rome is the most important to me

It’s your trip and do what you want, but once you catch onto tricks like staying in apartments and cooking some meals in, and the savings from buying plane/train/bus tickets early, you may find that another trip to Europe in a couple years is within budget and you can visit Italy more in depth then. Packing grocery shopping bags will become second nature.

You could have a fine 19 day loop from Paris incorporating some of Germany and parts of rural France.

I will say that I have done a 4 nights Rome, 2 nights Florence, 2 nights Venice trip as you plan and it can be completely satisfactory. We made good use of the late openings of things some days: Vatican museum Friday nights, Accademia (Florence) some nights, Palazzo Vecchio every night except Thursday. Also carefully plan the half days you have when traveling the other half of the day.

AC is essential in Italy in June, optional the other places (though you stand a 1/4 chance of regretting not having it).