Help! Young travelers planning first big trip! (Paris and Italy)

Hi Travis, Just a few thoughts. I think that is a VERY ambitious trip for 9 nights - bear in mind that with each change of location you will lose about 1/2 of a day to 3/4 day (packing, traveling to train station, train trip, getting to new hotel and checking in, etc.). I know the temptation is to see as much as you can, but based on this schedule you will be spending most of your time "seeing" trains and train stations! Looking at your itinerary, you will only really have two days in Paris which to be honest, is not enough time to really see much of Paris. Likewise, you've only left yourself really one day in Rome (if you are planning on spending Wednesday night in Venice) which seems hardly worth it. With only 9 days I really think you would be better served sticking to one country - spend 4 days in Paris, and then take the train to Provence for a few days and fly home out Marseilles. Or fly into Rome and work your way to Venice and fly home from there.
As for accomodation, look at renting a studio apartments - you can rent many of them for less that $200 night in Paris and then you have the added benefit of being able to "eat in" for breakfast and dinner if you choose which will save you quite a bit on your food budget.Picnicking is also a great way to save money on food as well.

Please clarify... where are you spending Wed. night? Rome or Venice? It definitely looks ambitious, but you are young and I think whirlwind trips are fine for your first trip. It will let you know where you want to come back to:) Granted, you will probably wish you had longer in each location, but that is part of the fun of it, and what calls you back. If you only have one day in Rome, pick out a few things of interest, and take the HOHO bus to get a good overview. First trip to Rome I was only there a day and a half, and we just made the best of our time there.... and yes, I know, barely scratched the surface, but it was fine. My only comment is that you have only large cities, nothing like a village in the countryside, or small town.

Unless you have a time turner you are double booking the Wednesday and Thursday at the end of your trip. Interlaken is spelt the way I did. What do you intend to do in Interlaken? If staying there because you will see the Alps are you aware that it is NOT in the Alps but that they are 20 minutes by rail to Lauterbrunnen and then up? That's a lot of moving around for such a very short holiday. You will spend literally days on the trains. How did you come up with your exact figure of $512 for train travel? If that includes Eurail Passes have you added in all the extra fees such as mandatory reservation fees in Italy, and the rationing of French TGV mandatory reservations and the associated fees? Have you considered that most people save money over Eurail Passes by planning ahead and committing to non-changeable and non-refundable tickets? Have you accounted for those trains which aren't covered by any passes you may be using? Have you booked those hotels yet?

Have you done the timing on the train travel yet? I don't do trains very often, but unless I am missing something it looks like you have 3 train trips Paris to Interlaken Interlaken to Venice Venice to Rome If you do the train routes or have someone help you do them it will give you a better feel for what your transportation will be like.

I am so excited for you two. It will be nice to go off season because you will see far less tourists, and the weather shouldn't be too bad. I use Skyscanner to find the best prices for flights and then go to the airline to book. I've been to all of the places on your itinerary, so if you need any advice or have questions, you can contact me through my website. Good luck in your travels! www.liberatedtraveler.com Melissa

Two issues with your itinerary, logistics and budget. Interlaken is the gateway to the Berner Oberland. I assume you intend to visit. Stopping at Interlaken would be like stopping at the airport and then going home. 8 hours is not enough time to visit the BO. For one thing, if it rains you're out of luck. If it doesn't it's not enough time there to justify the time and expense of just getting there. Be warned that Switzerland is expensive. I don't know what you ought to do but this suggest your itinerary is too busy even for the good old whirlwind. As for budget, you've left $100 per person for food, drink, and admissions for the entire trip. Not tenable. Maybe settle for cheaper rooms & other economies, plus a little more money or leave off expensive Switzerland this trip. But really you should set the priorities.

I would consider: Paris 4 nights Fly cheap to Venice- 2 nights Train to Rome 3 nights Or trade 4 nights Rome and 3 Paris
- skip Switzerland this time- you don't have time or $$ for the alps- Interlaken is not the alps, and better use of time in France or Italy.

I'm having difficulty with the math, here. With $2900 per person or $5800 total for lodging and long distance transportation, I'm not seeing much money for food or entertainment (like museum entry fees) or local transportation in your $6000 budget. Somewhere sometime I saw RS say that a typical middle of the road budget for European travel would be between $180 and $200 per person per day exclusive of airfare. In a total of 5 months in Europe over the past five years, that is exactly what our average has been. When we travel, we count the travel days in that calculation to provide a little padding, so for you it would be 11 days. That would be $1980 to $2200 per person for the trip, again exclusive of airfare, or $3960 to $4400 for the both of you in addition to your airfare(s). If scenery is your thing, all those hours on trains aren't bad, but if it isn't, concentrate on Italy or France, not both. What you most want to see and the weather should influence that decision. With the fast (and cheap if you buy tickets at the right time in the right way) train from Paris to Provence (about 3 hours), doing that with open jaw flights would work as someone has already said. Rome and Venice, with or without Florence (see last sentence) would be similarly doable. One could hope that air and train fares will stabilize or go down by the time you'd buy your tickets for October, 2014, but I wouldn't count on it. My advice is to plan on and save for a total budget of at least $7000 to $7500 for the trip. If you have money left over in your budget toward the end, so much the better. OR you could buy a great souvenir that will fit in your carry on. Hmmm? Jewelry comes to mind.

Another thought... will you be flying out of Atlanta? If so, take a look at Delta nonstop flights to Europe to see if you might get a deal on a direct flight to another city (maybe a reason to change itinerary a bit) Also check open jaws... saves lots of time and often money.

Your post indicates that you've given a fair amount of thought to both budget and itinerary and done some preliminary research, so kudos for that, even though your enthusiasm may have put a bit too much wind in your sails. If I were doing this trip I would: - Arrive in Paris early Thursday morning - Spend Thursday - Monday night in Paris (about 4.5 days of actual site-seeing; part of one being a short train trip to Versailles - SO much to see and do in Paris - Fly early Tuesday morning to Rome - Stay Tuesday through Friday night in Rome - 3.5 days of actual site-seeing - part of one day could be a short train trip to the ancient ruins of the Roman port city of Ostia Antica, but central Rome could easily absorb you for the full 3.5 days
- Fly home Saturday (not too early) This would eliminate most of the $512 you factored for long-distance train travel, which you could use instead toward food, museum admissions, and other daily expenses. I think you could also find comfortable accommodations for less than $200/night. Because you're young and energetic you could probably accomplish a lot of the suggested itinerary ideas for Paris and Rome at: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/france/parisitin.htm http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/italy/rome3.htm

We have been able to do most places in Europe on $100 per person per day for room and board, or even less. You need to add for transportation and entertainment. We stay in nice in B & B's, and have a big breakfast there, snack for lunch and have a nice dinner out.

I'm with Susan and Monte on this one; Paris/Venice/Rome works well for your number of days. There are a bunch of cheap flights between Paris and Venice, and Venice-Rome is only 3.5 hours on the high speed train. Switzerland would require 3 nights at least and is not at all budget friendly.

Three nights in Venice in October would bore me to tears at your age, Venice is very expensive, see it, spend a night, maybe two , then get out. Its really nice to window shop , to sit in cafes, and to dine out, but you guys are on a tight budget so that makes Venice a place to visit but not to stay long.. you won't be shopping much, or dining at restaurants much, or sitting in cafes often( unless you have 3-5 euro coffees in budget)

Travis, I tend to agree with the others that have suggested skipping Interlaken, especially with such a short time frame. The travel time and cost to get there would seem to be hardly worthwhile for a 24-hour visit (most of which you'll be sleeping). Would something like this work..... > D1-Wed.-15: Depart U.S. > D2-Thu.-16: Arrive Paris > D3-Fri.-17: Paris, touring > D4-Sat.-18: Paris, touring > D5-Sun.-19: Flight to Venice (time 1H:40M - EasyJet flies from both CDG and ORY, prices €50-80 range PP) > D6-Mon.-20: Venice, touring > D7-Tue.-21: Venice, touring > D8-Wed.-22: Train to Rome (time 3H:40M) > D9-Thu.-23: Rome, touring (day trip?) > D10-Fri.-24: Rome, touring > D11-Sat.-25: Flight home from FCO Although you've been to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door prior to your trip. You can plan hotels, sightseeing, transportation, etc. using the France & Italy Guidebooks. If you don't want to buy them, your local Library should have copies. With airline prices continually increasing, it may be a good idea to budget for a bit more that $1500 PP. Who knows where the prices will be in 2014? Unless I missed it, your budget didn't allocate anything for food? Breakfasts will be provided at most hotels, but you'll still need to cover lunch and supper. Depending on your choices, food can be expensive. You'll also need to budget for local transport (Metro, Buses), Museums / admission charges and incidentals. A Paris Museum Pass may be prudent. It's great that you've decided to start planning so early, as you'll have lots of time to work out the details. Good luck with your planning!

We've stayed in some great places for under $125 (dollars, not euros) a night. Guess it depends on your standards (we're not 4 star people...we like smaller B&B's). Check into airbnb. We stayed in a nice little apt in Montmartre area of Paris (owner was home one night then away the next) for $78 a night. We could have used the kitchen had we wanted to. We've stayed in Venice 3 times at the same nice b&b for about $80 a night. You can really cut down a lot on your accom fees...even if you average $150 a night, you're saving $450. In London, we had a great spot thru airbnb for about $65. In Florence, an amazing place in a centuries old villa with a kitchenette for $45!! (That was the best find ever!). My husband and I have had 3 18-23 day trips overseas, not one cost us more the about $6500. (Two caveats - we've used airmiles to pay for one or both tickets, and we do couchsurf, so we have had free accom in there as well, probably saving us $400-$800 each trip).

Just came back from Italy and would highly recommend looking into Airbnb.com, as we stayed in one in Venice, Florence and Rome and had a great experience. We chose location in each city, so the Airbnb was about 1/2 of what we would've paid for a hotel in the same location and of the same quality. I don't know the non-Italy locations well, but you probably don't need three nights in Venice unless you want to get out of the main city. We were there for about 40 hours and saw everything we needed to see on the main island (and it seems like you'd need more time in Paris). Your Rome timing is about right -- in two full days, you can tackle the Vatican area and the Roman ruins. I think that one key thing you're missing are the meals. Not sure if that's part of your $1,200 in spending, but that's not realistic for two people for nine days plus all of the costs for the sites you're going to visit (another good reason to go Airbnb if you can get your own kitchen).

There should be some airfare sales between now and October. I assume you care flying out of Atlanta, where the fares are unreasonably expensive. Check fares from other cities, either a long drive or even a cheap flight. For example, my daughter and I are flying over in late June, and I booked round-trip tickets out of New York to Dusseldorf for $750 each. It's going to cost us another $160 each to get to New York, so our total cost is $910. This is quite reasonable for a mid-summer fare. These fares are now a bit higher, but just keep plugging in city combinations until you find the Holy Grail. Also, study up on hotel loyalty programs, particularly Choice Hotels and Club Carlson. For example, I purchased 10,000 Club Carlson points for $110 and used them to pay for a 160-220 Euro hotel room close to St. Mark's Square in Venice. Are you dead set on Interlaken? If you make Munich your intermediary city you can get really cheap train tickets to and from both Paris and Venice.

In Paris try and get a room at either of these places, they are cheap, clean, CENTRAL and decent,, I have stayed at both. They are not luxe but you can't be the prices and they are so well located you can walk to many sites. Both have comfy beds if that's any help, lol Hotel Diana Hotel Saint Pierre ( near Sorbonne) Hotel Diana is weird because they don't take CC numbers for reservations and only reserve a few months in advance but they are reliable and seem to risk more trusting people to show up then we do by reserving with them and they getting no credit card number in case of no show!

My vote is for Venice. You will need that $200/nite for hotels there. You can probably beat that number everywhere else. If this trip is for next year as you indicate, a lot could change pricewise, but it is a start. You can beat your $500/pp internal travel budget too, carnets in Paris, vaporetto pass in Venice (not necessary, but I like it), Rome pay as you go. Paris-Venice could be $100/pp, Venice-Rome $25/pp. That would be good 10 day trip. Whet your appetite.

Thanks everyone SO much for the tips. We've revised the plan a little bit. We've thrown out InterlakenI wanted to go because I had an incredible experience before but I think for this short trip we are going to skip it. So what we are thinking is one of two things Paris/Venice/Rome or Paris/Milan(Como)/Rome. Also realizing that it would be cheaper to fly from Paris to Venice or Milan. That will make the travel plans a lot easier. Hopefully we can just find a deal on a flight now!

I would vote Venice as well...we stayed in this place all 3 visits, about $80 (we had the room with separate but private locked bathroom...standard double) http://alcampaniel.tripod.com/
There are lots of places in Venice that aren't $200 a night, unless you have to have a 3-4 star, canal view and all the bells and whistles.

I recently got round trip tickets for my trip July 29th-September 1st from Tampa to Dublin for $808 total so if you want to find cheaper flights, they are out there. Consider flying in somewhere that is cheaper and, if these places are the only places you want to visit, take a train or cheap easyjet/ryanair flight to your final destination. Trust me it took a lot of research and it is only my first long trip, but my transportation costs for seeing 13 cities equals out to less than $2000 total. Put in the time, do your research and you will be fine. Happy travels!

I love lake Como, but there is NOTHING like Venice. Go to Venice! I guess it all depends on your style, but you can stay at clean nice places for a decent price. You can also get pizza on the street, gelato, etc. without a sit down dinner. It just depends what you are looking for. Personally, I'd stay in Venice for three nights. You can go out to Burano and Murano and spend a day, go to the sites in Venice, and then just " be there" soaking up the culture in the non tourist areas. It is fabulous just wandering around. Yes, you could " get it done" in a day, but why not feel it, rather than just do it?

We've been to both Venice and Lake Como, and both are beautiful, but I would highly recommend Venice for you. One big reason is convenience. Once you arrive at the Venice airport, it's just a short boat ride to the island. And when you're ready to leave, it's a short walk or vaparetto ride to the train station. Once you fly into Milan, you must take a train/bus from the airport to the Milano Centrale train station, then take a train to Lake Como ... 2-3 hours of travel time. Once you leave Como to go to Rome, you have to train back to Milan, then to Rome. Standing around waiting for trains can eat up a lot of your precious time.

I'm going to be the voice of dissent - most of my friends are your age and travel a lot, and they all keep returning to Lake Como whereas most of them agree that one night in Venice is plenty. Just throwing that out there.