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Italy & France Itinerary--thoughts/recommendations?

Hi everyone,

Wow, I'm so excited to be posting here with a trip actually planned again! Anyway, my husband and I are planning a somewhat last minute trip to Italy as we decided to postpone a planned trip to Kenya due to the current Covid situation in East Africa. The week in France was always part of the trip as we're meeting my mom and her boyfriend for the week, and that part of the itinerary is a little hectic I know, but we're currently filling in our Italy portion and always happy for recommendations and tips from this group. We're really looking to relax and take things easy this trip--not over plan (hard for me). I'm mostly looking for any recommendations on can't miss restaurants, maybe walking/food tours or experiences. We're not big on museums but will pop into one or two if there's something we want to see. We do have our accommodations booked and I'm pretty happy with them but they are changeable if there seems to be any glaring errors. So here it is:

8/4
Fly Seattle to Naples (stop in Frankfurt)

8/5
Arrive Naples, spend the night at B&B MediNaples (near the port)
**Any can't miss restaurants in the area? This is our only night in Naples proper. We'll be recovering from jetlag so hoping to just stick close to the hotel, keep ourselves awake for a couple hours and then crash.

8/6
Ferry to Ischia where we'll spend the next 5 nights at Hotel Nettuno in Forio.
**Restaurant or tour recommendations? We're hoping to spend at least one day out on the water, either renting a boat ourselves or taking some sort of tour, possibly to see the Amalfi Coast from the bay

8/11
Ferry back to Naples, train to Rome. We have 5 nights in Rome at a B&B in Monti not far from the Colosseum. Only thing booked is the Colosseum with underground tour at 11am on Thursday the 12th; we have 3 completely open days. This might be sacreligious (literally) but we're sort of ambivalent about the Vatican. I'd like to see the basilica/Sistine Chapel, but that's kind of all I care about... any suggestions for the best/most efficient way to do this?

8/16
Train to Modena. We're on the waiting list for a reservation at Osteria Francescana and we have our AmEx Platinum concierge working on it for us as well... not holding my breath on such short notice but fingers crossed! We have 4 nights in Modena at an AirB&B in the center and would like to do at least one tour from Parma to visit a dairy farm, Parma ham and balsamic etc.

8/20
Train to Milan where we'll spend two nights at the NH Hotel Milano President (close to the Duomo).

8/22
6am TGV to Paris (my husband is SO EXCITED for this train ride lol)
Arrive Paris around 1:30pm, staying overnight near Gare de Lyon

8/23
RER to CDG to meet my mom at the TGV station where we'll then head to Reims for two nights. We have a full day champagne tour booked with A La Francaise. Any other must see's in Reims or restaurant recommendations?

8/25
Back to Paris, staying 4 nights at Assia et Nathalie B&B in Le Marais. We have booked:

8/26
4:30pm cheese & wine tasting experience through AirB&B
8pm Eiffel Tower

8/27
8pm Le Calife Seine dinner cruise

8/28
Open--will need to get a Covid test

8/29
Depart CDG 7:30am back to Seattle

I should also say, this will be our third trip to Paris but my mom's first, so my husband and I may skip things like the Louvre and whatnot and let them go do that on their own. We're much more interested in the food, wine, shopping, etc. :) We have also spent about a week and a half in Italy but in Venice, Bologna and Florence so all of our Italian destinations will be new to us.

Posted by
542 posts

sounds like a wonderful itinerary, good luck with the restaurant reservations in Modena!

As far as the Vatican, if that is all you want to see, just skip it. It was definitely worth seeing, but on the tour they only allowed us in for 15 minutes which wasn't nearly enough time to really take it in.

Posted by
3961 posts

What a great itinerary! Le Marais is our favorite area to stay. If your mom & boyfriend are interested in a couple museums, the Picasso Museum & Carnavalet Museum are minutes away. https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/musee-carnavalet-paris-renovations-reopening

We took a couple walking tours with sight seekersdelight.com. We did the fabulous “Time Travel to Montmartre” & “Jewish History of Le Marais.” They also offer several food tours.

Posted by
302 posts

Thank you! I will definitely look into those tours. We're particularly interested in WWII history and that isn't something we've explored much in Paris so could be a good opportunity this trip. And we love a good food tour!

Posted by
1451 posts

Rachael, Walks of Italy offers a variety of tours in Rome. They offer tours of the Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's, without the museum part, day and night tours.

https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/

I have used them in the past and enjoyed their tours.

Good luck, I head back to France at the end of Nov this year.

Posted by
14826 posts

"We're particularly interested in WWII history and that isn't something we've explored much in Paris"

There is a wonderful walk offered by Paris Walks of WWII sights on the Right Bank. They are just offering limited walks right now and in to August so this might work with your schedule and might not. The price has gone up a lot but after this last year and a half I understand.

http://www.paris-walks.com/cariboost_files/2021_20AUGUST_20WALKS.pdf

If you are interested there is also the Liberation Museum that has some fascinating stuff about the Liberation of Paris as well as the Resistance activities.

https://www.museeliberation-leclerc-moulin.paris.fr/en

Have a wonderful time! Let us know how things go. Many of us are set to go in September so it will be good to have recent travel experience.

Posted by
6713 posts

Just a couple of thoughts re what looks like a great trip.

I'd consider Reims Cathedral a "must see" there, certainly for me (twice), a beautiful example of Gothic architecture (though much rebuilt after war damage) and the place where French kings were crowned for centuries. There's also a good Roman gate nearby.

I'm a skeptic about Seine dinner cruises, where you have to divide your time between your food and the scenery. The menu on the cruise you're taking looks delicious, for sure, and maybe that cruise has a reputation for good food, but others don't. My pick would be Les Vedettes du Pont Neuf on the upper deck, preceded or followed by a good dinner somewhere on shore.

Posted by
302 posts

The dinner cruise was a specific request of my mom, so I am obliging her. :) My husband and I took the Le Calife dinner cruise on our honeymoon four years ago and quite enjoyed it. Not saying we couldn't get a better dinner elsewhere, but it was a lovely overall experience.