Italy, France & London trip

Nice itinerary! The order makes sense and you are hitting some of the highlights of Europe.
I would allow NO less than 3 full weeks for this trip, 4 if you can. That will give you enough time to see the major sites in each city and allow for travel time in between.

Order of travel makes sense!
When you say We made a list with the places we'd like to visit, do you mean just the cities or did you make a list of museums and sites and things you want to do in each city? A somewhat detailed list will help you determine how many days you actually need in each city. There's only so much you can do in a day. 3 FULL days (4 nights) is a minimum for Rome, IMO. (1 day Vatican, 1 day Ancient Rome sites, 1 day miscellaneous sites.) Florence 3 nights and 2 FULL days will let you see the major museums, do a little shopping, but if you want to get into the countryside/small Tuscan towns, you'll need to add a couple of days. I love Venezia and we go back time after time, but you can see a lot in a first visit of 3 nights. So those three cities alone can take 10 days to two weeks, easily. Will you have 4 weeks as suggested in another answer so you can also enjoy Vicenza, Paris and London?

Hi epross1. Congratulations on your first trip (of many). Laurel and Anita have said just about all that needs to be said about your itinerary and length of the trip. I would add that you should take into account that you will use up 1/2 to a full day every time you change locations. Especially for longer than two week trips, you need to build a little "free time" into the schedule. You'll want to just kick back and relax occasionally, you'll need to do some shopping for things you run out of or forget to bring, then there's laundry and the unexpected.

Here are some details about your "how to travel around" question.

In Rome you get around by walking or taking the bus or the metro, depending on where you are and where you want to go. If you buy the Roma Pass (sometimes a good deal, sometimes not depending on how much time you have in Rome and what you want to see), you will have unlimited transportation for the 2 days of the pass. If you are there much longer and/or don't want the Pass, the TI used to sell a transportation-only pass good for several days. Rome is big, so you will probably want to use the bus and/or metro some of the time. Taxis are easy to get also.

In Florence get a hotel in the center. Everything, including the train station (Santa Maria Novella aka SMN is the one you want) is in walking distance. You may want to take the HOHO bus to get oriented, get to a couple of the more out-of-the-way spots. You can easily take day trips to Pisa (1/2 day) by train or Siena (full day) by bus. I believe there is a Florence card that includes many of the city's sites.

In Venice, you walk or take the vaporetto (water bus). There are also water taxis, but very expensive. You can buy passes for the vaporetto (various lengths of time) which are often worth it since the single fare is very high. It's nice to just ride the vaporetto - get a front seat if possible, if not then the very back for the best views.

In Paris you either buy a carnet of 10 tickets good for bus and metro, or you get a Navigo pass. The pass is weekly and runs from Monday through Sunday. Depending on the days you will be in Paris, it can be a good deal. Usually if you get 4 days out of it, you are close to breaking even, at 5 days you come out ahead. Paris is great to walk around, but sights are often far apart (and even for short distrances you may want to save your legs). The buses can be very slow because there is often a lot of traffic. The metro is fast, but you may have to walk farther to get to some of the sights - or to transfer trains. Again, depending on how much time you have and what you want to do, the Paris Museum Pass can be great. Even if you break even on entrance fees, it's good because you avoid some of the ticket lines. Also, you can just pop in to a sight for a brief visit, since it doesn't cost extra.

London to Paris. The best transportation is the Eurostar train. The best prices are if you buy 4-4.5 months in advance when they first go on sale. These are no-refund/no-exchange tickets so you are locked in. But the price can be as low as 1/4 or 1/3 of the full price. The Oyster Card is the way to get around London. There are several options and it can be confusing to figure out which is right for you. Using it is very easy, though. Everything I said about Paris applies to London - buses, underground aka tube, and walking.

Buses are also good in Rome. You can buy a one-day transportation pass and use it as often as you like but it expires at midnight on the day you use it. I think there may be multi-day passes as well. The last time I used a Roma Pass it was for 3 days. Transportation passes are validated on the first trip, then you just need to keep it to show if asked.

In Venice, the Vaporetto pass is based on hours, not days, so you can get a 12, 24, 36 (I think), 48 or 72 hour pass. These passes expire 24 hours after you first validate them, even if it is the following day. Another difference: you need to scan or tap the vaporetto pass each time you use it, not just at the first use (like the Roma Pass or day ticket).

If you are looking for sights, let us know what interests you. For example, in Vicenza and environs there are several Palladian villas, but if Renaissance architecture is not your thing, you might not want to spend much (or any) time visiting them.

My fiance and I have actually planned a very similar trip: fly into Rome, train to Florence, train to Venice, fly to Paris, Eurostar to London, fly home from London. Our trip is 21 days, and we feel we will get to see much of what we want to see without feeling rushed. We're spending New Year's Eve in Rome, so if anybody has any suggestions there, feel free to pass along.

You should consider taking the trip in reverse. Flying to the U.S. from London comes with additional airport charges.

I agree about taking the Eurostar from London to Paris, as it's quicker than waiting around and transferring to/from airports in London and Paris.

You can catch a budget European airline from Paris to Venice, and it's only a 37 mile train ride from Venice to Vicenza.

And have a great time in these GREAT cities.