Itinerary help, Italy, Switzerland and France from May 29-June 13

In 15 nights (assuming you land in Rome on the 30th of May?), I suggest keeping the number of places you lay your head to no mor than 4 to keep from being constantly on the move. You could easily spend it all in Italy, but you could do say three major stops in Italy and few days either in the French Riviera or Switzerland.

You said "what cities." what do you like to do? Are you art/museum/history buffs or into outdoor activities like hiking and biking? Do you want some beach time, or are mountains more your cup of tea?

Certainly you can do the BIG 3 in Italy: Venice, Florence and Rome, but in which order would depend on whether you want to go to the French Riviera or the mountains of Switzerland. In fact you could easily spend 15 nights in those three locations alone!

Since you say "least expensive" you might want to cross Switzerland off your list as it is very expensive. Also vis a vis cost effective, go by public transportation. The trains are amazing!

Do you have Rick Steves' "Europe Through the Back Door?" Also perhaps his Italy Guide? Essential to planning your trip as really only you can decide which places to see and stay.

Time would preclude you from reaching in to France with only 15 nights.
Florence - 3 nights
Milan - 1 night
Berner Oberland - 3 nights
Luzern - 2 nights
Venice - 3 nights
Rome - 3 nights

I guess since I'm so new to this and literally no nothing about Europe, we definitely would like to see the big 3 in Italy, I'm not as concerned about the French Riviera. I would love to see Paris and at least make an appearance in Switzerland, maybe a day and night, my husband skis and would love to just ski at least one time. My assumption is the train is the fastest way around, what pass do you recommend? For our first visit it seems wise to see the top sights and be able to soak it all in. Does anyone think it's possible to hit France and maybe a day in Switzerland? Or should we spread our time in just Italy?

You really need to finish in Paris then, and fly out from there ...
Rome - 3 nights
Florence - 3 nights
Venice - 2 nights
Milan - 1 night
Lauternbrunnen - 2 nights
Paris - 4 nights

Since you already have tickets in-and-out of Roma, Paris is a bit of a stretch. You would have to fly both ways and that eats up a lot of time. So here are a couple of ideas.

Arrive Roma and go directly to Venice (Venezia)e on high-speed train. Assuming you arrive ar FCO before Noon, this is feasible.

Venezia -- 3 nights

Train to Zermatt, Switzerland (The only place you can actually ski at that time of the year. Not possible in the Lauterbrunnen Valley to my knowledge) -- 3 nights

Train to Florence (Firenze in Italian) -- 4 nights

Train to Roma -- 5 nights

That is 15 nights and I think a reasonable order of travel.

A few details:

You will need to use Italian names for making train reservations: Firenze, Venezia, Roma, etc.

It is 3.5 hours by train from Roma Termini to Venezia Santa Lucia and there are trains at least hourly. Once you know your flight arrival time, you can research at www.Trenitalia.com the connections to Venezia and plan. You can buy full fare tickets in advance for the train you want, and change them if you are late.

Venezia to Zermatt is a long haul -- about 7 hours, so get an early start! I recommend staying 3 nights in case weather gets in the way of skiing. Plus it is a long way to go for 2 nights/1 day.

Zermatt to Firenze is also a long haul, about 6 hours. 4 nights in Firenze gives you lots of time for Firenze itself, plus time to take a wine tour into Chianti, for example, or a day trip to Siena.

Roma for 5 nights gives you time to finish your trip in style, not rushing, and time to see the major sights in Roma.

There just is hardly time to also fly to-and-from Paris, IMO. You'd have to steal time from other great locations. I would skip Milan unless there is something there you want to prioritize.

Please read Rick Steves' Guide to Italy and make a list of what you want to see-and-do, one you decide on the major stops, i.e., Venezia, Firenze and Roma. There are many entrance tickets you will want to buy ahead of time and that takes planning so you can avoid the lines.

You asked about passes. None for Italy. Point-to-point is a better deal. If you can commit to an itinerary you can buy tickets on the high-speed freccia trains up to 120 days in advance and get great discounts. For Switzerland it is more challenging to figure out passes. Since you might only be going one place, it depends on how much you would use lifts for skiing, hiking and sightseeing. Once you have your plan, maybe we can help. Post a question under the Switzerland board when you are sure you are going there. Again I have to refer you to the Rick Steves guides. The Switzerland guide covers the Zermatt area nicely.

Also as to great places to stay and eat, etc., it will be easier to answer once you've decided on the itinerary. Again, post to the appropriate board when you ar sure. For example, on the Italy board you could ask for a fancy restaurant in Florence where you might want to celebrate your anniversary, or on the Switzerland board a question about a romantic hotel in Zermatt.

I'm pretty sure that snowboarding - don't know about skis - is offered at the Jungfraujoch into June.

I think it is all bunny slopes, but I'm sure I saw it.

I believe there is a small ropetow up there for skiers/boarders but the slope is very short and quite tame. Maybe a novelty but not really a skiing experience.

Zermatt, on the other hand, does offer reasonable skiing up on the glacier in summer. We were staying in Winkelmatten near the Klein Matterhorn lift base and saw skiers and boarders going up each day---this was around July 1.

If you truly want to see Paris, you could continue north by train after Zermatt. There are fast TGV trains to Paris from Geneva, Lausanne, and Basel. I would have to consult a timetable to see which would work best from Zermatt. These tickets are quite reasonable if you purchase well in advance from TGV or Capitaine.

From Paris, fly back to Rome and spend the last 4-5 days there. This is similar to Laurel's excellent plan but substitutes Paris for Florence. You may also want to consider a night or two in a small charming town such as Orvieto, which is very close to Rome.

5/29 Arrive Rome, train to Florence - 3 nights
6/01 Train to Venice - 3 nights
6/04 Train via Milan to Zermatt - 3 nights (6hr 18min best journey time - 2 changes)
6/07 Train via Lausanne to Paris - 3 nights (6hr 50min best journey time - 2 changes)
6/10 Fly to Rome - 3 nights (Vueling Airlines VY6254 / 14:45 ORY Paris Orly / 16:45 FCO Rome Fiumicino)
6/13 Depart Rome

Ok, we have had great replies and I'm so appreciative. We have decide to stay in Italy and if possible sneak to Switzerland for a day or 2, my husband says he doesn't need to ski there, but if there is anywhere close to a great stop in Italy, in Switzerland then please feel free to let us know. We arrive on the 30th at night in Rome.

Torino - the mountains above Torino - has great skiing in the winter and you don't need to leave Italy.

I don't know if anything is high enough to keep going into June though.

Sorry he will miss out on his shushing and sliding adventure....

Chelsea,
The problem with "sneaking into Switzerland for a day or two" is that it is a lot of travel time from Italy: 6 or 7 hours from Florence or Venice which are likely prior stops for you.

EDIT: Meant to say that to spend 6 or 7 hours each way to spend one or two nights kind of wastes two full days of your trip, so if it isn't on your "must do " list, maybe wait and plan a future trip around Switzerland.

Stick with Italy. There's more than enough for 15 nights! You might try the Dolomites, but it is very early in the season and I am afraid you will not have very good weather there yet. Maybe spend a few nights in a nice Tuscan hill town, or go to Umbria. Assisi is lovely! Car recommended for Tuscan hill towns, though.

Do you know about the website Rome2Rio? It is fabulous for helping understand travel times between two locations.

Lugano is only 1hr 07min from Milan.
For me that qualifies as "sneaking".

chelsea,

It's good to hear that you're going to limit your trip to Italy, as with such a short time frame that's a better idea than spending a lot of time seeing Europe through the windows of a train.

To answer one of your questions, the "best and least expensive way to travel" is via train, using pre-purchased tickets on the high speed trains (which can be purchased up to 120 days in advance). However keep in mind that the cheapest tickets are non-refundable and non-changeable once purchased, and they come with compulsory seat reservations which are specific to train, date and departure time so are valid on only the ONE train listed on the ticket. It will be easier to provide more information on that once you've decided on your route.

"Any off the beaten path neat and unique places to stay, eat or visit."

It won't be hard to find places like that in Italy, however many of the "off the beaten path" locations are now quite touristy but I don't find that to be much of a problem. One area that's very popular is the Cinque Terre, which is west of Florence in Liguria. It's the area where Pesto was invented, and I find it always tastes better there than anywhere else! This is one area that can be very touristy at times, especially with cruise ship groups. Despite that, given the occasion this is one location you might want to include.

Have you purchased your flights yet? If not I'd suggest using open-jaw flights, inbound to Venice and outbound from Rome. If you can arrange that, something like this should work.....

• D1 - flight inbound to Venice
• D2 / N1 - Venice
• D3 / N2 - Venice
• D4 / N3 - Venice
• D5 / N1 - train to Florence
• D6 / N2 - Florence
• D7 / N3 - Florence (possibly day trip to Siena or Lucca or just enjoy Florence)
• D8 / N1 - train to Cinque Terre (you'll have to decide which of the five towns you want to stay in - each of us here have a preference - I prefer Monterosso as it's the largest of the five, has the best hotels and other amenities and also the best beaches - I can suggest hotels if you're interested).
• D9 / N2 - Cinque Terre (this is a great place to do as much or as little as you want - hike, lay on the beach, enjoy Pesto and wine or whatever).
• D10 / N3 - Cinque Terre (possibly day trip to Porto Venere to see the area from the water)
• D11 / N1 - train to Rome (there's always some debate here about which part of Rome to stay - I prefer the area close to Termini station)
• D12 / N2 - Rome
• D13 / N3 - Rome (possibly day trip to Orvieto)
• D14 / N4- Rome
• D15 - outbound flight back home

There are numerous ways you could arrange this, and this is only one suggestion. In order to find the places that appeal to you, I'd suggest buying a copy of the RS Italy 2016 guidebook (available now and "on sale", also available as an E-book in several formats). You might find it helpful to pack it along as I find the books to be good reference during trips.

As someone else mentioned, if this is your first trip to Europe it would be a good idea to also read Europe Through The Back Door prior to your trip (you should be able to find a copy at your local Library). There are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using public transit in Italy, so you'll need to be aware of those (post another note here if you need further information).

Good luck with your planning!

Already bought tickets, into and out of Rome. Definitely want to see Venice, Florence and Rome, love to anything else worth seeing. We arrive on the 30th of May at 11:00 p.m. And fly out on the 13th of June. Any specific food that is popular, we love seafood, we don't drink alcohol, or any specific soveineir that we must take home? I heard the glass blowing is phenomenal. I would love to see the cinque Terre.

chelsea,

Using open-jaw flights would have been more efficient, but it won't be hard to adjust your Itinerary to fit the circumstances. Since you're not arriving until 23:00, what I'd probably do in the same situation is to spend the arrival night in Rome and then take a high speed train to Venice the following morning. Be sure to tell the hotel that you'll be a "late arrival". Note that your destination station will be Venezia Santa Lucia and the trip will be 3H:45M direct. In this case, staying close to Roma Termini would be prudent.

If you do that, you'll probably have to adjust your timing by perhaps skipping one night in Rome at the end of your trip.

One of the highlights of our 14 day visit to Italy was to Sorrento. We hired a private boat (sounds exotic but think it costs about $300) for 2 hrs of touring the coastline. It was THE most memorable part of our trip - we took our young adult daughters and they absolutely loved it. Really enjoyed Pompeii while in that region. Have to say though - I was robbed going to/from a train station in Naples so be very careful. Rest of our trip was: Day 1 arrive Milan and tour 1/2 day - train to Verona and stay 1 night - lovely town - colosseum. Day 2 train to Venice for 3 nights - Venice was the next highlight of our trip - as Rick says - get lost in the maze, enjoy the gelato, take a ferry to Murano and Burano, get breakfast at the farmer's market, wander St Mark's square at night- truly memorable. Train to Florence - 3 nights - day trip to Siena - sit in the town center and just soak it in, museums, gelato, risotto.

Train to Naples - 2 nights in Sorrento - we stayed at a hotel above the town (they had a convenient shuttle) that had a fantastic view of the bay of Naples and Mt. Vesuvius at night. Breakfast on the balcony overlooking Sorrento and the coast. Definitely a coast tour (private if you can). Saw Pompeii on way out and then to Rome for 3 nights. Do not miss the Borghese Gallery - definitely get tickets in advance - was our favorite museum in all of Italy because they really limit the crowds. We enjoyed the trolleys in Rome -actually I've forgotten what they call them - but helpful for getting around as well as just sight seeing. Your time frame was the same as ours - a lovely time - before the heavy crowds and heat. Have a wonderful trip!! I'm planning a trip back as I write!

5/30 Arrive late Rome Airport - 1 night
5/31 - Train to Venice - 3 nights
6/03 Train to Cinque Terre - 3 nights
6/06 Train Florence - 4 nights (with day trip to Siena)
6/10 Train to Rome - 3 nights
6/13 Depart Rome

David in Brisbane,

why do you suggest more time in Florence than in Rome?

I've been going to Rome for years, 5, 6, or 7 nights at a time and haven't yet really scratched the surface.

3 nights in Rome only gives 2 full which is nothing.

Have you been to Rome frequently?

Lugano is only 1hr 07min from Milan.
For me that qualifies as "sneaking".

Only works if you are already planning to stay in Milano.... Not if you are coming from Venezia.

"We have decided to stay in Italy and, if possible, sneak in to Switzerland for a day or 2."

I was just pointing out that you can be in Switzerland from Italy in less time than 6-7 hours.
There was no assumption of coming from Venice as far as I saw.