Seeking itinerary suggestions to include Rome and Vienna in a trip

Not knowing where you are flying from exactly, here some suggestions to start:

1) Consider a flight from Canada that connects in CDG (Paris) for Rome. Get a stop-over in Paris built into your ticket. Then the international baggage allowance applies for the Paris to Rome segment. Usually the cost of a stop-over is minimal and simply reflects added airport taxes. I have done this many times, using Air France (ticketed AF or KLM or Delta).

2) Rome to Venice is by fast train: Trenitalia or Italo offers that run.

3) You can take the train from Venice to Vienna - a bit long, but scenic. (In my experience, Vienna is not as well linked by cheap airlines.)

4) Open-jaw your return ticket to Canada, leaving from Vienna.

You will definitely need your full two weeks to do all four. IMO, logistically, the easiest city to eliminate would be Vienna.

Would the kids accept London as a substitute for Vienna? Easily done from Paris and well linked to Rome or Venice by cheap flights. Then your return int'l flight could be from Italy and you would have a greater choice of airlines (wouldn't have to deal with a stop-over scenario).

You could easily schedule as follows: Paris 4 nights min., Rome 4 nights min., and Venice 2 nights - to start.

jacaliab, every time you move from one city to another, by train, plane, or car, will eat up at least a whole day of time. So two nights in a city equals one day of actual touring time. So consider your plan with that in mind.

First let me say, wonderful, amazing cities, which need to be explored, seen, enjoyed and discovered. Too many places to visit in too short a period of time. Take a look at the RS tours where he goes for one week to Rome, one week to Paris and ( I have taken both tours) and still not enough time to fully see those cities. As one stated, it takes time to get from one city to another city, takes time to find the train stations, time to get to the airport, time to check in, time to rest, time to eat. Time to visit museums, walk the streets, go into shops, visit the churches. Yes, too faced paced and see very little. Rome and Venice deserve all 14 days and you can take the train from Venice to Rome or Rome to Venice. If you decide on Paris, then you could see the city and go outside the city and take some nice day trips and there you have the 10 or more days. Versailles is amazing and there are some other chateaus you can also see, which will take all day to see and of course Monet's Gardens! Take out the RS books from the library, watch YouTube videos, look at the RS scrapbooks on this forum. This will give you an idea of what to see and do. This will enable you to understand that there is so much to see and do and you don't want to miss out by not staying all that long in the cities of your choice. As for Vienna, I am not sure what city to start from and take the train or fly to Vienna. I really would suggest you go to no more than two cities, if you are going for 14 days. If 10 days, go to one city and then do one or two day trips. I have been to all the cities except Vienna and hope to go next year to Vienna. And from what I read, there is lots of castles and museums and cafes to see in Vienna. Have wonderful, safe trip. Whatever you choose, it will be wonderful.

Sorry, but Monet's Garden is not a great place to see in March, and cafés would also not be that great either... there won't be snow, but it will be cold in Paris at that time.

Vienna (3nts) >> (train to) Venice (3nts) >> (train to) Rome (4nts) >> (fly to) Paris (4nts)

You could book a 4 berth couchette on the night train from Vienna to Venice
https://www.oebb.at/en/Travelling_abroad/SparSchiene_Europa/Italy/Timetable_Vienna-Salzburg-Venice/index.jsp

Venice to Rome is 3hr 45min by frequent high speed trains.
http://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm#.VkE2Z9Izfs0\

Easyjet and Vueling offer cheap fares from Rome to Paris Orly.

ps. Has your wife been in the ears of your kids? As these are four of the most romantic cities in Europe.

Thank you everyone for the great advice. It will certainly help in deciding what to do. As for the city choices made by my children: Rome is for the Percy Jackson series, Vienna is to see the Lipizzaner horses, Paris is because they speak french in school and Vienna is from another book but I can't recall which one. I will continue to do my research and planning based on your very helpful advice.

Since the visit to Vienna is to see the Spanish Riding School, you might consider dropping that city and instead visiting horsey spots elsewhere. Not sure about Italy, but outside Paris there are stables and horse spectacles [dressage, training, etc.] at the Chateau de Chantilly and at Versailles. The Versailles show is Saturday and Sunday only, I believe; I can't find the timing for the Chantilly events, but they seem to have both shows and open training. You could visit either one as a day trip from Paris.

As others have said, minimizing the number of times you change locations will make a better trip for everyone. Happy planning, and have a great trip!

Carol,

That trip is certainly possible in the time frame you mentioned. Are you planning to fly out of Ottawa or Toronto? You'll probably find the best choice of flight options from YYZ, and probably with Air Canada.

This is one Itinerary you could consider......

• Depart Canada, flight to Vienna
• Arrive Vienna, 3 nights
• Train to Venice, 3 nights (there appears to be a direct departure from Wien Hbf at 06:22, arriving Venezia S. Lucia at 14:01 (time 7H:39M, reservations compulsory - although that's an early start you can sleep on the train, enjoy the scenery in the Brenner Pass and arrive early enough to have a bit of a walkabout in Venice before supper - you can either pick up some sandwiches or whatever in the Vienna station for lunch on the train, or use the dining car - you'll need to confirm the train details early in the new year).
• Train to Rome, 3 nights (there are lots of departures with high speed trains with a travel time of 3H:45M from Venezia S. Lucia to Roma Termini).
• Flight to Paris, 3 nights (as mentioned earlier, a flight with easyJet is a good option from Rome / FCO to Paris / ORY - transport from ORY into Paris is relatively easy via the OrlyVal and RER "B"). Have you used any of the budget airlines in the past? There are a few things to be aware of.
• Flight from Paris to Canada

The Vienna - Venice and Rome - Paris segments of your trip will take the better part of a full day, so that will add slightly to the overall time required. The weather will be a bit cooler in March in all the locations you're visiting and probably some rain, so pack accordingly.

From Ottawa (thanks for adding that info to your profile - it helps a lot!), then I'd suggest Ken's itinerary, starting with Vienna and ending in Paris. (I'd cut Venice to two nights and add one night to Rome or Paris - because of much more stuff for the kids to be interested in). Also consider an apartment rental in Rome - much more affordable and convenient!

And I would do as I suggested - definitely get the flights AF/KLM/DL from Ottawa (XDS not YOW). Open-jaw to Vienna on the way out, then back from Rome, with a free stop-over in Paris on the way back. Easy as pie and you will save quite a bit of money! Air Canada to Europe is not competitive from Ottawa and you will get the international baggage allowance from Rome to Paris, as part of your ticket.

XDS is the code for the airline bus pick-up that takes you from the Via station in the east end of Ottawa to Trudeau airport in Montreal. This bus is included in your ticket as a flight segment.

I'm often ticketed this way myself and will be doing it again this coming January. That free stop-over in Paris is something that I try to work in each time! ;-)

If the suggested itineraries seem too rushed, how about letting each child choose one city and parents choose a third, and call it a vacation? Roma and Venezia are only four hours apart by train; you could take the train from Venezia to Wien (Vienna) or fly from Venezia to Paris.

I was going to suggest something like David from Brisbane---fly to Vienna, train to Italy (more in this below) and on to Rome, then fly to Paris and home from there.

Here is a wonderful opportunity for horse lovers: from Vienna, take the train to Trieste in Italy. This in on the border with Slovenia and the original Lipica stud farm is very close by. You can visit the farm and I think even take a riding lesson on one of the Lippizaners (I can check on that).

From Trieste it is a two-hour train ride to Venice. Spend at least two nights then continue by train to Rome ( about four hours--I should remember as we did this last month but am not certain without looking it up. Advance-purchase tickets are very inexpensive.

The Lipica horse farm is a fair ways out of the way to go! A rental car would be required... one that could be taken into Slovenia from Italy. The idea is neither realistic, nor practical for this trip, IMO.

We visited the farm in late October one year. We especially liked seeing the black foals and the young horses as their colour progressed to white. I'm not entirely sure how available services would be in March... It was pretty much wound down when we went. We lucked into the place being in full swing on the day that we went - but that was only because Queen E herself had been scheduled to visit that day. I doubt that the restaurant would be open at that time of the year and there really is nothing else in the immediate vicinity. It is primarily a working horse breeding farm; one that is set up to welcome visitors in season.