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Suggestion for Italy,Switzerland and France 15 days/14 nights Itinerary

Hello,
Happy New year.
I am planning a trip to Europe with my husband and 2 kids 12,15 years this late May 2016. It will be for 15 days starting 28th of May. I have a rough structure in my mind and require your suggestions to make a final itinerary.
Italy 6 nights
Switzerland 5 nights
Paris 3 nights
Need suggestion for the best (Must see)cities to cover in each counties with number of nights required for stay
Mode of inter cities and inter countries transportation (Which will better Car or public transportation?)
We will be planning to arrive by flight in Italy and depart from Paris.
Where to stay in each cities?
All suggestions are highly appreciated. Looking forward to your valuable suggestions and comments.
Thanks & Regards,
Nitu

Posted by
8293 posts

Forgive me for saying this, but you are asking others to plan your entire trip and yet we know nothing about your or your children's interests, what your budget would be, or anything else that could be useful. In my opinion, and others may be able to discern what is between the lines that I do not see, your post as written is unanswerable. Sorry.

Posted by
1373 posts

Norma is correct. There are the obvious places in Italy such as Rome, Florence, Venice. But others prefer, Milan, Siena, Cinque Terre, Tuscany region, or more southern, Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Brindisi. Switzerland is the same, Zurich, Bern, Lauterbrunnen Valley and all parts around. Paris has all the main tourist sites.

Do you wish to stay in a hotel, near the city centers & closer to the sites or out in the outskirts in the generic, cookie cutter ones. Or maybe rent an apartment.
A good start might be to see what your family interests are in these areas, get a hold of a good travel guide/book of those areas, such as what Rick Steves offers and even watch some of Rick's videos (on this site or through Youtube) on the areas you wish to visit, these can help you get an idea of what you may want to see/visit.

Posted by
10249 posts

Norma is correct. You need to provide more information.

Do your 15 days (nights?) include your travel days? If so, at least 2 days will be lost to traveling to and from Europe. Where are you traveling from? Also factor in time lost in traveling from location to location. Factor in at least half a day, if not more. Are you traveling open jaw, into one city and out of another?

Planning by nights in each location is the easiest way to plan. Remember that 2 nights in a location gives you one full day there, 3 nights is 2 days, and so on. You have 3 nights in Paris, coming from where? Paris is my favorite city, and I don't think I'd take the time to travel there from Italy or Switzerland for only 2 days there. I'd add that time to either Italy or Switzerland.

Posted by
10249 posts

Either you edited you post or I missed some details. For a 14 night trip you will need to cut somethings out. I see you are arriving in Italy (where?) and departing Paris. Have you already purchased your airline tickets? Since Paris is a must, I would cut Switzerland out and spend the time in Italy and Paris. With 14 nights I would spend 5 in Paris, and the rest in Italy. Fly into Venice (the best to get over any jetlag) for 3 nights, 2 nights in Florence and 4 nights in Rome. Fly from Rome to Paris.

What you want to see in each city requires you to read about what's available and figure out what you and your family want to see.

Posted by
3580 posts

Visit the "big three" in Italy, for sure. Fly into Venice (3 or 4 nights), take a train to Florence (3 or 4 nights), train to Rome (3 or 4 nights). Fly to Paris from Rome and save Switzerland for another trip. Paris has plenty to do for 4 or 5 nights. I suggest shopping for hotels using the Rick Steves books and websites such as booking.com. This schedule would give you time for side trips from the four cities.

Pick up a couple of guidebooks such as the ones in the Rick Steves series either at your library or thru purchasing. Come back with more questions anytime.

Posted by
16894 posts

14 nights is only 13 days to visit, not 15. There are lots of ways to do it, so you really need to put some thought into which cities are your top priorities to see and which to cut. Since you haven't mentioned a special interest, I think you want to cover the popular highlights.

Here's a possible, quick-moving option that mostly fits your description:
Venice 3N
Florence 2N
Cinque Terre 2N
Lauterbrunnen/Muerren 3N
Golden Pass scenic train to Lausanne/Montreux 1N
Paris 3N
We would definitely do this by train. How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it.

On the other hand, I'd certainly be happy with the route that Swan describes, above, including a cheap flight for the longest leg and more time in Paris.

Rick's videos can give you inspiration but the guide books fill in all the practical details that you need to plan the trip.

Posted by
18 posts

Thank you all for your suggestions. Here what I am thinking to included in my trip Please advice if it would doable or not in given time.

arrive by Flight 28 Italy - Rome
29 Rome
30 Rome- Florence
31 Florence
1 Florence - Venice
2 Venice
3 Venice - Berner oberland
4 Berner oberland
5 Berner oberland
6 Berner oberland - Luzern
7 Luzern
8 Luzern - Paris
9 Paris
10 Paris
11 Paris depart by flight
Need advice
Is above trip possible in 14 nights?
Mode of inter cities and inter countries transportation (Which will better Car or public transportation Rail.bus?)
Where to stay in each cities? (near public transportation or city center)
Where to stay in Berner oberland? what are the main attraction to do?
All suggestions are highly appreciated. Looking forward to your valuable suggestions and comments.
Thanks & Regards,
Nitu

Posted by
93 posts

I was in Italy last summer with my then 12 & 15 year olds. We rented a small apartment in Padova for a week and used it for a base. My teens really enjoyed Venice & Florence. They did feel that the 2 (separate) days we spent in Venice was lots of time for them. One day we arrived really early, other mid day and returned to our apt. very late so we did enjoy Venice without the crowds and for us, didn't feel like we missed out on anything by not sleeping in Venice. They really enjoyed Verona, Padova, Bologna and Florence. Aside from exploring markets & food, my children generally have very different interests so I was a bit surprised by what they really liked and what was just a teenage 'meh'. A return trip to Italy would have us spend more time in Tuscany, including Florence and the north. We did get to Rome but it was at the end of a 5 week trip, it was incredibly hot and crowded and think we were 'done' by then. I don't think your itinerary has enough time in Rome, you should add at least one more night. With arriving/jet lag/any delays you really won't have much time to see very much of Rome. We were in Paris a couple of years ago, my child that loves art & shopping loved Paris, the other liked it but has enjoyed other cities more and we generally prefer cities. We were in Innsbruck which we enjoyed enroute to Munich and then Berlin (which was probably our favorite place last summer). We also found that generally apartment rentals through VRBO/Homeway were a better choice and offered more space for 3 of us. My kids also prefer not to switch hotels, apts every night or two, it was time consuming. Personally, we preferred to day trip to many of our destinations and used the time on the train to read, plan for our next day etc. Almost exclusively we used trains, and local transit and it worked out really well. I would probably omit Switzerland and spend your time in Italy and Paris.

Posted by
1994 posts

Do you really want to spend more than one-third of your touring days in transit? Even if it's only a couple of hours to get between the cities, you need to add another 2 to 4 hours for packing, checking out of the hotel, finding the airport or train station, waiting for the train/plane departure, transit delays, getting lost, finding your new hotel, and checking in/unpacking. And driving is unlikely to save you time because you'll either be spending time looking for parking or have to stay at a hotel on the periphery that has parking and commute into the center. Finally, depending on how your kids travel, it may take even longer to get things organized and moving when traveling with a preteen and teen.

With 13 touring days, I wouldn't spend 5 of them in transit. With that amount of time, I would suggest 3 locations with some day trips for variety. Maybe Rome, Florence or Venice, and Paris.

Posted by
18 posts

Thank you for your suggestions.
Based on all the responses I will now plan for 2 countries. I want to go Switzerland but between France and Italy which one do I pick? My trip will be still 15 days. In Italy can I be able to see Rome,Florence, Pisa, Siena, Venice and Cinque Terre in 10 days? Or could you please suggest best itinerary for 10 days in Italy with must see cities.
Thanks,
Nitu

Posted by
11356 posts

I like your last itinerary, although I would drop Luzern in favor of more time in Italy and at that frop Venice. Consider this possibility:
arrive by Flight 28 Italy - Rome
29 Rome
30 Rome
31 Rome
1 Rome to Florence (1. 5 hours in train)
2 Florence
3 Florence
4 Florence to Berner Oberland (6.5 hours in train)
5 Berner Oberland
6 Berner Oberland
7- Berner Oberland
8 Berner-Oberland to Paris (6 hours by train)
9 Paris
10 Paris
11 Paris depart by flight

Posted by
7175 posts

I think your itinerary works well. It is intense, but your enthusiasm won't wane over just 2 weeks. I imagine with your 2 kids you will be concentrating on iconic 'big ticket' sights and not so many 'boring' churches and museums.
My only suggestion would be to drop Luzern, adding a night to Paris, and also to either Florence or Venice.
Or, as Laura suggests (again at the expense of Luzern), include the Golden Pass train route from Interlaken to Lausanne/Montreux for a night. In this case I would also add a 4th night to Paris.

Posted by
76 posts

Your kids are 12 and 14 years. Find out if they would appreciate Florence / Rome art. Paris has got enough variety for 7 days. Paris disneyland, science museum, wax musrum would be a lot fun at their age.

My recommendation would be

Paris 7 days

Lauterbrunnen/murren 5 days

Venice/Rome 3 days.