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The itin is getting there, but need some help...

Hi y'all,

An guidance on the big question gap for Italy below appreciated!

We're flying in to London on 9/16 and out of Rome on 10/13, so we have about a month, with the idea of my new-to-Europe husband getting a good general taste of Europe and me being able to see some things I have never seen (Switz., Provence, Lake Como) . The rough plan:

9/16 London

9/17 London

9/18 London

9/19 Cambridge day trip

9/20 Train London to Paris

9/21 Paris

9/22 Paris

9/23 Day trip to Versailles

9/24 Paris to Avignon

9/25 3 day self guided bike tour, Avignon to St. Remy...

9/26 Bike St. Remy.. to Arles

9/27 Bike Arles to Avignon

9/28 Avignon to Interlaken or thereabouts

9/29 Jungfrau area (maybe Lauterbrunnen valley)

9/30 Jungfrau area

10/1 Jungfrau area

10/2 Train in evening to Rapperswil (our friend we can only visit on the weekend)

10/3 Rapperswil -- maybe Zurich

10/4 Train (and bus?) Rapperswil to Lake Como

10/5 Lake Como area

10/6 Lake Como to Venice

?? These 5 days are a big question still. I am thinking that I would like to see the following cities/areas: Venice/Cinque Terra/Florence/Siena but don't know what to leave off??

10/10 Somewhere (still unknown) to Rome

10/11 Rome

10/12 Rome

10/13 Fly Rome back to London

10/14 London to San Francisco

What we love to do is walking around and photography , and definitely want to go super cheap

Thanks for any help!!

Posted by
19273 posts

You can also put a <br> at the end of each line to start the rest on a new line. That creates a single space instead of double spacing.

Posted by
4132 posts

I don't know what kind of a cyclist you are, but if you don't mind a hill or two you should consider the southern route from St. Remy to Arles, with a stop at Les Beaux.

Don't miss the Roman ruins on the way out of St. Remy.

Posted by
3112 posts

With only 5 days between Lake Como and Rome, I'd suggest one of the following alternatives: 2 days in Venice and 3 days in Florence (use 1 for a day trip to Siena), or 2 days in Cinque Terre and 3 days in Florence. Of the 3 locations, Cinque Terre lodging is probably the least costly and Venice probably the most expensive. You can save money in Venice by staying in Mestre, but that takes away some of the charm.

Posted by
3580 posts

Venice can be visited on a daytrip from Florence. It's about 3 hrs each way by train.

Posted by
10344 posts

Re the period Oct 6 to Oct 10, you've just arrived in Venice at some hour of the day on the 6th, not the morning of Oct 6th--so if you're going to do Venice at all, it's going to require the rest of the 6th & all of the 7th in Venice

You don't have enough time to do Venice, CT, and Florence/Siena, in the time you have--one has to be eliminated.

If you like outdoor walking better than world class museums, eliminate Florence. Other way around, eliminate CT.

Let's say you eliminate Florence, for example. Oct 8 you'd leave Venice for Cinque Terre, takes approx all day for the travel time to get there, which has you arriving CT evening of Oct 8. Explore CT Oct 9.

Your itin. calls for you to be in Rome sometime Oct 10, and it will take basically all day in travel time to get from the CT to Rome. Thus, you leave CT Oct 10 and arrive Rome late afternoon/evening of Oct 10.

Posted by
6898 posts

Yolanda, I hope that you are doing a spreadsheet that shows travel time between your destinations. The train journey between Avignon and Lauterbrunnen takes about 9.0 hours. If you are going up to the top of the Jungfrau, its 2hrs up and 2hrs back down by cog train. Going north to Zurich from the Jungfrau area will take about 2.5hrs. Then, you are looking at another 2.5hrs to get back where you where to go south to Lake Como. You might consider Paris to Zurich and Rapperswil the weekend before and work your way south from there. Lake Como/Venice will take you 4.5hrs. Venice/CT will take 6.0hrs by train.

If you want to go super cheap in Italy, ride the Regional trains instead of any of the high-speeds. Cost is about 50% less but the travel times I quoted above will increase about 30%. Note, however, that you will be on these inexpensive regional trains to and from Lake Como, the trains in the CT as well as most of the trains to Florence from the CT and from Florence to Siena.

Posted by
10344 posts

Yolanda: I'm saying same as Larry said in post immediately above. Highly recommended you use the Itinerary Planning Tools at this link

http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/8978/bhow-to-plan-your-itinerary--determine-travel-timesb.html

to carefully evaluate your travel times between destinations. Wishful thinking and "being young and energetic" doesn't make geographical facts such as travel times disappear.

If you take all day to get someplace (example Venice to Cinque Terre), and you're leaving the next day--well, not good--you don't end up getting the trip you thought you'd have and mostly see the inside of trains and train stations instead of what you paid all that money and went all that way to do and see.