Thoughts about itinerary

What month is this trip? It doesn't much matter in which order you visit Paris and Belgium - your decision will be based on balancing the issues you identified of flight convenience vs. days things are open/closed. You can wing the train and sightseeing plan in Italy, but you'll probably want to reserve a hotel. Venice is worth the overnight stay! It is not hard to daytrip from Bologna to Florence, only a half-hour each way by train.

Thanks for the quick replies! The trip is actually in mid May. Coming up quick! I am using AirBnB for the 3 night stays and hotels for the shorter stays. I have most lodging narrowed down but not booked. Still need to do research on which area in Rome I want to stay in. Trip is coming out surprisingly cheap so far, which means we can spend more money on things over there!

Would it help to post the questions about Belgium/paris and Italy part in the country specific forums? Travel and lodging seem cheaper to do Belgium first and also eliminates the worries about sunday in Belgium (but creates worries about sunday in Paris which I feel would be easier to overcome). I just think it would be much easier and save time (which is important) to fly out of Brussels main airport and into Fiumicino as opposed to Beauvais to Ciampino.

I really want to spend a night in Venice, but it seems so much cheaper to stay in bologna and day trip there.

John, spend the night in Venice! Some experiences are worth the money. There are economical hotel options in Venice if you look in Cannaregio or near the public gardens. Buy a 24- or 36-hour vaporetto pass. You will not regret wandering through the streets and piazze at night when the daytrippers are gone, and in the early morning before the tour groups roll in. Let this be the one-night splurge.

I think you should read this thread https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/staying-in-venice-5e84d615-bc99-4ce3-94ac-0904bb706283 asking for advice about staying near Venice. The fast trains from Bologna to Venice take 1.5 hours.

I'll definitely look into it. 1.5 hours to and from when the trains run early and very late don't bother me though. I drive 1.5 hours to work every day though, so I guess that length of time seems arbitrary to me =)

Looks like a great trip... only comment I have to add is to save money elsewhere and spend the night in Venice. You won't regret staying the night once your experience it. Don't spend all that money and be so close and miss this experience. Get up early in the morning after you spend the night and watch the sunrise over Venice and be part of the city waking up.:))

Maybe I missed something, but I plugged the nights in and only see one remaining night for Venice or Florence - and given the schedule you have, I'd skip both - you simply don't have enough time. 7 cities in 12 days (travel days don't count) is crazy IMO - especially since this is your first trip to Europe. Bear in mind that changing locations will eat up anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 of day between getting to the train/plane, travel time/finding your new hotel, etc. WIth 14 days, I'd seriously recommend splitting your time between London, Paris, Rome and possibly either Venice or Florence.

You're definitely looking at it wrong. 3 nights London, 3 nights Paris, 2 nights Belgium, 3 nights Rome, 1 night Venice, 1 night bologna, 1 night Dublin. 14 nights. Florence would be where we spend the day the night we are staying in bologna. All of our travel gets us to our destinations well before noon so our travel days aren't completely lost. Everything we are bringing is easily portable.

Don't have to see everything in every destination. Our must see/do lists are actually very short. The idea is the 3 nights in the big cities leave use 2.5 days to get through all the things in the 3-day city plans that we care about. If we don't get to everything, oh well. Just as long as we grab the lunch and dinner destinations we want, we will be happy!

Thanks for the perspective though!

No need to troll David! Sorry my trip doesn't satisfy you...

Also not a gambler, Vegas wasn't a whole lot of fun to me. 2 whole weeks there would be torture...

Just a little note of encouragement.....
My first trip to Europe I saw 9 countries in a little under 3 weeks.... drove hundreds of miles, no reservations, and a brief idea of where we (myself and my 21 year old daughter) wanted to go. I was armed with RS book and little more... but what I did not have were a bunch of naysayers telling me my trip was not worthy. Thankfully I did not know about this site. I would not trade a million dollars for the memories and excitement and wonder of our 'taste of Europe.' We loved it and even tho I have been fortunate enough to return many times, she has not. Grad school, marriage, kids, etc. and I am so glad she was able to see as much as she did. They will return someday, but for now she has her great memory of a whirlwind trip.
Young or old... make it your trip:))

Appreciate the words! I don't get discouraged easy though, so no worries. I've been through an awful lot in my short time on earth to let people on the internet get to me. The fact that my wife and I are even able to go to Europe is amazing knowing what we grew up with. That's why we can do trips like this and love every minute of it. Every day is truly a blessing.

Our last trip was a similar trip through some cities on the east coast. 3 nights was the longest stay. Heck, we drove at least 1.5 hrs out of our way back just to stop in Baltimore for crabs dinner! That was all of Baltimore we got to see and we loved it! We can appreciate what's around us without seeing every site. I know we won't be disappointed and hopefully at some point we will be lucky enough to make it back and see anything we might have missed! Gotta stay laid back and go with the flow!

John, You will have a fabulous time. While it took me 25 years to make it back to Europe, we are now planning our 5th trip to Europe since 2005. The first trip was a three week bus tour visiting 5 countries and who knows how many cities. It's a great way to get a taste and then dream of the next trip, which for you could be a "family" later. No matter whether you are spending your time relaxing, on the move, exploring along the way, visiting museums, you'll have fun. You might arrive home needing a vacation from a vacation, but who cares.

I echo a night in Venice. Several year's ago when planning our trip to Italy, I was going to leave Venice out, then my husband insisted. We arrived at noon, left at 2:00 pm the next day and had a wonderful time. While we were only there for 1 night it was totally worth it. We'll be back there again on a future trip.

One thing I do that helps me prevent me from over extending our time, is use an Excel calendar to plot my itinerary (s) and note where we are staying each night. I assume that 10 hours are spent in a hotel room, sleeping, getting ready for bed, and getting up in the morning. That leaves 14 hours. Then I note travel time (door to door), and that leaves the number of hours for sightseeing, exploring, eating, people watching, tours, relaxing, etc. I'd recommend either being on the move early, or later in the afternoon, so you have enough hours on either end for the fun part of your vacation. If you have too many days with 6-7 plus hours on the move from one destination to the next, you may want to rethink things a bit.

Hi,

Good, I can see three nights for both London and Paris, which you can extend in either city by dropping Belgium. But if you're there for trying the beer, I can see why. I myself have tried some of the Belgian beers in northern France, very much available there, can't say I care for Belgian beers. I would suggest then skipping parts of Italy, choose between Florence or Venice, or drop Belgium.

Thanks Karen! I'm positive it will be enjoyable regardless! I just want to make sure that I maximize my time during the days we are where we plan on going by ordering it correctly and making wise choices on places to stay that are also cost conscience. We are definitely set on where we are going, just want to make sure we optimize it based on that!

The way our travel between stops shakes out, we will be traveling early morning between each stop, which will allow us to maximize time on the travel day in each new spot. I feel we have a good grasp on what this itinerary will not allow us to do and that it is outweighed by what it will allow us to do that we otherwise couldn't.

Again, if we don't see everything, no biggie! Roll with it and be thankful for what we could see.

Obviously, you can do your trip any way that you wish - however, you did ask for advice from those who have "been there and done that" - and since you've never been to Europe before, I think you are seriously underestimating the time required to get between different points - and I can guarantee you for some of your location changes it will take more than a "morning" - for example, flying from Paris to Rome will take more than a morning - two hours before flight to Rome, two hour flight and then it will take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to get through airport in Rome (this does not take into consideration time to travel and from both airports). Bear in mind that Europe is NOT like the US especially in Italy - things tend to move slower there and are, by our standards, rather inefficient. Also, bear in mind you will be navigating areas that you have never been to before - and will have to figure out which train ticket to buy (and where to buy it) and all of that takes time. Also, given how tight your itinerary is there is little room for travel delays so you might want to take that into consideration because it does happen and more frequently than you might think.
So is your itinerary doable? Absolutely. Will it be rushed and tiring - absolutely - but only you can determine if that is the type of trip you want or not.

Yep that's exactly why I posted! I appreciate all the advice for sure! Just want to make sure everyone gets what we are trying to do and our priorities.

If we go from Paris to Rome the flight is a 7am flight. From Brussels to Rome is more of a later morning flight so it will take up more of the travel day for sure.

Keep the tips coming! Love the help!

So I'm looking at places to stay in Venice. It ends up being a Friday night that we would be there. The few solid budget places I have contacted all have a 2 night minimum on weekends. I would like to stay under €150 if possible. Any suggestions?

In Venice, look for hostels (there are double rooms in most, if not all) and monasteries. And yes, it's 1.5 hours from Mestre to Bologna, but it could take you another hour from St. Mark's Square to Mestre. Travel in Venice is slow.

If I've learned anything in this process it is to book what you think you want as soon as you find it. Missed out on a place in Venice and London due to indecision... Still looking at Venice. Most of the decent budget places seem to require minimum 2 nights on the weekend. I'm committed at least to staying in Venice, per suggestions here. Thanks all!