Traveling to Europe 1 month-Italy, Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon, and the Azores.

Pompeii and Naples can be done as a long day trip from Rome, possibly Florence (Firenze in Italian) if you only want to spend a few hours there (which would be a shame). I would say the Italian portion of your trip would easily take 3 weeks to do it "right" (IMHO). If you also want to do Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon and the Azores, I'd scale back the Italy portion. In two weeks you could cover Rome, Firenze (day trip to Siena, skip Pisa), Milan and the Cinque Terre (note spelling) OR the Amalfi Coast.

Rick Steves' guides give far more information on train, plane and bus to all of these locations than is possible on this board. Do you have them for the countries you plan to visit?

I have the Italian guide book. We figured we would have to chose between the Amalfi Coast or Cinque Terre. We are leaning more towards the Amalfi Coast at this point...

I can help with the Lisbon/Azores part of the trip...you can send me a Private Message with questions when you are ready. Seeing that this is your first visit to Europe AND The Azores, I recommend scaling back your itinerary. Just by visiting Terceira, your family will be expecting you over for multiple lunches and dinners, etc., give yourself a good 10 days to 2 weeks if possible just in Terceira! You want to enjoy and savor this first visit to Europe; I would take out Paris and Barcelona and focus the trip between Italy and Portugal, just my opinion :-). Good Luck!

Starting from departing Milan, the second half of the tip is all long hops that would be best done by plane; see www.skyscanner.com for a good search engine. Budget airlines also fly from Pisa, if Milan is not key to your plan.

You can take a direct train from Milan to Paris, 7.5 hours, with discount tickets on sale about 3 months ahead, but flying is usually as cheap as the lowest train ticket price. Same applies for Paris-Barcelona.

Barcelona-Lisbon is a longer train ride, 15.5 hours, which includes switching to an overnight train at Madrid. How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it.

I think your plan is a little aggressive for a one-month trip – You would spend a lot of time getting from city to city. Since you have several destinations of interest in Italy, I would limit the trip to Italy, Lisbon, and the Azores (assuming you're flying to the Azores from Lisbon). Also, to make maximum use of your time, fly into your first city and home from your last, rather then circling back to your arrival city.

On an initial trip to Italy, I would skip Milan, even though I really like it; I think the other places you're considering offer a broader range of experiences. A few other thoughts… I have friends who did the Amalfi coast and Pompeii as a very long bus tour from Rome – about 12 hours – but they really enjoyed it. The coastal portion of the drive was done in a small van. And if you end up visiting the Amalfi coast, I would skip Cinque Terre. I would also skip Pisa; unless the leaning tower is an essential for you, Pisa won't offer anything new compared with other cities you're visiting.

May 30 Arrive Paris - 4 nights
Jun 03 Fly to Milan - 2 nights
Jun 05 Train to Cinque Terre - 3 nights
Jun 08 Train to Florence (Siena, Pisa) - 4 nights
Jun 12 Train to Amalfi Coast (Sorrento, Naples, Pompeii) - 4 nights
Jun 16 Train to Rome - 4 nights
Jun 20 Fly to Barcelona - 4 nights
Jun 24 Fly to Lisbon - 4 nights
Jun 28 Fly to Terceira (the Azores, I have family here) - 4 nights
Jul 02 Fly home

We are flying into Rome first and flying home from the Azores.

This is a rough schedule...

Rome May 30-June 3
Amalifi Coast June 4-6
Florence, Siena, Pisa June 7-9
Cinque Terre (MAYBE) June 10-12
Milan June 13 (this would be a resting place for one night, check out a cathedral or 2 and that's it)
Paris June 14-16
Barcelona June 17-20
Lisbon June 21-23
Azores (mainly Terceira) June 24-July 1
Arrive home July 2-3

The main focus of our trip will be Italy...we could cut out Cinque Terra and Milan if y'all think it would be best. I added Barcelona and Lisbon because I thought they would be great stopping points on the way to Terceira.

We're planning on doing walking or biking tours in each place on the first day to get a feel for the city. We don't plan on seeing everything in each city, just the things that really interest us.

Florence tours

Taste of Florence: http://tasteflorence.com

Tuscany Bike Tours: http://tuscany-biketours.com

That works well if you are starting in Rome.
Perhaps take a night from Rome and add to Amalfi Coast.
If you decide against the 3 nights on Cinque Terre (and it would relax things a bit) I would give a night each to Milan, Paris and Lisbon.

Would you guys suggest booking tours (day tours, walking/bike tours) a few months or weeks ahead or the day before? I've heard mixed reviews on various blogs on this issue....

On a similar note, I found a tour on viator.com that departed from Rome to the Naples, Pompeii and Capri. Not sure if we should do that or travel there by ourselves... http://www.viator.com/tours/Rome/3-Day-Italy-Trip-Naples-Pompeii-Sorrento-and-Capri/d511-5034ROM17

One reason I suggested taking a day from Rome for the Amalfi Coast (Sorrento) is so you have more time to visit Naples, Pompeii, Capri, Positano, etc. These are all close to Sorrento and easy by Circumvesuviana local train, or bus (Positano), or ferry (Capri). It would be a senseless waste of travel time to do these from Rome when you have plans to include the Amalfi Coast on your trip.

OK friends...after a lot of discussing with my husband, we decided to take Barcelona out of the itinerary. I have i think 1 day left to add to a town or country and not sure where I should add an extra day. Husband says Rome and I say Paris....
Here's the somewhat new itinerary

Rome 3 nights May 30-June1
Sorrento 3 nights June 2-4
Assisi 2 nights June 5-6
Siena 2 nights June 7-8
Florence 2 nights June 9-10
Cinque Terre 3 nights June 11-13
Milan 1 night June 14
Paris 3 nights June 15-17
Lisbob 3 nights June 18-June 20
Azores 8 nights June 22- June 30
Leave July 1st

Paris definitely.
You've done all the work so it's yours call over his !!

Ha I think you're right! Paris it is!