I am a 49 year old female who is about to take her 76 year old mother and 54 year old sister to France and Italy. I need help and suggestions for a nice, safe, trip.I realize that I am late in the planning process. My mother and sister have never traveled Europe. This is their life's dream vacation. My mother has always wanted to visit her families birth place somewhere near Alto Adige.We will get a car for the day. Could someone help me with train tips, sleeping accomodations, timing per city and even additional cities to visit. We will be in Paris from July 1-4.Staying at Hotel Cecilia. We will leave Paris Sunday night and take my 19 year old daughter to Lyon for summer school. I thought that we would then stay in Lyon for the night and take the evening train to Milan stay in Milan until the 7th leave and arrive in Vencie on the 8th stay until the 10th then go to Florence or Verona? on the way to Rome. Stay in Rome until the 14th and return to USA. Could anyone please give me comments and or ideas that would be of help with timing? Does this sound like an intinary that would work? Is ther too much or not enough time in any one area? What are the best charge cards to use in EuropeI purchase the Euro pass or individual Italian passes? God Bless Your Kind Hearts.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32791 posts
Its quite a lot and you will be well tired after. I have missed your trip to Sued Tirol - Alto Adige. I would have thought that would be most of a day from Milan, Verona, or Venice; especially if you have yet to locate the town. The Alto Adige is a large mountainous area and if you get far off the Autostrade you will spend lots of time (in very beautiful areas).
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
The trip from Lyon to Milan is about 9 hours so you might want to take the overnight train. You won't get a ton of sleep but it'll save you a travel day.
After Milan I would just go to Rome. You are trying to see too much in such a short time. You have listed 6 cities in 14 days. That doesn't give you a lot of time to see them. These cities are not close to each other and you'll spend at least a few hours on the train and then at least another checking into your hotels. Limiting you cities gives you more time in them and also gives you a chance for day trips. From Rome, Florence is 1.5 hours away which makes it perfect for a day trip. No changing hotels.
When in Italy it's cheaper to buy point to Point train tickets. You can buy them all at once or the day of travel. The trains never sell out and there are many per day to the locations you listed. For hotels, check out venere.com. In Rome the central areas are the navona, pantheon and trevi areas, the cheaper areas are the termini and vatican areas. In Venice the most central areas are the rialto and St.Marks areas. The less expensive areas are the Dorsoduro and Cannaregio areas. I'm not as familiar with Florence so I won't speak to that.
Take a debit card with you for cash. Let your bank and cc companies know your travel plans so they don't put a fraud hold on your cards. Also, have your bank raise the daily limit you can withdraw so you don't have to make as many transactions and pay the fee, if they charge you one.
Donna