Please look over the following itineraries and tell me what you think. I am struggling to come up with a good schedule. We are young, adventuresome couple(the slow travellers will not like this itinerary at all, but oh well):
Option 1:
21 full days on the ground:
4 days Rome, 4 days Puglia (have family there), 2 days Athens, 3 days Cairo, 8 days Greek Isles
Option 2:
16 full days on the ground:
4 days Rome, 2 days Athens, 3 days Cairo, 7 days Greek Isles
Hi Ryan.
I like your first option. Four days in Rome will be good as long as you have your route mapped out. Puglia is beautiful and your family will show you around.....keeping in mind there is one day for travel on both ends of that 4 days. Then you will have to go back to Rome and fly out, or take a ferry from Anacona, or Bari to Greece (overnight ferry) and then you arrive in Patras. Either go by train or bus to Pireas(the port) to go to the Greek Islands. They are fantastic and you can easily spend 8 days there and off to Cairo (is one of your 3 days there include travel?)
I have just read this over and I sound like a jerk but, I am not trying to be. I have been to all these places and loved them. I think what I am trying to say if you are going to see something see it well. I like to be on the move too, but, I like to remember what I saw.
Happy Travels
Go for the 21 days, life is short and adventures like this make it memorable. I have done a similar trip, combining western Europe, Cairo, and Greece. I flew into Cairo (from Brussels) for 3 days and had a fantastic time. I then took an inexpensive Aegean Airlines flight to Rhodes (quick layover in Athens). Your itinerary is all easily done with Aegean--they fly to Rome, Athens, Cairo, and the Greek Islands. Flying would make the most of your time since you are covering a lot of territory.
Ryan,
I would go for the 21 days.........and love all of it. I too am planning a trip very similar for 26 days. I have so far 11 days in Italy, 7 days in Greece (mostly the islands), 5 in Egypt, and 3 travel days............I really, need more time!
With 21 days, you might extend your time in Egypt a bit in order to visit Luxor for a couple of days to see the temples of Karnak, Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. You can fly there from Cairo in something over an hour or take an overnight train. We enjoyed Luxor as much or more than Cairo.
