Itinerary Help - France to Italy

Natalie,

I agree with Steve in that you have too many stops, even for a trip which appears to be about one month in duration. While you've planned the number of days in each town, there's no mention of the travel times between locations, some of which could be lengthy travelling by car.

It's difficult to make any suggestions on "what to remove, make longer, etc." without some idea on which stops are most important to you.

I'd be absolutely exhausted trying to follow an Itinerary like this, especially driving. You might consider travel by train for at least part of the trip, as it will not only be much quicker (especially via TGV) but also much more relaxing.

Good luck!

hi guys,

thanks for yr advice. our trip is actually 7 weeks. each travel day is mentioned and separated by a comma. some may only be a 3 hour drive, others more like 5-6hrs. i think we will cut out barcelona. we mainly want food & wine focused areas... see how we go.

thanks :)

"PARIS TO BEAUNE / DIJON - PICK UP CAR(not sure where), BEAUNE - 2 days, BEAUNE TO LYON" There are several agencies at the train station (Europe Car, Avis, Sixt) Why don't you stay in Dijon? There is a lot to see and you will only scratch the surface in 2 or 3 days, but you can save a day or 2 by not taking the car upon arrival and enjoy the town which is worth it. While you are there, you may also take a train or bus to Beaune for a day trip (20min by train. Then on the last day, you rent the car to visit the wine coast and the countryside and then go to Lyon. No stress and the time to enjoy 2 beautiful towns! If you need advice about where to stay, feel free to pm me. Bon voyage!

I would agree that you have too many short stays. Especially over a 7-week period, you'll start to get very tired of packing up and moving on.

I'm assuming that the car lease makes it affordable to pick up in France and drop the car in Italy; for short-term rentals, the one-way drop charges can be huge.

If you're focusing on food and wine, maybe you should try to include Barcelona. Read up on the city; I recently re-read our trip report from the city, and realized I'd forgotten how many great restaurants the city has (very influenced by El Bulli). But you'll need to decide if a trip there is worth giving up other locations.

If you're focusing on food and wine, then give up Venice (as beautiful as it is), Sorrento, Carcassonne. Not that these locations aren't worth visiting; they just aren't going to offer the dining that some of the other areas will.

When you're planning, get a pencil and a calendar of your days, and think in terms of where you'll spend the nights, rather than the days. For example, 4 days in Paris will actually be 3 full days plus.

Enjoy your planning - it will be a great trip!

Thanks for your suggestions Lexma. Venice and Sorrento are my husband's choices so I'll see what he thinks about losing them... It is hard to know what to change so I really appreciate your advice!

We do like driving but I'm unsure whether its better to do more frequent shorter drives as above or do full day drives to get further... Don't want to miss things along the way!

Lexma,

"If you're focusing on food and wine, then give up Venice (as beautiful as it is), Sorrento, Carcassonne."

That hasn't been my experience at all. I enjoyed a meal at L'Antica Trattoria in Sorrento that was one of the finest that I've had anywhere in Europe. It wasn't cheap but both the food and the service were excellent! In Carcassone I found the regional specialty Cassoulet and other Occitane cuisine to be not only interesting but very good.

Cheers!

Re the dining, I was focusing on cities or regions that have reputations as foodie destinations, which is one of the specifics that Natalie mentioned. Many of Natalie's other cities fit that category.

I've had several excellent meals in Venice, so I wasn't saying that one couldn't have a great food experience in those locations. But they are still not places that people go to for the best cuisine.

Like all trip planning, it's the decisions on how to spend a finite amount of time and money!