Travelling to Europe from India for the first time

vijay, My suggestions are along the same lines as those that Sasha mentioned. As you've indicated a preference for France and Italy, it would be good to focus on those countries. Have you bought your air tickets yet? I would highly recommend using open-jaw tickets if possible, inbound Paris and outbound from Italy (departure airport will depend on where you choose to visit). You could start in Paris for 3-4 days, and then travel to Italy by train. Are there any locations that you're particularly interested in? Some places to consider.... > Lago di Como (Varenna / Bellagio) > Florence > Verona (although it might be REALLY difficult to get a room there during Opera season) > Venice > Siena or other hill towns in Tuscany > Dolomites Limiting your visit to two locations would be best. I'd probably choose one larger city and one smaller town. August is not far away, so it would be a really good idea to start getting some Hotels booked. If the RS Guidebooks are available in your area, they have lots of suggestions for good Hotels, along with a wealth of other information. If you decide to travel by rail from Paris to Italy, you can buy your ticket when you arrive in Paris. Stop by any SNCF Boutique (there are several locations), and they'll be able to take care of that. ESPECIALLY in August, I would highly recommend getting a Paris Museum Pass, as that will minimize your time waiting in queues. One other point to note is that you can pre-book a ticket for the Eiffel Tower (if you were planning to visit that). Happy travels!

Paris is always my first recommendation to anyone visiting Europe for the first time. You could do 5 days there and then spend some time in the countryside (Provence, the Dordgone) or on the French Rivera to cool off and relax. My second favorite choice would be Venice and Florence, Italy. If you can, get some guidebooks, or research on the internet about each place and see what attractions each place has that interest you and your group. Whatever you choose, I would book as soon as possible. Both areas will be hot, crowded and expensive -- but worth it.
Good luck.

Hi Vijay, how are the flight connections from Bangelore to Europe? Can you fly into Paris and back from a city in Italy, maybe Rome? Or Venice? You can see a bit of both countries in ten days, if you limit your France part to Paris. Spend 3 nights in Paris, then take the direct train to Milan (7 hours). You arrive there in daly afternoon and you could travel onward to Lake Como, or Venice, or Florence depending on your interests. Choose two places you would like to see in Italy and spend 2 or 3 nights in each. For example, from Milan you could go to Florence, and from there to Venice if you can arrange a flight home from there. Or maybe you would like to see smaller towns, or relax by a beautiful lake, or the sea?

Hi guys. These are great suggesstions. We shall surely plan on these guidelines. We were thinking to land in Rome first and complete our journey in Paris. As I would be moving out from Paris to London and other will come back to India. In that case I could even take the train through the english channel. Do you recommend it? Ken Thanks for the open jaw idea. We will work on that. So staying in Italy for 6 nights should be the first step in our planning. Please advice us what would be the best thing to see and enjoy in these 6 nights. I am told that August is hot over there and crowded? Is that true? We are already coming from a over populated country :) where the temperatures are soaring at 42 degrees in summer. As many of you said, it all depends on what we want to see. Ahhh. thats some thing not clear still with us. Its a beautiful country and rich with culture and heritage. So kindly advice what would be best to see in August with minimum time wasted on travel. I guess Rome and Venice or Rome and Florence will be a good choice? Ok if we go for one of these choices, how do i proceed for booking our accommodation. Are there any good hostels available where we can get cheap and neat accommodation? And do we need any guide who can explain things over there or can we do it all by ourselves. None of us know to speak italian languages. After we complete our leg in Italy, is it advisable to move by train (7 hours) to Paris or take a cheap flight? We will need some help to plan in Paris too. This is a great forum and thanks for all the help. Really appreciate your valuable advices.