Had a 12 day trip to Italy, Austria & France the last week of May and first week of June, 2025. It was self-guided with no rental cars. From the eastern U.S. we flew to Milan, IT, took the Malpensa Express to Milano Centrale station, and the high speed train Frecciarossa to Florence. 1st night at AirBnB in Florence. Next day, took trains to Levanto, just north of Cinque Terre towns. 2 nights in a Vrbo in Valle Santa, up the hill from Levanto, then back to Florence. 4th night in Florence, then flew Austrian air to Vienna. 3 nights in AirBnB in Vienna. Fly Transavia to Paris, 4 nights in B&B Hotel Paris Italie in Paris.
A self-guided tour can be a lot less expensive than a group tour. Roughly $600-$700/day for a family of 4, vs. ~$500 per day per person for a group tour on a bus (neither including airfare). But you have to do the WORK planning ahead of time how to get from A to B to C to D, etc.
Unless you want to hurry and get exhausted, plan a minimum of 2 nights in any single place. One night = travel day getting there followed by travel day leaving there = no rest, big hassle.
If you like to wash your face with a washcloth, bring your own. None of the 4 AirBnBs/Vrbos or hotel rooms we stayed at in Italy, Austria or Paris provided washcloths.
Why do they still put duvets on the beds in early June? Both Vienna and Paris had duvets, and it was getting warm, over 80F some days. Too warm to sleep under a duvet. I'd like to have just a sheet over me, but couldn't get that with the duvet. Partly as a result of the duvets, we lowered the air conditioning settings even colder at night, which wastes more energy.
We were vigilant against pick pockets and didn't have any incidents. Wore shorts with zippered front pockets for wallet and passport. My cheap Android phone was usually in my front pocket if I wasn't holding it. I sometimes used a money "belt"/pouch diagonally under my buttoned shirt. It was thin, only enough for a thin wallet, passport and maybe a cell phone, but was inconvenient to access and probably too warm to use in summer. I'd recommend a regular cross-body bag worn in front instead; they can hold more, are easier to access, and would be cooler in summer.
Getting cash? We got Eur 300 ahead of time in the U.S. and had ~80 left over. Mapped out bank ATMs near our AirBnBs but never had to use them. Used cash for taxis in Levanto, but they said they took cards also. Tipped our Normandy beach tour guide in cash.
When using credit cards, most often tap worked, sometimes insert, 2 times a PIN was required (chip + PIN). You can look up the Cardholder Verification Method(s) your card prefers at www.spotterswiki.com/emv/cardsearch.php.
Charles de Gaule airport's terminal 2 in Paris is huge. There are 7 sections, each one basically as large as a normal terminal in the U.S.: 2a, 2c, 2e, 2b, 2d, 2f, 2g. I'd recommend arriving about 3 hours early for an international flight. Terminal 1 is an interesting circular terminal with an open-air smoking and pet relief area in the center. Our dog loved it. Bring a plastic bag in case they do a #2.
Took a half-day Normandy tour after taking the train in the morning from Paris Gare (station) Saint-Lazare to Caen to Bayeux. I know a fair amount of military history. I was underwhelmed by the tour. Saw Omaha beach (there's almost nothing there, a few bunkers we didn't visit), Pointe du Hoc, and the American Cemetery.
Italy needs to fix it's taxi system and one way they could do that would be let Uber in, for real, not just Uber Black. Italy's taxi system is stuck several decades in the past and is too hard to use. AppTaxi didn't work. Uber's app works much easier and better.