Hi all,
My wife and I plan to take a 2 week trip to Paris + Italy in October.
We are loving the process of building the itenerary.
While YouTube and blogs have loads of information, I thought I should not miss the opportunity to take suggestions of this great community
Paris - 3 days
Milan - 2 ( includes a one day trip to lake como + St Moritz )
Venice - 2
Florence - 3 ( includes 2 one-day trips - one to cinque terre+ pisa, another to tuscany side - siena)
Pompei as the base for 2 days - includes a 1 day trip (on boat mostly) to amalfi coast
Rome - 3 days
Also, the accommodation will be sponsored by magnus-accor. Zeroed in the properties in all the locations
Your itinerary looks good. The only thing I would suggest strongly is to increase the total vacation to atleast 3 weeks. Right now, you have squeezed in 6 cities where you need to move with your luggage around (I'm sure you won't be packing light, when travelling with your wife
😉). 6 cities & various day trips in just 2 weeks is too much in my opinion:
1. Do take into account the time wasted during travelling, and time wasted at check-in/check-out.
2. Even if you start travelling early on the day you're changing the city, do keep in mind that hotels in Europe mostly offer check-in starting at 2PM. You will reach tired in a new city, and half of that day would already be wasted once you check-in. So, changing 6 cities in 2 weeks would cost you 3 days minimum.
3. There are long queues for entry into famous attractions in cities like Paris, Rome.
Let's try to break down your itinerary into 2 weeks:
Day 1: You reach Paris tired in the evening from India on a long flight. Entire day is wasted.
Day 2: Full day in Paris
Day 3: Full day in Paris
So, effectively you have only 2 full days in Paris. Keep in mind if you want to go to Disney Land, you need minimum one entire day to go on just 8-10 rides. There are long queues on the nice rides of about 1 hour each (like Space Mountain) . If you choose the fast track option by paying more, you still would have to wait 20 mins or so for every ride.
Same goes with other major attractions in Paris like the Louvre. You need an entire day there to just breeze through.
I would suggest you to make a list of things you would like to do in Paris, and then see if they can fit into just 2 days.
Day 4: You take a flight from Paris to Milan. Paris city center is 1 hour away from the airport, and you need to be at the airport around 2.5 hours before the flight (if you need to check-in luggage). Add another max 30 mins to check-out and redeeming your ALL points at the reception
🙂 That means you need to be ready to leave for the airport 4 hours before the flight. Flight duration is 1.5 hours from Paris to Milan. Then 30 mins to receive your luggage, and another 1 hour to reach your hotel in Milan. That's 7 hours lost during the day. Again you would reach your hotel in Milan in the evening, tired from your long journey. Your entire day is almost shot.
Day 5: You leave for your day trip to Lake Como, and come back late.
So, effectively you had almost no time in Milan.
Day 6: You take the high speed Frecciarossa from Milan to Venice. Train would take around 2.5 hours to reach Venice. Here, I would advise you to not stay in Mestre part. As you have limited time in Venice, advise you to stay in proper Venice (San Paolo, San Marco, etc). Check-in around 2 PM, and enjoy half the day in Venice.
Day 7: Full day in Venice
Day 8: Leave from Florence for Venice. 2.5 hours journey. and check-in around 2 PM. You just have half a day in Florence to explore, which is too less in my opinion. The Uffizi itself requires a minimum of 2-3 hours to explore.
Day 9: Day trip to Pisa. Please note it would be extremely tough and not advisable to do both Pisa & Cinque Terre on the same day. People normally do Lucca along with Pisa on the same day. But Cinque Terre is further away. If you decide on doing both, you would end up enjoying neither.
Day 10: Day trip to Siena
Day 11: Florence to Pompei by Train. The journey would be approximately 4 hours. Here, I advise you to leave early from Florence, store your luggage at the hotel in Pompei, and start exploring the ruins of Pompei as soon as you reach. People normally spend 2 days exploring, but since you have limited time, you must use this day to the maximum.
Day 12: Day trip to Amalfi coast & back
Day 13: Arrive in Rome from Pompei. Explore half a day in Rome.
Day 14: Full day in Rome
Day 15: Full day in Rome
Please note that just like Paris, you need a lot of time to cover Rome's main attractions like the Colosseum or the Vatican. The Vatican in itself is one full day in my opinion.
Day 16: Flight back to India from Rome. Arrive in India late at night on the 16th day. You can start going to office from the 17th day
😉
So, even with your itinerary, you require minimum 16 days (not 14).
I suggest you strongly to consider increasing the vacation to 3 weeks, so that you're not tired the entire time moving and travelling around, and you can truly enjoy La Dolce Vita
🙂
Or just eliminate one destination all together (I would eliminate Milan, and go straight to Venice from Paris, but it totally depends on what your interests are).
Cheers
