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My cousin is getting married in sardenia the last weekend of September. My girlfriend and i are leaving from Toronto to attend, and plan and taking 3-4 weeks after the wedding to sight see through Northern Italy, Germany, France, Austria/Switzerland, holland, making our way eventually to London near the end of october.
i'm totally green when it comes to traveling through Europe, and trying to plan an itinerary to see the little-towns and 'real' bits of these countries, avoiding the big cities for the most part (except for Paris and Amsterdam, where my GF has family).
Sounds like fun! I can only offer advice on France and western Switzerland, but here are some suggestions:
Eze, France (just east of Nice) - a little Medieval village perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. Absolutely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. It is a little bit touristy (there's a popular perfume shop in town), but it's absolutely worth the trip. There's also a path that descends to the beach, from which you can take the train to Nice or east to Italy.
Also in the south of France: Aix-en-Provence for some local flavour, Les Baux de Provence for a Provençal village in a stunning location, and Avignon for history and architecture. You can also find some incredibly preserved Roman ruins in Nimes as well as the Pont du Gard. To really experience Provence, though, you'd probably want to visit a small village - there's just too many to choose from.
In the French Alps: Annecy, a gorgeous town with a beautiful lake. Chamonix offers some amazing scenery, and the route east towards Martigny, Switzerland is just incredible (especially on the train).
In western Switzerland: Montreux. It's called the "Swiss Rivieria," and it absolutely lives up to its name. Beautiful hotels and flower-laden promenandes lining the shore of Lake Geneva with the Alps in the distance. One of my favourite places in Europe. The Chateau de Chillon is really great, and you can take the train up to Les Rochers de Naye or east along the "Golden Pass" train route, which is lovely.
You need a guidebook like Lonely Planet Europe. It will help you plan a route. Since the wedding is in Sardenia, where were you planning on flying in to Europe?
My friends who go to Sardenia in the summer normally take a boat from Rome - Civitavecchia. Since you want to avoid the larger cities, are you planning on driving? I would suggest flying open jaw into Rome and back to Toronto from London.
You need a guidebook like Lonely Planet Europe. It will help you plan a route. Since the wedding is in Sardenia, where were you planning on flying in to Europe?
My friends who go to Sardenia in the summer normally take a boat from Rome - Civitavecchia. Since you want to avoid the larger cities, are you planning on driving? I would suggest flying open jaw into Rome and back to Toronto from London.
I've got a couple guidebooks already, and the problem is that i've found so much that i want to see, with a limited time, i don't want to spread myself too thin.
I've found a nicely priced flight to brussels that leaves on tuesday night, arriving wednesday morning and will spend a full day there, before flying to Cagliari on the thursday morning.
a combination of trains and car would be ideal, maybe driving through southen germany and into france, using trains everywhere else.
You might want to consider a Gold Saver Eurail Pass for 21 to 30 days. I am not sure if money is concern for you. (Drop the ticket for the flight from Brussels to Caliari to save a few bucks). You can take the overnight train to Southern France or Italy and take a boat to Cagliari. Note that no matter how cheap your initial flight is to Brussels, you got to pay to come back to fly out unless you have a open jaw ticket OR a rail pass. Trains and car rental and tolls and gas (8 bucks a gallon) and parking can cost you.
Have you driven in Europe before? You can even pay extra to get a "private" sleeper on the train or boat. Since you have limited time, the use of overnight trains can get you great distances without eating up your time. I remember taking the train from Paris at 9 pm and waking up in Rome at 9 (and passing Florence at 7). The sleeper isn't that cheap, but it should be much less than a hotel or pension given the horrible exchange rate. It will get you into town so you can get to a pebsione or hotel and get cleaned up to start your day. I don't know what the schedules are anymore. You can use www.trenitalia.it but there are better train scheduling sites.
Last edited by Bob The Builder; 05-02-2008 at 09:47 AM..
Just a note about the particular season you are visiting - October can be cold and rainy during that time of year, and days start to get shorter. Also with the off season you get things that are closed, tourist attractions, etc.
That being said, you also don't have the crowds, so it's a trade off. Have fun.
we have booked ferry from Cagliari to mainland Italy on Sunday September 29th. We will arrive early on the 30th and travel south to Pompeii for a day and half, before returning north to Rome for 3-4 days. After Rome, a train ride north to Tuscany/Pisa, then to Cinque Terra.
After that, we're not sure where to go. Provence in france, Mont-Blanc, the alps, torino, romantic road in germany, cotes-de-rhone, Normandy, Switzerland, Austria????
we have about 7 days to play with, and will be getting a Italy-France rail pass to get us around, maybe adding more countries if needed...
Are you still flying into Belgium? Are you going to stop in Florence? Florence is much more interesting than Pisa so if you have to choose one or the other, choose Florence. Also Venice is a 3 hour train ride from Florence-.
With the fall of the Dollar, accommodations in Europe and Italy in particular are very pricey. If you are going to stay in Rome for 3 nights, consider a small apartment off of craigslist and find something in the centro.
Last edited by Bob The Builder; 05-13-2008 at 11:10 AM..
kind of a rough itinerary...with some obvious blank spots i need help filling in.
Sep29 - land in italy, train to pompeii/salerno arrive noonish - all day in salerno
30 - day in pompeii - mount vesuvius - naples? night in salerno
1 - train to rome
2 - rome
3 - rome
S4- rome- AM train to florence
S5 - florence
6 - train to pisa (1hr) - see tower lunch - train to CT
7 - day in CT
8 -
9 -
10 -
S11 -
S12 -
13
14
15
16
17amsterdam
S18amsterdam
S19 paris
20paris
21 paris
22 paris/london
23 - london
24 - london -depart for home
kind of a rough itinerary...with some obvious blank spots i need help filling in.
Sep29 - land in italy, train to pompeii/salerno arrive noonish - all day in salerno
WHEN YOU SAY LAND IN ITALY, WHERE AND WHAT TIME? IF YOU HAVE A LATE NIGHT BOAT FROM SICILIA, YOU WILL GET IN REALLY EARLY TO NAPLES? ROME(CIVITAVECHIA)? AND THEN YOU CAN FIND ACCOMODATIONS AND ENJOY THE WHOLE DAY.
30 - day in pompeii - mount vesuvius - naples? night in salerno
I WAS IN SALERNO LAST YEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME. I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS REALLY THERE TO USE YOUR LIMITED TIME. THINK SORRENTO, POSITANO MIGHT BE BETTER, BUT YOU ARE CRAMMING A LOT IN A VERY SHORT PERIOD
1 - train to rome
2 - rome
3 - rome
S4- rome- AM train to florence
S5 - florence
IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME TO ITALY, THINK ABOUT GOING TO VENICE
FROM FLORENCE EVEN AS A DAY TRIP IF YOUR RAILPASS COVERS IT.
Consider also going onward to Croatia and even down to Greece. You can also go across from Rome to Brendisi or Bari to take a ferry to Greece and then come back overland to Venice, Florence then onward to Paris.
6 - train to pisa (1hr) - see tower lunch - train to CT
7 - day in CT
8 -
9 -
10 -
S11 -
S12 -
13
14
15
16
17amsterdam
S18amsterdam
S19 paris
20paris
21 paris
22 paris/london
23 - london
24 - london -depart for home
NOTE That the dollar is weak and hotels and eating are very expensive now a days.
Last edited by Bob The Builder; 05-15-2008 at 06:30 AM..
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