Hi all. My wife and I will be visiting Europe from North Carolina for the first time for 16 days starting the last week of September to the first week of October. We are leaninng heavily on starting out in Paris and then making our way to Rome where we'll start the second leg of our trip and will meet up with another couple where we might be taking a guided tour through Globus/Monograms which will go from Rome to Florence to Venice. A couple itineraries I've thought of would be maybe starting out in Paris for 4 days and taking the train to Switzerland and staying in Zermatt for a day and then on to Rome the next day. The first question: Is this a good idea to take this route? I would love to see some of the natural and scenic beauty of the Alps while making our way south. Second: Is there another route, maybe Paris to Nice and Genoa/Cinque Terre that we should see instead? Third: Is going through companies like Monograms or Globus a good idea? Want to make our trip is perfect which is why I have so many questions/reservations.
What is the best route from Paris to Rome
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If you pick the Riviera route, there is a train that goes from Paris to Torino in a bit less than 6 hours, and you can get from Torino to sea by train in about 3 hours. There are scenic areas nearer to Genova that would mean you could get off the train a bit sooner than le Cinque Terre (about 4 hours from Torino).
From the Riviera, depending on which town you stay in, it is usually around 5 hours to Rome by train.
I have heard that the ride from Paris to Torino is quite pretty but have never done it. The train ride down the coast from Genova to Rome hugs the coastline, but passes through many tunnels, so it's only intermittently pretty.
Most people posting on this message board do not like organized tours (although I don't many have taken any). I doubt if even you take a tour there is such a thing as a "perfect" tour. People who come back from Italy generally rave about it and say it was all "perfect", even when several things occasionally got screwed up. I can understand that when you are traveling with another couple you want everything to go extra-nicely, and you feel responsible for that, but you can probably more easily and CHEAPLY customize a fun trip for you and your friends by not joining a tour group -- which usually means lots of early morning up-and-outs, and not great restaurants, and hotels that are more geared to bus travel than charm and enjoying the heart of the cities.
It is EXTREMELY easy to plan a trip, even for 4 adults, to Rome>Florence>Venice, booking charming accommodations near pretty piazzz that you can enjoy, and you can all have a bit of freedom seeing what you want to see. I would only reach for a tour as a last resort, of if one member of the group is particularly difficult.
If you can make your way from Paris to Rome, why do you want to use a tour company for the remainder of the trip?
Look at the map. If you make your way from Switzerland to Rome, you will be passing through Florence. You can easily connect Switzerland to Venice, then Florence, then Rome with no back tracking and no tour companies. Another couple starting in Rome? They can easily make their way to Venice. It is a one easy train ride from Rome to Venice.
To look at train based routing possibilities, use www.bahn.com and use same day of the week in winter or spring. The schedule for the fall is not available, but they don't change much between the seasons.
Ditto the above.
You only have 16 days.
You want to visit Paris, Rome, Florence and Venice - stick with it.
Italy is very easy to DIY, no need for a tour.
Are you leaving from Venice?
Ira,
Thank you for your input, you seem very knowledgable in European travel, I have seen u post on other post. Do u have any suggestions for lodging? We are working with a budget and would like any suggestions you have for staying in decent, safe lodging within the city centers. Any thoughts? We are leaning any from tours and no flights have been booked but we are more than likely flying out of Rome, so a itinerary of Paris, Switzerland, Venice, Florence, Rome, home is what we are looking at.
We need to know a relatively specific budget (preferably in euros), rather than "decent, safe lodging." That could describe hundreds of thousands of places in those countries.
We are working with a budget of $10000. That includes air fair, which is looking to be $3000, so a budget of $7000.
Yes, we understand, but how much do you envisage spending per night on hotels?
Everyone works with a budget, even billionaires. The issue is parameters.
Your airfare should be less than 1500 each from Raleigh on a Paris/Rome open jaw.
A 7k budget means 500 per day. With hotels in the 200/day range, that gives you 300 for your remaining costs (lunch, travel, site admissions, dinner, other entertainment). That's fine. Now go look for hotels in the 150-160E/night range.