Where would you go after this itinerary?
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Anonymous
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We will be in Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, and Italy again next summer and we are contemplating adding another couple of nights somewhere before flying back to the US.
Because trains and even short flights are cheap and relatively convenient, we aren’t limited to Italy. We are currently scheduled to end in Ravenna—where there is a train station and the nearest airports are in Bologna and Venice. We don’t want to stay in Venice as we’ve visited there a number of times, but we could fly out from there. DH has suggested London, Paris, Edinburgh, and Dublin since they are “on the way” home and a change of pace from our longer vacation itinerary. Kids have suggested Switzerland (something different) or heading to a different part of Italy (Puglia or Lake District and then flying home from Milan). We are open to anything, but I think I would prefer someplace easy to get to and easy to fly back to the US nonstop. I’ve lobbied for Bologna, but nobody seems interested. Where would you go? |
Anonymous
| Flying out of Bologna, you can easily get to Barcelona or Seville, and Athens, in addition to Paris and London. With just a few days, I'd be inclined to just do Barcelona or Seville. |
Anonymous
| I'd go to one of the mountain/lake areas within an hour/90 minutes drive of Zurich or Geneva. Geneva will probably be net cheaper because there are places on the French side that will be cheaper than in Switzerland- somewhere like Lake Annecy or Lake Bourget, or the nearby mountain areas like Saint Gervais les Bains or Chamonix. |
Anonymous
You can train to Chambery France in 6.5 hours from Ravenna, pick up rental car there, and then go wherever. Return the car on the French side of the Geneva airport, nonstop flight back to IAD. Just under 7 hours train to Zurich from Ravenna. |
Anonymous
| Why are you only interested in the biggest, most touristy places OP? And I assume the trip next summer is a cruise? |
Anonymous
Aren’t you so sophisticated! You added nothing to thread and your attempt at sounding cultured makes you sound like a tacky wannabe. OP, I love Switzerland! Some people say Geneva is boring, but I love it. It’s so beautiful and relaxing. And of course, the mountains are great, too. |
Anonymous
| I just took a train from Germany to France today. It’s very dependent on itinerary and when you book, but the trains are not inexpensive and frankly getting the luggage on and off and up and down the stairs of the station in a crowd is not easy. It’s also super hot today which makes it all more challenging (no shade on the platform). Anyway, i would consider flying I think and really think about how much to bite off. |
Anonymous
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I think your kids have good ideas— Verona and Lake Garda are convenient to Ravenna— then you can fly out of either Venice or Milan- but Switzerland is also so beautiful in the alpine areas. Plus I just think it’s a good idea to get kids involved in the planning.
Another idea might be going to Trieste and then on to Slovenia but that will be similar to Croatia/Italy and you won’t find a no stop flight. |
Anonymous
It’s a 3 week+ trip moving around (to a mix touristy and off the beaten path destinations) a decent amount, so we are focused on avoiding train/flight plus an additional train or long drive. We want to relax rather than run around, and we certainly don’t want to make our flight home to the US complicated. So, I figure major cities with major airports will make things easier. (I’ve already ruled out Malta given the return trip would be complicated; one of my kids wants to go there, but we will save it for another time.) We can only tack on two more nights (and that puts us at practically a four week trip). |
Anonymous
I think trains are typically less expensive in Italy—ditto for flights (depending on airline and destination). It’s fairly easy to find flights under $100pp one way. I’m not keen on trains, but the train from Milan to Switzerland seems scenic. Seems like we could do a train from Ravenna to Milan rather easily. We’ve done private car services throughout Italy to avoid the hassle of trains, but it would be a long distance. |
Anonymous
Oh ffs, get over yourself. I'm also going to bet you are sitting in your crumbling outside-the-beltway colonial with 35 yr old furniture, having only been out of the country once to visit your kid on study abroad. That's who makes comments like this. |
Anonymous
Yes Italian trains are very reasonable, and if you are taking the high speed lines, like you would when you switched at Bologna to Milan, you want to reserve far in advance for the best fares. But even right now a nicely timed train from Ravenna-Bologna-Milan Centrale in 6 weeks is only 72 euros for 2 adults and 2 kids. The options into Switzerland are definitely cheaper the more in advance you go, and you can book up to 3 months or so in advance. |
Anonymous
| I'd just stay in a nice rural town near Bologna. Go to some local markets and restaurants. It takes a lot of time to fly with check in, security, baggage claim, transportation, delays etc |
Anonymous
Problem with that is the summer heat- nowhere nearby Bologna is going to be at high enough elevation to be substantively cooler- today highs in the area, for instance, around 100. Only places I would look in Italy would be right at the beach (and they already are doing that in Ravenna), or in the mountains/lakes in the north/Alps. |
Anonymous
| With just 2 nights I’d probably do the Lake district |