Itinerary for France and Italy

[Anonymous]

We are doing our honeymoon in France and Italy this summer. Husband has lived and traveled in France extensively but this will be my first time in Paris! This will be both of our first time in Italy. The following is a rough draft of our itinerary. Travel insiders, please suggest any alterations you may have!

Paris - Arrive at 11 am spend that day and the next full day in Paris.
Travel to Bayeux to attend a friend's wedding
Bayeux
Either stay in Bayeux or return to Paris
Definitely return to Paris
Spend the next day in Versailles
Take overnight train to Florence
Florence 3 full days
train to Rome
Rome for 4 days


Does this seem sensible? I am sad as this is my first time in Paris and I will be spending such little time there due to having to attend a wedding in Bayeux. I also would like to dedicate a day to visit Versailles.

[Anonymous]

If you can swing it, I would keep the hotel in Paris and just travel to Bayeux the day of the wedding and spend the night after, returning to Paris the next morning. The checking in and out of multiple hotels and traveling with luggage will get tiring. The journey is not far. And why not fly Paris-Florence? An overnight train on your honeymoon does not sound enjoyable.

[Anonymous]

You will probably feel like crud on your arrival day because of jet lag. Have you thought about reallocating some of the Italy time to Paris? Florence is lovely but it sounds like you really want to spend time in Paris.

Also, my train travel in Europe was budget, so your may have a better experience, but I'd consider flying Paris-Florence. The overnight train is an adventure but I was seasick and uncomfortable and didn't sleep well.

[Anonymous]

Fly from France to Italy. That is a tough train ride even though I love traveling by train.

[Anonymous]

Is there a reason why you are packing Italy into this trip? Why not just stay in France or in Paris even the entire time. This trip itinerary sounds exhausting. I could easily spend a month in Paris on vacation. If you want to go somewhere else, by not take the TGV to Avignon or Cote d'Azur?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a reason why you are packing Italy into this trip? Why not just stay in France or in Paris even the entire time. This trip itinerary sounds exhausting. I could easily spend a month in Paris on vacation. If you want to go somewhere else, by not take the TGV to Avignon or Cote d'Azur?

This. Save Italy for another trip and spend that time in France.

[Anonymous]

I vote the other way. Get out of France and head to Italy as soon as you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You will probably feel like crud on your arrival day because of jet lag. Have you thought about reallocating some of the Italy time to Paris? Florence is lovely but it sounds like you really want to spend time in Paris.

Also, my train travel in Europe was budget, so your may have a better experience, but I'd consider flying Paris-Florence. The overnight train is an adventure but I was seasick and uncomfortable and didn't sleep well.

Seasick? What large body of water does one cross (by train, no less) to get from France to Italy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You will probably feel like crud on your arrival day because of jet lag. Have you thought about reallocating some of the Italy time to Paris? Florence is lovely but it sounds like you really want to spend time in Paris.

Also, my train travel in Europe was budget, so your may have a better experience, but I'd consider flying Paris-Florence. The overnight train is an adventure but I was seasick and uncomfortable and didn't sleep well.

Seasick? What large body of water does one cross (by train, no less) to get from France to Italy?

I think she means motion sick.

Personally, I would stay in France. French alps and south of France. But I would stay in small towns. Paris can be enjoyed in 3-4 days. If stuck on Italy stay north. Milan, lake come, Dolomites.

Paris is better than Rome in almost every way.

Normandy is pretty boring. I’m a history buff too. The cemetery is moving. Mont st Michel is way too crowded.

[Anonymous]

I highly recommend renting apartments instead of staying in hotels. It often costs less and gives you more space-especially in Paris. That way you can have a “home base” where you can leave most of your stuff when you travel to Bayeux.

We stayed at a cobblestone apartment in Paris last summer and it was wonderful:

http://cobblestoneparis.com

[Anonymous]

Agree with several of the posters that you don’t have enough time in Paris, but I love Paris (been three times) so of course I’m biased. Also, if *I* only had 2-3 days in Paris, I would not spend one of them in Versailles, although I’m sure there are others who would disagree.

[Anonymous]

The first part of your trip seems very chaotic with a lot of moving around. You're looking at 1 night in Paris, 1-2 nights in Bayeux, then 1-2 nights in Paris which includes a day trip to Versailles. Have you already purchased your tickets? If not I'd try to stay in Paris for a few days before going to the wedding, then after the wedding head somewhere else. If you already have your tickets, then I would stay in Bayeux the 1 night for the wedding and head back to Paris and nix Versailles.

I would also look at flying from Paris to Italy. The Italy part of your trip seems less hectic. I personally was not a huge fan of Florence, although I really enjoyed getting out into the countryside and would love to go back and spend more time there. Florence has beautiful buildings for sure, but I'm not a huge fan of Renaissance art and the city felt more closed in to me than most Italian cities. Loved Rome, but again your interests will be in play, depends on how much you want to see ancient ruins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with several of the posters that you don’t have enough time in Paris, but I love Paris (been three times) so of course I’m biased. Also, if *I* only had 2-3 days in Paris, I would not spend one of them in Versailles, although I’m sure there are others who would disagree.

I tend to agree, but Versailles can be enjoyed in a half day. The opulence is pretty breathtaking—but if you’ve been to any palace or chateau you might have seen enough there. Versailles is probably the best in this catergory though.

I would do an organized bike tour of Versailles. You can hit the market, picknout a picnic lunch, ride over to the gardens, picnic, explore on bike, then hit the palace. I think one tour that does the is bike about tours.

[Anonymous]

http://www.bikeabouttours.com/pages/tours/the-versailles.html

Bike about tours

[Anonymous]

I agree France and Italy too much here - would work better if it was southern France. And I agree since it sounds like OP wants to spend time in Paris, and has another wedding to go to, I would be inclined to stay in France. You could easily add a side trip to Normandy area, or the usual day trips from Paris or even take the train to Lyon. If you really want to go to Italy I would fly to Rome and spend a few days there. I think Florence is also adding too much. You can plan a separate Italy trip later on.