If you can get an overnight direct flight out to your first City it really give you a full or nearly full day there - if you can sleep on a plane. We are not venturesome drivers, and I have heard from friends who did drive in Italy that they found the parking hard to find in places. I would opt for trains in Italy.

Totally agree about the driving in Italy. I lived in Europe and did drive to Venice and Florence (Venice more than once), but the train is really better unless you want to explore the countryside. In Venice, obviously, you park outside the city and leave your car, but we did this in Florence, as well. It's been many, many years ago and the parking was terrible then. I suggest trains. If you want to see the countryside, rent a car for a day on the outskirts.

For our 25th we did a week in London and then took the train which had just started under channel to Paris for a second week there. You could break it up to 4 days in London and 5 in Paris as there seemed to be some interesting side trips outside of Paris to Versailles and to Chartres that we took.

We are planning to go to Italy next spring and go to Rome, Amalfi Coast, Florence and Venice for about 12 days.


If you can get an overnight direct flight out to your first City it really give you a full or nearly full day there - if you can sleep on a plane. We are not venturesome drivers, and I have heard from friends who did drive in Italy that they found the parking hard to find in places. I would opt for trains in Italy.

Venice, Verona, and a nice agriturismo somewhere like Alto Adige.

We did 10 days.. Paris, venice, florence, rome = loved it! We did the Air France direct flight to Paris, 3 nights there, plane to Venice, we stayed 1 night, but please stay 2 atleast, Train to florence, train to naples, train to rome, back home again.

I didn't love Italy when I went, since I'm not really a city person, but I did really like Cinque Terre and Sienna. Recommend both if you make it to Italy, but ESPECIALLY Cinque Terre.

Take the train if you go - not worth driving there. We rented a car for other portions of the trip (10 years ago, my parents and me) and took train to Cinque Terre. I would love to go back to that part of Italy (or the northern Lake District which I've never seen) with my DH.

I've never been to Paris, but loved London when I went (also many years ago).

Bon Voyage! You can't go wrong.

I thought London was boring. Really just too much like home. My vote is for Italy.

Anonymous wrote:You can't lose either way, but I'd do Italy. Florence + Lucca + a small Tuscan town would be a nice mix. Love the food, love the art, easy to take trains from city to city.

+1. Good food, nice sightseeing, but also relaxing being in the smaller towns in Italy.

We did Italy and Greece with our 3 kids last year and they loved it. Enough variety to keep everyone interested.

London and Paris

London by a landslide. What an incredible place! Also agree on Barcelona. If you must do Italy then try Rome.

London, then Paris, and then Italy. Italy is like an outdoor Italian themed amusement park full of Americans.

You can't go wrong with either. Price them both and go with whatever is cheaper.

You can't lose either way, but I'd do Italy. Florence + Lucca + a small Tuscan town would be a nice mix. Love the food, love the art, easy to take trains from city to city.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What month? What's the budget? What languages do you speak? Rent a car or use transport? What are your interests?

May - as cheap as humanly possible - English and Arabic - I'd prefer transport but DH is an excellent driver in big cities - I love everything, art, architecture shopping, sightseeing, beaches, DH likes beaches and horses.

I'd generally vote London and Paris, but if you want to keep cost down, Italy might be a better bet. Not that Italy is cheap, but London is so expensive.

Also, if you like architecture and beaches, consider Barcelona.

London & Paris