6wk Paris/Italy itinerary for newb backpacker - advice please! - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

theladyafterwards · 04-13-2009, 10:04 PM

So I've been stalking these forums for months and found it extremely helpful, but I'm coming out of TPunk shell to ask for some seasoned travellers' advice on my upcoming five-and-a-bit-week trip to Paris and Italy. My current itinerary is as follows:

Days 1-6: Paris (w/day trip to Versailles)
7: Milan
8-10: Cinque Terre (w/day trip to Portovenere)
11-13: Venice
14: Verona
15-16: Ravenna
17-21: Florence (w/day trip to Pisa and maybe Lucca)
22-23: Perugia (w/day trip to Assisi)
24-30: Rome
31: Isole Pontine
32-34: Naples (w/day trips to Pompeii and Amalfi)
35: Capri
36-39: Palermo (w/day trips to Agrigento and Erice)
40: Home (which will take two days on a plane - fun!)

I'm a big culture nerd and want to spend time just wandering the streets observing teh Italian pretty, which is why I'm spending a lot of time basing myself in places and going on day trips. I know that maybe two places should probably be cut from that lest I want to come home more exhausted than when I left, but I can't work out where to make the cuts.

Any suggestions please?

**space virgin** · 04-13-2009, 10:45 PM

Some of your stops that are only 2 days with a day trip included are going to be a bit hairy. It's amazing how much time traveling between place to place will eat up!

You would probably be better served starting with a bare-bones skeleton of places you ABSOLUTELY cannot miss and go from there. Personally I like to average at least 3 days per stop unless it's ONLY a transit point. Try to minimize your time on the road and you'll have a much better time.

Fewer stops = better, especially for your first trip.

**Canadian Bacon** · 04-14-2009, 06:41 AM

^ Agreed with spacevirgin. Those 1 and 2 day stops make for a lot of travelling, and you're going to get tired... BUT it is possible, and if you feel like you need to fit in everything, then by all means.

But unless any of these spaces have a complete 'must see' place, I would suggest killing off one or two destinations, and spreading the days around more generously.

Also I would only suggest day trips for places you are staying 2 days or more in (unless you're staying in one of those towns whose sole existence is due to its being in proximity to some major site).

**aliz** · 04-14-2009, 06:53 AM

If I had to pick places to cut from that list, I'd probably go Milan, Assisi, and Naples - although I understand if you want to use Naples as a base sorta thing... can't really give you much helpful reasoning, they're just the least special to me I guess! Milan especially is fairly boring and overrated, but you seemed to have picked up on that as you're only spending one night there!

theladyafterwards · 04-14-2009, 04:17 PM

Yeah, I'm only going to Milan to visit a friend currently staying there (and because the Paris-Italy train stops there). Also only using Naples as a base.

Thanks for the advice - it's such a relief to get an outside eye from people who know what they're talking about. Now I just need to be tough with myself and decide what's getting cut...

**freespiritz** · 04-14-2009, 04:30 PM

Aww I LOVED Assisi!

That being said...for my trip to Pompeii-Capri-Amalfi, I took a night train from Florence-Naples, jumped on the morning local train out to Pompeii and Herculaneum for the day, and then headed to Sorrento where I spent two nights. You might want to consider that town as a base instead of Naples - there's a ferry to Capri that leaves from there, and it's an easy busride along the Amalfi coast from there too.

**aliz** · 04-14-2009, 11:16 PM

oooh yes Sorrento is a way better place to go than Naples! do it do it do it.