Why Marseille — one of the world’s busiest freight ports? I’d spend another day or 2 in Paris and do a couple of day trips instead, or spend an extra day in Nice and do Marseille as a day trip if you’re into bouillabaisse.

I love Venice, and 3 days is great, but it’s very expensive and very compact, so 2 days will suffice. You could take the overnight train from Nice, but this is another place where a cheap flight might save money and/or time.

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. I am cutting out Marseille and Venice so that we can have enough time in the other cities we are visiting. Has anyone heard of a good way to get from Nice to Florence? I found a good site but it will not translate into English (only French).

I agree with oldlady – Marseille would not be top of my list. If you are cutting Marseille and creating a bit of extra time in your schedule, I would really consider some daytrips into the countryside from the cities on your list. The cities are great, don’t get me wrong, but many of my memorable experiences have been in the countryside. I can give you suggestions if you like.

Getting from Nice to Florence is pretty painless… there should be a number of trains that leave Nice, have a brief stop over in Ventimiglia at the Italian border and move right on to Florence… some of them might stop at Ventimiglia AND Genoa but it’s really all straight forward

I agree with Brock about getting out of the cities.

Venice, Prague, Florence … they’re all beautiful, but you could find yourself constantly running around each day ‘doing’ all of the sites. After 3 weeks you could well be exhausted. It might be worth considering some of your accommodation be spent in little villages along the way. Not only will you get a real sense of how people live, but you’re likely to get much more personal attention too.

Maybe look at villages close to the big cities you want to see, so you can head in for day trips to see them?

While you are in Prague, I invite all of you for a beer. If you agree, drop me a private message

Yes, please! I think the cities are more of a central staring point for us, I would love some suggestions on close towns in the countyside. For instance, I always pictured renting a bike in Provence and Tuscany, and seeing the lavendar fields and vineyards. I am not sure if Nice and Florence will offer either of those options…Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

quote]

While you are in Prague, I invite all of you for a beer. If you agree, drop me a private message [/quote]
Are you buying?

I would take a day off of Venice and add it on to Paris, Venice is do-able in 2 days easily.

As for going out, there was a pretty interesting club in Florence called Space Electronic (Via Palazzuolo, 37, 50123). It is a two-story club mainly filled with tourists from around the world (usually around age 19-23). It has karaoke and sometimes dance competitions. I would check it out one night and if it’s not your thing then just walk out. If I remember correctly the price to get in was about 8 to 9 Euro.

Florence isn’t really a city known for its clubs since it doesn’t necessarily want to ruin its historical ambiance but it’s worth a shot.

You should find these articles on my blog helpful for Prague;

http://www.backpacke…

http://www.backpacke…

Are you buying?[/quote]
Sure. I may be not rich, but I still have a euro for a beer Just email me – papyr79 at gmail.com a day or two in advance.

Czech Beer – best in the world. You lucky dog.

Yep

To get from Nice to Florence, you have to change trains in atleast genova and pisa. You may also have to change trains in ventimigalia depending on the time you are leaving. I have had to research this extensively for my trip next summer! My suggestion: leave early, change trains in genova, make a stop at montessoro in cinque terre for a couple hours (this is one of the stops on the route) and make a stop at pisa for a couple hours before heading on to florence (another hour from pisa). If you are looking for a place to buy the ticket: trenitalia.com. you can switch it to english, and you can schedule stopovers at no additional charge. I will be doing this next summer with those two stops!

I’ll be in Prague in a few weeks… I can’t wait. I was only gonna stay a few days, but I talked to my brother n’ we’re probably gonna stay a few extra days.