I like your itinerary and your budget will allow some splurges like renting a car for a week or so.

General comments..

Spain is a great place to people watch and enjoy the late night life style. Plan some evenings to “go local” with sleep-in time the next morning.

I would make a serious effort to get to Venice. Try to spend a day or two there.

IMO, tourist Italy is one of the hardest places on the planet to find good Italian food, so spend some time getting off the main streets and away from the other tourists.

Thanks for your comments oldlady!!

The budget I mentioned earlier is for 2 people including airfare. It really comes down to $3500 per person. I am hoping this is still enough money for a 5 week trip in May-June.

Thanks for your suggestion regarding Venice. I will definitely include that in my itinerary.

Do you have any specific suggestions regarding scenic highways we can take in Italy if we rent a car? Generally speaking is Italy an easier place to drive compared to France or Spain? Pls advice.

One other dilemma I have is to decide on sticking with 3 countries (Spain, France & Italy) or adding two more countries (Belgium and Switzerland) to my list So far I have allocated time for 25 days of activities – I still have 12 more days at my disposal. I am not sure if I should spread that out among the cities I have already listed above or add more cities in Belgium/Switzerland? I guess it is a good dilemma to have – can you think of a location in Spain, France or Italy that is worth spending an entire week in (just lounging around, eating and drinking)?

Thanks again,
Nesan

Thanks clevelandbrown!! I will certainly consider the options you have suggested. I did have some additional questions that I posted as a reply to oldlady’s response. If you have any suggestions on those pls let me know.

Thanks,
Nesan

I think budget is adequate:

Airfare: $1,000 to $1,400 each = roughly $2,500
City to city transportation, $150 each per week = $1,500. If you rent a car, figure total cost of $250 each or $500 per week
Daily living: $100 each per day or $ 7,000. This is based on the two of you sharing a $130 hotel room. Your stays with friends help significantly and staying in hostels will cut further. You should be able to get a nice double room in a hostel for around $80 ($40 each). Dorm rooms will be cheaper yet. This won’t cover nice restaurants, so you’ll have to do some hunting for good food.

Driving: I don’t think it will matter which country you drive in. You might want to check rental rates for some sections of your trip and pick the cheapest country. IMO, you want to avoid driving in any big city. Further, direct city to city transportation will be faster and cheaper by train, so only drive if you want to wander the countryside between. Unfortunately picking a car up in one city and dropping it off in another adds significantly to the cost, especially if different countries are involved.

Thanks a lot oldlady! This is great stuff.

Hi anandnesan,

I’m also a graduate student and I did a backpacking trip to Europe 2 years ago (and going again this summer!) — it was also my dream trip, and I still describe it as the best time of my life (so far). I’d be happy to give you some advice/ideas, but it would be really helpful to have some sense of what you (and your wife) are interested in. Museums? Art? Activities (i.e. “doing” instead of “seeing”)? Partying? Romance?

And while I know it’s tempting to say “all of the above!”, it’s really helpful to figure out what YOUR interests are. For instance, museums and food were two things very low on my priority list — I generally lived off of bland pasta I cooked myself in hostels and only ate out once per country (really saves the budget!); I also only went to the most famous museums/art gallery exhibits (Louvre, British Museum, etc.). I’m fascinated by medieval stuff, however, so I made sure to get to Carcassonne and Mont St-Michel in France (Google them if you’re not familiar). I also love amazing train rides, so I made sure I scheduled/budgeted in some of the famous scenic Swiss train rides (open top train Bernina Pass is incredible). I actually did go to Milan, but I got tickets to a ballet at Teatro alla Scala (the famous opera house in Milan) because “experiences” were important to me.

I’m happy to give you my 2 cents, but it’ll really help to have some sense of who you two are and what you’re looking for in Europe.

Hi Ravidel,

Thanks for offering to help. What kind of people are we? Let me think for a second.

We enjoy pretty much anything but to get really specific – our main focus of this trip is food and high speed trains. The secondary focus is history. When I say history it is not just museums (we have lived in DC before and I have done my share of museums) – it is more the setting. The Inca ruins in Peru is the type of history that appeals to me a lot. That is one of the reasons I have added Pompeii and Herculaneum to my itinerary. We also enjoy the rustic lifestyle a LOT. Hence an extended stay in Provence has been added to our itinerary.

Traditional museums like the Louvre generally put me to sleep (no offence to anyone on this forum ) and one of the reasons I am thinking of completely skipping Paris. I am pasting my revised itinerary below to show where I am going with this.

Spain (7 days)
=
Madrid – 3 days
Transit to Barcelona – 1 day
Barcelona – 3 days

France(12 days – May 29th)
==
transit to mont-de-marsan – 1 day
mont-de-marsan – 2 days
Transit to Annecy – 1 day
Annecy – 3 days
Transit to Marseille – 1 day
Marseille-Provence – 5 days

Open question: Should we visit Mont St. Michel or Carcassonne?

Italy (18)
=
Transit to Venice – 1 day
Venice – 3 days
Transit to Florence – 1 day
Florence and Pisa – 3 days
Transit to Naples – 1 day
Naples, Pompeii – 3 days
Transit to Rome – 1 day
Rome & Vatican – 5 days

What do you think?

Thanks,
Nesan

About Mont St Michel or Carcassonne—I wonder if, considering that you prefer rustic ruins, you might prefer the Pont du Gard to both of those. It’s an amazing structure and well worth a visit, plus it would work with your itinerary.

• Pont du Gard is awesome, worth seeing, but it’s not a substitute for Carcassonne or Mont St Michel, because there’s very little to “explore”. I’d recommend Carcassonne. Stay in the youth hostel (I think it’s HI) inside the old city… it’s a terrific experience. Given your revised itinerary, Carcassonne is definitely the way to go.

• I’m not sure about the state of Cinque Terre right now (maybe someone else is more up to date), but it sounds like it would be a place you’d really enjoy. Stay anywhere but Monterosso and it’s a very authentic feel.

• Rome is awesome, I think you’ll be happy you gave it so long.

• That said, keep in mind that Rome and Naples are about 1 hour apart by high speed train. Allocating a day as a “transit day” is always a great way to start planning a trip (too many people underestimate how much time the travel takes), but travel within northern Italy is fast on the fast trains, so you’ll have most of your day in those.

• I’m not sure what you have in mind when you say you’re excited for “high speed trains”. If you’re a train lover, then you’ll probably enjoy them. But if you have some vision/stereotype of “high speed trains”, you might be a little disappointed. If you want an amazing train experience, consider adding a couple of days starting in Lugano. From there, you can do a round trip through Switzerland consisting of three scenic train rides: the William Tell Express, the Glacier Express (a leg of it anyway) and the Bernina Pass Express (this one you might even be able to do by open to train). They’re not high speed trains, but they really show off some amazing engineering and some amazing scenery. See: http://www.wilhelmte…

Mont St Michel or Carcassonne? Carcassonne would be an easier option as it is southeast of france and is closer to the area you will be travelling across. Whereas Mont. St. Michel is more northwestern France which isn’t bad if you you still plan on visiting Paris.

Last I read about Cinque Terre is that most of it is open. Right now only approved relief workers can leave the train in Vernazza

Thanks Cil! Since this is so close to Avignon, I will add it to my itinerary.

Thanks again Ravidel!

Cinque Terre does look stunning. It looks like its on the way from Provence to Venice (or can be done on the way from Venice to Florence).

Thanks vanogtrop!

Conditions in Cinque Terre at present are still poor after the October flood, but hopefully will be much improved by May/June. Vernazza is closed to tourists at this time. rebuild Monterosso
Hiking Paths
If you are taking the time to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum (bring your own water!), you could easily also enjoy the breathtakingly beautiful Amalfi coast.

More ruins to consider: Hadrian’s Villa, an easy day trip outside of Rome. It’s a nice shady walk on a hot day, and the actual ruins are quite interesting. Hadrian had a little island in his compound.

Of course I would not consider the Pont du Gard a “substitute” for Mont St Michel or the restored Cité de Carcassonne. However, the ancient history and engineering is amazing, it is a wonderful hike, plus it fits into the OP’s itinerary/ interests in ruins. The way we visited Carcassonne was by taking the very first morning train from Toulouse (well worth a visit in itself); the Cité was completely empty. We drove to Mont St Michel (but we were coming from the west, not Paris.)

We’ve driven city to city, but I still agree with Oldlady about using a rental car more for the countryside. And the fees are indeed huge for picking up a car in one country, then dropping it off in another.

Thanks Cil! The Amafi Coast sounds like a great idea. And the more I read about about Carcassone the more I want to visit the place.