Best itinerary for first-timers ?

[danicolie]

Hello, I wasn't sure which forum to post this in so please let me know if I should post it somewhere else... My husband and I are planning a European cruise for our 30th Wedding Anniversary in Sept 2025.  Neither of us have been to Europe before.  We are having a hard time choosing an itinerary that would be best for first-timers. We don't know if we'll ever be back to Europe so trying to cram as much in as possible.

 

We love the beach so we'd prefer a mix of history and beach and try to hit all the must see attractions at each port.  Easy to navigate ports for do-it yourselfers would be a bonus too. 

 

Option 1

10 nights - Depart Rome, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Split, Bar Montenegro, Olympia, Messina/Sicily, Naples, Rome (End)

 

Option 2

14 nights - Depart Barcelona, Valencia, Nice, Ajoccio/Corsica, La Spezia, Santa Margherita, Rome, Naples, Messina/Sicily, Santorini, Ephesus/Kusadasi, Mykonos, Athen (End)

 

Option 3

12 nights - Depart Barcelona, Marseille, St. Tropez, Monte Carlo, Florence, Rome, Napes, Siracusa/Sicily, Santorini, Ephesus/Kusadasi, Mykonos, Athens (End)

 

Option 4

14 nights - Depart Rome, Naples, Messina/Sicily, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Split, Ravenna, La Spezia, Nice, Marseille, Barcelona (End)

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  :). 

 

[marazul]

Option 2 gives the widest variety. Plan to stay in Barcelona and Athens for at least a couple of days each.

Edited January 22 by marazul

[cruisemom42]

8 minutes ago, marazul said:

Option 2 gives the widest variety. Plan to stay in Barcelona and Athens for at least a couple of days.

 

I agree with marazul, as usual, on the itineraries offered. You get a bit of Eastern Med and a bit of Western Med. The biggest deficits I see are that you only have 1 day in Rome and the ship doesn't visit Livorno (for Florence). If it is at all possible within your timing, you could either spend a few days in Rome before or after your cruise (with the realization that you'd have to fly there from Athens or fly to Barcelona from there). Stay 3 days in Rome and make use of one of those days for a full day return train trip to Florence.

 

Of course, these cruises are all Mediterranean cruises and there is much more to Europe. But I assume Med is the area you've pinpointed for your trip. Hard to say you've seen "Europe in 14 days or even 18 (if you add on some extra time as suggested).

 

[vipro]

I concur with option 2 if time and money is not your concern. There will be beaches and the east side from Rome u will get more ancient history. The west side is more medieval to modern stuff. 

 

In Barcelona u can focus on Gaudi's architecture, doable by yourself but need to pre purchase if u want to go to la sagrada familia.

 

In nice u can visit the old town and the promenade, should be doable yourself if u can reach the town from the port.

 

Ajaccio ppl will visit Napoleon's house (can walk from port) or go to see the mountains. 

 

In Rome u will need to take the train from your port and also u can do it yourself but u need to focus on what u wanted to see. Tons of stuff there.

 

For Naples u must join a tour if u want to go to Pompeii or Amalfi coast or both.

 

In Messina ppl will usually go to moint Etna to see the volcano as well as stopping by taormina. (Tour needed)

 

For Santorini, ppl will take a boat to Oia and then come back by bus to Fira. U could also try out the black sand beach by public transport but I think u might be pressed for time to do 3 things.

 

For Mykonos, get yourself to the town (by shuttle) and u can take the bus to the beaches. U won't get parties during the day (which it is famous for)

 

Kusadasi is your first taste of turkey. Join one of those local tours to cover Ephesus instead of doing the ships excursion.

 

Athens of course is the acropolis for first timer. 

 

It is also worthwhile to spend more time in Barcelona before the cruise as there are tons more to see there. 

[John Bull]

5 hours ago, vipro said:

 

For Naples u must join a tour if u want to go to Pompeii or Amalfi coast or both.

 

An excellent reply from vipro 🙂.

Except that IMHO the Amalfi coast is the only option which needs a tour - it can't be done by public transport (train + bus) in the hours of a port-of-call visit, and by rented car the driver will have to concentrate on the driving (narrow twisting road, buses, kamikaze scooter-riders & illegally-parked cars, and parking - or even just stopping for a few seconds to take in the view - is pretty impossible).

There are big differences between Amalfi coast bus tours & private tours.

 

But Pompeii (or Herculaneum) is easy and inexpensive by bus or the Circumvesuviana train - guides or audio-guides available on-site.

Also easy independently are the Isle of Capri or Ischia by ferry and Sorrento by ferry or the same train, Vesuvius more difficult - needs transport but not a guide, or there are the sights (esp Nat. Archaeological museum) of Naples itself.  

 

JB 🙂

[vipro]

17 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

An excellent reply from vipro 🙂.

Except that IMHO the Amalfi coast is the only option which needs a tour - it can't be done by public transport (train + bus) in the hours of a port-of-call visit, and by rented car the driver will have to concentrate on the driving (narrow twisting road, buses, kamikaze scooter-riders & illegally-parked cars, and parking - or even just stopping for a few seconds to take in the view - is pretty impossible).

There are big differences between Amalfi coast bus tours & private tours.

 

But Pompeii (or Herculaneum) is easy and inexpensive by bus or the Circumvesuviana train - guides or audio-guides available on-site.

Also easy independently are the Isle of Capri or Ischia by ferry and Sorrento by ferry or the same train, Vesuvius more difficult - needs transport but not a guide, or there are the sights (esp Nat. Archaeological museum) of Naples itself.  

 

JB 🙂

Thanks JB for pointing this out. Yes I confess I haven't fact checked when I typed this. We did the private tour that included both amarfi and Pompeii and I assumed Pompeii needs a tour as well. 

 

I agree that a private tour is better and will get u to more places but it is very expensive. We found ppl to share a van so it was slightly cheaper. Imho, I think amarfi coast is very interesting for first timers though I don't know if it is similar to cinque terre given they will be stopping at la spezia. In which case they could choose just Pompeii or go to Capri for the blue grotto

 

A bit of advice for OP. Not sure how old and how fit they are after being married for 30 years. (I will be an old man on our 30th) For those DIY trips yourselves, be prepared to walk a lot unless u always stop by coffee shops. Not all the places are always connected by public transport and taxis could be expensive. Do your research if u indeed want to diy. 

 

Also, loos are not free in Europe. Luckily most take credit cards these days

[John Bull]

2 minutes ago, vipro said:

I think amarfi coast is very interesting for first timers though I don't know if it is similar to cinque terre given they will be stopping at la spezia. In which case they could choose just Pompeii or go to Capri for the blue grotto

 

 

Hi again, vipro,

 

For those on one-day port-of-call visits, the Amalfi coast & Cinque Terre are very different.

Amalfi is all about the road high above the coast, Cinque Terre is all about the (sea-level) villages.

 

Cinque Terre was a disaster for us because it was all grossly over-crowded. And that was even though we were spending a few off--season days in Lucca and deliberately chose a week-day when there was just one smallish cruise ship in La Spezia !!

We'd only researched the roads between villages by google street-view - roads directly between villages were rare, most went a long way inland and were mainly on the landward side of the hills. And parking without a local permit was going to be impossible in some villages, unlikely in others. 

So we reckoned exploring by road was a no-no, though those who've actually done it might disagree. 

Instead we parked near the train station in La Spezia and bought train day-passes for the Cinque Terre villages, something which most cruisers do.

There's no view from the train, almost all of its route between villages is in tunnels, 

The trains and villages were grossly over-crowded. We didn't once get seats on the trains, though the villages are only a few minutes apart. In one village we bought snacks from a shop & found a vacant step to sit on - we watched circling "vultures" looking for a vacant cafe table and a massive argument over who was first to a table when its occupants got up to leave !!!

We took a boat ride between two of the villages -  that was a cool and very welcome break from the cheek-by-jowl villages.

If we were ever tempted to go back it'd have to be with a total re-think of how.

 

By contrast  the Amalfi coast road has marvellous elevated coastal views along most of its length between Sorrento & much closer to Salerno than you'd manage in a day. Plus a 20-minutes each-way side trip from Amalfi up to Ravello, our favourite.

Towns & villages along the coast like Vettica-Maggiori,  Priano, Amalfi, Minion, Maiori have varying accessibility and facilities, though the object is the views, not the stops.

The one fly-in-the-ointment is ultra-popular Positano, which is a very long & steep hike from the coast road unless your tour operator has guaranteed parking or the driver is exceptionally lucky. Best visited by ferry. Buses are not permitted, Beware ships' bus tours which "include Positano" - they don't visit, they simply stop on the coast road for a quick distant photo-opportunity.

A major advantage of a private or small-group tour is that the driver will know the slow progress along the coast road and can give you maximum time without risk rather than being committed to a set schedule, and can short-cut across the backbone of the peninsula to make up time.

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

[danicolie]

Wow.  Thank you all so much for the awesome feedback!  In September 2025 we'll be 52 & 54 so we can handle a lot of walking.  I was leaning towards Option #2 so thank you for helping me solidify this decision!  🙂  It just so happens to be the least expensive cruise option too, bonus!      

Back in September 2020, we had a 12 day East/West med cruise booked for our 20th Anniversary which sadly was canceled because of Covid.  Some ports on this new itinerary are the same so it will be fun to go through my old files to see what we had originally planned.  I had done quite a bit of research and had private tours booked for some ports before we had to cancel.  That cruise also left from Barcelona.  We were supposed to spend 3 nights in Barcelona and go to Montserrat for a day, visit Segrada Familia, etc... 

 

Excited to start planning now that the itinerary is picked!  I'll definitely add all your great feedback to my file for each port which will be a big help!  I am sure I will have more questions! 🙂

 

Thank you so much! 🙂

 

 

 

[vipro]

19 minutes ago, danicolie said:

Wow.  Thank you all so much for the awesome feedback!  In September 2025 we'll be 52 & 54 so we can handle a lot of walking.  I was leaning towards Option #2 so thank you for helping me solidify this decision!  🙂  It just so happens to be the least expensive cruise option too, bonus!      

Back in September 2020, we had a 12 day East/West med cruise booked for our 20th Anniversary which sadly was canceled because of Covid.  Some ports on this new itinerary are the same so it will be fun to go through my old files to see what we had originally planned.  I had done quite a bit of research and had private tours booked for some ports before we had to cancel.  That cruise also left from Barcelona.  We were supposed to spend 3 nights in Barcelona and go to Montserrat for a day, visit Segrada Familia, etc... 

 

Excited to start planning now that the itinerary is picked!  I'll definitely add all your great feedback to my file for each port which will be a big help!  I am sure I will have more questions! 🙂

 

Thank you so much! 🙂

 

 

 

It's good that you have already planned before so you know what you want to see or to do. Enjoy your trip!

 

[vipro]

56 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

Hi again, vipro,

 

For those on one-day port-of-call visits, the Amalfi coast & Cinque Terre are very different.

Amalfi is all about the road high above the coast, Cinque Terre is all about the (sea-level) villages.

 

Cinque Terre was a disaster for us because it was all grossly over-crowded. And that was even though we were spending a few off--season days in Lucca and deliberately chose a week-day when there was just one smallish cruise ship in La Spezia !!

We'd only researched the roads between villages by google street-view - roads directly between villages were rare, most went a long way inland and were mainly on the landward side of the hills. And parking without a local permit was going to be impossible in some villages, unlikely in others. 

So we reckoned exploring by road was a no-no, though those who've actually done it might disagree. 

Instead we parked near the train station in La Spezia and bought train day-passes for the Cinque Terre villages, something which most cruisers do.

There's no view from the train, almost all of its route between villages is in tunnels, 

The trains and villages were grossly over-crowded. We didn't once get seats on the trains, though the villages are only a few minutes apart. In one village we bought snacks from a shop & found a vacant step to sit on - we watched circling "vultures" looking for a vacant cafe table and a massive argument over who was first to a table when its occupants got up to leave !!!

We took a boat ride between two of the villages -  that was a cool and very welcome break from the cheek-by-jowl villages.

If we were ever tempted to go back it'd have to be with a total re-think of how.

 

By contrast  the Amalfi coast road has marvellous elevated coastal views along most of its length between Sorrento & much closer to Salerno than you'd manage in a day. Plus a 20-minutes each-way side trip from Amalfi up to Ravello, our favourite.

Towns & villages along the coast like Vettica-Maggiori,  Priano, Amalfi, Minion, Maiori have varying accessibility and facilities, though the object is the views, not the stops.

The one fly-in-the-ointment is ultra-popular Positano, which is a very long & steep hike from the coast road unless your tour operator has guaranteed parking or the driver is exceptionally lucky. Best visited by ferry. Buses are not permitted, Beware ships' bus tours which "include Positano" - they don't visit, they simply stop on the coast road for a quick distant photo-opportunity.

A major advantage of a private or small-group tour is that the driver will know the slow progress along the coast road and can give you maximum time without risk rather than being committed to a set schedule, and can short-cut across the backbone of the peninsula to make up time.

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

Thanks JB for sharing your experiences and differences on both places. 

I personally would like to spend more time in Positano than Ravello. Yes we had the private tour so we were able to stop there for a visit but we never had enough time to walk all the way down and up. (The stairs were really, really steep!) On the other hand we had a lot of time in Ravello.