To ask for your feedback on my holiday itinerary for next year?

[ThatCyanSheep]

I'm bored, and fed up of the weather so I've fully planned my holiday next year.

Any opinions of what more I can fit in/what I should take out are welcome!

NICE, France

Hotel: Ibis Budget Californie Lenval

Saturday 29th August

• Fly to Nice - land at 11:30am (ish)
• Tram to Hotel - 20 minutes by bus/9 minutes by tram
• Store bag at hotel/check in (I am an ALL member so I have free early check in) and sort daypack/change to explore
• 12:00 - about 3pm
• Explore Nice old town & get lunch
• 3pm - 5:30pm
• Head back to Promenade des Anglais, get gelato, explore beach, coffee
• 5:30-6:45
• Head back to hotel, shower, freshen up, change
• Dinner - find restaurant along Promenade
• After dinner - sunset stroll then head back to hotel

Sunday 29th August

• Breakfast in Nice
• Nice ➡️ Vilefranche-sur-Mer
• Walk around - visit harbour & town centre
• Coffee & walk
• Villefranche-sur-Mer ➡️ Antibes
• Lunch on train or Antibes
• Explore Antibes
• Picasso Museum
• Visit the port
• Antibes ➡️ Nice
• Relaxed afternoon - read on beach, try to catch some of the F1
• Stroll back to hotel
• Freshen up
• Dinner

Monday 30th August

• Monaco day trip
• Breakfast in Nice
• Nice ➡️ Monaco
• Coffee & explore old town
• Lunch
• Walk the track (or at least some of it)
• Visit the harbour, stroll along and eat
• Monaco ➡️ Nice
• Dinner

Tuesday 1st September

• Beach club day

MILAN, Italy

Hotel: Ibis Milano Centrale

Wednesday 2nd September

• Nice ➡️ Milan (early train, aim to arrive in Milan by midday)
• Head to hotel, store bag and sort daypack
• Explore, head to Duomo for fan event (or wherever the fan event is, it has not been announced yet)
• Find somewhere for dinner
• Back to hotel

Thursday 3rd September

• Breakfast around hotel, explore the area
• Head to Monza for the fan stage and other events
• Back to Milan around midafternoon
• Find lunch and explore
• Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and Brera
• Dinner

Friday 4th September

• Day trip to Lake Como
• Train Milan ➡️ Como Lago
• Breakfast in Como
• Explore, visit the cathedral, funicular ride?
• Como ➡️ Bellagio
• Explore Bellagio
• Bellagio ➡️ Varenna
• Villa Monastero gardens
• Varenna ➡️ Como
• Como Lago ➡️ Milan
• Dinner around the hotel

On Friday, visit grocery store to get water and snacks for the race weekend

Saturday 5th September

QUALI DAY - day in Monza

Dinner near hotel after qualifying

Sunday 6th September

RACE DAY

Dinner near hotel after qualifying
Pack bags
Full body shower to prepare for flight

Monday 7th September

• Breakfast at hotel
• Head to airport at 8am
• Flight home around 11:30

90 minutes having a shower? I'm on another planet. And you bring all the extra gubbins you need for this spa level extravaganza on holiday taking up precious luggage space? This is so bizarre.

Might not be an issue for you, but gave you planned your spends? This itinerary looks like it could end up costing a lot

Lake Como alone would take me at least 3 days, and I've already been there three times. Not even talking about Milan. Besides it will most likely be hot. All this prancing and strolling around in heat...

I’ve got the budget planned and I’m saving each month towards it!

It’s just shampoo, a razor, scrub, and body oil - not that much!

What stands out to me is there are 31 days in August.

Bugger I got my dates wrong 🤣 I fly on the 29th 😭

Villefrance-sur-mer is in the opposite direction to Antibes so thats quite a busy day if you also plan on spending a relaxing afternoon in Nice. Antibes is a lovely town so I'd spend a whole day there and then just quickly stop off at Vllefrance on the way to Monaco. I didn't find Nice itself that Nice to spend time in and much preferred Antibes.

It sounds good in some respects, but if you do this schedule, it will be expensive, and possibly a bit unrealistic. I have been to all of the places, other than Lake Como. I don't particularly like Nice, and I almost cannot believe you can get to town from the airport in 9 minutes (although it is about 6 years since I have been there and things may have moved on). I've been to Milan 3 times in the last two years, and although there is plenty to like (the cemetery is particularly good), it is another big city, and traversing it takes time, and the cathedral is better looking from outside in. I think using AI is fine to give you an idea, but you probably need to do a bit more planning to work out if it is properly "do-able" and whether it will give you what you want. I'd also add that some of these places are not quite the "stroll down the promenade and have dinner while watching the sunset" as you think. Some have big city issues. I was in Marseille earlier this year - it was like the wild west in some parts, I'm a decent traveller, but I was glad to return to the hotel at 9pm. Admittedly, a different city, but be careful with AI romanticising how it will be. I'm a planner too, and it is great to see AI doing some of the work, plus you will have a better trip by planning. Hope this helps x

By my calculations it’s about 15 minutes to Villefrance on the train, and then 45 across to Antibes?

I’ve done quite a bit of research (lots from Reddit and blogs!), I’ve just used ai to sort of aggregate all of it into some form of list. I’m staying on the promenade, not in the old town :)

I'd agree Antibes is nice (again 5 years ago), also if you are walker, the train stops all of way along the coast and you can walk along the coast if you fancy a long walk, pebbly beach, but nice enough. x

That sounds right up my street! The train journeys all look absolutely incredible. I’d love to go back one day and interrail across the entire coast, from northern Portugal all the way down to northern Italy!

Couldn't agree more.
I am a lists person but even I find this a bit rigid.

And, yeah, 4th September, I have been to all those places. But not in one day. I would have thought 3 days to really appreciate and enjoy.

Frankly it sounds like your itinerary is more of a checklist of things to do rather than a plan to enjoy yourself and soak up the atmosphere

I’ve been to lake como before, did the lower basin and found it stunning but didn’t hit those two towns. I want to fit a lot in because I don’t know when I’ll be able to go back!

Re Antibes - it's quite nice to go along from Juan les Pins to Cap d'Antibes beside the sea side. I don't know if there is a bus. Also the Hotel du Eden Roc where F Scot Fitzgerald stayed - down near there. The town itself has had a lot of post war flats put up in it - unfortunately.

I only got as far as Sunday 29th and I don't understand how you're going to have time to actually look at anything in the Picasso museum?! I always find that museums / galleries end up taking way longer than you expect, so I'd definitely build in more time there. Sounds like an amazing trip though!

I’m happy to be on the go from 7am till 9pm! I’m going alone so don’t have anyone else to worry about!

Why would you have a shower for an hour and a half on race day? Seems a huge waste of time.

What stands out to me is that you’ve planned your shower regime, given yourself very tight turnarounds for some things but not planned exactly where to eat.

“Find somewhere for dinner” is not as easy as you’d think in Nice. Places get booked up etc and if you want to enjoy a decent meal you should be researching that and have a list of potential dinner spots.

I call this the Everything Shower.

Also the Sunday is ridiculous 🤣

Alone? Now I’m even more jealous. This trip sounds amazing.

I’ve been to Monza for the F1 and I found it utterly chaotic. So be prepared for your plans for the F1 weekend to go out of the window. It’s a great experience, but bloody hell, it was frustrating!

The Friday sounds dreadful , we love a train journey but that’s taking things too far I think is miss one town out

Why would anyone plan their holiday down the the last second.. what happened to relaxing