Italy or Greece?

[coachsandy_hi Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close coachsandy_hi]

My husband and I are coming up on our 10-year anniversary and are thinking of a trip to Europe for the first time. We've probably can only spend about 7-10 days on ground as our kids will be back at home driving the grandparents crazy! We'd like to use/exchange our timeshare to minimize expenses as much as possible.

For a first timer, would you recommend Italy or Greece?

Seeing Acropolis and the Colloseum are pretty high on my bucket list. BUT we're open to other countries, too.

Any suggestions?
Thanks!

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

Athens has a few spectacular sites, but after a day or two you have seen it all, and there is no point in staying. For timesharing in Greece, I would suggest one of the Greek islands, Rhodes, Corfu, or Crete. Do Athens for a day or so on the way to the island.

For Italy, I would really recommend on a first trip splitting time between Rome, Venice, and Florence and timeshare is not the best arrangement for that. For timeshare, the best bet would be Venice, but that is a hard trade. If you can get it, you can do a day trip to Florence by train during the week one day, and then spend a few days in Rome on the way home, travelling to Rome from Venice by train. The other top timeshare location would be Tuscany and driving around there, but that is probably best for a later trip.

[coachsandy_hi Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close coachsandy_hi]

Hi Carolinian,
Thanks for your input on Greece and Italy. As we are European first-timers, would you suggest another country over Italy? We're from Hawaii coastal cliff towns we're open to seeing/lounging but our beaches are hard to beat.
Thanks!

[Pstreet1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pstreet1]

For a first trip, Paris can't be topped in my opinion, though London and Rome are right up at the top, also. I haven't been to Greece, but everyone I know who has says the same thing about Athens: "A day, two at most, is plenty." I can't imagine anyone saying that about Paris, London or Rome.