Visiting Europe for a month this summer

[TheMetetron]

[ QUOTE ]
dude, wtf, plz dont go to europe and have every hour planned. Just have a general idea of what you want to see in each city before you go.

[/ QUOTE ]

dude, wtf, doing way too much in way too short of a time.

also, dude, wtf not my idea.


Seriously, the problem is we really only have 3 full days in each city with one day on each side for traveling. We know the things we want to do in each city, the problem is budgeting our time correctly. First, the things have to be close to each other so we aren't looking like a bunch of retards wasting time getting lost or crossing town every time we want to go somewhere new. Second, we have to see what we are actually going to have time for so that we can make a general plan that allows certain things to be cut if we want. Without any sort of plan, it may end up we run out of time to see something we really wanted to see.

It may seem really stupid to some people to do it this way, and I definitely wouldn't do it if I was going by myself (mostly because I'd just take more time in each place and relax), but with a limited amount of time and a lot to see this really does work quite well. I'm also weird and enjoy planning a vacation almost as much as going on one. Certain vacations have certain objectives. When I take a cruise, I don't even think about it until the day I leave and just relax for a whole week. When I go backpacking to Europe for a month and want to see 7 cities with my brother who won't be back to Europe for a while, I want to make sure we are efficient as we can be.

And this really is to maximize efficiency. Trust me, we aren't the type of people who won't tell this itinerary to [censored] itself if we find something we'd rather do. But it is a good general idea that can be changed as we go along. And it ensures that at the very least we can see what we really want to.


Edit: I don't really know how to explain it any better. I'm 100% confident when the trip is over, we will look back and be glad we did things this way. Also, not every city is this detailed. Amsterdam, for instance, has like 3 places we want to go in the 3 days we are there and then a whole bunch of getting high, meeting people, walking around, and partying. Different objectives for different cities. Paris/London just happen to have a ton of things we want to see.

[mwalsh2020]

This sounds like an amazing trip. If you haven't already, I would recommend comparing prices at ryanair.com as they offer some great rates for purchases made 2 weeks ahead of time.

I would echo the sentiment of others that the time you will enjoy and remember most from this trip will not be the typical attractions that you are so anxious to see, but rather the odd stroll through a park, or a certain bistro that you take some time out to relax at.

As for Paris, Barcelona, or Berlin, I HIGHLY recommend Big Tire(?) Bike Tours. I think that's the name of the company. I did a bike tour with them last summer in Paris and it was a really fun, relaxing way to see the city in a couple of hours.

Not to hijack, but I really like this forum and I'd love to post my tentative itinerary for a European vacation that I am planning on taking with a few other friends. Would that be appropriate for this thread?

[Cancuk]

I know that you said that you want to go to DisneyLand in Paris, but i'm going to go ahead and beg you not to. Paris is one of the most exciting/amazing/beautiful cities in the world. Why would you want to spend your time in DisneyLand? It's not going to be THAT different that the California/Florida versions. Please don't do this.

[Cancuk]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

second, you should be bringing a backpack and not suitcases. this may be obvious to you and everyone else but it is so important that it can't be left out. mobility is super, super important on this kind of trip. if your bags are a pain you will stay in one place for longer than you would otherwise. i made this mistake myself and hope you don't.


[/ QUOTE ]

Oh yeah, this is super important. Nothing sucks more than to drag luggage all over Europe. I travel extremely light.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. The less the better. Pack your bag then take half of it out. Seriously.

[TheMetetron]

[ QUOTE ]
Not to hijack, but I really like this forum and I'd love to post my tentative itinerary for a European vacation that I am planning on taking with a few other friends. Would that be appropriate for this thread?

[/ QUOTE ]

Seems pretty appropriate. Fine with me and hopefully I learn something from it.

[mwalsh2020]

Originally we were going to get hooked up by my friends parents who have a time share in Cabo which they were going to trade for weeks in Europe. Unfortunately, that all fell through so now we'll actually have to pay for accommodations. One good piece of news is that we will get 50 percent off a five day stay at a Marriot hotel in either London or Paris.

I'd like to plan the trip so that while we are staying in hostels for some of the time, we are able to alternate between them and hotels (for a good sleep/shower etc).

With that in mind, I'd like some help/feedback in constructing the best European vacation for my friends and I possible given roughly a $3k limit, not counting airfare. We are planning on staying for roughly 4 weeks or so if we can make the money last that long.

We have agreed on a few cities that are absolute must see for everyone in the group: London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome and Athens. Fairly standard. However, I've seen all of those except Barcelona and Athens and I'd like to see a bunch of other places, if only for a couple of days. I am aware of the danger of going to too many places and I want to balance out the negatives of hopping place to place with the positives of seeing a lot of Europe.

The second tier of cities that I/we would like to see is Madrid (and some time in Portugal would be great), Berlin, Copenhagen, Geneva, Prague and obviously some more time in Italy (probably Florence and Venice).

Also, my gf and I will be able to stay with some relatives in Ireland for around 4 days or so, and this will come at the end of our trip.

How many cities do you think its realistic to fit into a four week trip? I was tentatively thinking that it could go something like this:

week 1- london/paris
week 2- portugal/spain/monoco
week 3- rome (and any other good italian city as a day trip or two?) and athens
week 4- copenhagen, berlin, prague

Logistically, I think this might be too tight of a fit, although I'm honestly not sure as it depends on whether we are happy on trains looking at the countryside or if flying a lot of places doesn't add up to costs that are unbearable.

This may be an improved idea:

day 1-3 london
4-6 barcelona
5-7 madrid
8-10 paris
11-12 versailles (south of france also?)
13-14 geneva
15-16 copenhagen
17-18 berlin
19-20 prague
21-24 rome
25-28 other italy
29-31 athens

Sorry, I know this is a ton of rambling and I'm still working ideas around in my head. Let me know what you guys think. Any and all advice or suggestions are welcomed.

[TheMetetron]

Keep in mind that travel effectively kills a day for doing too much of anything unless you are leaving very earlier in the morning.

With our plan, the days we leave for a new city are pretty much rest and relaxation days because otherwise we would be doing too much.

We are spending 4 days in each city (a few only 3), but that really only gives us 3 full days to do things. If you are only in a city for 2 days, you really only have 1 and obviously won't see much of anything.

We are doing 7 cities in about 4 weeks and we are feeling the squeeze. Anything more is downright suicidal in my opinion.

Also, depending on how your itinerary works out, taking planes may actually be cheaper than traveling via train (it was for us). This has the added benefit of giving you more time in Europe.

I also think your $3k figure is horribly low for 4 weeks. For us, we are spending about $600 on hostels during that time (and spending 4 nights with a friend in Paris) and about $400 to travel in Europe. Add in another $100-200 per city for museum entrance, public transit, etc and we are spending around $2,000 before we eat any food or drink a drop of liquor. If you can eat in Europe for a month on $1,000, more power to you, but I think that is incredibly unrealistic especially if you ever go out at night.

Also, look into Athens more. It isn't all that great and was dropped from our itinerary after originally being included.

Drop Geneva, not worth going to on its own.

[mwalsh2020]

Very good points. One thing I'm particularly curious about is at what point it would be worth purchasing a Eurail pass. I used one last summer and was really disappointed that after paying around 500 bucks or whatever, I still got hit with hidden "reservation" fees for extended trips from Venice to Paris and Paris to Amsterdam. I suppose a combination of intra-Europe flights combined with eurail would probably allow for the greatest flexibility, but I'd like to do nothing but cheap, quick flights with occasional train usage if possible. What are your thoughts on this?

Also, either check your PMs or could you please let me know how on God's green earth your brother got a flight for 600 dollars? I've searched for hours and can only find 1000 dollar flights. Help! =)

[mwalsh2020]

What are peoples' thoughts on Lisbon, Portugal?

[Marnixvdb]

[ QUOTE ]
Barcelona is a much, much better place to go than Madrid unless you have something in Madrid you that you particularly want to see (Prado museum or Guernica in the Reina Sofia would be the two likely candidates).

I'm sure you will find very few that disagree with that.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've lived in Madrid for half a year and I love the city very much, but I completely agree with this statement.

The biggest reason to go to Madrid as tourist, is the superb musea. Reina Sofia for modern art (Picasso, Miro, Dali), el Prado for classical art (Velasquez, Goya, el Greco, e.a.) and the fantastic Thyssen Bornemisza for a cross section of Art History (1 or 2 pieces from almost every artist that matters).

Food & nightlife is very good as well, but you kinda need to know the city before you really know where to go.

There are some great sights near Madrid though, such as Segovia, el Escorial and Toledo. They could all be a reason to go, but you'd be visiting Madrid to actually visit another city. Which is no problem of course, but a bit more of a hassle.

Other cities in Spain are much more wonderful in themselves, such as Granada (Alhambra) or Sevilla.

Barcelona is a truly great visit.

So in conclusioin, I'd only visit Madrid if you know very well beforehand why you are visiting that city, otherwise you may be dissappointed.