2 1/2 month Itinerary - Am I crazy?

As a general rule, I would choose fewer countries and more stops within each one. But as long as you have identified the flights that you need for the longer connections, then it can work fine. The "overnight" train route from Prague to Paris requires a connection at Mannheim at 5:00 a.m. Check www.skyscanner.com for flights, instead. Your time at each stop is fairly generous, with the exception of Athens. I might also question why you are picking up and moving a one-hour drive from Chinon to Amboise. Cordoba to Seville is also only 45 minute by train, so it's possible to do Cordoba as a day trip or a stop on the way, if you'd like a more relaxing stay in Seville.

Well, I decided to stay in Cordoba instead of doing a day trip so I could experience a more relaxed time there and go to some of the sights when the tourist buses weren't there. Chinon, was just on the route I was going and seemed so charming plus I am a Joan of Arc fan and I found a really cheap and pretty place to stay. My time in Athens was cut short by 2 days because of flight availability on the cheap airline. Thanks for your input.

23 destinations (including Istanbul twice) in 10 weeks is not a pace that I would recommend. You will in many cases lose at least half a day in transit each time you move.

Why not check in bags on flights, otherwise you will spend half your time trying to arrange wasing. It's not something any European would consider for this length of time, but seems to be the way Americans travel for some reason! The clothes you will need for the start of your holiday are very different from what you will need in Greece in June. Some European airlines have weight restrictions on hand luggage weight and size, so bear this in mind when planning.

For a trip of this length, you may wish to consider the odd 'down day' to recharge your batteries, particularly with so many moves.

The first three weeks of your time coincide with school holidays for Easter and many places will be busier and travel and accommodation will be more expensive.

I am not sure what you have locked down. But my first reaction is why back track (including the expense) to Instanbul? I would fly into Instanbul and come home from Madrid, Barcelona or somewhere in Spain. Try to travel in a relatively straight line. But I may have missed something here.

I love the breadth and scope of your plan, but would find it too draining over 2.5 months.
Perhaps drop Prague and Greece, giving yourself more time in Spain and Turkey.
Consolidate some of the stays in France to make for a more relaxing journey.
I would concentrate on just 5 countries ...
Turkey - 16 nights (Istanbul-4, Cappadocia-4, Pamukkale-2, Marmaris-2, Bodrum-2, Ephesus-2)
fly to Paris
France - 16 nights (Paris-7, Loire Valley-3, Lyon-2, Provence-4)
Spain - 16 nights (Barcelona-4, Madrid-4, Granada-3, Cordoba-2, Sevilla-3)
Morocco - 11 nights (Marrakech, Fes,??)
fly to Venice or Rome
Italy - 16 nights (Venice-3, Cinque Terre-3, Florence-5, Rome-5)
fly to Istanbul for flight home (or better still fly directly home from Italy)

That is a pretty ambitious schedule with an average of only 3 night per location but not crazy (crazy is only 1-2 nights per location for 10 weeks).

I'd also recommend looking into open jaw tickets (into Turkey and out of Spain) or at least fly from Istanbul to Paris once you are done with Turkey. It's not clear how you are getting to Prague from Cappadocia. Are you flying? If so I'd recommend cutting Prague and flying strait to Paris. Save Prague for when you come back.

DJ

I assume you found a great roundtrip fare for Istanbul, as well as the other flights, to explain your zigzag pattern. It might be more efficient to fly into Isranbul and out of Spain, rearranging your order of countries to go from east to west.

I usually travel for 89 days, averaging four nights per city. Your itinerary sounds good.

Dear Zoe,
Thanks for giving me a little hope that I didn't totally screw up. My husband did get a good round trip fight to Istanbul. I can't really make any major changes in the itinerary, because I have most of my flights booked and a lot of my reservations through Airbnb are made. I should have asked advice sooner. But I did get really good deals on all my flights and found the cutest places to stay in our budget and all in the areas I wanted. Originally I had Portugal in the mix too but dropped it because it was cheaper to get to Marrakesh from Seville and I really wanted more time in Spain. I know some of my moves could have been eliminated by doing day trips (For instance between Cordoba and Seville.) But I can't imagine rushing through a city in one afternoon. Plus there are festivals in both Cordoba and Seville while we are there. In France when we will have a car from Dinan to Amboise in the Loire Valley. I am totally prepared to shut down and just relax at any of our destinations if we need a rest.

Thank you everyone for your advice. I will look over my schedule and see what I can change. Much of it is locked in but not all.

Dear David,
I am sorry, but all the advice has helped me. I may not be able to make some of the major changes. But I can rearrange parts of the trip. I do not have all my reservations done (though I do have quite a few, but many of them could be changed or canceled with minimum difficulty or cost) and none of my train trips which are quite a few are booked yet. Just my flights are booked. I am sorry to upset you.

So if everything is already set, you wanted reassuance that you aren't crazy. No, you're not! Enjoy and please report back for the rest of us to learn.

Now, my 2 cents: I'd add a night or two onto Istanbul and take it off Cappadocia. Also, how are you getting from Cappadocia to Prague?

I love the pace. I've done it , albeit in 30 days - 7 countries, 11 cities. I'd do it in a heartbeat. I like to move around, enjoy train travel. Never felt like I didn't have enough time to do all that I wanted. But I'm the kind of person that finds it hard to sit down for a spell.

It's a lot of travel, I couldn't keep up your pace but I'm older and slower. I like that you've allowed a week for Paris multiple days for almost all the cities. Lucky you'll have long enough to do justice to your destinations, unlike many who plan whirlwind itineraries that will put them in planes and trains and cars twice as much time as they'll have in great cities.

As for your underlying sanity question, I'm not qualified to judge, except to say that your plans seem sane and Bets has never been wrong to my knowledge!

I think this looks like a great, memorable vacation. I traveled with my daughter in Europe when she was 15 as well. It's nice to keep up this reasonable pace with a teenager, as it is also important to allow them to sleep in on occasion, LOL. This looks like a great family trip. She's a lucky girl! Wray

Bets,
We are flying on Turkish Air to Cappadocia and flying on Turkish Air again to Prague. You are probably right to add 2 days to Istanbul and less in Cappadocia. The week I was planning that portion of the trip the bomb went off at that castle so I wasn't too keen and spending a lot of time there. Now I wish I would have booked a little more time in Istanbul like you said. Thanks for the advice.

Warren, Dick and Rey,
Thanks for your encouragement. We are super excited.

I also think it sounds fabulous. We generally do 4 week trips and are never ready to come home, yet we do begin to tire toward the end. My advice is to be open to taking a day off from time to time. We had a rainy day in Italy and decided to stay in and read books. It was lovely and much needed.