I am looking for any and all suggestions, from food, to lodging, (2 beds, with cost around $200-$250 per night, hotel, apartment, air bnb) to even the amount of time spend in each location. I along with my adult son would like to traveling in the fall, departing from Boston and would like to see Frankfurt, (visiting and likely staying with a friend working at Ramstein Air Force Base), Amsterdam, (wandering locally) and possibly San Sebastián, for the food! This would be done in whatever order makes more sense transportation wise. Do you recommend a travel agent? thank you :)
Posted by
Uppsala, Sweden
7051 posts
The logical order would be Amsterdam-Frankfurt-San Sebastian/Donostia or v.v.
Posted by
8322 posts
You have two weeks and should plan your trip day to day.
First, I doubt if you can do justice to three countries in two weeks.
Second, just traveling from Amsterdam or Frankfurt to San Sebastian will use up a good bit of travel time. Even using air travel, you have wasted time at the airport, etc.
I suggest you use TripAdvisor and other travel sites to map out specific cities and plan what you wish to see in each. For TripAdvisor, ask "things to do." We recently did a week in Amsterdam and were busy each day.
Iin visiting Frankfurt, you would likely wish to visit the Rhineland. You can do that on your way to Amsterdam. However, consider visiting Mainz and Heidelberg before you head north to Amsterdam. Be sure to visit Rudesheim and take at least a Rhein cruise past the Loreli. Also, visit Cologne. Also, Aachen is an interesting city. If you are interested in WWII history, consider visiting Arnhem, and the British Paratrooper Museum (site of The Bridge to Far).
Instead of going to Spain, consider visiting Belgium instead, if you have time after Germany and Netherlands. Don't miss Brugges and Gent.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7936 posts
Welcome to this newsboard with your first post. Have you been to Europe before? How did you select San Sebastián?
Month and year, please. You will get better answers if you use words more specific than "reasonable priced". "reasonable" usually means "cheapest I can stand without fear of bedbugs."
How many rooms or beds? Have you found our host's Travel Tips in the menu top left?
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
8157 posts
Are you planning to use train travel, Cheryl? I would suggest doing that rather than driving, as it will be much easier.
As Badger pointed out, the most logical sequence is Frankfurt-->Amsterdam-->San Sebastián. It's probably much simpler for you to fly from Boston to Frankfurt, so better to start off there. I would suggest booking a multi-city flight rather than flying and and out of Frankfurt. If San Sebastián is a must-visit destination, then book your return flight out of either Madrid or Barcelona.
You could spend 3-4 nights in Frankfurt, then head to Amsterdam by train. Spend 4-5 nights there, then train to San Sebastián (this will be at least a 10 hour train ride). Spend the remaining time there, then take the train to either Madrid or Barcelona for your return flight.
I do question San Sebastián - as mentioned, this will take you a very long day of travel time to get there, and once you are there, you will need to get back to an international airport, which will take around 5-6 hours (and that's if you fly on a multi-city booking). If you have to go back to Frankfurt, then quite frankly, it would not be worth it, imo.
Even so, this schedule with San Sebastián included takes a LOT of travel time. I would instead concentrate on Frankfurt, spending time with your friend and doing day trips from there (Cologne, Aachen, Heidelberg, the Rhine valley) and then spending the second half in Amsterdam, where you would enjoy a vibrant city with lots to do, including day trips to some wonderful locations (Leiden, Hoorn, Utrecht, den Haag, Delft and many more). Then you could fly out of Amsterdam back to Boston, which would take no travel time at all.