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2010 Europe Trip Itinerary Questions

A friend and I (both in our 30s from Los Angeles) will be going with a tour group starting in Amsterdam and ending in Milan next late June/early July. We will be spending 8 days riding roller coasters and visiting theme parks through Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. We start in Amsterdam and end in Milan. We are big theme park nuts which is why we are doing this special trip. We will also be experiencing local culture/tourist stuff while on the tour. We have only been to England and want to add on some travel time in Europe. We have about 8 days to add on and want to experience basically all of Europe at some point in our lives, but in particular want to go to Paris, Switzerland, and Austria. We can spend about 1,500-2,000 on the add-on and want to do all the touristy stuff. Here are my questions:

  1. Should we add-on at the beginning or end of our trip? Bearing in mind where we want to go and what will be smartest with travel.
  2. Where should we go?
  3. How should we travel between places?

Thanks!
2.

Posted by
6788 posts

Not knowing the details, I'd wonder exactly how much chance the tour you're on is going to provide for you to "experiencing local culture/tourist stuff". Well, maybe "tourist stiff". Do the math: you say you have 8 days, and you will be doing roller coasters and theme parks in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands...when you're not actually on a roller coaster (or doing something else at a "theme park") you will be checking in/out of your hotel, and en route to the next one - averaging slightly more than two days per country. That is a blistering pace (maybe literally). My advice would be to tack on a trip at the end, using your available 8 days, and limit yourselves to one country, with just 2 -3 cities at the most. You end in Milan, so why not just do 8 days in Italy? It's quick/easy to rain from Milan to venice, spend a couple nights there, then train on to Florence for a couple more days, then head for Rome and finish your trip with a few days there. That should be plenty given the time you'll have.

Posted by
12040 posts

Can you explain your trip a little better? Do you have 8 days total or 8 days in addition to what you already have planned? If the former case... you need to do serious cutting, 8 days is not nearly enough to do anything much more than transitting between your destinations. If the latter, please explain what you have so far proposed.