30 Days Possible Itinerary?

Hi,
You have close to forty places on your list: even 3 months would barely suffice. Sorry.
In 4 weeks, you could do a lovely France (skipping Lourdes, which is out of the way, unless the pilgrimage is key for you) - Switzerland - Italy trip. Or Germany-Switzerland-Italy. Or, perhaps, Belgium-Cologne-Middle Rhine-Switzerland-Italy, at a stretch. But certainly not more.

Hi philis,

I think I count 36 places listed for one month. I presume you are planning to pare that down significantly.

I would suggest making a list of which things are top priority and how many days you want to stay in each city and then cutting from there. Just like Rick Steve's suggests. Maybe watch one of his travel planning videos, or buy the book. There will be excellent guidance.

As it's written now, no it's not physically of feasably doable, let alone enjoyable. Way too many places and they're way too far apart. You need to list the places you want to see, list how many days/nights you'd like to be there, and list the time and distance to get from place to place and include that in your calculations. Then total up how many days/nights you come up with. Then start eliminating places, especially those that require more than a couple of days and those that are too far flung (transportation wise), until you pare it down to 30 days.

Good luck!!

You mention "EURAIL" - be aware that this is not a train company but a travel agency selling a rail pass. Please do a lot of research on this to determine if this is appropriate for your trip. In many countries (France in particular as well as others) you have to purchase a seat reservation on top of the amount you've already paid for the pass. This is not the jump on/jump off situation it was back in the day when some of us were in or just out of college and headed to Europe for the summer. The website Man in Seat 61 is a good primer in train travel in Europe. www.seat61.com

Purchasing point to point tickets well ahead of time may work out to be less expensive for you. With that many you'll have to have your hotels lined up so you'll have set days that you will move around.

I'll agree with the others that you've got WAY too much onboard for 30 days. I just did a Rick Steves tour, Best of Italy, last Fall plus some extra days on either end and that was 22 days with your Italy destinations plus the Lake District and minus Naples.

I'd go back to the drawing board and see what the top 3 sights are for your group. Plan for 5-7 nights for your big cities like Paris and London and Rome.

For this trip I'd plan to do either your UK sights (and that is still a lot for a month) OR 1 or 2 countries in mainland Europe. France, Belgium and Netherlands. OR France and Italy. OR Italy and Switzerland.

I hope you're kidding with us. In 30 days you would be hard pressed to visit half of these places.

Europeans joke that Americans try to see everything but end up seeing nothing. This itinerary is taking that to another level. It's totally impossible and even attempting it would be unenjoyable within the first few days. You might be able to do 1/4th of that and have a somewhat enjoyable vacation. Remember, Europe will always be there to explore. I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I want you to have an enjoyable and realistic vacation. If I were you I'd pick 2 (maybe 3) countries and visit some of the popular spots there.

Also, be sure to compare Eurail value to the prices of buying individual tickets. Often, you are required to pay a reservation fee (20-50€) even with the pass.

Sorry, but i can't believe this is a serious post. How could anyone think they can travel from the US to Europe and back, and visit 37 different places, some of them considerably far apart, in 30 days? Perhaps the OP has finally developed teleportation, or has perfected time travel. I'm usually willing to give new travellers the benefit of the doubt; but this list strains credulity to the breaking point.

She or he posted something similar in April 2020.

Hi,

Another two weeks at your disposal would help. If you get have a Eurail Global Pass for 10 days in 2 months and are willing to use the option of night trains, that travel style will help in doing most of this itinerary. You do need to skip a number of cities. You may use the Eurail Pass on the EuroStar from Paris to London.

Take the night train Munich to Berlin, maybe with a transfer in Hannover in the morning. (not 3 AM).

Unless your entire group is totally united in agreeing to this itinerary as to priorities and using the Global Eurail Pass, I would suggest getting this commitment first, other wise, then some of you may have travel separately and rendezvous later. This can be done, all matter of planning, and discipline.

Is this a possible itinerary for 30 days?

Not. Remotely. Possible. Even if you halved this itinerary you'd be spending more time and money dealing with transport/location changes than seeing much of anything at all. Then there's the acclimation time to get your bearings in a new location. Just the combo of Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome/Vatican City and Naples would require nearly 2 weeks for just a scratch-the-surface trip.

Traveling with a group adds another layer of complication: you will only move at the rate of your slowest member. That can be an issue when you ALL need to be up, dressed, fed, packed, checked out, and to the station at 7:00 AM, and you need to do that a LOT because of an overloaded itinerary. The more stressed and tired your group becomes due to too many places in too little time, the bigger chance of friction between members.

Who is going to do the research, craft an itinerary to please all 7, order any necessary advance tickets (attractions/rail/bus), choose the accommodations and do the bookings, etc? What's the plan to divvy up costs if rooms or activities, such as day tours, are shared? Do each of you have the same amount of money to work with? Lots to consider here.

Consider as well individual travel experience; have any of you traveled to Europe before? There's a learning curve to everything from efficient packing to figuring out local transport to some local customs, etc. Not everything might work like clockwork, either. One train strike or major flight delay can throw a very tight itinerary into disarray. The one day you allocated for a big hike might be the day it pours rain. Maybe your stomach REALLY doesn't like what you ate last night... 🤢

So, starting deep instead of wide/quality versus quantity leaves you more time and money for sightseeing and fun, provides a more comfortable cushion for figuring out how things work, and some flexibility to manage around what doesn't go according to plan.

...and of course the check points travelers.

Not sure what this means; please explain?

A group of 7 adults is a very difficult size to travel with. Too large for an automobile and too large for a normal size van with all the luggage. It is impossible to hit that many places on trains.

I suggest you book your entire group on one of the fast moving, see all escorted tours with a professional bus driver. You'll see as many places as can be physically visited.

Your list is WAY TOO long.
Suggest picking two, perhaps three countries, otherwise you will miss so much in the places you plan to visit.

I concur with David’s post above. And everyone else’s too.
An insane itinerary. And SEVEN people to boot. A nightmare. Even with two people it would be a poor plan. But 7?
Book everyone on a escorted tour. Will be so much easier and better.

I would not want to even go to a restaurant with seven people. Splitting the check would be fraught with problems and someone always gets screwed and others are resentful. Imagine that on this proposed trip plan.
I use the word plan here very loosely.

Has OP ever traveled before?

I would recommend dropping at least six or seven cities to be taken from Italy and Scotland. First of all, there needs to be prioritizing in your trip planning.

Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Cork are not even in the UK- they are in the Republic of Ireland, a totally different sovereign country.
Add those to Belfast and that is a base minimum, absolute minimum, one week alone.
This itinerary shows a real lack of geographical knowledge.
You mention WW buffs in your party yet I see nothing war related in this itinerary. No major battle sites in either France or Belgium. Do you mean WW1, or WW2 as in terms of sites they are quite different?

Hi,

On the WW1 or WW2 battle field history, your flexibility depends on having a rental car. If not, there are still major sites and museums pertaining to these 2 conflicts, depending on the depth of your interest and desire to track these sites down.

From Berlin go out to Seelow by taking the train Berlin Hbf to Frankfurt an der Oder , then change to the S-Bahn for Seelow. The biggest battle on German soil took place there in April of 1945, as the Soviets threw wave after wave against German positions on the Seelow Heights before they could get to Berlin. The Museum is located in Seelow.

From Paris (Gare de l"Est) take the train Meaux, one of the 2 major museums on WW1, the other one is in the Somme, also accessible if you are motorised, located in Peronne. Take the train from Est as a day day out to Chateau Thierry, where the US played a major role.

If you're focusing on German and British WW1 sites, then take the TGV to Arras from Paris Nord., a bit pricey but well worth it to see these German and British sites.

Bottom line....if this group of 7 is not all that desirous of seeking out these war sites, then split up and rendezvous afterwards.