4 Month Solo European Itinerary - Overwhelmed and need help

What is your question?

My question is could anyone provide advice based on my itinerary such as should I add any cities to my list or remove others? If you were traveling Europe for four months are there any places or sites along this route that you think I should take day trips to or reroute my travels to see?

Any advice would help, thank you for asking me to clarify.

Where is your down time in this schedule? We always schedule a “day off” for 7 days traveled.

I travel for 2.5- 3 months at a time 2-3 times a year. You have mostly two night stays and lots of rushing. This can get very exhausting. I don't know your age but I think it is a good idea to schedule some down time every couple of weeks during a long trip. To rest your body and mind.

This will wipe you out, even if you are 22 years old. I spent an entire summer in Europe when I was 20, and I'm on my fifth such trip post-retirement. I think you will soon regret this pace if you pre-book things and cannot slow down--a lot--as you go. There are interesting places to see around every one of your overnight stops, as well as usually more than 1 or 1.5 days' worth of local things to see and do. I've been to almost all of those places.

Please plan to wing most of this trip so you can adjust on the fly. Yes, there are some financial risks involved, and you may end up having to cut a destination because last-minute transportation costs are just too high, but I'm afraid if you stick to this schedule you will not have a very enjoyable trip.

Since you don't care about museums, does the trip need to be so heavily weighted toward largish cities? The architecture and environment in a smaller town can be just as exciting and different as what you find in the big places if you primarily plan to wander the streets. Including smaller spots and even some rural areas would give you more variety, and a bit of time on a bus or train to a neaby town, without your backpack, may soon prove very welcome.

On day 20 from Graz to Salzburg is basically most of the day on the train since you'll have go through Vienna.

You're going from Berlin to Gdansk...direct or with transfers? Which route are you taking? Up to Angermünde and then along the Baltic, or Berlin to Warsaw, then up to Gdansk. When I did Berlin-Gdansk ride, it took over 9 hrs. with two short transfers taking the Baltic route.

In the summer there is an ICE train Amsterdam to Frankfurt, transferring in Duisburg, I believe, Be sure you time it for that departure so as to do ride direct. I did that ride in 2014 Frankfurt-Amsterdam as a day trip.

If I were traveling 4 months now, my itinerary would be different,.. different emphasis, different geography, different focus. I focus on history and cities too, which would include Wroclaw, Gdanzk and the lower Vistula area, Krakow, Przemsyl, a lot more towns/cities in Germany, (Minden, Kiel, Celle, Cuxhaven, Berlin area, Ludwigslust, Schleswig, Husum, Flensburg, Jena, Weimar, Dresden, Leipzig, Frankfurt an der Oder, Ingolstadt, Rastatt, and more), Kleipeda (Lithuania), Prague, Pilsen, Brno with side trip, Olomouc, more small towns in Moravia, etc plus Finland. and France.

I would skip C Krumlov, Kosice, Lux City, and Switzerland.

I would suggest staying in hostels or small hotels in the train station area, ie within walking distance to the station so that you don't time taking pubic transport or a taxi in the morning and when you arrive. Most places I stay at are within walking distance to the station, 2-5 mins max. I don't like waiting for the ride to get me to the station when I can just walk right over.

Keep in mind that hostel do fill up, no beds available in dorm rooms or private rooms. I've seen this in Vienna at the Wombats Hostel when telephone calls come in, especially on a week-end asking if room was available and the caller is told that hostel is booked up for the days requested. Krakow has one of the best hostels within a few minutes of the train station, the Greg and Tom Hostel.

I would suggest pre booking a lot of the places you plan on staying overnight, nail them down so as not to waste time looking on the computer as I've done in the hostels for a place to stay or literally going from place to place to ask about accommodations.

Do you plan on any night train routes? For example, if you skip Brno, you can take the night train Krakow to Vienna.

Luxembourg city has a nice city centre but it is very small in one or two hours you see it all. If you stay there, I would recommend you also see its nice Moselle area as well as the ‘small Luxembourgish Switzerland’. From Luxembourg, it is easy to go to Trier and Frankfurt but not to Ghent. There are also buses - Flibco and Flixbus - going there. Trier is a very nice little city along the Moselle area on the German side.
Should I were you, I would not go from Luxembourg to Ghent but from Paris to Ghent ( 1 hour with Talys fast train to Brussels and another hour from Brussels to Ghent) while train from
Luxembourg to Ghent will take you 5 hours. Ghent is a very nice city and you should take your time to stroll it around.
1 night to take the time to have a beer with a ghense Waterzooi in the evening and experience this university young city.
The morning early you could take time to stroll around to experience a less busy city, see the market square, the City Hall, St Bavon Church and its wonderful triptic ( this takes only a few minutes - half an hour).
Two days in Bruges is really great!
I do not like that much Amsterdam, I feel Bruges is nicer and quieter and not so hectic. I also think you do not devote enough time in Venice - 3 full days would not be too much. Florence would need at least 4-5 days even a week if you want to see it’s tuscan surroundings.
Rome would need one full week.
My advise: You have to choose what part of Europe you would like to choose: East-Central-South. Maybe also if you know Spain rather well, you could skip it, or skip Paris or Brussels and start your trip in Frankfurt or Milan or Rome or Vienna?

I would advise you to slow down and savor some of these places more.

Places like Paris, Rome, London, Venice deserve way more time. I have been to Paris 4 or 5 times for a total of about 16 days and still haven't seen it all. Same with Rome, about 12 full days.

Further, not sure about your day 50-51 where you are in Romania and plan to make it to Dubrovnik then to Bari. This part of your trip makes no sense.

Dubrovnik deserves one full day.

Thanks so much to everyone who has replied. I am 40, not 20 and I now realize that this itinerary is too ambitious, too much. I now see the value in down time and the only downtime I have scheduled are the countries outside the Schengen zone. I will cut out Spain and Portugal and will have figure out which cities I should extend my stay in to allow for more rest.

I knew this would be too much, but it’s my only shot at backpacking Europe. I could even do 90 days in the Schengen sone, 90 days in countries outside the zone and go back to the Schengen countries to see anything I might have missed.

I am not wealthy, at all, but have secured a decent amount of money for this trip. The reason I am doing this is because over the past eight months, my mother, my little brother, my grandmother and one of my best friends all died and I found out I need four surgeries within two years that could prevent me from really ever taking an extended trip again, Life is short and the world we live in is beautiful and wondrous and I want to see it all while I still can.. I will heed your advice and suggestions and rework my itinerary so I am not rushing as much and which should also make it easier to reserve things ahead.

Joe, my condolences on your losses. That is a great deal of grief to bear.

I'm sorry to hear of your losses and I totally understand your desire to try to see as much as possible while you know you can. I'm happy to hear you plan to slow it down a bit. Traveling for pleasure is not a forced march. You want time to enjoy your trip, not just check each place off on a list. I hope you have a wonderful trip and will be able to have more in the future.

No matter what our age and circumstances, we can never see everything there is to see. Figure out what you want to see most and focus on that. With four months, you will need to slow down. We did a 10 day trip to Italy a few years ago that for various reasons (some necessary, some not) 2 night stays. We were exhausted and ready to go home after the 10 days. . I have since traveled longer with 3-4 night stays and that pace is better for me. For such a long trip, I would pepper in some five day stays. It is less exhausting to do some day trips than move constantly.

Sorry about your recent travails. And I am pleased you have already decided to slow down some.

You will have 90 days and a backpack, so maybe rethink transportation to use more buses and regional trains to get out of the tourist corridors. Cities = Churches + Museums+Tourists. Small Towns = food + fun language barriers + funky transport options. "Historical and Beautiful Sights" are most commonly found outside cities (except for Cathedrals and Museums).

I have been amazed at how easy it now is to get local information too.

For example, Google "Buses at Lake Garda Italy" and this is one item that comes up:

https://lakegarda.gardasee.de/bus-public-transport

Or for Switzerland: https://www.postauto.ch/en

A few more three night stays will provide opportunities for rest, laundry, and weather pauses. I note that the current longer stays are in large cities, but perhaps find smaller places for several.

Graz and Salzburg are nice, but....You currently are passing through Innsbruck for lunch on the way to Venice. The Tirol has wonderful areas for quieter local exploration such at the Stubaital and the Zillertal.
https://www.zillertal.at/en.html
https://www.stubaital.at
And south across the Brenner Pass from Innsbruck you come to the South Tirol, which Austria lost to Italy after WWI, which explains the prevalence of both German and Italian names for each town.
https://www.suedtirol.info/en

Central Germany has places like Bamberg near Nuremberg which is a great smaller University town.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/624

So, good luck, have fun, keep slowing down. We all have some health issues holding us back - but we accommodate them and travel anyway.

Hey Joe,

Wow. My sympathies to your recent losses!

Being an open, world-wide forum, no one knows what the real meaning or reasons are behind a person's trip.

While I can't offer advice on your trip, I can offer a bit of encouragement. I hope you find inner peace as you wander (and reflect) around cities and countries discovering each one's beauty.

Good luck in the future with your surgeries.

P.S. You have read up on securing your valuables when traveling and staying in hostels (unless you plan to stay in hotels)? Some cities you may visit are known for pickpocketing/stealing.

You are right to take time for yourself Joe. I have been through tough periods like the ones you are experiencing now and I would have liked to take time but for some reason was unable to do it. Now at last I can.
Take time for yourself. Take time to live and experience places, things, make friends, true friends. Take time to remember what you have seen, what made your day.

What a great way to take care of yourself in these times of need...
Now, I do think that your initial route was not only too busy, but also convoluted (for instance when you go south towards Venice, then north again towards Austria a few days later, only to come back to Italy towards the end). Coming up with a leaner, more efficient suggestion for ninety days is a lot of work, but if you come back with a new route I'll / we'll happy take another look.

Joe, have you checked with your doctors about your ability to do extended travel before your surgeries ? And made sure you can continue your health insurance over that period (and have it available when you need the surgeries) ? Not the most exciting part of planning, true, but it's easier to enjoy travel when you know that contingencies are covered.

Assuming you've cleared all this with the doc, etc. I would suggest as the bottom line not to dilly-dally, to procrastinate, to fall into a state of inertia, I know , so easy to do, keep reminding yourself you have got to get over there, assuming again you're that desperate. I am. If the money and the health issues do not pose an immediate obstacle/problem, then go.

I write out a calendar so that I can see where I will/should/ ought to be each day, this approach does not preclude opportunities from "winging it" which you should also factor in as "down time, " a repose, whatever you call it.

Your travel style also dictates the expenses incurred, how much luxury are you willing to forego, eg, privacy, A/C, etc. In a hostel, say you want privacy, ie private room en suite, you pay for it, ie more than staying in room with roomies half your age.

The same applies to AC. None of the places I stay in traveling in the summer, be it in Paris, London, Vienna, towns/cities in Germany has AC, as they are almost always small hotels, Pensionen, or the rare hostel. Know what you're willing to cope with or to do without.

Pretty ambitious. I generally like to stay in one place long enough to have a favorite coffee hangout with a friendly barista who starts to recognize me. Or hang out in a laundromat that took me 2 hours to find and see who else shows up. I once met a traveling family from France in an Athens laundry and then again in Epidavros to all our great delight. I once met 3 intoxicated nomads. It’s a risk. Go to an opera or ballet, big European cities have world class performances. It’s the chance of a lifetime. My mantra is that I don’t have to see everything, I just have to enjoy what I see. I am in Copenhagen right now and happened to catch a snippit of Rick Steves does Lake Como. So I have adjusted my time to include a 7 days there, and hope to be swimming and wandering paths and taking ferries. Bilbao was one of my favorite places only because I got lost so often wandering the network of paths that I started to recognize that I’d been lost there before. But traveling solo is about doing what you want, so doing it your own way makes sense. My only advice: pay attention to what you feel, be it exuberant, inspired, humbled, lonely, fearful or just plain tired. And learn.

Hi Joe:

First, it sounds as if you have really endured quite a bit of sadness and loss recently. My condolences to you.

Second, good for you for setting off for Europe. I find travel to be such a wonderful way to experience life.

I am a fit 44 year old road warrior who is in Europe for either business meetings or personal travel for several weeks each month. I love it, don't get jet lag, make ambitious plans, and was tired reading your itinerary:-)

It would help us if we knew more about what you're interested in. What do you hope to experience on this trip (e.g., history, relax, food, wine, maximize experiencing different cultures, etc.)? After this wonderful opportunity that you have in front of you, what would you be disappointed about if you didn't get to experience it?