6 week tour logistics

I hope this is your first draft of places you would like to visit but are open to condensing your list. With your first draft you have about 3 days each for these major cities. There are easy ways to see some far flung cities with reasonable European flights but your current number of cities doesn’t lend itself to enjoying 45 days in Europe. What are your very top desires?

Strictly from a Geographic standpoint, as if you were walking the route, so going the most direct line of travel and minimizing backtracking, I’d suggest: see London, then take Eurostar train to Paris, then Amsterdam, Bruges, Berlin, Prague, Strasbourg, Vienna, Budapest, Venice, Rome, Florence, Nice, Barcelona, Madrid. Then fly to Athens. Fly home from Athens, via London. You might consider other flights within Europe, too, for efficiency and speed.

WHAT'S THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY......

a) there isn't

b) private jet

Nothing else comes to mind at the moment.

Is the point of the trip is to say "I've been there" or to say "I visited..."

Way too many far flung destinations for 6 weeks. Condense the destinations list or expand the time, is my suggestion.

That’s 2 days in each place then at least half a day moving on to the next location then repeat 15 times. Tiring, expensive and a complete blur. You have all large cities and no countryside. You can fill a week in most of your locations, so pick the 6 places that interest you most and plan from there.

Who knows which airlines will still be in existence next year, but use rome2rio.com for indications of travel options.

eltoepfer- to properly answer your question we need to know more about your travel background. How much European travel have you previously undertaken?

I would ask a professional Travel agent for suggestions.

Welcome to the forum, eltoepfer -

16 locations - most of them major European cities - in approx. 42 days = approx. 2.5 days per location. Scrub the .5 days (or more, in some cases) right off the top for relocation time. Packaging, unpacking, checking in and out, getting to and from train stations/airports, sitting on transport + acclimation to a new location eats more time than you think it will. My husband and I are also nearly 65, are independent travelers in good shape, and your itinerary would wear us out after week #2! If budget is of concern, you'd also be spending a lot on transport that could otherwise be spent sightseeing, not to mention time.

I haven't been to all of the cities on your list but can promise you that amongst the ones I have that 2 FULL days aren't enough to even BEGIN to scratch their surfaces. For instance, I've nearly two weeks of Rome under the belt and still have a long list of things to see. A week wasn't enough for Paris, London or Florence, and 4 nights/3.5 days (with a day trip to Ghent) was barely enough for Bruges, etc.

To consider as well is having to work around scheduled attraction closures. Not all museums and whatnot are open every day, and others are open just for limited hours so if one of your only 2 days in city ___ is the day most of the biggies are closed, you have to scramble to cram them into the one day you have that they're open.

Add the possibility of really nasty weather complicating outdoor attractions, a stretch of traveler's tummy, a transport strike.... An itinerary as overloaded as the one you are proposing simply doesn't leave much of any wiggle room for anything to go wobbly. Allowing a margin for stuff like that is something we've definitely learned over time!

Yes, more information would be helpful? How much have you traveled before and have you ever been abroad? What sorts of things are you interested in seeing/doing on this trip? I mentioned major attractions, many of which lean towards museums, palaces, historic churches and archeological excavations but maybe you are not interested in any of that? If you are, then you need to allow adequate time to include them PLUS some breathing room. Trust me, 2 days spent smack in the middle of the tourist mobs at the most-visited attractions can get old in a fat hurry...although how mob-like those crowds will be in 2021 remains to be seen.

Short story long, too many places for 6 weeks. I'd start trimming based on personal interests and what each location can or cannot offer in the way of those.

Editing to add: count your time in each place by # of nights in each versus days. 3 nights approx. = 2.5 days; 4 nights = approx 3.5 days, etc.

Not sure how the time stamps work on these boards, but posted a minute before April's Fools day.

That's just about where this trip belongs. I really hope we're being played.

Wow. So many places crammed in so little time = not much fun.

It this is April Fool's, they should have included Istanbul in their list. At least this trip is being planned for a time when the trip might be possible-if there's a vaccine available in 18 months.

If this is a real trip, I would omit Athens, Nice, and Amsterdam/Bruges. That leaves 1 wk Paris/Strasburg, 2 wk Prague, Budapest, Vienna, 1 week Italy(pick only 2 of the cities), 1 week Spain and 1 week to cover all the travel time.

Agree that this is way too many sight-rich cities for a 6-week trip. Also, please clarify whether "Strasburg" is really Salzburg (Austria) or Strasbourg (France).

I'm 68. One of the joys of being retired is that you often have considerable time available for travel. (The money is obviously a different matter.) But even a much younger person would be well-advised to consider that trotting through Europe may be possible for 10 to 14 days (though I wouldn't enjoy it), but a 6-week sprint is likely to be both exhausting and disappointing. And, as already mentioned, an all-urban trip is probably not the best plan for a trip of this length. Plan some time for rural areas.

Train from London to Paris to Bruges to Amsterdam to Berlin to Prague to Salzburg (Strasburg) to Vienna to Budapest. Fly from Budapest to Athens. Fly from Athens fly to Rome. Train from Rome to Florence to Venice to Nice to Barcelona to Madrid. Fly to Dallas. If you meant Strasbourg then take the train from London to Bruges to Paris to Strasbourg to Amsterdam, etc. If you want to added complexity and expense then fly a few more legs; however, if you get the Global Pass (www.eurail.com) the train will be easier. I've been to 11 of your 16 destinations and wouldn't want to miss any - but - as the other people have stated you are trying to do too much unless you don't mind spending 1/3 of your trip getting from place to place including lugging bags, getting your bearings, checking in with transportation and lodging, etc. In my view, all the places on your list I've visited are worth at least 3 nights with several 4-5. Enjoy your trip whatever your decide!