Hey everyone- Some friends and I are going to Europe in August. We fly into Amsterdam and fly out of Budapest 19 days later. We would love some input on how to organize our travel itinerary based on the below destinations (which are in no particular order). Please let us know if we are being too ambitious and should shorten the list or we're missing a must-see stop. Amsterdam (arrive aug 1) Munich Prague Vienna Croatia (Dubrovnik, Split, Porec maybe?)
Budapest (depart august 20) We're especially clueless as to how the transportation options should affect our itinerary. All input is appreciated- thanks!
Posted by
Charlotte, NC, USA
235 posts
How are you getting from Amsterdam to Munich? (Hint: think KLM or Lufthansa, $200 on Kayak if you buy a round trip - just use half the ticket). I'd skip Croatia. You don't really have time. Save it for next trip.
Posted by
Stuttgart, Germany
3049 posts
I agree with the above poster, adding Croatia turns this from a reasonable itinerary into too much moving around. I would do Amsterdam, fly to Munich, train to Salzburg (it's on the way, might as well stop, even if it's just for the day!), Vienna, Prague, Budapest. That's still a busy trip, though with several really long train rides (or you could fly from say Prague to Budapest and save a few hours). That's still a pretty ambitious trip, 5 destinations in 17 days. Doable, though. If you really want more time in your locations you could skip Munich, fly directly from Amsterdam to Vienna, and spend more time in those cities. Or you could skip Prague.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
You need to get busy with train schedules at http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en and flight schedules at http://www.skyscanner.com/ or http://www.whichbudget.com/ You need to buy quickly to get any discounts on trains, or to get affordable flights. Don't overlook the (excellent and already suggested) idea of buying a round trip ticket and discarding the return portion. The Bahn site I linked is great for schedules and stopovers, but you can only buy tickets from it if the train starts or ends in Germany. For others, buy on the website of the country of origin of the train: Czech Republic: http://www.cd.cz/en/ Austria: http://www.oebb.at/en/ When searching, you may need the local names of cities: Munich = Muenchen (if you can't make the umlaut over the "u")
Prague = Praha Vienna = Wien Notice I'm leaving off Croatia. Unless you want to spend half your trip on planes, it's just not well connected to the rest of your itinerary. If it's a must-see on this trip, cut something else.
Posted by
OP
Dallas
2 posts
Thank you for the feedback! This is really helpful. If we drop Munich, do you think we could make Croatia for a couple days and keep the trip reasonable? I'm thinking maybe an overnight train on the 4th from Amsterdam to Prague, then Vienna, then Croatia for 6 days or so, then up to Budapest by the 19th.
Posted by
Ann Arbor, Mi
3696 posts
If you arrive in Budapest on the 19th and leave on the 20th that leaves you no time for one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Are you only interested in big cities? You have nothing other than cities. If you really want to see Croatia (and it is beautiful) you could possibly rent a car there and explore some of the countryside and villages. That might add a little diversity to your trip.
Posted by
Charlotte, NC, USA
235 posts
Budapest seems like an awful long way to go if you're only going to stay there less that 24 hours? Maybe it would be worth the change fee to change your ticket so that you fly back from Vienna or Croatia? Just a thought.