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Europe in 14 days.

Posted by on

Hello! I have never been to Europe and I am going this summer with my boyfriend. We will be in Europe July 31 - August 15. We're in our 20's and can do full days without stopping.

I have some ideas of what I want to do; however, I would love some advice as to whether I am cramming too many places into this trip. I have considered skipping Venice and spending 5 days in Rome (skipping Venice) or taking a night flight from Amsterdam on August 9th to Venice. Here's what I have so far (I've booked my plane tickets already so that's set):

  • Flight July 30th.
  • July 31 - Land in Paris around 8 AM
  • August 1 - Paris
  • August 2 - Paris
  • August 3 - Take Eurostar from Paris to London (2 1/2 hour train)
  • August 4 - London
  • August 5 - London
  • August 6 - London
  • August 7 - Take Eurostar from London to Amsterdam (4 hour and 40 min trains)
  • August 8 - Amsterdam
  • August 9 - Amsterdam
  • August 10 - Early 7 am flight from Amsterdam to Venice (2 hour flight)
  • August 11 - Venice
  • August 12 - Take train from Venice to Rome (4 hour train)
  • August 13 - Rome
  • August 14 - Rome
  • August 15 - Flight home to Miami at 11 A.M.

Any suggestions and/or critiques would be greatly appreciated! I just want to book my hotels accordingly. Thank you all so much!

Posted by
288 posts

You are young so I would take Rick's advice and travel like you are going to go back again. Not knowing what is important to you I wont say which but I would drop one or 2 cities. I would spend more time in Paris and Rome for sure, there is a ton to do there and that 1st day you may be jet lagged, everyone handles that differently.

Posted by
8205 posts

Since you are 20 something no physical disabilities I assume and as you said full of energy this works for me because it is not as though you will never have a chance to go again.

I took the Eurostar train to Amsterdam from London (to me this not worth it) one time and struggled miserable to stay awake while the conductor every so often saying there are pickpockets on the train please watch out every now and then during many stops. That being said I would fly to Amsterdam from London as it is quicker and there are plenty of flights from 3 airports in London so cheaper than train.

The Venice to Rome is easier said than done after all the other stuff maybe like the previous person cut one of those out.

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you both for you tips. I will cut out Venice and add a day to both Rome and Paris. I will also look into flights from London to Amsterdam.

Posted by
503 posts

If you haven't bought your tickets yet, you might want to consider re ordering the cities you're visiting.
Fly to London -
London to Amsterdam
Amersterdam to Paris
Paris to Rome.
This way you aren't backtracking.

To be honest, with only 14 days on the ground I would drop Rome. Yes, it a fabulous city and yes, it is doable in the time you have. But as the old saying goes "just because you can doesn't mean you should". Looking at the actual time you have on the ground - 14 days I think you will be spending far more time in transit than in "seeing". Remember that each change of location is going to eat up about 3/4 of a day - checking out of lodgings, time to get to airport/station, transit time and then time to find your new lodging. As it stands, you will be spending about 25% of your time in transit so think hard about whether or not this is how you want to spend your time. As first time visitors to Europe, you will not hit the ground running - you will get lost, take the wrong metro, etc., etc. - that's all part of the experience - but it will eat into the time you think you have for actual sightseeing.

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