Europe Itinerary HELP! First timer!

**Note: I left countries sans cities because we are flexible and open to suggestions for "Best of X Country"

Congratulations.

I admire your priorities--keep them!

I also admire your ambition but, alas, counsel you to scale things back.

Counting more than 10 destinations (give or take) in 3 weeks, you'd be spending most of your time in transit and checking in and out of hotels. You are past the point where if you see less you will actually see and enjoy substantially more.

A wonderful planning guide for newbies is Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door. If you and your fiance can identify the 6 or 8 destinations you most want to see, you can have a very memorable trip.

Oh definitely prepared to scale things down. I feel like we will be back haha :P

Ireland, England, Germany, France, Italy, Spain

Than seems to sum it up. We whatever we miss will give us an excuse to come back!

I'd suggest you scale it back even further. Since you are new to international travel, you can't imagine how long it takes just to pack, get to the station/airport, travel, find your new hotel, unpack, etc. The more you travel between cities/countries, the more you add to your expenses. And if it's your honeymoon, you don't want to be constantly on the move.

Because it can easily be a three-week trip on its own, I'd suggest dropping Italy from your list. You might also consider dropping Spain. Even with only Ireland, England, France, and Germany you'll have plenty to do for three weeks.

And before we can really start making recommendations, what budget range are you looking at? Student backpacking, Grand Tour, or somewhere in between?

I'm agreeing with scaling it back even further. I think 3 countries in 3 weeks would be plenty. If you fly into one city and out of another, you could do something like this:

Fly into London, one week England
Cheap flight to Dublin (or Shannon), one week Ireland
Cheap flight to Frankfurt (or Munich), one week Germany

Or you could plug in Spain or Italy in there instead of Germany.

I like to get out of the big cities for at least part of my trip. For me, a few days in a big city is enough, then I like to get out and explore the countryside a bit.

Ok scaling down is definitely doable.
Our budget is between student and grand tour...it's flexible too.
My fiance just returned from Iraq and we have a stash of money just for this trip.

Ireland, England, France, Germany --- we could do that!
We're interested in the big cities but as someone posted, we also want to see the country side.

I have heard the Global Europass can be a ripoff depending on the individual trip. What do you pros think for this scale?

Allyson,

First of all, congratulations!

To begin with, I agree with an earlier reply that pre-reading Europe Through The Back Door would be a really good idea. That will provide lots of information on things like Itinerary planning, money, languages and especially rail skills.

Given the occasion, try to get as much time as possible! While you won't have time to see everything that was on your list, it should be possible to get a good overview, especially since it appears you have some flexibility in your budget.

Would something like this work.

Day 1: Flight to Dublin

Day 2-4: Arrive Dublin; touring

Day 5-8: Flight to London - allow at least 4-6 hours for the trip (you'll probably be using RyanAir so be sure to PACK LIGHT); London touring - you should have time for a daytrip to either Bath or York

Day 9-11: EuroStar to Paris; Paris touring

Day 12-13: Train to Lucerne (use www.bahn.de to research your rail journeys); With travel via TGV at 300 kmH, the trip will be reasonably short; Lucerne touring

Day 14-16: Train to Munich; touring Munich. While there you could consider day trips to Fussen to see Neuschwanstein or Dachau if you're interested in history. Munich is an awesome city with lots to see!

Day 17-20: Train to northern Italy. One location that's perfect for Luna di Miele is Lago di Como and the town of Varenna. You could take a day trip to the elegant town of Bellagio or other locations on the lake. It's beautiful (that's why Clooney has a Villa there).

You could also choose Stresa or Lugano, depending on your preferences. Plan to spend your last night in Milan (or more time if you prefer). You could also base in Milan and take day trips to the lakes or Verona.

Day 21: Flight home from Milan / MXP

There are lots of ways this could be arranged, this is just one suggestion. I'd probably consider P-P tickets rather than a Railpass.

Happy travels!

Flying into Shannon instead of Dublin would give you a better chance to see the countryside. The west is more beautiful than the east, and there are lots of places to see on that side of the country, from historical sites to villages, to beautiful landscape.

THANKS a ton ya'll!
This is so exciting now it's being worked out!

Allyson,

Given your circumstances and limited time frame, I'd still recommend flying into Dublin. If you're going to have time for your other destinations, you don't have much time to dwell in the countryside.

Of course, you could take some day trips from Dublin that would provide some view of the country. I haven't checked recently, but there are probably day tours to the Rock of Cashel, Powerscourt Gardens or other places close to Dublin.

There's lots of history in Dublin and you'd probably enjoy a look at the Temple Bar District (among others).

Cheers!