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Europe!!! Which way to go?

We are traveling to Europe this summer. We are flying straight to Amsterdam from Tampa round trip and will have to end up in Spain the last days to visit family. We are good at getting around Europe but my husband and I are conflicted about which way to go. I would love to stay a couple of days in Amsterdam, head to Prague, then to Paris, riviera and my husband really wants to hit Ibiza. We have about 14 days to play around as we plan to finish our trip in Spain with family. Any suggestions? Are we planning too much? Should we omit Prague? Thanks!

Posted by
398 posts

Too much. Way too much. If I understand correctly, you are proposing, in 14 days, to cover: (1) Amsterdam; (2) Prague; (3) Paris; (4) French Riviera; and (5) Ibiza. Factoring in your arrival and departure days, you are looking at 12 days on the ground - so that would be an average of 2.4 days in each location, and generally speaking you forfeit half a day on each travel day.

I would spend 4 nights in Amsterdam, take the train to Paris and spend 5 or 6 nights there, and then pick one of either the French Riviera or Ibiza and spend your remaining free time there. If you wanted to add another location in there, perhaps consider stopping in Belgium on the way from Amsterdam to Paris, or taking a night or two in Provence on the way to the French Riviera.

Posted by
190 posts

Can I ask for some more information, which I think will help clarify things?

You say you are flying roundtrip to Amsterdam, but have to end up in Spain. Are you flying out of Amsterdam? Because you'll have to do some serious backtracking if that's the case and will use most of your last on-the-ground day getting back to Amsterdam. Have you looked into buying an open-jaw/multi-city ticket?

Is the time in Spain a part of the 14 days? That is, is your total vacation time 14 days? Or do you have 14 days to get from Amsterdam to Spain? Where in Spain are you going? How many days do you want to spend there?

Either way, I think Prague needs to be set aside for another trip.

Posted by
11 posts

Sorry for not being clear. We are going for an entire 23 days. Yeah I considered the backtracking to Amsterdam from Spain but found flights from the north of Spain to Amsterdam for cheap and do not take long. Also we do not mind taking a flight to Amsterdam the day before we depart back. We got these tickets with our sky miles and upgraded to delta confort for not that much. So that’s how that happened. Anyway we would like to do the traveling I mentioned before for the first 12 to 14 days as soon as we get to Amsterdam before we end up in Spain.

Posted by
11 posts

That sounds good Steve. Even though my heart was set on Prague I understand we do not have enough time. I do like your suggestions. Thank you!

Posted by
5239 posts

What's the attraction for Ibiza? I spent several summers there in my late teens/early twenties dancing until dawn and then spending the rest of the day asleep on the beach which was great but not of much interest to me now. There are some quiet and relaxing parts of the island but it's really about sun, sea and sand and clubbing. I'm not sure you'd get much out of your very short time there, a better option would be Mallorca which offers more with such a short timeframe.

Posted by
589 posts

You certainly have enough days to hit all you sites but you will be traveling many hours instead of sightseeing. Prague and Ibiza seem to be the outliers in this plan. You can fly to the big cities on discount airlines and save time but I'm not sure how you would get to Ibiza or the riviera quickly. If you can, fly to your first destination the day you land in Amsterdam and put all your Amsterdam days at the end which puts you in your departure city days before your flight.

Posted by
11 posts

I like the flying to Prague as soon as we get to Amsterdam then France and so on . After some of your suggestions I feel that Prague maybe saved for another trip as well as Ibiza . So we’ll hang out in Amsterdam for the first 2 nights and make our way to France. Hopefully getting to province and the riviera. After go to Spain then back to Amsterdam a couple of days before our flight back. Any specific suggestions on places to visit, etc.

Posted by
589 posts

What are your likes and dislikes? Museum, history, scenery, food, art, bocce ball, ...

Posted by
4025 posts

You want to move around so much that you should avoid backtracking to your arrival city for your flight home. A multi-destination search function can provide alternatives (and most airlines and on-line agencies have them now.) Fly in to Amsterdam; fly home from Spain. For instance, the fare for Tampa-Amsterdam/Madrid-Tampa is only about $100 higher than Tampa-Amsterdam round trip, plus you have the cost of getting back to AMS so it may work out cheaper. And it would certainly save you some precious time. Note: These are not a pair of one-way tickets; they have to be purchased together.
(I checked these prices on matrix.itasoftware.com which Google runs for information; it doesn't sell tickets.)

Posted by
3985 posts

I would love to stay a couple of days in Amsterdam, head to Prague,
then to Paris, riviera and my husband really wants to hit Ibiza. We
have about 14 days

All in 14 days presumably not including the transatlantic arrival and departure days? Is this trip meant to be a check off list to say to whomever you like that you've been to Amsterdam, Prague, Paris, the "riviera" (which nation's riviera or more than one?), Ibiza, and visit with your family somewhere else in Spain again in just 14 days? If so, then I guess you've got your dream vacation.

I wouldn't recommend this to anybody.