Feedback on upcoming trip to Europe

I wish you had waited to buy the rail pass until you had your itinerary laid out, because I suspect you could have saved money--perhaps rather a lot of money. But what's done is done.

I just have some general thoughts:

The rail pass will be basically useless to you in Greece, and to go there for just 10 days, well, I wouldn't. Traveling around Greece takes time; it's mostly by bus and ferry, and there are interesting sights all over. Athens has some magnificent museums and historic sights but is not a very attractive city; it would be a shame not to see some other parts of the mainland, and most visitors want to see a few islands. I'd suggest that you very seriously consider holding off on Greece until a later trip. Those 10 days can easily be used elsewhere.

Twelve days for Prague, Vienna, Krakow and Berlin is two days per city plus a few hours on the day you arrive. Not long enough. Not close to long enough. Those are not 2-hour train rides. Travel days are not very productive from a sightseeing perspective. Please dig into some guidebooks and figure out what you want to do in each of those cities. My bet is that you'll discover you need twice as much time as you have planned.

Ten days for Spain and Portugal is a major NO for several reasons. Traveling between those two countries is surprisingly difficult; you certainly don't want to do it twice within such a short period. You could see a fair amount of Portugal if you spent all ten days there--say Lisbon, Porto and one smaller city. That wouldn't be enough for me, but some would be satisfied with that. Ten days in Spain for most people means just Barcelona plus Madrid/environs OR Madrid/environs plus part of Andalucía. There is much more to Spain than that. Add the Greek time and you have 20 days. I'd spend it all in Spain, myself.

France, like Spain, is a large country. You'll need to focus on just 2 or 3 limited areas. If you take the fast trains (TGVs), you'll have to reserve seats ahead of time, and the (considerable) seat-reservation fees will be at extra cost to you. You'll run into that situation in other countries as well, but the French reservation fees seem particularly high. I think the fee for the train up to Belgium/Netherlands is also a stiff one.

I know 59 days seems like a long time, but you are proposing to cover a huge expanse of Europe, and you're going to be rushing everywhere. It's one thing to rush around for 10 or 12 days (though I wouldn't enjoy it), but it's not a sustainable pace on a long trip. You seem to be focused on large cities, which are themselves rather intense environments.

I agree with Acraven that you are trying to cover too many countries.

It sounds as though you will be heading to Greece mid July, when it will be very hot. Your trip coincides with European school holidays, when places will be busier, more expensive and hotter. Greece covers a huge area and you aren’t going to see much in a week including Athens. The islands take time to get to.

Prague, Vienna have enough to keep you occupied for 4 full days each as a minimum. Berlin is great for modern history and will keep you busy for at least 5 full days and ideally a week.

Pick either 2 cities in Spain or Portugal for your 10 days, as getting between the two isn’t easy. Inland Spain will be very hot.

You will be finishing north in mid September when it will be cooler. You may want to consider heading north first and ending in the south weather wise.

Tx for the feedback--just what I need to narrow my focus. As I will likely never come back in my lifetime and I have such an interest in ancient Rome and Greece, I can't imagine not taking in the essential sites and museums in Athens, but I will likely have to drop one part of the trip-probably Eastern Europe- and focus on France, Spain, Italy-with some Athens area mixed in. Time to study guide books and ask around.

Yes--I think I will enjoy the vacation the most by keeping it just to Italy. Plenty, Plenty to do there plus 2 months will allow down time or slow time. And there are lots of postings in various forums for what to do in Italy in 2 months.

Oh, heavens, yes. Italy will keep you very well occupied. It has so much variety. Just keep the likelihood of seriously hot weather in mind and try to build in some breaks that allow you to cool off. The Dolomites are a great option. If you enjoy swimming (unfortunately I don't), beach and lakeside breaks would be smart. Of course, big old churches are often nice and cool.

Although I'm the sort of traveler who putters around too much in the morning and then leaves the hotel for the rest of the day, that is definitely not the best approach for a summer trip to Italy. It is far better to get up and out early and--when practical--return to an air-conditioned hotel room for a few hours during the middle of the day (when many things in Italy are closed, anyway). It's usually very pleasant until mid-morning, so try to take advantage of the early-morning hours. Pay attention to the location of your lodgings so you will usually have the option of taking a mid-day break if you need one.

acraven--Yes--Dolomites are on the agenda--I love hiking in mountainous terrain. I am new to this kind of planning--not hard to tell that. It seems that it is almost universal for inexperienced travelers to try to do too much, judging from lots of other forum postings. Thank you for helping me basically overhaul my itinerary so that I will enjoy the places I DO go all the more and not feel itinerary pressures as much. I am a morning person--no trouble getting up very early. I like food, I love ancient history, I like geology and natural terrain, I like the beach, I like just hangin' out people watching, too. Interests are eclectic and I will probably enjoy almost anywhere I go.
Would it make sense to you if I were to divide my two months of travels in Italy into two segments divided in the middle by a week or so in the Dolomites for hiking in a cooler area. One Italy segment would be centered north, say in the Florence or even further north, while the other segment would be centered further south-Naples or so? Just a thought I had.

In any case--thanks for your well informed feedback!

Actually, I think a mountain break in the middle would be a good idea. It will probably cost you a few extra hours on a train, but you have a lot of days at your disposal, and I think the extra hours would be worth it. I'm not clear on your exact travel dates for Italy, but it sounds as if you may be there from roughly mid-July until roughly mid-September. If that's the case, I think I'd tend to start in the north and move toward the south, gambling that September might be just a bit cooler than July. However, I haven't researched historical weather patterns to verify that. You could take a look on timeanddate.com, which has day-by-day stats going back years.

One thing I've learned from this forum is that Florence, though located in northern Italy, tends to be very hot in the summer, so don't rush to get there early in your trip!

Years ago a work colleague went to the Gran Paradiso National Park (north of Turin) and came back raving about it. I haven't been there myself, but that's another place you might be able to cool off.

I've spent weeks in UK, a month in Spain, a month and a half in Germany and better than two months in France and I don't feel like I saw everything I wanted to in any of them. In fact, I dropped Portugal from a planned Spain/Portugal itinerary because I only had a month.

As an overly simplified rule a week is good for big cities, three or four days for smaller cities unless you only have a couple must sees. Two nights in one place will give you one full day to see your must see sights. Two big sights in a day is plenty to schedule, keep a list of other options in your back pocket in case you find yourself with extra time.

For your trip ten days for Spain/Portugal might work for Grenada and Sevilla or Barcelona and Toledo, but not both, neither if you intend to add Portugal.

Ten days in France might work for Paris and Loire Valley but it leaves out Burgundy, Alsace, Champagne, Dordogne, Bordeaux, Brittany, Normandy, the Basque area, Provence, the Pyrenees, the Alps and the Riviera (not even getting to lesser visited areas like Lot Valley or the Ardeche).

If you want to move around that much, realize you lose a lot of time to travel then focus on what you can reasonably see in the available time.

I believe Nov 30 was the last day for buying a Global Pass with a 45% discount. The other Passes offered discounts, though less than 45%, if bought by the deadline of 11/30/2018. Luckily I put in my order on Nov 30, bought the same pass, 10 days/2 months, 2nd class, as I did for the 2018 trip, which I then paid $439, this time I paid $339. Obviously, the price went down.in $ and Euro.