First trip to Europe - Summer 2016

I think you are trying to cram too much in. When you factor in transportation, you will hardly have time to see anything in many of these places. I would suggest you figure out how long it takes to get from place to place (try Rome2Rio.com). Be sure to add in time to pack, check out of where you are staying, get to the train station, possibly buy your ticket, and find your train. Then once you reach your destination, you need to find where you are staying, get there, check in, unpack. It generally takes half a day to get anywhere, even if it's reasonably close. Then try plotting out each day with the transportation times factored in.

Keep in mind that all that transportation adds to your cost.

The good news is that with three weeks you can see a lot and have a wonderful trip. How much you see depends on your energy level and travel style.

You should try to plot a path with less backtracking. rome2rio.com can help visualize your route and estimate travel time. Europe seems so small at first but it really takes a lot of time to see all the sites.

Also determine why you are including each stop and how much time those activities will really take to determine how many nights you need in each.

I recommend fewer places and very few one night stops.

Draw this out on a map. For example print this one out: http://www.eurail.com/sites/eurail.com/files/documents/eurail_map_2015.pdf
You are jumping about and doubling back on yourself.

• Chamonix to Munich (where are you staying in Germany?) is a long way. East - West through Switzerland or Austria takes a long time, coz it is all mountains.
• Vienna - Prague - Bratislava is illogical. Bratislava is a one hour train trip from Vienna. Do it as a day trip.
• Then you go north to Poland, and double back south to Hungary.

Use www.bahn.de to find out how long each of your train legs will take.

I advise you to list this out again showing the number of nights at each location and the trips from there.
And try to keep to the Golden Rule, never less than 2 nights anywhere, or you will spend all your time travelling.

You're right...this is way to much and you are retracing your steps too much. The Rome2Rio suggestion is perfect. Travel time between cities always takes longer than you think in addition to checking in and out of hotels. With a 21 day trip you should focus on just 4 - 5 areas and see them more in depth.
Fly into Geneva and spend the night, get over jet lag, and take a day trip to Lausanne - it's close by train. Then move to Chamonix and spend a few days. Head north from there via train to Zermatt (two changes) and spend a few nights there to catch a clear day. After that you can head up to Germany (full day of travel to get there). Base yourself in Munich for 3 nights to see Neuschwanstein (a full day trip) and the city of Munich.
After that I would skip Innsbruck...nice town but now worth the detour you would need to take.
Spend 2 nights minimum in Vienna to have a full day there.
After that you should go, in order, to Budapest (2 nights minimum), Bratislava (on the way to Prague - not a lot to see in Bratislava), then to Prague. Spend at least 3 nights in Prague...there is a lot to see.
After that go up to Krakow and fly home from there.
I didn't chart out all of the days in my suggested itinerary to see if you are still at about 21+ but at least the order makes sense and you have enough time to enjoy the places you plan to see.

Way too many places in that amount of time. Try to spend at least two nights in each location. I would also build in some flex time in case you like a particular location and want to stay longer. Also, rain may come into play and you might not want to leave a particular city if the weather is going to be better the next day.

Your overall travel experience is more important than checking off the boxes of cities that you visit.

At best if you were to drive and if you were to do it in a logical order you are looking at 24 hours of road time. By train, maybe 36 hours (not counting day trips). https://goo.gl/maps/ftgkKtouEzk Way too much for me too. .

Thank you all so much for the helpful replies. I should've noted in my initial post that the stops weren't neccessarily in order :)

-Jules

julie,

I'd have to spend some time working out more detailed suggestions, but a couple of initial thoughts.....

• As the others have mentioned, your proposed Itinerary is far too busy for a very short three week time frame. IMHO, you'll either need to pare it down or add more time. My usual suggestion for reducing lists of that type is to list the cities from most important to least important, and then delete from the bottom until the optimum level is reached. In this case, it's also necessary to consider how easy or cheap it will be to get between each of the places on the list.
• As this is your first trip to Europe, I would highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door prior to your trip, as it provides a lot of good information on "how" to travel well in Europe. You should be able to find a copy at your local Library.
• After you've got your destinations finalized, use the country-specific RS guidebooks to plan sightseeing, transportation, etc.
• You may find it really helpful to attend the next meeting of the RS Portland group, although I'm not sure when their next meeting will be. You can check this link periodically for info - https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings
• Be sure to budget some extra funds for Switzerland, as it's expensive! I was in Lausanne in September, so that's still fresh in my memory (I was also in Chamonix).
• Although you want to visit Auschwitz, travel to and from Krakow is going to add both cost and time. You could also visit Dachau (Munich), Terezin (Prague) or Mauthausen (Vienna).
• For staying in Hostels, you might find it useful to get an HI Hostels membership, as they have Hostels in many cities in Europe (sometimes more than one in some cities). I've found the facilities fairly consistent from one property to the next and they often provide a good breakfast.
• Try to avoid one night stops as they're a nuisance and don't really allow much time to see anything.
• Last but not least, when planning your Itinerary, keep in mind that each change of location will have a cost in both time and money. Each change will generally take at least half a day and sometimes the better part of a full day, when all is considered. With one night stops, that only leaves a few hours in the evening to look around a new town (hardly worth the effort in time and money).

I'll try to provide some specific thoughts on each of your destinations later.

Hi,

I would suggest dropping a few places, starting with Switzerland. If you had another 10 ten days, your itinerary would work.

For 21 days unless you're willing to fly or do the night train option, which I always do to max out another day, I suggest limiting going to 3-4 countries, ( skip Bratislava and Innsbruck,) France, CZ, Poland, Hungary, Austria, There is night train route Krakow to Budapest, and Munich to Budapest. Are you willing to take a train at 06:30 or 0700? For me doing that once or twice is enough!

Been there, done that in 2010. We had far too ambitious an itinerary (21/22 nights with 14 different stops in 6 countries). Exhausting. Looking at photos after the fact my husband totally forgot we were even in Munich - he was looking at the pics and asking me where it was (with only a one night stay, we didn't arrive until evening from Augsburg (thanks to a super lovely couchsurfing host who we spent most of the day with) then only had until 4pm the next day before training to Salzburg). Way too fast paced. Hubby's reasoning - what if we don't get back? Well, we've been back 3 times and only death or major illness will stop us from returning.

One nighters are pretty much a total waste of time. Transport time really eats away more of your day than you would think. Leaving hotel, getting to the train station, finding your new accoms. I've learned this the hard way as well. Other things like delayed/missed trains (been there, done that a few times!) can also add to the chaos.

Way too much in too little time. Try to spend at least two nights at each stopping point. You are looking for quality -- not quantity. Better to come back with good memories of people and places rather than just a blurry recollection to train stations. Travel rule to remember: It almost always takes more time to get from Point A to Point B than anticipated so plan accordingly.

When I look at your list, I see a half to a third of your time devoted the alps (French, Swiss, German, and Austrian). That says to me that you really want to see mountains. And I'm guessing you want to hike some rather than just see them out a train window or from a gondola. That would not be my choice for a first trip to Europe, but if it's what you want, stick to it. But don't hop all over the alps. Pick one or two bases of opperation, preferably not in Switzerland as that's the most expensive option on your wish list. Stay two, preferably three nights in each base.

Then plan on staying at least three nights everywhere else you stay. Keep in mind that for places within a couple hours of each other, day trips are more time efficient than relocating. You will need to cut some destinations, but you are young and you will come back.

Hello Juliesemer. The number of places that you wish to go to is too many places in 21 days. I recommend that you delete Chamonix, Innsbruck, Bratislava, Krakow from your Europe itinerary. You can see Alps mountains in Switzerland. Therefore I think you will not need to see Alps mountains in France and Austria. Could you fly toward your home from Prague ? If yes, the direction of your travel could be
Lausanne (1 night)
Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland (3 nights)
Neuschwanstein (Hotel at Fussen - 2 nights)
Munich (2 nights minimum)
Salzburg (2 nights
Vienna (3 nights)
Budapest (3 nights)
Prague (3 nights).
Will you be at Europe a total of 21 days ? Or will you be away from your home a total of 21 days ? If you will be at Europe a total of 21 days, you might like being at Lucerne in Switzerland 2 nights before travelling to Germany.

21 nights for me would be maximum 7 destinations with 3 nights in each ...
Krakow >> Prague >> Munich >> Innsbruck >> Salzburg >> Vienna >> Budapest

I may be high jacking this thread but my question is what/how is the cheapest way to get to Europe? What time of year, what airline or plane ticket vendor?

My plan would be to land where ever cheapest them travel by eurorail pass. I used the eurorail in late 2014 and did quite well. Getting back to Europe in expensively is the issue.

First, James where are you flying from??? For a Canadian, Westjet and AirTransat have cheap flights from western Canada to London and even Paris, haven't looked at Germany.

Julie, when contemplating where to eliminate eliminate or edit on you itinerary consider this, two nights are really only one full day, so if a place is not worth one full day, perhaps it's not as important to you as you think.

djp_syd , very good, but still too many. Drop Krakow or Budapest at a minimum.

Krakow 2 nights
Prague 4 nights
Munich 3 nights
Innsbruck 3 nights
Salzburg 3 nights
Vienna 4 nights
Budapest 5 nights
Total 24 nights!!!

I tend to agree with the other travelers you should spend 21 days but slow down and enjoy, I have tried to do what you are attempting and it was very hard and I feel I was very rushed and missed actually being in Europe and being of Europe, I hope you understand. More than you can imagine the experience is simply sitting and watching the people go by. I hope you have a wonderful trip.

God Bless

I have done whirlwind trips and definitely don't regret them, but remember that it is the smallest taste of each location. I find it easier to do this kind of trip with a car, so you can move on to another location on your schedule and not be locked in to a train schedule. If you organize your trip logically you could easily have a car for most or part of your trip. You do not need a car in the big cities, but can plan accordingly. You can drive to Auschwitz, castles, mountain views, and lots of beautiful areas. I would much rather spend time on a road trip in my car than waiting at a train station, but that's because I like to travel spontaneously and often change my mind on the spur of the moment.

My first trip we had a car and made a loop beginning and ending in Amsterdam and spent time in 9 countries (some tiny) but absolutely loved that trip and would not change a moment of it. If you are fortunate enough to return, then you can linger... which I have. But you are young... so make it a trip you will remember.