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Help with Solo Itinerary for Late November / December 2017

Posted by (Minneapolis, MN, USA) on

Hello-

I am trying to plan a solo trip to Europe in late November through early December. I am looking to fly out of Minneapolis either November 22 or 23rd (Thanksgiving) and would fly home on December 9. So not including the 2 flight days, I will have either 15 or 16 days in Europe including my arrival day. I'm hoping to use some Delta miles to purchase a miles + cash ticket so that does somewhat limit my options of where I can fly into. The best options that fit within the miles I have available are London, Amsterdam, Rome, Frankfurt and Madrid. I ruled out Paris as I was there last year.

I would ideally like to visit 3 cities in the time I have available. Of the cities I could fly into London, Madrid and Rome are the three I am most interested in visiting. I have only been to London before but that was 30 years ago as a teenager. I'm trying to come up with some itinerary options that make sense with the time I have available without trying to cram too much in. I'm interested in history especially WWII history and architecture but I also want time to experience some culture with musical performances, theater and time to just wander.

I've watched a lot of videos and read probably 2 dozen travel books on Europe at this point which may be giving me a bit of information overload. Here are my thoughts on places I would like to see either on this trip or a future trip:

London- I'm thinking I would want close to a full week in London as I have a list of things I want to see. As I'm trying to do this trip on a bit of a budget, I'm wondering if I should rule London out for that reason. I do find some hotels at that time of year that are less than I was expecting, such as the Lime Tree hotel but I'm thinking meals will likely still be more than in other places.

Amsterdam - other than a few of the art museums and the Anne Frank house, I feel like Amsterdam is the place I know the least about.

Rome- I know that if I visit Rome at some point I definitely want to try to go during a slower season. I'm especially interested in the ancient sites and early Christian sites in Rome. I was thinking if I do Rome, Florence and Venice might makes sense as well but I'm open to other suggestions.

Madrid- I speak a bit of Spanish and I love Spanish cuisine so that is part of the appeal for Madrid plus the photos I've seen of the architecture are very appealing. Plus the are other cities in Spain that really interest me like Toledo, Salamanca, Granada and Seville.

Frankfurt- I would use Frankfurt as a quick stop before moving on. I am interested in visiting Christmas markets in Germany and Central Europe that might be going on at that time of year. I've considered Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Nuremberg, and Budapest. Budapest and Berlin are both of my list of places I definitely want to visit at some point.

Poland- not one of the flight cities but definitely on my list of places I want to visit. Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw, Gdansk and Szczecin. My maternal great-grandparents emigrated from Szczecin, formerly known as Stettin as I know that might seem like an odd choice.

I live in Minnesota so I'm used to cold weather. Still if somewhere was a bit warmer than it is at home at that time of year, I would not be opposed.

Thank you for reading my long post. I'm hoping the experienced travelers on the board can help me sift through my options to come up with a plan that makes sense.

Posted by
27609 posts

There are lots of possibilities there, and I'm sure they'd all make for wonderful trips since you're OK with winter travel.

My thought is that the timing makes this trip an ideal one for hitting some Christmas markets. Who knows when you'll next be in Europe at that time of year? If you do go to Germany, I encourage you to include Berlin, especially if you have an interest in the Cold War as well as World War II. You could spend a week in Berlin and do nothing but visit CW and WW II sites, but you could also cram a lot into 3 or 4 days. The weather wouldn't be great, but it would probably be warmer than Minnesota.

Can you do an open-jaw (multi-city) flight when you're using a combination of miles and $$ to buy the ticket? I think a combination of Christmas markets, Berlin, and Rome would be nice. I'm sure there are lots of flights between Berlin and Rome. Berlin and Rome are very different, and Rome would be warmer. You could fly into Rome, take the hop to Berlin, jog over to a Christmas-market city or two, and fly back from Berlin (or Frankfurt, perhaps?).

Posted by
14539 posts

I'm currently in London and find my food budget is pretty erratic! If you are at The Lime Tree they have a traditional British breakfast you can choose so that may last until mid-afternoon for you. Then if you have a restaurant lunch (which I find runs around 20£ for me) then perhaps a snack later on. The Lime Tree is near Victoria Station and there are probably a dozen inexpensive take away restaurants plus Boots and M&S which have sandwiches/salads made up. My timing yesterday turned out to be a large Indian lunch around 2, then I wasnt real hungry so picked up guacamole and tortilla chips (yes, they were really good, lol) for a snack on my way back to the hotel. If you will want sit down meals for lunch and dinner then yes, it'll run your budget up.

I love the London Walks tours which are 10£ (8 if you are over 65). I particularly like the one on Sundays called Westminster at War. Take a look at their website to see what is offered on which days. Many of the big museums are free as well.

I love London and find it a very comfortable place to be!

Editing to add: I just saw acravens' post and will just add I just finished a RS GAS tour. The guide was Carlos Meissner who lives in Berlin and also does private tours there. If you decide on Berlin and your budget will accommodate some hours with a guide, I wholeheartedly recommend Carlos. He has a PhD in history specializing in WWII related issues. He is awesome and very knowledgeable. He also does tours to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial.

Posted by
7175 posts

Add Barcelona. Stay 4 nights in each.
Nov 23. Arrive in London
Nov 27. Fly to Rome
Dec 01. Fly to Barcelona
Dec 05. Train to Madrid
Dec 09. Depart from Madrid

Posted by
8297 posts

Anytime someone's wanting to visit Europe approaching the winter, I would suggest they be prepared for colder and wetter weather I would have a tendency to stay toward the south.
Rome weather at your trip time would be 40 degree lows to 55 degree highs, and it's their wettest time of the year.
London weather also runs about 40 degrees for lows and about 50 degrees, and it might rain 1 day out of 3 days.
Have you considered flying into Rome and taking a train up to Florence.? Then you could take a flight on a budget European air carrier from Florence to London Gatwick very inexpensively. Then fly home from London.

Posted by
3580 posts

Eating in London can be inexpensive, especially if you skip restaurant meals. After an adequate breakfast, I'm not hungry for a long time. Sandwiches, pasties, and the occasional fish &a chips from a shop keep me on budget. I buy apples and bananas in the food store or take one with me from the morning buffet at my hotel. My favorite treat is custard tarts from Marks and Spencer. My big sit-down treat is a meal in a pub. I usually keep a small bag of nuts in my bag for emergencies.

Posted by
117 posts

Thank you for all of the replies so far. I would need to book the ticket as a round-trip but I could book a separate ticket to get to a 2nd city. I would just want to be safe with the times. London from here is a non-stop so it's not as risky as some of the others.

When traveling solo I do a few restaurant meals, but I'm a fairly light eater so it's not usually 2 restaurant meals per day. A full breakfast would likely last me until mid-afternoon. Assuming I can make London work budget wise, I need to narrow down where to go from there. I'm leaning towards either Berlin and some additional Christmas markets or Madrid. I'm thinking Rome and Italy I might want as it's own trip.

David I would be thrilled with 40 degree lows at that time of year.

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