How long and where should I go in Europe? What would you do?

I am sorry if I sound harsh but it sounds like you are asking people to plan your trip for you. This is impossible without knowing anything about you. You imply that the world is your stage and you can go anywhere and do anything. Only you know what you like and want to see. This is mostly a forum for travelers to Europe so you should focus here first. Decide when you will be in Europe. Choose a budget. Let us know what countries you are interested in. Let us know your interests. Then the forum is better able to assist you.

Wow, hard, hard, question, so different places, can't help but dread the hours on a plane, but I suppose it's the tradeoff for being able to live in NZ, which many of us would love to visit as well.

Your instincts for Europe are right on. London, Amsterdam, Belgium and Paris are a great, well placed tour. Trying to mix in Italy and Greece, with potential stops in LA or Tokyo would be pushing it. As for where I would spend my time, it is really an either/or, do either North or South, both have charms, but the North would be more of an Urban scene, better nightlife, lots of cultural options, the South more History coupled with Latin food and culture. If you are really into nightlife, you might think about Berlin, widely touted as maybe the best club scene in Europe, so I would suggest the Northern itinerary.

I have been to both LA and Tokyo; LA was a good visit, maybe not my thing...but being from the US other places seem "better", for you, it would probably be great. Tokyo I found very manageable, fascinating culturally, fantastic foodwise.

If you could, maybe little under a week in LA and Tokyo on the way there and back, then 3 1/2 weeks in a Northern itinerary doing 3-4 days in London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Someplace in Belgium, and Paris.

Hi Brenda, my first suggestion would be to borrow a whole pile of travel books from your local library and work out what interests you and your boyfriend. Maps of Europe and USA would also be useful so that you can get some feeling for where everything is and the distances between places.
Have you already booked the flights? If so where are you landing in Europe and where are you departing Europe from? This will influence your travel plans. If you haven't booked yet, it would be better to work out where you might like to go before you do. The deal that you are talking about sounds like a round the world ticket, it would be worth checking the rules, add-ons etc so that you can get the most bang for your buck. Once you have worked out where you want to go and when you will find forums like this and other travel-related sites much more useful. Hope that you have a great trip.

Thanks for your replies!

Steve, I fully get what you're saying and I'm definitely not looking for someone to plan a trip! It's more that I haven't had much experience travelling and I'm wondering if going to three continents is too much and if I should be focusing in Europe only since it'll only be about 4 weeks in total.

Paul, that's a great breakdown, thanks! Might have to do a a Northern trip only because I'll be landing in either London or Paris and with the time given, it makes sense to stay 'closer'. I might have to cut out LA, seems too ambitious...

Helen, it is indeed an around the world trip, flights are not booked but the landing and leaving location can be from most of the airports in Europe so we're basing the flights around what we want to do. I've been reading and looking through websites and magazines, It's a bit hard as it's all so different from New Zealand so they all seem pretty amazing and worth seeing. Eek!

In that case Brenda check the rules for the flights, usualy you must keep travelling in the same direction, no back tracking. We have done it and with a bit of creative planning it can be worthwhile. BUT, if you don't want or plan to go to the USA or Asia on this trip it might be cheaper (time and money) for you to fly directly to Europe with no stays along the way. You can fly in and out of the same city or open jaw (in to one and out of another) which is another great way to save time and to some extent money. What time of year are you planning to go? Remember the seasons in the northern hemisphere are the opposite of NZ and winter days in Europe are shorter so not so much time for siteseeing.

I will assume u are on a budget , that said unless u land in London heathrow skip London as it is expensive the GBP is still strong altho most key museums are free. Concentrate your visit to clustering countries as France(Paris, loire valley, burgundy, normandy)Netherlands Amsterdam, Haarlem, Delft etc.)Belgium(Brugge)Or France (Paris, Loire Valley, Provence , Fr. Rivera and Italy as much as poss.
These countries are on the euro and your money go further. 5 days Tokyo, 1 wk LA/Las vegas, the remainder for your european adventure. Hope this helps guide u alittle.

What an intriguing dilemma. Firstly, California, if I had a week I would want to rent a car and drive either north or south along the coast. To me that is the most scenic. I wouldn't personally bother with Las Vegas. I would prefer to see San Diego or Santa Barbara
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I think London, Paris Amsterdam would be great if this is a summer trip, but would also consider Paris, then travelling south through France to either Italy or Spain. Barcelona is fabulous, and I think more reasonable price wise than Amsterdam. Also warmer! It is fairly easy to book flights within Europe, so with 3 weeks you could easily do both Paris and Italy ( for example).

I assume this ticket will let you make stopovers like LA and Tokyo without additional cost, or you don't mind paying for them. If I'm wrong, then I'd suggest focusing only on Europe rather than spreading your time and budget across three continents. From NZ you'll have chances to visit Japan and the US on shorter trips in the future.

If you stop in LA, I think a week is too long (with due respect to Claudia and others from there). Maybe if I were 26 I'd want to spend a week, but I wouldn't have when I was that age (well back in the last century). A few days would be fine, unless you want to explore other parts of California. You'll definitely need a car for any length of stay.

For Europe, I'd suggest starting in London for least culture/language shock when you arrive, maybe some time elsewhere in England, then Eurostar to Paris, some other part of northern France (Loire, Normandy, ??), then Amsterdam and maybe Berlin, or straight to Rome. Greece isn't too far if you can keep going east from there, but it probably is if you have to backtrack to London or Paris.

I haven't been to Tokyo, I know it's a worthwhile destination, don't know for how long. Again, as a Kiwi you'll have an easier time getting back to Japan in the future than to Europe, so maybe not a whole week this time. Focus your time on Europe which is farthest from home. Hope this helps, but as others have said you'll get better help here with more specific questions.

Such fantastic replies and suggestions, thanks all.

My flights allow me to do stop overs in California and in Asia, no additional costs. So regardless of whether I want to go to California or to Tokyo, there will be a transfer there. I'm flexible to go whenever in 2016, I thought late August to September might be a good time?

Just quickly regarding California - is renting a car highly recommended? Rather than relying on public transportation?

Lisa, I would love to go to Barcelona as well, Just weren't sure if time allows! I'd like to spend at least 2-3 nights in every destination. I might have to lengthen my holiday or shorten/cut out LA.

Dick, You're absolutely right that I can fly to the US/Japan much cheaper in the future. Perhaps a few days like you suggested, would be nice to see Vegas but my flights leave from either LA or San Fran.
Good thing is that I don't have to backtrack and can basically go home from any of the major airports in Europe.

I think I will land in London, go to Amsterdam, then to Paris (with maybe one night in between in Belgium) then either go towards Spain OR go towards Italy with stops in parts of France. Will need to do more researching :)

With only 3 and half weeks in Europe I would start with London. Same (or almost the same language, driving on the left (not that I am suggesting that you drive there, better to use public transport) and I am sure some other similarities, too, but I haven't been to New Zealand, yet, (it will happen in February). From London to Paris by Eurostar in less than 3 hours. Paris is the star of European cities. Because you never been to Europe your third European city should be Rome (so different from anything in New Zealand (as is my image of N.Z.) And as a cherry on the top of cake some smaller city - Venice. And then fly home. There are of course many other interesting cities: Berlin, Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, etc. - save it for your next trip to Europe.

Regarding California - public transit is mostly miserable comparing to Europe and perhaps New Zealand, too. With the exception of certain parts of east coast practically everywhere else in the USA car is needed.

I think that a week in LA is too much! I visited LA on a day trip and was able to see Rodeo Drive, Holly Boulevard and the nearby Venice Beach. That was all just in one day. I also went to Vegas and spent about three days but was ready to leave by the third. We had plenty of time to explore the casinos there. These two places are really fun for people who have lots of money and love to party and shop. Otherwise....they are cool to see for a day or two and then leave! I think you can see LA and Vegas in under a week. I also backpacked through Europe and highly suggest London. My favorite things to do there were (Having high tea in Liberty Department Store, Taking a Jack the Ripper night-time walking tour, walking around Brick Lane and tasting the Indian Food, visiting the museums which are mostly all free.) I also loved Germany all together. Munich and Berlin were epic. Munich for the beer and parks and Berlin for the art galleries and street art!

-Shannon

Do not go to LA unless you plan on renting a car and are willing to deal with LA traffic. Public transportation is pretty useless (true in much of California). Also, while I'm not sure what you're interested in, tourism sites are widely scattered so you will be spending lots of time on the highway, in some pretty heavy traffic. Last time I drove down to LA, I only wanted to visit two museums--the Getty Malibu and the Norton Simon in Pasadena. They are far enough apart that I had to change hotels, and in a bad evening rush hour, it took about 3 hours to cross the area to get to the second hotel.

California The only way you can visit Los Angeles is with a car. Public transportation is slow to non-existent. Driving will be hard. You'll have to get used to driving on the other side of the road. The only good news is that any car you rent will be an automatic. Traffic is usually bad and to get around you'll have to navigate an intricate system of freeways, most of which are at least 4 lanes wide in each direction.

You mention San Francisco. If you can fly into SFO, you could spend a week in and around the city without a car. Once you're over the jetlag, you could rent a car for a couple of days and drive out to Yosemite, for instance.

Or you could connect from LAX to Las Vegas. Spend a couple of days seeing the casinos, then rent a car and drive to Zion National Park and Bryce National Park and/or the Grand Canyon. The roads are easy to drive and the desert scenery of the Colorado Plateau is breath-taking.

BTW, August is about the worst time - both very hot and full of American tourists. Much better in late September after the kids are back in school and the temperatures are in the high 20's, not the mid to high 30's. San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities in the U.S.

Asian stop-over. Thailand is a great destination. You could divide your time between Bangkok and Chiang Mai (cheap flights from Bangkok). Hong Kong also has a lot to offer and you could spend a couple of nights in Macau (short ferry ride). Thailand is cheaper than Hong Kong. Beijing in August . . . hot, lots of tourists. Japan but probably the most expensive of your choices.

I see your flight from NZ will take you to LA, but I would jot spend a week there! even if you use part of that for Las Vegas. It is a beautiful drive up the coast to San Francisco, which is a much more interesting city to visit. If you want to see more, you could drive a loop, LA to San Francisco to Yosemite to Las Vegas and back to LA. That would be pretty fast-paced and involve some distance driving, but doable.

You will find that much of California looks a lot like much of New Zealand's South Island, although our cities tend to sprawl.

Leaving your stopovers aside, I am thinking you will be looking at 3 weeks approx in Europe ...

Start in London (5 nts), then Eurostar to Paris (5 nts)
After Paris a few options would be easy ...

A) Fly to Venice (3 nts), train to Florence (4 nts), train to Rome (4 nts)
B) Train to Brussels/Bruges (2 nts), train to Amsterdam (4 nts), train to Berlin (5nts)
C) Fly to Seville (3 nts), train to Madrid (4 nts), train to Barcelona (4 nts)
D) Train to Switzerland (5 nts), train to Salzburg (3 nts), train to Vienna (3 nts)
E) Fly to Budapest (4 nts), train to Prague (3 nts), train to Munich (4 nts)

You do not need a full week in Tokyo. I would spend 3 nights there for 2 full days of sightseeing. That's enough. But if you could spare 1-2 more nights, I would do a trip up to Nikko, smaller town, great temples, take a trip up into the mountains and see the lake, walk around and relax. Do just Nikko if you can only spend one night (not the mountains and lake). So maybe 5 nights altogether -- 3 in Tokyo, 1 in Nikko, 1 to Tokyo before departure. Check train schedule and departure arrangements -- you might be able to tighten this up by one night. You could just do Tokyo but going to a smaller place will give you more insight into Japan. Doesn't have to be Nikko but Nikko is a nice destination, not too far from Tokyo.

You could also spend 3 nights in Bangkok. Public transportation is more accessible in Japan so easier to get out of the city. I have not been to Beijing or Shanghai so can't comment on ease of visiting. I would go back to Japan first if I had to choose but Thailand is nice.

I would consider the week in Japan ( NOT just Tokyo ), but I would forgo LA and plan for a future US trip when you can see more. For Europe, decide where you really want to go. 3 days each in London and Paris were enough for me. No matter where you go, don't just stay in cities - get out in the country, especially since you are into adventure and adrenaline.

Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions.

I don't want to drive in LA, and with so many people saying that I'd need to and with people saying to skip LA (is it because you're all from the US? haha) I'm thinking that I should spend that week in Europe, maybe stay 2 nights in San Fran only.

I just found out coincidentally that the flight actually stops in Frankfurt before going to London.
I think it might be more worthwhile to spend that week in Germany or another European country instead of California.

Thanks a lot everyone, superb advices.

From what you describe the airfare sounds like an Air NZ/Lufthansa RTW deal.
So you most probably can fly into London from North America (via Frankfurt or Munich),
and then out of another European city to Asia (once again via Frankfurt or Munich).
Frankfurt/Munich would be transfer points, not stopovers.

Hello Brenda.ni.
If you will not go to Europe again after this trip to Europe, I recommend that you limit this trip to countries in Europe. Do not spend time in California, or Japan. At the Europe continent, you can go to all of the 4 or five countries that you desire to go to. You can go to Greece. In Europe, some airlines have flights to the Athens airport from an other country in Europe or England, for a low price for airline tickets.

If you go to Germany, look at going to a 'kletterwald' for adrenaline

Hi,

A very good idea...spend that week in Germany instead going to LA. I like LA but given the choice of that or Europe, LA gets dropped, Europe wins.

My choices for the 3 countries: France, England, Germany, at least a minimum of 21 days on the ground, a month would be better still, to include Austria, max your time by using all the transportation means...discount flights, night trains, depending on your geographic range.

I would skip LA.. and I have been there.. but really.. I would skip it in your situation. Driving there is not fun. Not fun at all. And frankly .. what would you do there for a week.. but spend money.. lol One day do a trip to States.. but make it a trip to the States.. not just a stop in.. a week in LA/Vegas is still not really seeing the USA..

I would keep this trip to Japan and Europe..

There was a suggestion that you stay 2 nights in an airport hotel in San Francisco. I would suggest you not do that, unless you want to spend the whole time at the hotel. You will see airport hotels that say they're 15 minutes from San Francisco. They must have timed that at 3 AM going only to the city line.

Driving in the morning rush hour, I would allow at least an hour to get from an airport hotel into the tourist parts of San Francisco,. If you use public transportation it could easily take longer – you will need to get a taxi to a train station or one of our not-so-rapid-transit stations. That will then deposit you in a part of San Francisco that doesn't have much to offer a first-time tourist except shopping, the ferry building and a few specialty museums--and those attractions are scattered. But to get to most things tourists want to see, you're then going to need to navigate the busses or take another taxi.

If you want to spend a couple days in San Francisco, stay in San Francisco, not near the airport.

Sherry echoed my thoughts so well.

You are really far from Europe, so I would try to take as long a trip as possible and spend as much of it in Europe as possible. You are more likely to visit the U.S. and Asia in the coming years since they are much closer. With two long-haul flights, I would definitely break it up with a 2-3 night layover going there so you aren't completely zonked on arrival In London and possibly coming home as well, taking the opportunity to see another city. If you can fly directly to San Francisco (SFO) instead of Los Angeles (LAX), it's a good place. Take a shuttle or taxi to the city, stay in a central location and see as much as you can. If you have to add a flight from LAX to SFO, it will be a hassle: LAX is one of the biggest and busiest (i.e., the worst) airports to go through immigration, wait for luggage and then change terminals for a domestic flight to SFO. Or fly to Europe through Asia. Bangkok would be my choice for a 2-3 night layover - easy access to the airports and easy to get around, mostly walking (San Francisco's sights are more spread out) and not expensive. I haven't been to Shanghai or Tokyo, hence I don't know if either would be as good a layover. Can you reverse the flights, stopping in Asia outbound and LAX inbound? Then you could just do back-to-back longhaul flights home.

Thanks for all the fantastic replies.

You guys are right!!
I will stay a couple of nights in San Fran as a stop over.

I've now narrowed things down and here's where I'll be going in Europe and the days for, let me know what you guys think and how you'd spread the days out. I don't have a 'top' location, these time frames are just spread out based on how long I think each place would need!

London - 4 days/nights
Paris- 5 days/nights
Amsterdam - 2 nights
Berlin - 4 days/nights
Rome - 4 days/nights
Athens & Greek islands - 4/5 days/nights (i've not looked into Greece much and just assumed I might need a long time here for the islands?)
Total: 3 and half weeks ish (MAX I can do!!)

I would question the effort for only 4 or 5 nights in Greece.
Compare what you propose ...
Berlin - 4 nights
Rome - 4 nights
Athens & Greek islands - 4/5 nights
--> which involves 2 flights and 2+ Greek Island ferries

with something like ...
Berlin - 4 nights
Venice - 2 nights
Florence - 3 nights
Rome - 4 nights
--> which involves 1 flight and 2 easy train rides

I've only been to Greece on a guided tour, but I would think the logistics for getting to the islands on only 4-5 nights would be tricky. You'd want a couple nights in Athens, then onto an island. There are small, very pretty islands very close to Athens, but if you are thinking of the famous islands like Santorini, then it will take plenty of time to/fro. I'd go research Greece and ferry/flight availability now. If you can make it work, great! If not, maybe more Italy before or after Rome. If you're thinking beach, then Amalfi Coast would be nice.

Good to see your stopover is now in SF. LA is very interesting, but transit is hard (you'd need a rental car for most places), In San Francisco, you can easily take MUNI (train) into the city and then take bus or other public transit around. Much less tiring, in my experience, therefore better for a stopover!

You're getting lots of good advice here...planning is half the fun!

My recommended places for a first timer would be London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Venice, Rome. That's still leaving out lots of amazing places, but trust me when I say the list doesn't get shorter the more you travel :) I would leave off Greece this time, but would consider adding in Florence, south of France and Barcelona or maybe Scotland if you drop your stopovers (see more on this later...).

Have a look at www.rome2rio.com to check out the distances and different ways of travelling between places. Trains are awesome and will often get you comfortably from centre of A to centre of B without having to deal with airports and check ins. Ignore me if I'm telling you stuff you already know, but remember you've got to get from where you're staying to the airport, and get there with enough time for check in, and then the same at the other end. Often those cheap flights are at daft times that would mean that any money you save on the flight you lose having to get a taxi at stupid o'clock to get there in time for check in.

A good option for you to consider could be Busabout? It's a hop on hop off bus with a number of circuits you can link together. It's not a tour, but it is a way to make it all a bit easier to get around and also meet some others doing the same as you. At 26, I'd be wanting to stay in hostels (but probably nice ones with private rooms) and meet others that can give me tips on the road. It could just be me, and it may not matter to you, but it always seems a little bit less social when travelling as a couple and staying in hotels. Here's the website..

http://www.busabout.com/hop-on-hop-off-europe/browse-all-passes

Being also from NZ and having done the NZ to Europe trip a fair number of times, and covered a number of the possible options (NZ-Singapore-EU, NZ-Bangkok-EU, NZ-USA-EU, NZ-Hawaii-Canada-EU, NZ-Middle East-EU. NZ-Japan-EU), the routes that I've done multiple times are via the Middle East (because the connections are so good to Europe) and via LAX (due to some sort of loyalty to Air NZ). Sometimes the flights via Asia have long layovers, so just watch that you don't end up with a 26 hour trip taking 35 hours because of an extra long layover that's too short to do anything useful with. Don't do it to save $100.

I would also recommend that unless you really want to visit the places that you are connecting through and want to stay a decent number of days, don't stopover just because you can. Otherwise you're just inflicting extra airport transfers, checking in etc, AND 2 lots of jet lag. The jet lag has always been terrible when I've broken a trip like this and it just means I lose time where I actually want to be! Travelling straight through with good connections I can be pretty much jet lag free on arrival despite the 26+ hours of travelling ( oh to live in somewhere like Boston...So cheap! So close!).

Two nights only gives you one full day in San Francisco. As much as I love that city, I would not stop there for just two nights and would add those nights to Europe. For San Francisco plan on three nights at a minimum if you do stop there. Plenty to keep one busy for two and a half plus days without any trace of boredom. The public transit system of cable cars, ferries, and buses is pretty good for getting around to all the major places with only the occasional need for a cab.