itinerary help

juan,

Some additional information would be helpful. For example......

• When will this trip be taking place?
• What do you anticipate spending on this trip?
• Have you travelled in Europe before?
• Have you booked flights yet?

I'd suggest using open-jaw flights (ie: inbound to one city and outbound from another), as that's the most efficient use of time especially for such a short trip. Start in London, then Paris and end the trip in Italy. I'd recommend Venice, Florence or Rome over Milan.

The best way is to look at a map at https://maps.google.com. There isn't any fixed order to visit places really. It depends (for me) on how easy is to get from one place to another...and obviously the cost of all your travel.

If you find that London - Paris - Venice costs the same as Paris - Rome - Amsterdam .. and you can cover all you want in 2 weeks...by choosing either option, it doesn't matter rt?

So... I'd say pick your places....sort them in the order of which one you must visit to which one you can spend less time in. So if you want badly to visit London, put that at the top of your list. Then Paris. Then Rome. So your preferred route is London - Paris - Rome. Then look at the cost of travel. If it's too expensive repeat the exercise.

And so on..I'd say more but it'll only confuse you for now :). Simply look at a map for now and see what places you'd like to visit and which ones you want to spend more time in..and why. Then post back here :)

All the best.

Hello Ken thanks for your reply to my question, its really for a friend who is going to Europe for the first time, she will be leaving in August 13th and returning the 27th.She will land in London first, then she wants to go to Paris and then off to Italy she mention to me after italy she wants to return to Paris im guessing she will fly out of paris?.

juan,

Thanks for the clarification. This is one possible way she could arrange the Itinerary.....

• Day 1 - Flight to London
• Day 2 - Arrive London. Note that she will be jet lagged for a few days. Jet lag affects everyone differently, but I also fly from the west coast and I know from experience that I'm not up to best "touring speed" for a few days after arrival.
• Day 3,4,5 - London
• Day 6 - EuroStar to Paris. Book as far ahead as possible for the best prices, but note that the tickets are usually non-changeable and non-refundable, so book carefully. Good details on how to book on the excellent Seat 61 website.
• Day 7,8,9 - Paris
• Day 10-13 - Italy (it's difficult to offer many suggestions on this point without more specific information).
• Day 14 - Flight or train back to Paris
• Day 15 - Flight home

I'd suggest picking up some Guidebooks for each of the places she'll be visiting, in order to plan sightseeing, transportation, etc. as efficiently as possible. The Pocket London and Pocket Paris would be good ones to look at for those cities, as the books are small and easy to carry. If this is a first trip to Europe, it would also be a good idea to read Europe Through The Back Door prior to the trip, as that has a LOT of good information on "how" to travel well in Europe.

There are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using trains or other public transit especially in Italy, so doing some homework on those points would be prudent.

Especially for travel in August, it would be a really good idea to get some hotels booked ASAP, especially in Italy!!! That's PEAK travel season and it will probably be hot and crowded, so not the best conditions to be wandering around an unfamiliar city trying to find a place to sleep. It's unfortunate that these questions weren't posted here a few months ago.

"She will land in London first, then she wants to go to Paris and then off to Italy she mention to me after italy she wants to return to Paris im guessing she will fly out of paris?."

As others have said, unless she has already bought her plane tickets, she should not do this. Backtracking wastes time and money. She should see London, then take the Eurostar train to Paris, then fly to Italy, then fly home from her last Italian city. Flights and trains between countries in Europe will be much cheaper booked in advance.

If she has already booked her flights into London and out of Paris, she should see London, then fly to Italy, then fly from Italy to Paris. Again, this avoids backtracking.

These kinds of flights, into one city and out of another on one ticket, are called open jaws. To find them, go to Kayak: http://www.kayak.com/flights and choose "multi-city" instead of "one-way" or "round-trip."

To find flights within Europe, use Skyscanner: http://www.skyscanner.com/. To find train schedules within Europe, use the Bahn German Rail website, following Rick's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/db_tips.htm

Yes, it is doable to see 3 or 4 cities in 2 weeks, as long as she accepts that she will just be getting a taste of each place.

Unless she has a special reason to want to go to Milan, she should see Venice, Florence and/or Rome instead. These three have much more to offer the first time visitor to Italy. Don't get me wrong, I like Milan and there are certainly worthwhile things to see there, but it's much less like the "Italy" that people expect than the other three are.

You're on the right track with this advice. Flying is cheapest for the longer legs and backtracking is a waste of time. Eurostar train is convenient between London and Paris (book months ahead for the better prices) and train is also relatively cheap and easy for connecting cities within Italy (not necessary to book ahead, so focus on other planning first).

This is the itinerary to beat, if you fancy yourself a real Europe Travelista:
(This inspired post is from Frank II, back in the old days on this forum)
The word on the street is that The Master, himself, approved this Europe blitz itinerary....

"Here is my current itinerary for my next trip and I'd like to see what you think:
Day 1: Arrive in London, train to Edinburgh.
Day 2: Walk the Royal Mile. Fly to Dublin. Go to Temple Bar, have a Guinness, fly to Bristol, train to Bath.
Day 3: Take Hop-on, Hop-off Bus. Hop off at train station. Train to London, Eurostar to Brussels, get a Belgium Beer and some chocolate, see the kid "take a leak" Train to Luxembourg.
Day 4. Take the 15 minute in-depth tour of Luxembourg City, train to Paris. Eat a crepe.
Day 5: Take Hop-on Hop Off Bus Tour of Paris. Hop Off at Gare de Lyon. Train to Nice.
Day 6: Train to Monaco, stop at Casino to lose some money, realize it's only open at night, continue on train to Florence.
Day 7: Skip lines, see fake David outside near one of the museums. Train to Rome.
Day 8: Throw coins in Trevi fountain hoping I'll return to actually see Rome someday, take train to Venice. Take Traghetti across the Grand Canal instead of gondola to save time and money. Fly to Munich. (I skip Switzerland because if I want to see the Matterhorn, I can always go to Disneyland.)
Day 9. Have beer in Munich. Train to Amsterdam. Get wasted late than night in an Amsterdam coffee house. Get arrested because I got off in Hamburg instead of Amsterdam and getting wasted there is against the law. (it was late--but free overnight accomodations.)
Day 10: Train to Amsterdam, get wasted at real Amsterdam coffee house.
Day 11-14: I really like the "coffee" they serve in Amsterdam coffee houses.
Day 15: Ferry to London
Day 13: See all the sights destroyed by rioters during the G-20 meetings. Have a pint. Wish I was back in Amsterdam. Fly to Amsterdam.
Day 16-20: Visit all remaining coffee houses in Amsterdam
Day 21: Fly home. Get refund on return portion of ticket since I didn't need the plane.
Is this doable....Do you think I should make any changes...are any of you wondering why I'm posting this on April 1?"

@Kent - This made me totally giggle. Sounds like the PERFECT itinerary!

@J. Thank you, but don't encourage me. It might make me resurrect the "Guy's Approved Packing List," approved by the Travel Forum's Subcommittee on European Dress Codes.

@Kent - I might enjoy reading that one too! Is it just a baggie with toothpaste and a toothbrush?