Itinerary Help for month-long trip

OK, I'm going to sing my little song about European museums; those who know the words can sing along LOL! I don't know how much experience the two of you have with art museums, but I implore you to go to The Biggies while you're there - they could literally change your world! They don't compare with what most of us have seen in the way of art, I can tell you that much. So do seek them out! (song's over; yeah, it WAS much shorter this time...) Being new European travelers, the fun thing is that you don't know what's gonna rock your boat! You may gain 10lbs on gelato, while she's gone through 17 memory cards taking photos of gargoyles...so plan time to enjoy where you are and what you're seeing; try not to do the sight-seeing bit too hard! (cont.)

(cont.) OK - 'perched villages' generally require cars, and generally there are minimun age requirements to rent cars. I might suggest Vienna OR Prague, perhaps neither (distance), and others will disagree ;-) Both of you read "Europe Through The Back Door" for the tons of priceless info it has, and you need. One year out isn't too early - the internet makes planning easier, but it also means that people reserve hotels/hostels/trains earlier and earlier when they firm up their plans. Plus, when you have a firm idea of where you're going waaay in advance, that means months of anticipation! You have too much, in my opinion - Fly into Paris or Barcelona (depending on your final itinerary); I'd leave off Nice/perched villages. Toulouse/Albi/Barcelona are grouped together. Maybe pop into Nice on the way to Italy...CT, Venice, Florence, Rome. But we've got to get you to Salzburg! Maybe a flight or night train from Rome...then fly out of Munich. You need as straight a line as possible, dependant on train tracks and not what the map looks like. Definitely fly open jaws - into one city, out of another. Sorry - gotta go; just threw out some rambling thoughts ;-) NOTE: I hope you're transferring to TAMU for your senior years ;-)

Allison, what a great trip. Eileen is right, though--it's too much to chew in a month. Don't be too sad about that because one things that drives up the cost of a trip is travel, and you can cut back on that expense. Setting priorities will be hard. The path you describe is beaten. To get off of it rent a car, which you can do without breaking the budget. Use the car to explore southern France, including the Dordogne and Lot valleys and some of the hill towns. A car is helpful, but less essential, in SE France, which is a little better served by rail and bus. Barcelona plus SW France plus SE France barely leaves enough time for your Italian destinations, so if you can't live without Austria and Prague better be prepared to let some other things go. May is a lovely time of year for these destinations, have a blast!

Thank you both so much for your feedback! I understand that it isn't possible for us to see every place on our list. Right now we are trying to prioritize our destinations. Since it will be our first time we feel obligated to visit Paris and Rome and other of the major sights. One option that we were thinking about is flying in to Paris and then taking a plane to Rome where we could go to some of the different cities there and then take the train from Venice to Salzburg and fly out from either Munich or Vienna? Adam,
Driving would be an option if we would be able to rent a car. Correct me if I am wrong but I assume to rent a car in europe you need to be over 22-24 just like in the states. And Eileen, both of us are actually at TAMU now! We both grew up in the Austin area and are currently employed there for this summer!

Allison, excuse me! I was totally not tracking the car-rental age thing, which I have heard of. Without a car I would skip SW France and by extension Barcelona (not because you need a car there but because it becomes logistically more awkward). Without that your itinerary choices seem to me to organize into a question of at what point to head south to Italy. For instance if you start in Paris you could either go south to Provence and Nice before heading to Italy, or else head to Switzerland, with or without stops in France enroute (Alsace and/or Burgundy offer small old cities accessible by rail). In Swizerland, the Berner Oberland is spectacular, though I can't say what conditions will be like in mid May. From Switzerland you can again choose: South to Italy or east to Austria. And from there, if you go to continue to Prague or to turn south into Italy, probably starting in Venice. The sooner you head south, the more time for Italy. Either way, I can't imagine you regretting any of these destinations. Switzerland is probably the most expensive country in Europe, but Paris isn't cheap either. If it would simplify things for you, consider the Dolomites, in NE Italy, as a substitute for the Alps. Have fun!

I would plan a route for variety. I very much agree with a previous poster there. Spain and Italy are cheap. France and Germany are expensive and Switzerland is very expensive. You don't say whether the $5000 is for to or each. Obviously that will make a great difference in what you can do. My suggestion is this: Fly into Paris. Do Paris (it's a splurge that's worth it). You could spend just two days crossing the Swiss Alps to Milan. Alternatively, you could overnight to Milan and skirt the alps from Italy more inexpensively and do Lake Como. Continue to The Cinque Terre, Siena, Florence and fly out of Rome. Make a longer trip by beginning in Barelona and continuing up Spain to Paris before heading down into Italy. Alternatively start in Paris, cross the Alps, do Salzburg and head down to Venice and continue through Cinque Terre and Tuscany to Rome. The very cheapest and probably grand would be to just do Italy or Spain. My choice would be Italy. Add Paris to either as a grand splurge. What you will miss is the German castles and the cradle of classical music. Whatever you do, and it's why I recommend Italy besides expense, is to alternate heavily art and museum cities like Rome, Florence, and Paris with more atmospheric places like The Cinque Terre, and the hill top towns in Tuscany or the provincial towns in France.

Whew! That whole TAMU thing spooked me for a minute! Good Ags! An FYI - don't be alarmed if/when your ininerary changes approx. 497 times in the next few months! It happens! You just know that this is gonna be The Germany Trip, and the next thing you know you're spending a month in Finland. How'd THAT happen?!? Enjoy the planning process; many of us think it's as much fun as the actual trip ;-)

Hi, What you have listed by way of itinerary, I'll address the Vienna part. The HI hostels serve dinner, a full dinner with soup and salad, plus dessert for under 6 Euro. What surprised me was that in Germany the HI hostel (DJH) did not include soup as part of the dinner. Another observation in the HI hostel in Germany and Vienna was that although I saw Americans as guests coming and going in the hostel, they never ate dinner there, saw only other European guests (mostly Germans). You don't need to be a guest at the hostel to eat the dinner served, just buy the dinner ticket between 5-6 Euro. For lunch in Vienna the Tech Uni and the Musik Hochschule both serve lunch, good, cheap, hot food. I had lunch a few times at the Tech Uni. In Vienna some of the museums are free on the first Sunday of the month. If you decide on any night trains after weighing the factors, the compartment seat is cheapest. You'll pay extra for a couchette or sleeper. Even the compartment seats fill up, esp on week-ends. Lots of Europeans of your age group take night trains, aside from older ones 10-20 years your senior.

I second Eileen's comment...get Rick's Europe Through the Back Door book and read it cover to cover.....best single investment you will make. I also agree that it's not too early to start planning, and that your plan will change a dozen times between now and when you leave!...lol You budget of $5000 without airfare for a month..is that $5000 each? If yes, I think you'll be fine, especially if hostelling a lot. I found Trip Advisor invaluable in terms of finding good, affordable accommodations, and if you book well in advance( 5-6 months ), you get the best places, best locations, etc. Some suggestions for efficency and budgeting...try planning you trip around "hubs", stay in one location several days and make day trips ....consider staying outside major cities and taking day trips into them for siteseeing, as accommodations may be much cheaper( eg you could stay in Verona Italy and make day trips to both Florence and Venice ...this works best if you have a global railpass with unlimited travel ( but factor in costs of mandatory reservations on certain trains, certain countries, etc)... Rick has long praised the virtues of smalltown Gimmelwald, Switzerland, and I believe there is a hostel there ( book well in advance). It will certainly meet the requirement for "any beautiful location in the Alps", and then some! Of course anywhere in the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland ( Gimmelwald, Murren, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, etc ) will take your breath away..
And of course...PACK LIGHT! Take Rick's advice on travelling light to heart, you won't regret it!...

It's never too early to plan for a trip. I start researching the next excursion the morning after I get off the plane. With all that mileage under my wheels (or wings) I can suggest a few rules-of-thumb to consider: First, constant moving around can run up expenses, since you are in strange places all the time and don't have time to find the sandwich-and-salad deal at a neighbourhood grocery store or where the cheap-and-cheerful beer beckons. Sleeping on trains saves on rooms but can turn you into the equivalent of homeless plus you can't see the scenery you went to Europe to see. While students get breaks on rail passes, they also force a commitment to using up those bargain miles/kilometres. And offbeat doesn't always coincide with cheap since finding un-touristy attractions may take you away from economical transportation. For really offbeat, check out what participation or exchange programs your school offers, or look to student service organizations. Most of all, plan for a few splurges. The audio tour of a major art institution is well worth whatever it costs to magnify the experience. A more refined restaurant dinner occasionally with a glass of good wine will refresh your spirits as well as your body. Last, such capitals as Paris and Berlin can indeed be posh and expensive. But they also are chock-full of students and immigrants who have similar budget constraints as you, so with your advance research they might prove more reasonable than that colourful little town with only one over-priced bistrot.
Bon voyage; it's gonna be fun.

If you could do 2 nights in Venice (which would be helped by a cheap flight instead of night train)...you would like it sooo much better - we only had 36hrs our 1st time there (we took a late flight out to London) but it wasn't near enough - our 2nd trip, we stayed three nights, this trip we are staying 2...stay in the city if you can and wander at night when the hordes of daytrippers have gone - it is sooo much nicer...

Unless you are an exceptional night train traveler, you won't get any appreciable sleep on one :-( As in, you'll likely be an exhausted zombie on arrival day, and probably can't check into your room until well after noon for a quick nap. You can probably leave your luggage there in the morning, though. Ditto - what's the 'Alsace region' and why? I wasn't sure about so much time in the CT, but it would be a kind-of sub for the French Riviera...so OK. For the Switzerland peeps - is May a good, safe time to go, or is it too snowed-in, wet and muddy, etc.? This trip is still what many would call a blitz-type trip in some places, regardless of your age. That's fine, as long as you understand that ahead of time. I'd hate for your expectations to be waaay out of line with reality. Getting from hotel-to-hotel takes a lot more time than you'd think - checking out, getting to the station, traveling, finding transportation to the next hotel, checking in... Many people plan the 'wheres', then start trying to figure out the 'whys'; be sure you know why you're going somewhere, and not just because RS says you ought to ;-) **I have a sibling you can sell; she'll fetch a good price... 8^(

Thank you all so much for your feedback!! It is greatly appreciated!! I really cannot thank everyone of you enough for taking the time to give me your advice! To address some of yall's questions: Our budget is at MAX $5000 each, with some of that reserved for a train pass, that is if we were to spend all of our savings and possibly sell one of my siblings ;)Our newly revised itinerary is as follows: Fly into Prague 2-3 days Take a night train to Venice. Stay 1 night Evening train to Florence Florence/Tuscany 4-5 days Cinque Terre 3 days Rome 3 days Night train to Interlaken. Travel to Grimmelwald Grimmelwald/Alps 3 days Alsace region 3 days
Paris 4 days Unfortunately this plan cuts out many of our original destinations but I hope it offers a more direct route and will allow us to spend our time longer in each place! More thoughts or ideas would again be greatly appreciated!

Allison, Your revised Itinerary looks better, but it still needs some "fine tuning" (IMHO). Some suggestions..... > Fly into Prague - be sure to allow for the fact that you'll arrive the day after you depart the U.S. > Trip to Venice - rather than a long rail journey, I'd use a budget flight on that route. It will be faster and probably cheaper. For example, Air One has flights currently listed at €60 PP (this will change of course). Flight time is about 1H:25M. > Florence & other parts of Tuscany - where else are you planning to visit? > At this point, I'd suggest going directly to Rome. The trip is only ~1.5 hours. > Train to Cinque Terre. There are direct trains from Roma Termini to La Spezia Centrale with a travel time of ~3H:45M. From there you can transfer to the local train to reach whichever town you're staying in. > Train to the Berner Oberland and Gimmelwald. I wouldn't use a night train on that route, but that's certainly your choice. I'll be travelling that route myself in a few months, but will be using a train that departs Monterosso at 06:55. > Where are you planning to visit in the Alsace region? I definitely agree with the others. Since this is your first trip to Europe, it would be a really good idea to read Europe Through The Back Door. The country-specific Guidebooks have a wealth of information on sightseeing, transportation, Hotels, etc. Good luck with your planning!

Allison You say, Night train to Interlaken. Travel to Grimmelwald
Grimmelwald/Alps 3 days That night train from Rome to Interlaken. Which one is that? There is a InterCityNight train from Rome to Milan which takes about 8 hours (the normal high speed train does the same job in 3), leaving Rome at 23:04, arriving Milan 6:55. If you are in 2nd class you will be in a chair, sleepers are 1st class only. Half an hour to change to the train to Basel, getting off in Spiez. 12 minutes there to connect to train to Interlaken Ost, arriving at 10:28 - total travel time 11 hours 24 minutes. Is that the one you meant? You say "Grimmelwald". That looks like a confusion between Gimmelwald and Grindelwald. Which do you mean? They are on opposite sides of the Berner Oberland. The first you reach by cable car (gondola) and is a very small village, the latter is a large town you get to by train. They are in different valleys.

Allison, your latest itinerary shows thought and taste. This itinerary has lots of contrast and with a few exceptions is well paced. I would steal a day from Tuscany or Alsace for Venice, and you might weigh the day train from Rome to Gimmelwald, which would get you to the Alps only four hours later than the night train.

Hi, I say your choice of spending 3 nights in Alsace is good, better than Lorraine in my view unless you are really into the history around Metz. Between the two major cities in Alsace-Lorraine, I went to Metz first over Strasbourg, but you'll see that Strasbourg is a much lovelier and interesting city than Metz. Seeing Strasbourg and maybe Colmar I assume are your reasons for going to the Alsace area. I recommend as a day trip r/t from Strasbourg the town of Obernai, lovely town, typical of Alsace. From Paris is a direct TGV to Strasbourg.