Itinerary help London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels/ Bruges

I am afraid I'm putting too many places in a short amount of time!

You have.

If you want to walk, enjoy the scenery, people and food, you need to drastically cut down your itinerary. Each city is large, with much to explore. Two cities would be so much better than four.

I am afraid I'm putting too many places in a short amount of time!

At least one too many.

If you've already booked flights into London and out of Bruges, I'd consider taking off Paris or Amsterdam. Personally, I'd lose Paris and save it for another trip. If you've already booked night flights for all of those hops, make sure you've got a plan to caffeinate. At this point I'd pick up a good guide book (hmmm, who writes those?) and look for your must sees, then use those to figure out how many days in each place. I prefer London over Paris, so would always put more time there, but that's personal preference. I loved Belgium, and would like to spend more time there, but again... I've done the shorter stays before, and it helps to narrow down in the future where I'd like to return and spend more time. However, it's tiring, and you don't get much depth. Good luck!

Time for you to start with a clean sheet of paper.

Where do you flights arrive to (London?), and where to you depart from (Brussels?)?

Then count how many days and nights you have. Do NOT count your arrival day (you will be wiped out) and do not count your departure day (it's consumed by getting to your flight).

Not counting those arrival/departure days, how many full day do you have in Europe? I'm guessing 10, but come back and be honest with yourself and us.

With 10 usable days, I'd pick 2, or at most 3 "locations". It sounds like two of those locations are probably London and Brussels. That only leaves you a little leeway for other stop(s).

I don't understand "Taking night flights". The cities of London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels are very close to each other, so close that moving between them is faster overall by train than by plane. I don't see how a night flight would help.

Now for Burgas, that may be a completely different story. It is certainly the outlier. As a city in Bulgaria it will be completely different than the others, and here you will need thought about transportation. I don't know if there is a night flight from any of the others to Burgas, or even if there are direct flights, but you will definitely need a flight of some sort.

If you are indeed planning on visiting Burgas, which is in Bulgaria, I think you need to eliminate it, given your time constraints. It's quite the outlier and would soak up too much time just getting there. Hopefully that was a misspell, and you meant Bruges.

I agree with the others that you need to eliminate at least one of your planned stops. If you already have flights booked into London and out of Brussels, then either Paris or A'dam has to go. If you don't have flights booked yet, my preference would be to eliminate Belgium, saving it for another time.

Flying between these cities ( disregarding Burgas) makes no sense, given the relatively short time required to take high speed trains.

OP seems veeeery confused.

"Brussels/Burgas" - probably means Bruges. I hope.
"Night flights" - makes no sense. It's not like Rick's favorite trick of taking a "night train".

OP claims they like "taking time out to sit enjoy the scenery the people and especially the food" but the proposed plan appears to allow no time for that.

@Lovestravel: You need to START OVER with a new plan. Tell us the actual details (locations, dates and times) for flights you already have booked and can't change (don't book any more flights yet until you get a handle on this - which so far you do not have!).

Ok note to self.... don't start these topics late at night when you're tired!
Sorry some of that didn't make sense I will be flying in from New York City arriving in Europe in the a.m.. Also update BRUGES not Burgas!
I have not booked any flights or hotels but looking at 12 nights early May.
Sorry for the confusion

Yes, almost all of the flights from the US to Europe leave the US at night and arrive in Europe in the morning (there are some flights to London that are the reverse). However, do not assume that this means your first day is a full sightseeing day. Many find the day of arrival is a jet-lagged haze. It's fine for walking around, but don't plan intense activities like museums, and don't plan anything for that first evening, as you'll likely fall asleep (a play will turn into an expensive nap).

I agree that with 12 nights in Europe, that means three places max.

I would choose two of London, Paris, Amsterdam and fly into one and out of the other. You could even spend the entire 10 days in London and do day trips or overnights from there. If you choose Amsterdam as one of the two, I would only spend 3 nights there and 9 in the other location.

I'd eliminate Brussels and Bruges. IF you do decide to keep this in the mix, then do Paris ->Brussels/Bruges->Amsterdam and fly home from there.

You'll use a good half a day traveling between locations. Book 6 months ahead and take the Eurostar between London and Paris. Book ahead also for the fast train from Paris to Amsterdam.

I'd suggest:

Nights 1-5: London. Night 1 will be your arrival day so you may not get much done here except staying outside in the (hopefully) sunshine and getting your internal clock re-set. With 4 full days you'll have time to do a day trip if you like, such as Windsor, Hampton Court or Bath.

6-9: Paris. Take the Eurostar city center to city center. The journey is only about 2.5 hours BUT you'll need to give yourself an hour ahead at the station for airline-like security plus you'll exit thru British Immigration and do your EU passport control before you pass thru to the arrivals lounge at St Pancras.

10-12: Amsterdam. Take the Thalys train (www.thalys.com) from Paris to Amsterdam. Fly home from Amsterdam.

When you are planning remember that 2 nights gives you 1 full day in a location. You might have partial days on either side but just the full touring day.

I guess you could book the Thalys train from Paris to Brussels, get off and see the Grand Place, have a waffle, then get on another pre-booked train from Brussels to Amsterdam. The Thalys tickets are for a specific departure so you couldn't break up your journey on one ticket. If you booked the slower Intercity train you might be able to do that but your train journey would be longer. Go to www.seat61.com for all the information you'd ever want to know from The Man In Seat 61!

Thank you all for your help! I took your suggestions and eliminated one, decided on London,Paris and Amsterdam! Thinking of flying out on 5/1/19 return on 5/14/19 I have flexibility with these dates.
Pam thank you for the link www.seat61.com very helpful.
So you think London, Paris, Amsterdam travel in this order?

For me the advantage of London-Paris-Amsterdam would be that you are in a country where you speak the language while recovering from jet lag. It also puts the shortest flight first which is helpful if you can't sleep and just want it to end. You might also want to check the weather history for those locations. On our trip in March 2013 we found the UK warmed earlier in the month so we started there (London-Amsterdam-Berlin).

We recently did a similar trip to Europe this past July. We had an early arrival into Heathrow and were at our hotel dropping our bags by 10:30 am. We toured London that whole first day despite jet lag. We spent 4 nights (4 1/2 days of touring) in London, 5 nights in Paris, 2 nights in Brussels, and 3 nights in Amsterdam. It was a lot. If I did it again, I would probably do one less city. I felt I could have used more time in London, but am planning a return trip there. We did the Eurostar between London and Paris, and the Thalys between Paris and Brussels, and then between Brussels and Amsterdam. We took evening trains between the cities which worked well for us. Good luck with your planning, it was a fabulous but tiring trip! (This is my first post, but I did read these forums and got a lot of great info when I was doing my planning)

So you think London, Paris, Amsterdam travel in this order?

See no problem with that.

Excellent that you plan to book an open jaw flight, i.e. into London, home from Amsterdam

Thank you all for your help and suggestions! Greatly appreciate it! We decided 4 nights in London, 5 Paris and 3 in Amsterdam. I have all the hotels booked just need to book flights I’ve been checking flights, I'm thinking of flying out of Toronto it's a three hour drive for us. The last few times I've traveled in the US, flights have been delayed or canceled, a friend just came back from Russia into JFK and her flight home was canceled she was told they were not sure when she could get a flight home! She rented a car and drove over 7 hours, home at 3:00 am flight would’ve been an hour. I figured I have control to get to Toronto and then it's a direct flight!

I also looked at booking Eurostar for London to Paris and Thalys Paris to Amsterdam my dates in May are not yet available.

I was reading a few reviews on going through customs and finding the correct train can be challenging. Is it that bad?

Do you mean finding the correct train in London, Amsterdam or Paris? Each has some interesting points. Which one concerns you?

Hi Nigel, Any tips you can offer on the Eurostar London to Paris and I'll be taking the Thalys to Amsterdam!

Eurostar, be at the check in machine an hour before departure. Feed your ticket into the machine, or scan some of them, it is all perfectly explained in French, Flemish and English. Go through security, but finish any hot drinks or open cold drinks before you do or they will go in the bin. Plenty of food in St Pancras of all sorts, and more across the street in Kings Cross, so you don't have to get on hungry. There is a Caffe Nero after security and WH Smiths. So you can get a coffee and pastry or cake after security. You go through UK Border Force control and then French Border control next. Have your passport out, open to the picture page. Then you go to a waiting area.

Free wifi in the waiting area, the waiting area has lots and lots of places to plug in stuff, with both UK and French plugs. There are screens which announce the trains, and when yours is called it will tell you which of a couple of escalators (or are they travelators, I think travelators but forget) to go up to get to the train. The train cars are in order and your ticket will have a car number and seat number on it. Remember you carry and shove and pull all your luggage so you will have packed light, and you need to lift all your luggage up into the doorway, climb up yourself and stow the big stuff in the luggage area by each door. Find your seat and sit down. Enjoy the ride. A couple of hours later as you draw into Paris Gare du Nord stand up and gather everything together and climb back down with all your stuff and follow the crowd. It only goes one way. When you pass the front of the train you step straight out onto Gare du Nord concourse and you are in Paris.

Simple.

Even simpler is Thalys. Find the platform on the display screens and yellow paper sheet, make your way to that platform a few minutes ahead of the train. Follow the guides for where your car will be, and if that is in Amsterdam it will be there waiting for you, and hop on, carrying all your luggage. Put your big stuff in the luggage area and sit in your assigned seat. If you are boarding at an intermediate station like Schiphol or Rotterdam be ready on the platform when it draws in. It will only stop long enough to get people leaving, off, and people joining, on. When you get to your destination grab all your stuff (see why we harp on about packing light) and hop off.

Simple. even simpler

Nigel, you are so helpful! Thank you so much!
I added this to my trip folder!