Hi my mom and I are gearing up to go to Europe for the month of October and have the several places planned, just not in any order and having never been to some, it's been frustrating. Any advice to put these in order? We fly in and out of Zurich. 2-3 days Vienna, 3 days Prague, 4-5 days Budapest, 1 Innsbruck, 4 days in Northern Italy (Lake Como, Bologna, etc.) and the rest in Southern France. Ideally, we'd like to finish our trip in France. thanks!
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
19531 posts
Have you considered transportation? I can help you with Budapest as I know it really well. when you get a schedule worked out let me know and I can assist with hotels and activities in Budapest. four days in Budapest is excellent.
Posted by
Atlanta
3262 posts
Start by looking at Google Maps to see the most logical route to take. Then check out a website Rome2Rio (http://www.rome2rio.com/) to get ideas about transportation options. For destinations farther away, look at www.whichbudget.com to see which budget airlines fly to various cities. It's probably not realistic to get to all of these places in one month - I'd prioritize and make a realistic plan. Since you're flying in and out of Zurich, one option would be to focus on destinations in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungary or Italy, France, and Austria. Just one opinion!
Posted by
Columbia, SC
389 posts
Your trip is going to be pretty complicated transportation-wise since you want to visit these regions that are pretty far to the east, west, and south of Zurich. Prague, Vienna, and Budapest are basically on a straight line and well connected by trains. That's the easy part. These two websites are going to be crucial for you: bahn.com for train schedules throughout Europe and skyscanner.com for budget airline flight schedules. (kayak.com has similar flight info). Innsbruck is on the high speed rail line between Zurich and Vienna. Not familiar with Innsbruck myself. Do you plan on visiting part of the Swiss Alps south of Zurich, such as the famed Lauterbrunnen Valley? If so, I would probably skip Innsbruck. If you do train to Vienna, you'd be stuck going both north and south to Prague and Budapest. So, I would look at flying from Zurich to Prague or Budapest and then training to Vienna and the other city. Then you'd have to search for flights from Prague/Budapest to northern Italy. Milan is the major air hub of the region. Northern Italy to southern France is manageable by train- Genoa to Nice is a couple hours for instance. Then you could train back to Zurich by way of Geneva, or look at flights from Marseille or other airports in the region.