Itinery help: 6 weeks in Europe

Well I would say you are moving too fast and trying to see too many places. With 2 nights everywhere, you have one full day to see the place. You will spend evert other day on the train. In the end, you will remember little. My basic rule is that if a place is worth going to, it should be worth 3 nights. Have you looked at how long it will take to go from Salzburg to Venice, or Cinque Terre to Lauterbrunnen? You have put things in the right order, logically , but you need to pare it down a bit, I'd say.

Just what Sasha said,, two nights is only one day,, this isn't a death march but supposed to be fun,, I would eliminate most one nighters, and expand a few 2 nighters to three nights. Otherwise its a tour of bus and train stations..

Cut Berlin if you're only planning one night. I'm assuming you've been before and that's why you're not spending more time? I'm not hard and fast about the 1 or 2 night rule, I think it depends on the places and the travel time. For me, 1 or 2 nights in Salzburg is fine if you're coming from Venice and going to Munich, because the travel times are short and you're going to a relatively small, compact place (obviously if you want to add day trips from there, you'd need to add nights). For this trip I'd consider cutting one "region" since the bulk of your trip focuses on the East and Italy. Maybe eliminate Brussels/Bruges/Amsterdam or eliminate Switzerland. That gives you more time to focus on the east and Italy. They're all worth seeing, but you have to prioritize a bit and plan on returning to spend time in the places you've skipped.

Thanks guys, that's very helpful. I'll work on paring it down as suggested. Sasha, YES those two trips in particular kept me awake last night!

It's very difficult to plan out such a long trip, and keeping to a set schedule could result in a pretty grueling pace. My suggestion is to plan for the first week or two, and then just wing it. Once you get into the swing of going from place to place, your trip will take on its pace.
My other suggestion is to fly open jawed into one city and out of another. That would keep you from backtracking. Remember, it's impossible to see everything on one trip.

Belinda, this suggestion is just personal opinion, so take it for what it's worth to you. I would start with open jaw flights into Prague, out of Paris. Then do the trip you planned from Prague to Cinque Terre, adding nights/paring down as you do more research. Depending on how much time is left you could go from CT either to Switzerland or Benelux countries. From either of these areas it's easy to get to Paris for your last five days and flight out. Happy planning!

Here are some paring-down ideas. 1. Skip Berlin AND Dresden. I found Dresden to be very similar to Prague, but there is much more to see and do in Prague - and it's cheaper. 2. Krakow is a long way from Prague and not near any of your other places. 3. I agree with the open-jaw flight idea. Prague-Vienna-Budapest (or reverse order) is easily manageable by train. I'd spend at least 3 full days in each one. Changing cities here will eat close to a half day each time. Hungarian food and especially wines are great. There is an excellent place for wine-tasting in Budapest, if you are interested - PM me. I haven't been to Bratislava but it looks like it would fit on the Prague-Budapest route. However, changing hotels eats up time. Maybe you could take a really early train out of Vienna, check your bags at the train, spend the day, then a late train into Budapest (or reverse). Otherwise, perhaps a day trip from Vienna. 4. Just looking at a map, I'd drop Salzburg, fly into Budapest, then take a cheapo flight from Prague to Rome (or start in Prague, then cheap flight from Budapest). Work your way northwest through Italy to Switzerland to France. 5. In Italy, Rome to CT to Florence or Siena (stop in Pisa on the way) to Venice. If you are great art lovers, stay in Florence and take day trip to Siena. If not, you may be happier staying in Siena with a day trip to Florence. Except for the CT, stay at least 3 nights in each Italian city.

Two thing you may not have considered. 1) In a long trip, you will absolutely NEED to vary the pace and schedule rest stops to recharge your travel batteries. I do not see that. 2) Also a long trip give you the OPPORTUNITY to spend more than the minimum time in places. A whole week in, say, Tuscany is a qualitatively different kind of travel experience than a two-or-three-night hit-the-highlights-and-move-on tour. You can't do that on a short trip, but you have six weeks! Don't you want to have that kind of travel experience? (1) and (2) may look like the same thing, but they are not. Even if you say, No, why would I want to spend a week stuck in some Italian village, touring the countryside and getting the lay of the land, you will still need to slow down a little from time to time.

I agree that with Adam's point as well, your trip makes sense sort of if it's your first trip to Europe and you don't know when (or if) you'll be back, but if you've been to Europe before and will likely be back, and you have six full weeks, spending a week in one place, and maybe a week in another place (utilizing those home bases for day trips, though too, obviously) is a wonderful way to travel.

Thank you all so much for your feedback. It's pretty unanimous that we are trying to do way too much. I think we got a little over-excited as it's our last trip before starting a family! The open jaw flights are a great idea but due to several factors, I think we are going to have to fly in/out of Paris. I think we'll land in Paris and then hop straight on an internal flight. I have pared it down to the following: Arrive Paris, fly to Rome Rome 3 Siena 3 Florence 1 Cinque Terre 2 Venice 3 (Fly to) Vienna 3 Bratislava 1 Budapest 3 Krakow 3 Prague 3 Cesky Krumlov 1 Salzburg 1 Munich 2 Lauterbrunnen 3 Gstaad 3
Paris 5 Your feedback suggests that we'd have a better and more relaxed time if we focused on perhaps two main areas to stop and spend more time, and pare down further based on that. I'll keep at it. Thanks again.

I think this works just fine. The majority of your stops now have 3 or more nights. If it were me, knowing how the transportation is into/out of both the Cinque Terre and Lauterbrunnen, I would make both of those 3 night stands and cut a night from somewhere else (Prague, Sienna or Venice maybe? or even one less in Paris). You could also skip Berlin and fly straight to Prague - Berlin is HUGE and one night there will be just a taste. Since I'm already suggesting, may as well do the chopping for you - try this Arrive Paris, straight to Bruges 2 nights Amsterdam 3 nights (an extra day before plane travel again) Fly Amsterdam to Prague Prague 2 nights Krakow 2 nights Budapest 2 nights Bratislava 1 night Vienna 3 nights (a wonderful city that deserves time) Cesky Krumlov 1 night Salzburg 2 nights Venice 2 nights Siena/Hill town 2 nights Rome 3 nights Florence 2 nights Pisa Cinque Terre 3 nights Lauterbrunnen 3 nights Gstaad 2 nights Geneva 1 night
Paris 4 nights Just a suggestion. For the record, I'm no expert but have been on 3 trips to Europe (lengths were 20, 10, and 36 days respectively). For my wife and me, we found that 2 or 3 days was usually a good amount of time in a place before we were ready to move on to the next stop. Also, train travel was one of the more enjoyable parts of our trip so travel days weren't "wasted" in our opinions. Just try to plan the trains as best you can so you can enjoy them (the fewer connections the better obviously)

Hello fellow travelers, I'm back again to request your help once more. Things have changed a little, as they usually do. Please help! I am looking for: (a) advice on where to cut one night out of our itinerary between Lauterbrunnen and Budapest (in order to fit with an internal flight schedule) (b) We've never been to Italy before & would like a relaxing 4 days of food, wine and chill out in Tuscany or Umbria. Which would you suggest? Any recommendations for a particular village to base ourselves in? (c) any other advice on the itinerary in general? I would cut Budapest in order to take a more leisurely pace through the rest, but hubby is dead keen on Budapest :) This is our plan, B means it's already booked: Arrive Amsterdam 17th July (2 nights) B Brussels (1 night) B Paris (5 nights) B Beaune (1 night) B Gstaad (3 nights) B Lauterbrunnen (2 nights) Munich (2 nights) Cesky Krumlov (1 night) Prague (3 nights) Vienna (3 nights) Budapest (3 nights) fly to Venice (2 nights) *must cut one night from above to catch the flight) Florence (2 nights) Cinque Terra (3 nights) Tuscany or Umbria (4 nights) Rome (3 nights)
Fly home 25th August B Thanks for any guidance offered. Obviously I have a lot to book still and not too much time left!

Belinda, Your last revised Itinerary looks much more reasonable, however there are a few points to comment on. > Cesky Krumlov - one option would be to stay an extra night in Prague and do that as a day trip. There are Bus trips readily available in the main tourist areas. I'd have to check the Guidebook for the details. > Prague - you might consider a Segway Tour during your visit there. I took two of them last year, and they were a lot of fun (ableit a bit pricey)! Sure beats walking up the hill to Prague Castle! Do you need Hotel information in Prague? > Lauterbrunnen - where are you planning to stay? I can provide a couple of names if you need Hotel information. You could start with Hotel Oberland. > "Fly to Venice" - I'd cut one night from Budapest > Cinque Terre - which of the five towns are you planning to stay in? I would suggest getting accommodations booked SOON, especially at that time of year! I started in March for travel in September, and it took me about a month to get something booked, which will be split between two Hotels. > "Tuscany or Umbria" - which town are you planning to stay in? Siena makes a good "home base" for that area. > Rome - I'd suggest cutting one night from "Tuscany or Umbria" and adding to Rome. There's a LOT to see in Rome so it really needs four days! If you haven't been to Italy before, there are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of concerning travel via rail and Bus. I watched one of your countrymen learning a "hard lesson" on my trip last year, when he got "nicked" for two €40-50 fines (he and his daughter) for not validating rail tickets! If I think of anything else, I'll post another note. Happy travels!

Both Bruges and Ghent are more favorable than Brussels (just my opinion). I have been to belgium twice and both times we spent no more than 4 hours in Brussels and then we were off to Bruges and Ghent.

Just a comment on Lauterbrunnen....we did a 2 night at Hotel Oberland a few years ago, and I still regret not staying 3 nights! We really loved this area, and wish we had had one more day. We had one full day of hiking, as we took the gondolas/trains up the Shiltorn? (can't spell). We then went back down to Murren, and hiked down thru the villages (Gimmelwald was our favourite). It was magical! Loved it! Our room at Hotel Oberland had a balcony that looked at the mountains and a waterfall, beautiful.

Thanks guys... Ken, (1) Cesky Krumlov - I hadn't thought of that. We are actually planning to drive from Beaune to Prague, so we could even drive to Cesky Krumlov from Prague if we kept the car an extra day. (2) Segway!! I'll check it out! No accommodation arranged in Prague yet so recommendations welcomed. (3) I am hoping to book Hotel Oberland. It was still available last week, so fingers crossed. Just have to decide where to cut that 1 night and I can get on to it. (4) Ok, thanks. I was thinking perhaps Vienna but we already had to cut Salzberg so perhaps Budapest is a better choice... (5) Yes, I am a bit panicked about that. I was planning on Vernazza, but friends recommend Manarola. It may be where ever we can get! (6) I was considering somewhere smaller/quieter than Siena for a real relax, but perhaps a tiny hill town is a little too quiet? Was thinking perhaps San Gimignano? Or even Civita di Bagnoregio (sp?)...Perhaps we are better doing Siena as a base and driving to smaller towns. Kelly, Yes we also had a preference for Bruges but as we only had 1 night between Amsterdam and Paris, we went for the easy option, train-wise. We've booked the hotel in Brussels. We will keep in mind not to judge Belgium on Brussels alone! Sandi,
Thanks for that advice. I was even considering dropping a night in Lauterbrunnen, purely because we are spending 3 nights in nearby Gstaad. It sounds like the night would be better coming off Budapest. Another recommendation for Hotel Oberland too! You'll have to go back again Sandi :-) I still feel like we're rushing but I also don't want to cut anything else out! dilemma Haha. Thanks for the advice, all appreciated.

You mentioned driving from Beaune to Prague. What are your total driving plans? Are you aware that picking up a car in one country and returning in another is quite expensive with the hefty drop off charges. Also, as far as I know most rentals in Western Europe do not allow you to take the car into the Eastern Europe.

If you say your husband is adamant about Budapest I think only 2 nights there will not be long enough. It is a beautiful city with lots to do and see. I would cut one night from CT unless you really just want to relax there...or hike. I also prefer the Tuscan countryside to the cities, so I would never cut a day from Tuscany to stay in a city... just my preference. As for a good central location that will be easier with your car it would be San G instead of Siena. If you want a really quiet experience in Tuscany, yet close to everything check out San Donato. There is a church, a winery and a few other buildings that overlook the vineyard... its a few miles from San G. and really a unique place to spend some time. I also love Cesky Krumlov and although with 1 night you at least get to see it, I would stay 2 if possible.