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May Itinerary help

Posted by (Portsmouth, NH) on

I am currently in the early stages of planning a trip to Europe with my best friend. I am 29 and she is 21. She has never been to Europe, and I have been once, 3 years ago. We are planning to go in May (I know, we are pretty last minute), for 18 days. We are wanting to experience different cultures and see as much as we can in the short amount of time we will be there. The only things we know for sure is we want to go to London and somewhere in the Alps. I have already been to Italy and do not want to go back at this time. I really wanted to go to Prague, but I think this time it does not really make sense as it seems too far to get to. The itinerary we have so far is this:

  1. London
  2. Brussels (with a possible day trip to Dusseldorf, as she really wants to go to Germany. Would Bruges be a better city to visit in Belgium?)
  3. Paris (I have already been, so we don't want to stay here for too long, but I feel like a trip to Europe would not be complete without going to Paris)
  4. Grenoble (we really want to see the Alps and Switzerland is too expensive for us)
  5. Barcelona

Are we trying to do too much? I haven't narrowed down the exact number of nights we will be in each location, but I'm thinking a minimum of 3 in each.

The last time I planned a trip, this forum really helped me clean up my itinerary and made my trip an unforgettable one. Thank you in advance for any advice you may have!

Posted by
1717 posts

Hello Julie,
Questions :
1) is the 18 days the number of days you will be over there at Europe and Britain ? Or will you be away from your home a total of 18 days ?
2) Did you buy the airline tickets ? If yes, what airport will you fly to ? And what airport will you fly from, for returning to the U.S.A. ?
3) You said your friend really wants to go to Germany . So, why do you not plan to go to Germany ? I suggest : travel to southern Germany (Bavaria), you could see the Alps mountains there. And delete Brussels and Grenoble from your itinerary.

Posted by
2081 posts

Julie,

Even with 18 (17? since you loose one traveling to Europe) you maybe able to do/see alot. It will depend on how fast YOU or your group wants to do/see/experience things.

Just commenting about your first stab at it.

Paris. why go "just because you dont feel complete if you dont". To me, yes you can go there, but if you want to see other places and Paris is taking away from that, then i would think about NOT going.

Barcelona . Why? I really dont care WHY you want to go, its just a question you should ask yourself.

Brussels? why? see above.

You could do something like London > Prague > somewhere in Switzerland (off the beaten path where it isnt so expensive if possible) and maybe someplace in Belgium or even Paris.

what both of you can do is to make a list of the top 3 places you want to go/do/experience and pick the top 2 for each of you.

happy trails.

Posted by
4132 posts

I think May is an ideal time to go almost anywhere in Europe, but I am not to sure about the Alps, to late for skiing and to early for hiking. I think you will be limited to admiring them from afar.

I don't think you are trying to do too much necessarily, though sometimes you can have a better trip by spending more time in fewer places. And it's hard to know what's going to be great, or even what sorts of experience you really love, until you've been there, isn't it?

Posted by
16895 posts

Rick's guidebook that would be most appropriate to cover all the areas you mentioned is Best of Europe. It will give you good ideas of why we he prefers Bruges over Brussels, how to make Switzerland affordable (e.g., stay at the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald), and how to divide your time. If you really wanted to be on the French side of the Alps, then we would choose Chamonix instead of Grenoble (but it's not in B of E book).

To get from Switzerland to Barcelona, many people would either fly (see www.skyscanner.com) or break up the trip by staying a couple of nights midway between those points (such as at Arles or Nimes). The fastest trains between Geneva and Barcelona are only 8 hours with one connection, but that travel day increases to 11 hours and 7 connections if departing from the mountainside in Gimmelwald. For TGV trains within France, it's especially a good idea to reserve well ahead, since seat reservations are very restricted for rail pass travelers and last-minute, full-fare tickets are expensive, even in 2nd class. In comparison, most trains in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Czech Republic don't need reservations, making flexible travel easier in those countries.

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