My Revised 12-Week Europe Trip - Thoughts and Advice

The curse of having too much time. My inclination would be to make it just about Spain and France. But then again, maybe not. Maybe my biggest issue is the tail end of the trip. I just personally have very little interest in it. Especially in December ... well Vienna and Salzburg maybe, the rest no. But thats me so no help to you.

The other thought is that you are doing some pretty long moves, like Barcelona to Madrid. Why not steal a day out of Barcelona and a day out of Madrid and spend those two days half way .. Zaragoza for instance. Do that between your big ciites and that beraks up all the A to B transfers a bit. Lets you see more of the world.

Sorry, not much help. Looks good the way it is too. You put a lot of thought into it.

The fastest trains from Barcelona to Madrid take less than 3-1/2 hours: I don't consider that a terribly long trip. Zaragoza is very nice, I agree, and it's not a place to go in the summer (it is deathly hot then), so this might be a good opportunity. However, I don't know about reducing the time in Madrid, given your interest in art. I find Barcelona more interesting, visually, but I'm an architecture junkie who loves the modernista buildings. If you're not all that interested in architecture, maybe you could remove one night from Barcelona. It does have some good art museums, but nothings as huge or essential as the Prado.

I'm happy with the time you've allowed at most stops, but I did pause when I got to the last two. Three nights in Prague is short by the standards of the rest of your trip, and four nights in Vienna--well, you'll be skipping a lot of art museums. Vienna is a very, very impressive city for art. It's hard for me to suggest how much of an adjustment would be good there, because I am so nutty for Art Nouveau architecture and spent a lot of my Vienna time outdoors, looking at neat buildings. I will say that I spent over two weeks in Vienna and didn't accomplish everything on my list. It's feels inappropriate to suggest cutting a town I haven't been to since the 1990s, so let's see what others say about omitting Salzburg.

I should also mention that--except for one winter month in Rome/Naples--I do not travel in Europe after early October because of the weather and the short days. Therefore, I don't have a good sense of what it will be like to go to major cities in November and December for just four or five nights.

I note the omission of lovely Budapest (great for food, architecture and 20th-century history; not exceptional for art), so I figure you're going to be heading back to central Europe at some point. My bet is you'll want to return to Vienna then, to see what you will necessarily miss this time around.

Acraven, usually its me plugging Budapest. In December I cant speak for Florence, Venice Lucerne, Wengen but I can for Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Aesthetically and from cultural point of interest Prague is pretty okay after sunset. If our 20 year olds like to party a bit, well, Prague is hard to beat and actually its hard to avoid. Vienna I put a bit above Prague on the cultural enjoyment after sunset, but lower on the party. Budapest rocks on both. Its stunning all lit up in the winter and the kids have a good time in District VII, but the city has been thoughtful enough to limit the party (with closing hours) to one tight area so the rest of us can enjoy the culture.

If you travel twice a year, you are the type to get to Budapest in the future. If its going to be once every few years then odds are you will never see Budapest as its sort of on the edge of everything and if it is done, its best done with Vienna and or Prague.

Venice in the winter doesnt excite me either. Its christmas market time and among the best market cities in Europe are Vienna and Budapest (the Germans are bouncing off the walls - I didnt say "the best" I said "among the best"). So, I might be inclined to think about skipping Venice, Lucerne, Wengen, maybe Salzburg, and spend more time in Prague, Cesky Krumlov (pretty sweet in the winter) and Vienna and Budapest. But i am heavily biased.

Thanks everyone, now I am considering reducing Lucerne to 3 nights, and adding that extra night to Prague instead.

I would suggest given you listed interests add 2 or 3 more nights to Salzburg, Vienna and Paris. Try to reduce the nights of the other cities.

From Salzburg you can get to Bad Ischl by bus or train, by train to Linz, also the Kammergut area for the rustic appeal.

If you're into modern Austria history aside from a superficial bird's eye view, add 2 more full days in Vienna. Take the bus (actually 2 different buses go there) to Schloss Laxenburg, Vienna was known in Central Europe as the imperial City (Kaiserstadt)

Thanks, the more I think of it, I am tempted to remove Switzerland as a whole and allocate the extra days to Prague, Vienna and slot in Budapest as well. Thoughts?

You simply cannot see all of Europe in three months--not even in many three-month trips. I like to keep my itineraries logistically sensible, focusing mainly on contiguous countries (not gonna work this year, unfortunately). Beyond trying to avoid excessive traveling back and forth, I think Europe is so interesting you can justify just about any distribution of time. If you're thinking you're more interested in major cities on this trip than the Alps, go for it. Switzerland is very expensive, so your wallet may thank you.

is your flight home now Vienna 26th December? Or are you still returning to Amsterdam / Paris for the flight home?

While I was double checking your Schengen dates based on your 12 weeks - of course even at 12 weeks with London you'd be OK - but actually the whole trip is only 10 weeks and 4 days?

Thanks, the more I think of it, I am tempted to remove Switzerland as
a whole and allocate the extra days to Prague, Vienna and slot in
Budapest as well. Thoughts?

What I would do. Makes a tighter trip to. And it will save you a bunch of $$$$$

Yes I think I have more or less decided that I will remove Switzerland, and reshuffle my last 2.5 weeks to be :

Venice : 3 nights
Munich: 4 nights (day trip to Salzburg)
Prague : 4 nights
Budapest: 5 nights
Vienna: 4 nights

I think this streamlines my trains as it is all direct trains with no transfers. This also gives a few more nights to the other cities and is probably much less rushed compared to my original plan. Any thoughts appreciated!

Switzerland is the most expensive country in Europe.

Here is an idea that gets rid of the day trip to Salzburg.

• Munich to Salzburg on the train. Take the night out of Madrid.
• Salzburg to Cesky Krumlov with a monring CK Shuttle. This takes you to a great city for the night and points you in the right direction to get to Prague. Take the night in Cesky Krumlov out of Munich.
• Cesky Krumlov to Prague. There is an afternoon direct train. Takes a couple hours.
• Trian or RyanAir to Budapest. Ryanair does it in 1:10 and the prices start at $25 but I would count on $100.
• Train to Vienna

Hi,

If the money is of no pressing concern, I would suggest yielding to your temptation to drop Switzerland and redirect that time to Prague, BP and Vienna.

Re: the history interest listed above:
The cities of Prague, Vienna, and Budapest all have a military history /army museum; in Prague it's a military history / tank museum , if you're interested in tracking down those sites. I've never been to that in Prague but the other 2 more than a few times.