One big trip

Most folks here would probably say yes, that's too much (WAY too much) for 3 weeks.

6 places (5 of which are major cities, plus a whole country!), which stretch from one end of the continent to the other...doesn't sound like a fun trip to me.

Put it this way. If you had 3 weeks, would you try to see New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, and "Texas"? I wouldn't.

There are some places that make sense to do on the same trip (London and Paris, or Rome and Venice). But "Greece" and most of the others? Not so much. And do you only want to do cities (plus "Greece")? Lots of good stuff outside the cities, you know.

Based on your question, I'm guessing this is your first trip to Europe. For 3 weeks, I'd suggest London, Paris (and day trips), and a bit of Italy - Venice & Rome, plus maybe one or two other smaller Italian cities. That's a LOT for 3 weeks right there (and many would say even that's too much, too).

Stop and think you want to go to six places in 3 weeks......21 days. If these 21 days include your travel days to and from Europe then that leaves you 19 days. Then consider you travel days to each place which would be at least a 1/2 day if not most of a day. So that would be a total of 2 1/2 to 4 days. So your actual days would 15 to 16 1/2 days (give a little either way) minus all the travel days. Lets say you have 16 days gives you only have little over two days if you go to every place you mentioned. I think you would enjoy our trip more if you select three places, and think that you will be back to Europe to visit that other places.

Way too much for 3 weeks, and I am a serious type A, go-go type of person.

Actually, it's not my first trip. I was in Rome and Florence last April and Germany, Switzerland and Paris in July. I think what I am looking for is any website for "do-it-yourself" travellers to help book trains, hotels, plan an efficient route, etc. Any ideas anyone?!?!

Thanks!
D.

Diane, try www.seat61.com for all train info.

www.viamichelin.com can help with routing and travel times.

Banh.de?? You mean www.bahn.de, the homepage of German Rail.

Actually, although you can get schedules from bahn.de, it will eventually take you to this page, so you might as well go directly there. The German Rail website will show every scheduled train in Europe, but will only show fares for trains starting, ending, or entirely in, Germany. For fares in other countries, you will have to go to their national rail websites, www.sncf.fr (or tgv, France), www.renfe.es (Spain), www.trenitalia.it (Italy).

Well, you did ask " Is that too ambitious??" ,, and everyone has said yes.. so why ask since you basically have your mind made up.. LOL

I personally loved the Greek Islands,, and to this day regret I spent only 2 weeks there ,, out of a three month trip!! I think that Greece alone deserves at least one whole week, thats 2 days in Athens,, and then pick ONE island for 5 days,, ( which I could not do,, I would want to see at least two or three!).

As for travel,, plan on flying to Athens,, the train , ferry route is long! You could probaly find a cheap flight from Rome.

Diane,

I tend to agree with the others, in that visiting five cities and one country in a three week trip is WAY too ambitious. While it might be theoretically feasible, I don't believe it's realistic.

To begin with, you might consider dropping Greece due to transportation issues. Using open-jaw flights would also be a good idea, perhaps inbound to London and outbound from Barcelona. Using budget airline from Rome to Barcelona would be a good idea, and perhaps also from Paris to Venice (although a night train would be an option too).

Keep in mind that you'll lose the first day in flight times and the last day will be spent in travel home, so you'll only have 19 days to work with (and you'll probably be jet lagged for a few days at the beginning, so won't be up to full touring speed).

Be sure to include transportation times into your Itinerary planning. My estimates would be:

London-Paris: allow about half a day. Allow time to get to London St. Pancras from your Hotel, go through the checks and of course waiting time. At the other end, you'll disembark at Gare du Nord and then possibly use the Metro or whatever to get to your Hotel.

Paris-Venice: at least half a day by budget airline. You have to get to and from the airports, go through security and check-in, etc. Note that only ONE carry-on item is usually allowed by European airlines (that means ONE ONLY). At the other end, you have to get into the city from the airport (time will vary depending on which airport is used). If you travel by night train, it's about 12-14 hours. Make sure there are no "changes" in the "wee hours" or you won't get much sleep.

Venice-Rome: That's an easy trip via EuroStar Italia / Alta Velocita. I haven't checked the time recently, but as I recall it's about 2.5 hours (reservations compulsory).

Good luck with your planning!

I'd drop Greece, for sure- simply too far afield and time-consuming to cover but it would sure be fun trying. :)