One month in Europe:)

Just make sure you have planned travel time in between locations and are realistic about how long that will take each time you move to a new city. I think the amount of time you are spending in each place is reasonable!

I also notice that you are backtracking to get back up to Stockholm. I would suggest that you start in Dublin, as you have planned, but fly home from Munich at the end of your trip. That way you don't waste time and money getting back up to Scandinavia all the way from southern Germany. Seeing Copenhagen and Stockholm after you visit London might make more sense.

I think your budget will be about right for your trip...does that include airfare? If so, then it might be tight but since you plan to stay in cheaper lodging you can probably get away with it for a month. It's worth it to take the time to create a spreadsheet that maps out your exact cost...food per day, actual prices of lodging for the places you plan to stay, entrance fees for sights and museums you want to visit, and travel within Europe. If you estimate or guess, you are opening yourself up to going over budget which is stressful when you're on a vacation like this. If you take the time to itemize it then you'll know for sure whether your planned budget is enough to cover your costs.

Your two most expensive cities will be Copenhagen and Stockholm (both are truly crazy expensive) followed by London and Paris.

Thank you! I hadn't even thought of going to Stockholm and Copenhagen after London, but now that you say it I think that would make much more sense! I was including airfare in my budget, but I'm thinking since we are staying in more expensive cities that we should raise it, just to be safe. I will definitely use a spreadsheet for the budget that's a great idea! Thank you so much for your help!!!

I suggest looking at the RS tour Best of Europe itineraries. Though it may be difficult to duplicate this, it is a general idea.

In my opinion, there is too much travel time between cities that are a bit far from each other (well, some of them are). Perhaps start in Paris and move north as it gets warmer. The days where you change cities are often lost days as you are not able to see much of either place, the one you are leaving or the one you are getting to, due to the time it takes to travel. I find travel days tiring and I am probably younger than your grandma! I

would scratch one country, if you can. One year I visited Venice, Florence and Rome on my own before the best of Sicily Tour. Though those cities are easy to get to via train, the travel days were tiring; getting to a new place, figuring out how to get there (often I do this from home long before I go), it all takes time and energy.

It sounds like a wonderful experience. On one of my tours, a young grandma was travelling with her 18 year old granddaughter; it was wonderful to see things through the younger girl's eyes and the relationship between them grow.

What a great trip. You will have wonderful memories.

You don't mention your grandmother's age. If she's in her early 60s, healthy, and active, this is a doable but busy trip. If she's in her early 80s, I would guess this might be too much. On most travel days, you will probably lose the full day, given some of the distances you are covering.

You can use the website/app Rome2Rio to give you an idea of travel options and the time involved. You can use the website skyscanner.com to look at to look for budget flights. Over long distances, budget flights are often cheaper than trains. Regardless of whether you use trains or planes, buying your tickets early will typically save you money – although the cheapest tickets will be nonrefundable/nonchangeable. You mention renting a car in England and Scotland; most day trips, and certainly the ones you mention, are easily done by train – and I certainly wouldn't want to drive/park in London or Edinburgh. I wouldn't reny a car unless I wanted to go to remote areas or I wanted the freedom of being able to stop lots of little villages.

One last thought – as a prehistoric monument, I found the Newgrange tombs north of Dublin to be far more interesting than Stonehenge.

Thank you for your replies!!! I'm thinking now that maybe we will cut Stockholm out of this particular trip to maybe make it a little less busy. My Grandma is 70 and is probably more energetic than I am, I'll be trying to keep up with her:) (I'm 19) I will have to look into Newgrange that sounds like it would be a perfect day trip while we are in Dublin! Thank you all!

Much good advice above. For me it would be a pretty rushed trip, but if I thought it were my last (and I'm your grandma's age) I'd want to see as much as I could -- as long as I weren't spending too much time in airports, stations, trains and planes. I think your times in cities are about right, at least for those I've visited. If you choose Salzburg, I wouldn't give it four nights -- two would be enough for me -- but I'd go for Munich instead. If you're short-changing one city, I'd say it's Paris. If you skip Stockholm or shorten up elsewhere, I'd suggest giving Paris that extra time.

Have a fun trip, both of you! And hopefully it won't be the last for either of you.

I think we will definitely add more time in Paris. In my Grandma's previous trips to Europe she always felt like she never had enough time in Paris, so I'm sure she won't complain about having a few extra nights there :) Maybe we will also stay for a couple days longer to compensate for time spent in airports, train stations etc. Thanks for all of your replies, they have been super helpful!

By dropping Dublin, starting in Edinburgh, and adding an extra stop in Germany (Berlin or Hamburg), your trip would flow better, eliminating the need for taking the plane in some cases.
Edinburgh >> London >> Paris
Munich >> Rothenburg ob der tauber >> Berlin (or Hamburg) >> Copenhagen >> Stockholm

That's a good idea as well! Thank you! I'm thinking that we will either drop Dublin or Stockholm, to give us more time in the other places we are going. Thanks for your suggestion!:)

If you are dropping either Dublin or Stockholm, I vote for losing Stockholm. I enjoyed Stockholm (2 days), great museums, pretty city, but I loved Dublin. I was there for a week and didn't want to leave.

Fussen/Salzburg/Munich . . . I don't think any are worth 4 nights. Fussen is a small town. If you aren't going to rent bikes for long rides through the countryside, I wonder if there's much else to do. There are better castles in Germany than Neuschwanstein, which in any event takes less than a full day to see from Fussen. I'm not a big fan of Munich (sure I'm in the minority here). You could stay there, with a long day trip to Neuschwanstein and a long day trip to Salzburg, but that may be tiring for Gram.

Have you considered Berlin/Hamburg for your German piece? Fly from Paris to Berlin, then train via Hamburg to Copenhagen.

You mentioned renting a car in the UK. Since you are 19, I doubt you will be able to drive a rental car, the minimum age is usually 21. Will Grandma be the driver? Remember, cars drive on the other side of the road there. It is particularly difficult on back roads, which are often quite narrow. Automatic cars are generally more expensive (and not always available).

For London and Edinburgh, you do not want a car. More hassle than it is worth.

For Cambridge, there are numerous trains from London. For Stonehenge, take one of the numerous tours that will not only take you there but may also add Oxford, Bath or the Cotswalds.

I, too, would suggest losing Stockholm if you are dropping a city. Logistically, it is the furthest away.

What I would do:

Fly to Dublin
Fly to Edinburgh
Train to London
Train to Paris
Train to Rothenburg
Train to Munich/Salzburg
Fly to Copenhagen
Fly home from Copenhagen (may mean a change of planes somewhere)

I hadn't thought about me not being able to drive the rental car, but it seems like the car will just be a hassle anyways, so it looks like we will just take trains/buses to get where we want to go. The train/bus system is much more extensive in Europe than in the US right? Thanks for the advice:) it looks like we will maybe have to take a look at our itinerary and decide on what are the priorities and maybe choose cities that are closer together or plan on taking planes. Thanks for the advice on cities in Germany and Austria, I didn't realize that Fussen and Salzburg were only worth staying maybe two days:) Thanks for your responses everyone!

I like Salzberg a lot more than some here (4 visits so far of 3 or 4 nights each and I still haven't seen everything I want to there), and spent a happy 6 nights in and around Munich last summer (4th trip there too).

Although it IS kitsch and it is over-run, and it is a fair train ride from Munich, man people of your Gram's generation (and mine) saw the posters of Neuschwanstein as teens and young adults and at least one visit in a lifetime isn't too big a sacrifice. From the outside and from certain angles it is one impressive pile. A bit naff, but impressive.

I would drop Dublin and go to Stockholm because Stockholm is further away. Dublin is a fairly inexpensive flight from the USA, granted I don't know where you live in the USA but still, it is. Gramma is only 70 so she could very well want to travel again, but would want a closer location/shorter flight. So save Dublin for a shorter vacation later for Gramma, and keep Stockholm because it is harder/longer to get to and more expensive to which to travel, and it is a lovely city with so much to do. And my experience is that Stockholm is less expensive than London and Paris, particularly London, IMO.