I'm currently doing research into travel for 2-3 month around 10 different countries. My question is: What is the best route through all 10 countries from starting to end?
Austria
Belgium
Czech
England
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Poland
Switzerland
I was thinking of flying to the Uk and flying out of Poland. What are your guys thought?
Thanks!
I think it depends on mode of transportation and how extensively you want to explore in each country. If you want to stay on the ground, something like this might work:
A few variants are certainly possible within this basic order, for example, doing Italy before Switzerland and Austria after "more Germany."
Or here's another alternative:
If you want to fly some routes, I'd suggest looking at flights to and/or from airports in Italy, as this can get your pretty far south.
Lane's suggestions make a lot of sense. If you need to visualize it, look at Rick's tours - and you can see the maps of the routes that he follows.
Then look at best routes for you to fly - depending on your home airport, some routes in and out have a much higher price tag. Go to googleflights, hipmunk, or momondo to see which routes may be a better value.
Take seasons into consideration. Spring, start south and work your way north. Autumn, start north and work your way south.
I like Lane's second list, seems most efficient. Of course a lot depends on where you want to go in some of those bigger countries. Definitely fly "open jaw," i.e. "multi-city" into one place and home from another.
And keep in mind the 90-day limit on staying in the Schengen area. All your countries except Britain and Switzerland are in it.
Yeah, it depends on when you plan to go. It also depends on what you want to see and do - and where. For instance, France is almost the size of Texas. Your route will be different if you only plan to visit Paris than if you want to spend time in Burgundy or Provence, for instance.
You probably have some ideas of what you want to see and do (otherwise, why Poland and Switzerland and not Portugal and Spain). If it were me, I'd do some research (travel guides, online resources) and get an idea of what places in each country you want to visit. Or maybe you've done that already and haven't given us enough details to offer concrete suggestions. If not, the last thing I'd consider at this point is flights. You might find that you don't have enough time for all the countries on your list. For instance, adding it up, I've probably spent 2-3 months in Italy alone in the past 4-5 years.
I think the 90-day Schengen limit includes Switzerland. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Lane's second itinerary makes sense in general but it definitely would depend on where in each country you're planning on going.
And yes, Switzerland is in the Schengen zone. UK is the only one not, so if you'll be skirting the 90 days limit it should be at the end or beginning of the trip. I also agree that time of year makes a big difference.
Fly to London
England
Fly from London to Prague
Czech
Austria
S Germany
Switzerland
France
Belgium
Netherlands
N Germany
Poland
Fly from Krakow to Milan/Rome
Italy
Fly home from Rome
