Post College Europe Trip Itinerary Help

That's a lot of ground to cover and bouncing all over the map! I would do them in a more logical geographical order like

Barcelona, Pars, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Munich. Remember every time you change destinations it costs time.

I totally agree. Thanks for the input. Our flights are already booked (into Barcelona and out Paris), so we can't change that.

Also, there are much cheaper trains available between vienna, prague, and budapest.

Just a few observations while you figure out what to do.

These are mostly all-day travel days (or nearly so). Consequently 2 nights = 1 day etc.

I'd skip the one-day destinations; not worth the travel time to have so little time on the ground. I'd want some 3-day destinations in there too (that's 4 nights), so would probably whittle away further.

They're all great places, so it's really about being honest with yourselves about priorities and logisitics.

Yes, you are young and, most definitely, you can do this trip but still a couple more weeks on this trip would be better. If you rearrange the Munich, Budapest, Vienna days, you, could do Munich to Budapest on the EN night train, add another day to the trip. Another option is rearrange Berlin, Prague, Budapest, there is the EN night train from Budapest to Berlin. It boils down to priorities...skip a city or skip your friends.

Yes, where are you getting rail prices? I see advance purchase nonrefundable tickets for 24.90 EUR for Prague to Berlin on June 12.
Budapest to Prague is 19 EUR SparDay-Praha on June 9 bought from MAV (Hungarian National railway)

Some air routes can be done by rail. Even though Berlin-Amsterdam is a nominal 1 1/2 hour flight, you need to leave for the airport 2 hours before hand, and after it lands in Amsterdam, it is likely to be another 1 1/2 hours from landing to exit with luggage and get the train into Amsterdam. So it will be at least 5 hours of travel vs 6 1/2 hours on the train city center to city center. Trains for 50 EUR

Check your dates for Amsterdam to Paris. You say you are going on June 18, But that is a Sunday, not a Monday. Then you quote a Transavia price for June 24, when you should be home by then. You can get the Thalys to Paris for 71 EUR and it will be way less time than flying when you consider city center to city center.

June 21 is a Wednesday, not a Thursday.

I would slow things down, dropping Vienna and Budapest.

May 30 - Barcelona - 4 nights
June 03 - Amsterdam - 4 nights
June 07 - Berlin - 4 nights
June 11 - Prague - 4 nights
June 15 - Munich - 3 nights
June 18 - Paris - 3 nights

This would allow crossover of 2 days each in Prague and Munich with your friends.

Lots of cheap flights from BCN to AMS.

Eliminate about half your cities and try to focus on a single geographical area. If you fly into Barcelona and out of Paris then spend more time in France, as well as the Low Countries.

Do you have any suggestions? I think that makes sense, just none of us have been to Europe and don't know how long it will be before we go back, so we do want to see as many major cities/parts as possible.

Also where is everyone seeing these cheaper train tickets? I was using euro rail to search for trains and those were the prices I was getting.

All train sectors for my suggested itinerary either begin or end in Germany, so go to their national rail company site.

https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

07/06 Amsterdam - Berlin = 59.90€
11/06 Berlin - Prague = 24.90€
15/06 Prague - Munich = 73.30€
18/06 Munich - Paris = 89.90€

Yes, I would say: SLOW DOWN. You have to account for your travel days. Essentially count those days as days where you're really doing nothing but travelling. Sure, you may have time that evening to do things, but you'll be tired and will probably return early to your hotel, AirBNB, hostel, etc. And even if you stay out late, you'll probably sleep in (or wake up early and then burn out the last half of your trip, then when you get home, wonder what you did on those days).

A bit of experience speaking here: We traveled via train from Chamonix to Paris, got into Paris, thought we would be to our AirBNB in 30 minutes, texted the owner, he got to the apartment in 30 minutes - took us 4 hours to get there because we weren't familiar with the train stations, where to get the weekly transport pass, we became confused, got lost...lol...thankfully he was very nice when we arrived while we apologized profusely.

Do Not, repeat Do Not use Rail Europe for buying train tickets. Especially in Eastern Europe, trains are cheap and Rail Europe inflates the prices. Best is the national rail operator who actually run the trains.

For trains to, from, and within Germany, www.bahn.com.

For Austria, www.oebb.at

For Hungary, https://www.mavcsoport.hu/en

For Amsterdam-Paris, www.thalys.com

For general info on using European trains, www.seat61.com

For the best discounts, train tickets sell just like airline tickets, nonrefundable and non-changeable. You have to travel on the exact train you have a ticket for. Just like airline tickets, which you don't seem to have a problem with doing.

And again, check your days and dates. There are some errors there.

Finally, nothing really wrong with your itinerary. If that is what you want to do, do it.

I would drop either Munich or Vienna from your plan. That gives you at least 3 nights everywhere. Having said that I really like David in Brisbane's itinerary.

I do have two suggestions. First do your research on the cities you plan to visit. Find your high and medium priority things to see and do for each location. That will allow you to see if you need to shift days from one city to another.

I'm going to assume that you're going to try to do everything you can. Up early and out until late. Trains can be a great place to catch up on sleep. Especially if you're burning the candle at both ends. However make sure someone stays up so you don't miss your stop. Or maybe set all your phones with an alarm. Train travel may include connecting stops and your destination may not be the final destination of the train. Someone needs to monitor your progress.

Hi,

I would suggest reserving some of the hostels where you intend to stay, maybe not all of them, but at least a few, esp Prague if that city stays on the itinerary. Hostels do get booked up. Where are you staying in Vienna and Berlin?

"we want to see as many of these as possible."

Here's an alternative: Assume you will return, and vow to have the best trip as possible.

I don't know what the sweet spot is for you, but would bet money that it is slower, fewer, and better than "as many as possible."

To get there your and your group need to read a few guidebooks and be brutally honest about (1) your priorities and (2) logisitcal reality.

Otherwise you will spend most of your time in trans, planes, and airports.

"Assume you will return, and vow to have the best trip as possible."

Perhaps the best advice that could ever grace these pages. We should have tshirts printed.