Spring trip to europe

Hi John. So far, you have 6 cities (not including the Netherlands) to visit in a month. That's very doable. How many places are you planning to visit in the Netherlands? It's best if you spend at least 3-4 nights in each city (perhaps 5-6 nights for bigger cities like Paris and London) so you get a real feel for each place and you're not rushing around like crazy. There isn't really a "right" direction to travel in. If you get better airfare flying to London, start there. If it's Barcelona, start there. By not backtracking, you're saving time and money. As for how much it will cost, you'll have to do the math. If you know how much you want to spend on the whole trip, or how much you CAN spend, a lot of hotel choices will be made for you. You can also save money by buying train tickets in advance. Start looking at airfares now. I recommend Kayak.com for this - you can put in an open-jaw flight and the site will give you search results starting with the cheapest flights. There are a lot of other travel books around besides Rick's. Read some other ones to get a broader idea of what to see in each city, how to get around, helpful websites, etc. - Fodors, Frommer's, DK Eyewitness, Lonely Planet, and Rough Guides can be found in most big-box bookstores and your local library.

John, That Itinerary seems quite logical, however it would help to know which areas in the "Netherlands" you're planning to visit? One option you might consider would be to reverse your stops in Paris and the Netherlands (Amsterdam?). That would likely involve a change in the travel method from the UK to the continent. This would help to avoid a LONG train journey from Paris to Bilbao. I wasn't able to find any budget flights from PAR to BIO, however there are flights from AMS to BIO (check Vueling for fares and details). Good luck with your planning!

I think your plan is fine, though in May I would want to see more of the countryside, even t the expense of some of your other destinations.

Congratulations! I am happy that you have devoted a significant amount of time to the trip and have done well to limit its scope to the far west when so many others would have tried to include Athens, Rome, Helsinki and Oslo in the same trip. Very wise. You could have a great time. My only suggestion is to be willing to think "outside the box" a little when it comes to the route you take. Explore all transport options. There are many cheap flights in Europe. It is entirely possible that an itineray that looks unorthodox on a map might be least expensive, more convenient and less time consuming. ..or it may not. That's the fun of trip research. The best part for you is that you have given yourself the time to be creative. You don't have to stress about doing everything the most efficient way possible to fit 18 hours of activity into every day. If it turns out that you missed an option that could have saved you $100 and a couple of hours, so what? You have a month. It's all an adventure... As others have said, there is no right way or wrong way. Just mix things up to keep them interesting & it will all work out fine. If you are willing to spend some time in rural areas, consider driving. Distances are short compared to the US and it's easy. Just be careful to pick-up and drop the car in the same country.

In May, it will definitely be warmer by the end of the month than at the beginning. Consider whether you might want to start in your warmest location (Barcelona), and head north to the cooler destinations. Also, use websites such as the German rail system's (http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml) to look at train travel times. Especially for the trip between Paris and Bilbao, you may be in for a long ride. Consider a discount flight for that leg of the trip. When my husband and I travel, we like to combine city and rural destinations. We use a train to travel between big cities, and rent a car for the rural portions. That may not be what you're interested in, but make sure you want to spend a month in a series of cities. Also, I haven't had an entire month to travel since I got out of school - congratulations! But I still would probably pick destinations that are closer to each other, because I would rather spend my time enjoying than travelling in between locations. But based on the cities you mentioned, I would guess you have specific reasons for choosing those places. Whether this trip will cost a fortune depends, first, on your definition of "fortune." You could certainly do the trip more cheaply, for example, by visiting cheaper destinations; by renting places in the countryside (which generally are cheaper than cities); by limiting your number of destinations. But then, it may not be the trip that you want!