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Summer 2015 trip - rough draft

Planning a 21-25 days trip to Europe next summer (June-ish).
Let me know your opinion on my travel choices and the number of nights in each city.
One of my concerns is whether there are enough things to do in Venice and Florence to fill 3 days.
We've been to Berlin & Prague but I think there was more left to do.
If you have an alternate city between Vienna and Amsterdam were we can spend 3-4 nights let me know.

US to Munich – fly (train takes too long)
Munich to Venice – fly (3 nights)
Venice to Florence – train (3 nights)
Florence to Rome – train (3-4 nights)
Rome to Budapest – fly (3 nights)
Budapest to Vienna – train (3 nights)
Vienna to Prague or Berlin – train (3-4 nights)
Prague or Berlin to Amsterdam – train (3 nights)
Amsterdam to US – fly

Posted by
20133 posts

Since it is 21 to 25 days and you are showing 23 nights, and Prague is half way between Vienna and Berlin, and you say you have unfinished business there, why not just add it in, for 2 nights anyway.

Posted by
7175 posts

Leave out Berlin and Prague to concentrate on new places ...

Fly to Munich
Train to Vienna
Train to Budapest
Fly to Rome
Train to Florence
Train to Venice
Fly to Amsterdam
Fly to USA

Posted by
27138 posts

For sure you don't want to take the train from Prague to Amsterdam; it's a 12-hour trip. And Vienna to Berlin takes almost 10 hours.

I wonder whether the transportation would work out better if you flew into Milan or another Italian city and moved Munich to the same segment of the trip as Berlin/Prague/Budapest/Vienna.

Posted by
11333 posts

One of my concerns is whether there are enough things to do in Venice and Florence to fill 3 days

Oh, yes, more than enough! Venice is a great place to get over jet lag: no cars, beautiful, unique in every way. There are of course churches and museums, but just walking around is amazing. Take a trip to the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello (pretty much a full day, at least 6 hours), and if you find yourself at a loss for things to dol, you can always take a little side trip to Padova.

Florence is chock full of museums and churches, too, and pretty to walk around. You may overdose on museums but the shopping is decent, too. And you can always head to Siena for a change of scenery.

I think you are light on time in Rome. 5 nights would be much better. On a trip that long we like to plan at least one 5-night stay somewhere and take a day to do laundry, sleep in, relax a bit more than a typical touring day. I am worried that you do not have a good stretch in one place where you can just settle into an apartment and go local. Rome could be just the place to do that.

Posted by
2393 posts

Do plan on spending time in Munich? No nights listed so curious why arrive there?

I would rearrange a bit:

Arrive Rome

Rome to Florence train 1.5 hrs

Florence to Venice train 2 hrs

Venice to Vienna fly

Vienna to Budapest train 2.5 hrs

Budapest to Prague train 6.75 hrs

Prague to Berlin train 4.5 hrs

Berlin to Amsterdam train 6 - 6.5 hrs

This is way too many cities for many on here. You will be told that you will spend most of your time on a train and lose half to a full day traveling - we do not find that to be true. We always get hotels near the train station - we can be off the train at our hotel in our room within 30 minutes. Traveling in this manner you never really unpack so checking out in the morning is pretty quick - we try for 8 or 9 am trains so we can arrive at our new city by 3 or 4pm for the longest of train rides - still time for a "get the layout" walk or even visit somewhere, a nice dinner and after dinner walk.

For me personally, I would even take the train from Venice to Vienna even though it would mean 9 or 10 hrs on the train. I like trains and would rather take a beating than fly! Also it's a pretty ride through the Alps. I would however re-route as the Venice - Vienna has a 3 hr bus ride (again the beating thing!) and go Venice to Innsbruck to Vienna.

I am also going to say that naughty word here - Railpass! Shhhh. If budget is not a major concern I would consider a pass for the sheer convenience and flexibility. Buying tickets ahead of time means you are committed to a specific train at a specific time and leaves no flexibility in your schedule. You can price out your point to point tickets as if purchased at the station on the day of travel and see which makes more sense. It just depends on what you want your vacation to be. We like the flexibility to stay an extra day or leave a day early if we like - the extra cost is worth it to us.

Posted by
597 posts

Acraven - My original first destination is Venice not Munich (been there, done that). Seems like the cheapest way to get from DC to Venice is to land in Munich and take a budget airline to Venice. Wife wanted to go to Venice and Rome, and RS suggest Florence.

Christi - Since I want to go to Budapest, what I have seem, it is cheaper and shorter to fly from Rome to Budapest. Also I have been to both Prague(2 days) and Berlin(3 days) before but I feel we did not see everything there was to see.

We might or might not have our 2 daughters with us for the first 7-9 days and they would enjoy Italy.

Thank you

Posted by
2393 posts

Ah...the devil is in the details! Knowing more of the who's & whys helps. Not knowing what you've done in Prague & Berlin it's hard to say. We spent 3.5 days in Berlin and are returning for a week. Potsdam is nice day trip from Berlin as well.

Posted by
15585 posts

My original first destination is Venice not Munich (been there, done that). Seems like the cheapest way to get from DC to Venice is to land in Munich and take a budget airline to Venice.

Are the savings enough to compensate for the inconvenience and the extra time? It's always chancy to plan to take a flight on a separate ticket on the same day, especially on a budget airline and especially with the possibility that either airline changes its schedule on you. So it's probably staying at a hotel overnight at the Munich airport or schlepping into the city and back to the airport with all your luggage. Have you considered flying into Milan (sometimes cheaper and there are frequent high-speed trains to Venice)? Or into Rome, then flying from Venice to Budapest?

Anyway, I think you're trying to see too many places in too little time. How many nights were you in Berlin and Prague? Were you there 3 nights each? If so, there's more to do. If you were there longer and you feel like there's more to do, then surely 3 nights in these new cities won't be enough.

From Vienna to Prague the train is okay, but to Berlin, you should fly. From Berlin, the train is okay to Amsterdam, but from Prague, you should fly.

Except for the two moves in Italy, they are going to use up more than half a day each, leaving you little more than 2 full days in each city. And even in Italy, you'll lose nearly 1/2 day moving (packing/unpacking, getting to/from the train station, getting oriented to a new city). Instead of wondering if there's enough to see in 3 days, figure out if the time and cost is worth moving and having to see everything in only 2 days.

Posted by
597 posts

Chani - Thanks for the Milan suggestion. I've set an alarm.
"How many nights were you in Berlin and Prague? Were you there 3 nights each?"
Spend 3 nights in Berlin but had to use half a day to fix the flat on my rental.
Only 2 nights in Prague because I did not research it well before I arrived.

Posted by
15585 posts

Nestor, you have tons of route options. I like the idea of starting in Italy (hoping to get temperatures that aren't as hot as later). While Venice is a great place to relax and soak up the atmosphere and get over jetlag, you may find other routes are cheaper or work better. Be creative. Use rome2rio.com as a start in finding routes between cities (train or plane). Use wikipedia too. They have a page for every airport. Toward the bottom, you'll find a table listing all the airlines that fly there and where they fly to.

How much time you spend in a city depends on your interests. If you really love Renaissance painting, sculpture, architecture, then 3 full days in Florence is barely enough, but if it doesn't float your boat, you can see the highlights as a day stop, leaving Venice very early and getting to Rome late at night.

You've kind of validated my point - if you only allow a couple of days to see a major city, you are likely to feel you've missed too much. Changing locations too often can be exhausting as well as expensive.

Posted by
2393 posts

You probably only hit the very high points in Berlin in 2.5 days. The museums on museum island alone can fill that. Not sure what you did see but here are some other suggestions:

The East Side Gallery
The Reichstag
The Holocaust Memorial
German Historical Museum
Berlin is a great place to bike - either a tour or on your own
Berlin Zoo
Berlin Cathedral
Classic Remise Berlin - Classic Car Museum
Charlottenburg Palace
Daytrip to Potsdam

That is just off the top of my head...

Posted by
5389 posts

For sure if you go from Vienna to Berlin, you should fly. Cheap flights abound.