Thinking of dropping either Prague or Paris from my Europe Trip ?

Well, Paris is my favorite city, but if you have no preference between Paris and Prague, I think Paris makes the most sense to cut. You could have a short flight to Amsterdam from London, then you can kind of make a loop to Berlin, Prague, then on to Vienna for your tour. It's your first time in Europe, so assume you'll be back and can give the entirety of France more than 3.5 days at that time.

Your trip sounds awesome. Have a great time.

Unfortunately those are not the cities that work well for a low budget. Second, what are your arrive and departure cities?

Drop Paris and come to Prague! The city is breathtakingly beautiful and June is a lovely time to visit, is it is just warming up and the all of the barges come do life along the riverfront.

Also, Prague - Vienna is a comfortable and inexpensive train ride; much less hassle than flying from Berlin.

If you decide to drop a city, dropping Prague makes sense geographically. You could use 2 extra days each in London and Paris anyway.

Where does the Contiki tour take you?

My thought concerns the ten days after the tour: I would not want to spread that time over Italy and Barcelona or Italy and Greece. First you have to get to Italy (from where?), then later you have to move a substantial distance to either Barcelona or Greece. Then you have to get back to your departure point for the flight home. That's way too many big moves with just ten days (which you've now turned into about 7 or 8 days).

Greece, for sure, is not somewhere I would even think of going for just a few days. The logistics are too complex. I'd want even more than 10 days in Greece. Save that for your next trip so you can have a few days in Athens (important museums), some time on the mainland, and the opportunity to visit more than one island.

So, Italy or Barcelona/Catalunya? Ten days isn't much for Italy; I think as you do more research you'll find it a bit frustrating to see what you'd have to skip for lack of time (Palladian architecture in Vicenza, medieval hill town of Bergamo, etc.).

But ten days would give you a very nice start on Barcelona with time to see a bit of the rest of Catalunya. Plus: modernista architecture!

I'd lean toward Barcelona; if you had, say, 3 weeks, it would be Italy, hands down. If you feel you must see something in Italy and one other place, choose one Italian destination plus Barcelona. But check flight schedules and fares to be sure what you want to do is manageable.

Thanks everyone!

To clarify - I arrive in London and I depart from Rome.
My Contiki tour ends in Rome (though I'm thinking of ending it 1 day earlier in Venice)

So the tour starts in Vienna, ends in Rome. Then I was thinking of leaving from Venice/Rome immediately and flying to Santorini/ Greek Is. for 5 days or so. Then fly to Rome, and basically just stay in Rome for another 5 days before flying out.

Also to answer another question, we have a low budget but not that bad, for example I won't be staying in backpackers in any of the locations - but i do want to keep cost down as much as possible. One incentive in dropping Paris is that it's a lot more expensive than Prague right?

I'm not sure but maybe nothing needs to be dropped? Just worried about getting too tired/rushed!

The Contiki tour goes to Poland, Hungary, Ljubljana, Venice (1 night only) and Rome ( 1 night) - Actually I was thinking to stay an extra night in Venice and fly to Geek is./Barcelona (not fly out immediately as per my last post)

I think it looks fine - no need to drop anything! Just remember to treat each city as as "first" time and not an "only" time. See what you can while there but definitely take time to just soak in the local color.

This is just personal preference, but all of your destinations are stellar except Berlin. Berlin has WWII and communist history out the ears, but isn't that great otherwise. Drop Berlin and pad the other cities.

I agree that (aside from Potsdam), Berlin's architecture is not special (though there's a lot of modern stuff that would be of interest to some tourists), but the OP specifically mentioned museums and history, which Berlin has in spades. It's also a fairly inexpensive city (sight-entry fees are likely to add up, though), which doesn't hurt.

If the Contiki tour ends after one day in Rome, I'd spend several extra days there and spend the rest of my time elsewhere in Italy (Florence? Naples/Pompeii/Amalfi Coast?). Italy has a virtually infinite number of worthwhile sights.

Be very, very cautious about the timing of any jaunt to Greece, especially to the islands. Flights and ferries can get canceled. You do not want to be marooned on Santorini as your transatlantic flight time approaches. Also, from recent reports (my trip was over 20 years ago), Santorini is quite expensive and tourist-mobbed. Even if cost were not an issue, I don't think I'd want to spend 5 days there.

Your idea of heading to Greece early during your post-tour time and then returning to Rome for sightseeing is the most prudent approach if you absolutely must go to Greece. Check Skyscanner.com for flight info. There do seem to be non-stops from Venice to Santorini. Beware any really early-morning departures; others have reported that it's difficult to get to the Venice airport to catch those. And be sure you know which airport the airline is actually using. It might not be Marco Polo.

You asked what's more expensive: Paris or Prague? Paris of course is more expensive.

I think this schedule is perfect, with no need to drop either Paris or Prague.
13/06 London (4 nights)
17/06 Paris (4 nights)
21/06 Amsterdam (4 nights)
25/06 Berlin (5 nights)
30/06 Prague (4 nights)
04/07 Vienna
Is your Contiki Tour, the Eastern Trail starting in Vienna on July 5 , finishing in Rome on July 13 ??
https://www.contiki.com/au/en/destinations/europe/tours/eastern-trail-752##kLsyI3UjryLlKweF.97

djp_syd - Yes it is the Eastern Trail!
I'm concerned about getting to tired toward the end, hence wanting to drop one of the cities! I'm decided that I won't be dropping Prague. Which means IF i do drop one, it'll be either Berlin or Paris. They're so different, I like them both in their own ways and I have no overwhelming attraction to either so it's really hard!

acraven - Thanks for the thorough response, much appreciated!
I will definitely have to consider post-tour carefully. Perhaps doing 5 day Barcelona would be better. I thought Greek is. would be more relaxing than Barcelona. I figured I might need a break at that point!

Well, if the plan is to travel by train then this will be your routing regardless ...
London >> Paris >> Amsterdam >> Berlin >> Prague >> Vienna
So rather than dropping one of these places then, if you are worried about your energy levels, just plan a free day or two.
If you were looking at easing things up a little then perhaps travel Prague to Vienna on the 5th July, to meet the start of your tour that evening. That would save you the hassle of the extra night pre tour. Add the night on to Paris.

The route makes perfect sense by train. If you drop Paris, you could fly from London City Airport to A'dam - faster than the train, I'm told. I think you've got a good allocation of days with the exception of London and Paris. London because you'll be jetlagged and both cities because there is so much to see and do, even without the excellent day trip possibilities.

I've always found London more expensive than Paris - especially hotels.

It doesn't make sense to fly to Spain and then back to Rome for your return flight. Can you do anything about the return flight and spend five nights in Italy and five in Spain? Or, there's more than enough for the full ten nights in Italy.

" Berlin has WWII and communist history out the ears, but isn't that great otherwise."

I know everyone has different perceptions of places, and that the above is just Jen's opinion, but I simply could not let that statement go unchallenged. For me, Berlin is fantastic; I've been three times, and could go back in a minute! Now London - that's a place that, to me, has lots of highly worthwhile sights, but that I don't actually enjoy the experience of being in.

As always, you will not know how you feel about a place until you see it yourself.

Hi bets, why does it not make sense to fly to Barcelona and fly back to Rome?
I was thinking of flying out from Venice to Barcelona (or wherever) then back to rome for 5 days before leaving. I don't want to spend all 10 days in Italy. Thanks :)

Thanks Harold, I fully get what you mean.

I'm 50/50 on whether I would like Berlin.

I'm thinking of reducing Berlin to 4 days and adding the extra day to either Paris or to Vienna (so that I arrive the night before I meet my Contiki tour - rather than arriving the same day I'm supposed to meet them. Meet on 4th July and depart Vienna on 5th, so I'd arrive on 3rd rather than 4th)

Hi,

The itinerary is good and doable as is, but if it's necessary to drop a place, keep Paris and Prague and drop Amsterdam. Add that time all to Berlin or split it between Paris and Berlin. Berlin has a lot to offer other than WW2 and commie era history. One really has to know Berlin to see that one can go from Spandau to Karlshorst to see other parts of Berlin unconnected with the war, such as on the Middle Ages, Prussian history, the Weimar era, Jewish history, WW 1, the different chateaux, ie, Schloss Charlottenburg, Schloss Köpenick, etc.

Your contiki tour is listed to start in Vienna on 5 July at 6pm.
https://www.contiki.com/au/en/destinations/europe/tours/eastern-trail-752##PfjL55vBPwFW9ux5.97
So arriving in Vienna on 4 July would mean x1 night at your own arrangements.
Arriving in Vienna on 3 July would mean x2 nights at your own arrangements.

Jealous! Leave trip as is, you're young, you can handle it,lol. My trip was fast paced and I was fine, and I have thirty years on you. Definitely add time to Venice, fly to Mykonos for 5 nights and just lie about at the beach, then spend the rest of your time in Rome before heading home. My daughter and I thought Paris was just nice, didn't love it, but she enjoyed Prague more so and quite inexpensive! If Greece is too spendy, flights to Sicily are cheap and they have some great beaches! You'll have a fabulous time with any suggestions, don't worry.

Greece is the cheapest of all the placex you have listed !!! When i was 23 it was my fave place in a three minth back packing trip , and we saw a lot of places !

I would fly romemto mykonos and take ferryt o santorini and i would spend at least 7-10 days on islands , if i hade 10 days i would do 3 sanforini ( most expensive ) 3 in mykonos and three on NAXOS ( our new favorite , juxt there this past May) and one day to get ba k to myknos to fly to rome.

Naxos a great hotel with breakfsst and close to great beach( like 1 minute walk!!!) is 50 euros , chepest and best !! Hotel Kymata . Stayed at Poseidon on Mykonos , was 90 euros . Didnt do santorini too touristy and pricey but my 20 yr old was there this past may znd they got a great chrsp p,a e in Kamata

Skip Prague. See Paris.

I don't have a rational reason for this answer but if you have no strong reason to see one place instead of another place, pick the few cities that have sites, monuments and museums that are the most famous.

I am a 33 year old single man. What am I missing by not traveling with a Contiki tour? I don't drink or smoke, I don't think screwing women I will never engage in a good relationship with will make me feel better, and I don't know what to do in a bar/ I am not much into partying.

Keep them all! Berlin is wonderful - we can't wait to go back this year!.

I do agree you should rearrange so you arrive the day before your tour starts.

@ brenda.ni... At your age ( I was in Europe at 27, single, and pretty much a solo traveler), I would have most likely ruled out taking a Contiki tour regardless of its popularity since touring with Contiki includes places I don't care traveling to and the price was disagreeable. Answering your question on which to skip, I would add choose between Prague and Amsterdam, more of a case can be made against Amsterdam than against Prague when pressed for time, and stick with Paris, c'est ça Paris.

To me, Italy is a top priority on any trip to Europe and since you'll already be in Rome, why waste time traveling to Greece or Barcelona? I personally think Florence is relaxing because it's such a great place for walking. I'm not a fan of Berlin either. I haven't been to Prague but I think you'll be sorry if you skip Paris-or maybe rent a car and drive to Chartres and Loire chateaux to avoid high prices of Paris and see some amazing architecture! Chenenceau chateaux is built over a river. And of course Italy and Paris should be high on your list for food!

Don't waste your time at the silk factory in Shanghai! I wouldn't drop either Prague or Paris but might drop a day and Amsterdam and 1-2 days in Berlin in order to stay in a small town or two to get a different experience than just big cities.

Skip Paris and go to Prague. I find Paris a bit boring, far too touristy, far too expensive and just seems to be on everyone's list because everyone else goes there, it's like a perpetual bucket list cycle.

Prague is more interesting, more friendly, less pompous and less expensive. It's also easier to immerse yourself into Prague than it is Paris, even non-Parisian French find it difficult to immerse themselves in Paris!