Travel help for multi-stop trip

Copenhagen to Hamburg - doable by train, Hamburg to Helsinki fly, Helsinki to Venice fly. It would be quite hectic to add more destinations but if you would go for it then: Copenhagen - Hamburg train, Hamburg - Berlin train, Berlin - Prague train, Prague - Helsinki -fly, Helsinki - Venice fly. For cheaper tickets shop on line 2 to 3 months ahead.

If you make 7 stops in 3 weeks, then you have an average of 3 nights and 2 days at each, which is pretty much bare minimum. I would prefer more time in most of these cities (maybe not Helsinki and I haven't visited Hamburg) and Copenhagen, for instance has some great daytrip destinations nearby. If your friends in Sardinia don't live close to an airport, then local transport time would be an additional reason to cut that stop. All this is probably to say that I'd stick with the top 4 destinations.

Even compared to advance-discount train tickets, advance tickets for budget flights can be cheaper; see www.skyscanner.com as a good search engine.

Rick’s Train Travel Time & cost Map gives you an overview of faster train travel times in hours, as well as regular (full-price) 2nd-class fares. For more precise train schedules, see the DB link at How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online.

Fly into one city and home from another in Europe. Keep going in one direction.

I would do this:

Fly to Helsinki, Fly to Copenhagen, train to Hamburg, train to Berlin, train to Prague, fly to Venice. Fly home from Venice.

As Laura stated, that gives an average three nights in each city which is really the minimum as there is much to see in all. Sardinia is a full day of travel by itself both ways.

Personally, I would cut out one more city. Considering the four you must go to, and the four optional, logistically I would cut out Prague if traveling by train. If you want to go to Prague, you could fly and bypass Berlin. (The train from Hamburg to Prague goes through Berlin.)

If you are travelling early summer ...
Arrive in Venice (4)
Fly to Copenhagen (3)
Train to Hamburg (3)
Train to Berlin (4)
Train to Prague (3)
Fly to Helsinki (4)

If you are travelling late summer, then reverse the above, starting in Helsinki.
You could day trip to Tallin from Helsinki.

Note that there does not appear to be a daily service for direct flights from Venice to Prague.

Six stops works good with enough time in each city.

Hi,

How are you getting to Helsinki? Based on your reasoning above, I would choose the flying option. Helsinki is a hub for the airlines, I know from Berlin and Frankfurt.. .most likely from Hamburg too. Between Germany and Finland are also ferry connections going to Helsinki.

I don't suggest the itinerary you're referring to. We were in Copenhagen before a cruise and wanted to visit a cousin in Hamburg. We looked at train or rental car. Both took too long and cost too much to just visit for a day. If you go, check out air.

Here's how we approached the area. We flew into Copenhagen, spent three nights, boarded a 12 night cruise around the Baltic (Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Gdansk, Tallinn, Oslo), then three more nights in Copenhagen.

Our trip went late July to early August. I'd only plan to visit in the high summer months.

Another good option for a shorter visit is to fly into Stockholm and use the ferry to visit Helsinki and Tallinn.

Venice is separate, fly there and fly home from there.

Examples of train timings ...

EC 34
Dep 11:37 KOEBENHAVN H (Denmark)
Arr 16:22 HAMBURG HBF (Germany)

ICE 1609
Dep 09:38 HAMBURG HBF (Germany)
Arr 11:21 BERLIN HBF (TIEF) (Germany)

EC 379
Dep 11:04 BERLIN HBF (TIEF) (Germany)
Arr 15:27 PRAHA HLAVNI NADRAZI (Czech Republic)