Trip to Europe

Your list of proposed cities are too ambitious for 14 days, especially considering that you have be be in Berlin on day 10. First of all, I would loose the Cinque Terre/French Riviera, because either will take you too far out of the way. You may also have to choose between either Amsterdam or Salzburg, and possibly see Prague during your exta 3-4 days. The amount of time at each destination depends on what you see, but 3 nights is the minimum for any of them. Consider also that your first day in London will be limited by jetlag.

I understand what you're saying. My time in London will begin early given that I must arrive a day or two earlier than what her tour will begin. I hope to be done seeing what I want to see in London by the time her tour group picks her up. I am not your typical traveler in that I don't plan on spending any in depth time in the tourist trap areas. I just like to get a feel for the place and mark it off my list as having been there. I work for an airline so I can always fly back and see things more in depth. I'm approaching this trip from a "If I never get to go back to Europe, what would I most regret not getting to see" standpoint. I visited Italy last summer for 10 days and saw just about everything I wanted to see with the exception of Cinque Terre, so that is high on my list. My traveling companion has Prague and Salzburg high on her list, so we can't skip those two. In addition, I will likely be flying out of Amsterdam with my daughter and don't intend to spend more than 1 night there. If travel times are too long by train, we have the option of flying on most European airlines for next to nothing.

Hmm, with the two extra days at the begining, you may be able to fit in a little more. But I would still drop the Cinque Terre/French Riviera... and before I stick my foot in my mouth too far, I'll let the itinerary gurus chime in, which they most certainly will...

Uh, oh, Angela....stating this... " I just like to get a feel for the place and mark it off my list as having been there"... on this helpline is like putting a "kick me" sign on your back.....consider yourself forewarned ;)

I think any major city deserves at least 4 nights. I would propose:
London: 4 nights
Paris: 4 nights
Alsace OR Rhein: 3 nights
Berlin: 4 nights
Prague: whatever time you got leftover and fly home.

I think that keeps you on the right trajectory. The only reason I would propose this method is that you have to get yourself from London to Berlin and these seem like the logical stops inbetween. Otherwise, if you had more freedom - I would focus on one or maybe two countries to really get to know them.

LOL, I will try gently removing the "kick me" sign off my back by reminding posters that I do work for an airline and can fly to Europe and back for less than $100 so this won't be my last time. I have co-workers who literally fly to Prague for a weekend. We airline employees tend to view traveling a little differently. I'm considering this a preview of things to come. With that in mind, what places can I see and then put on my list for "I need to return here for an in depth visit" over a long weekend or for a couple of weeks in the summer. I can more easily sleep at night knowing that I didn't see all there is to see in London and Paris than I could knowing I had never been to those cities at all. I could go to one of these cities and find that it isn't my type of place at all. For example, most Americans love Las Vegas. I once flew to Las Vegas to experience this "fascinating" city and promptly caught a flight out of there after 5 hours and I seriously have no desire to return. I don't expect that to be the case in Europe as the places I've been to thus far are a collection of all things I love, great scenery, interesting people, old architecture and great food and wine.

I don't intend to spend any time in Germany on this trip other than picking my daughter up, but some of the countryside in France does sound appealing. What a wonderful world this is that I have so many beautiful places to chose from!! I'm excited just thinking about it! But this trip is more like a "first date". I want to try places out and see which ones I'd like to experience more in depth

Angela - it sounds like you know exactly what you want and have the ability to make it happen. It is very challanging to answer your request for help because as I read it and may make this analogy - it's like you fly into NY and out of Chicago but your friend really wants to see Memphis and Nashville and you really want to see Deadwood. Great if you can make it happen and don't mind that you are not getting as much time in the places as you are trying to get to them. For someone that works for an airline - that is totally doable. And I PROMISE - I am not kicking!! :) But truly, it does sound like you know your parameters and priorities. So all you gotta do is plot it out and make it happen.

Amy, you are correct in that I know which spots we need to see and which ones are "disposable", the only issue is timing them out. We know that we want to go to these places, but other than London and Paris which seem to have some obvious places that we will want to see, I have no real knowledge of what the other places have to offer. If that makes any sense. Like will we spend so much time hiking Cinque Terre that we inevitably need another 2 days there just to regroup? Does Salzburg have so many interesting things to see that we need more than 2 days there or will it be like Venice was to me (beautiful to see, but after a day then what)? At this point we are just trying to narrow down how much time we will need in these places that we have no experience with. We've already assumed two days for London and 3 for Paris. I don't know enough about Amsterdam to know if I add it to the end of my trip, will it be okay to have my daughter with me (she is 17). In addition, what is the best order to go in based on geographical location and transportation limitations?...Given that we must begin in London and be in Berlin 10 days after leaving London.

Hello Angela. You said you will have ten days between London and Berlin. For those ten days, I suggest this itinerary : Day 1 - Travel from London to Paris (train through the Channel Tunnel), Day 2 - Paris, Day 3 - Paris, Day 4 - travel from Paris to Salzburg (The train direct to Munich can be a 4 hour trip, and the train from Munich to Salzburg is 2 hours), Day 5 - Salzburg, Day 6 - travel in trains from Salzburg to Prague, Day 7 - Prague, Day 8 - Prague, Day 9 - Travel from Prague to Berlin, Day 10 - be at Berlin one day before you meet your daughter there. After your daughter joins you, travel with your daughter from Berlin to Amsterdam. You could go to the Cinque Terre in a future trip to Europe.

That sounds like a pretty good itinerary. Thank you. We thought of that same one only putting Cinque Terre on the end of the trip and skipping Amsterdam. My daughter was unable to go to Italy with us last year and it's a place she has always wanted to visit/live since she was old enough to pay attention. We also thought that after moving at such a fast pace during our ten days, we could use Cinque Terre as a place to just vacation from our vacation before heading back here. If we decide to do that, we may just fly from Berlin/Frankfurt down to Italy and fly back home from Italy. When we were in Italy last summer I flew back from Venice by way of Frankfurt and on into EWR. My sister, however, flew from Venice to Amsterdam, spent a few hours and then flew back home. Either way would work for me. Amsterdam may be something I do on a later visit. It is fairly easy to fly on NW/KLM to Amsterdam and back

Hi Angela. I think that is a good plan. You and your daughter could fly from Berlin to Milan. Flying to Milan's Malpensa airport is best. A big shuttle bus goes from Malpensa airport to the Central train station in Milan. That is easy to do. An EXPRESS train goes from Milan Central station to Monterosso (in the Cinque Terre). The other trains are slow when they are near the coastal cities. And yes, the Cinque Terre villages is a good place for experiencing a feeling of well being. I liked walking on the trail between Corniglia and Vernazza (in that direction), and the seaside spot at Manorola (walk through a tunnel from the train station). And, as Rick Steves said, Vernazza is a good place for seeing the Italian culture. (But there is no art or cathedral there). Don't bother with visiting Pisa or Lucca. You could fly from Milan Malpensa airport to the U.S.A.