FIVE CITIES, BEST WAY TO TRAVEL!

There are dozens of postings asking the same question and generally get the same answer -- planning way too much. If you just stuck to the triangle of Paris, Porto, Rome, you are covering a lot of miles. When we travel I plan on losing at least a half day or more just to the business of moving - packing, unpacking, checking in/out hotels, transportation to/from hotels, to/from train station or airports, get oriented to the new city, finding something to eat, etc. AND that doesn't include actual travel time. With six or seven location charges you could lose a whole week of your two or three week stay. Second, you absolutely must fly open jaws - into Dublin and home Rome -- you don't have time to back track to your starting point. You don't have two days in each city. You will have two days in each city if you can find a Starship to beam you from city to city. Otherwise, you have one day of travel and one day in the city. Your transportation between cities will be a combination of air and train. Amsterdam, London, Paris work well with the train. The rest by air.

Get a good map of Europe and plot your travel. It should be obvious how to go. What you are suggestion is not that workable in two weeks and only slightly better in three. Make it four and you have a plan.

As Frank said, it doesn't make sense at all to backtrack and fly into and out of the same city. You list five locations in 21 days, which isn't too horrible, in my opinion. You might reconsider Porto, since it's out of the way of everything else you want to see, but if you're really set on it, you could fly to and from there to your next destination. Otherwise, the train will be your best option. Do consider, as Frank also said, the time it takes to pack, wait for the train, find your way around the new city, and unpack again in addition to your travel time. You'll also need to consider what you will do with your bags if you arrive in a city before you can check in at your hotel. You won't want to lug them around while you sightsee.

Frank has really good advice on how long it takes to go from city to city. Don't underestimate this. On the other hand, I think Frank is miscounting. It looks to me like you want to do five cities in 21 days. That is doable, though it does involve a lot of travel between cities.

I would seriously consider dropping Portugal. It really doesn't fit in with the others and will not be efficient to go there. Dublin to London by plane, then London to Paris to Amsterdam by train would work well and not be too taxing. You could fly home from Amsterdam rather than fly back to Dublin to avoid wasting time backtracking.

If it were me, I would drop Dublin too. This is partly because I'm not that crazy about Dublin. Also, I would want a week in London and a week in Paris at least. That would give me time to make some side trips from both cities. It's hard to know what is best for you, not having any idea what your interests are or why you chose the cities you chose. Whatever you decide, I hope you have a great trip! Kudos to you for planning so far ahead.

No, Carol I didn't miscount. Her original posting was six cities including Rome in two weeks, maybe three. I think she read by response and quickly edited to five cities in three weeks and dropped Rome. When I have time I will edit my response to match the new question but it will not change much.

If you settle on Dublin, London, Paris, Porto, and Amsterdam, then the following might work well.

Book an open jaw (multi-city) plane ticket: home-Dublin and Amsterdam-home.

Fly home-Dublin. Fly Dublin-London. Take the train from London to Paris. Fly Paris Beauvais-Porto on Ryanair or fly either Paris CDG or Paris Orly to Porto on TAP Portugal. Fly Porto-Amsterdam on TAP Portugal. Fly home from Amsterdam.

Don't overlook the fact that by doing all of the flying you are, literally, passing over much of the best of Europe. Why not take the train and get a chance to see what the countryside and small towns look like and see how the people live instead of just hopping from city to city?