Rough Itinerary 10 weeks to 3 months approx
 

i should say that these days are full days in the city and i think a day of partial travel will be between each of these days

Its a bit fast, but that will even out. My only advice would be to blow in and out of Athens in a day. Go see the Akropolis, and leave. Athens did nothing for me sadly.
2 Days Prague???? You could easily do 4 days there.
Have you thought about your Russian Visa? Better get that application going now!
And I can't stop, I think some of the distances you are covering on trains is going to eat up some of your days, unless you plan on a ton of over night trains.

But please take this as advice, you have many months in front of you, and itenarary's evlove and change a lot.
Cheers,
Marc

You'll have a fantastic time !

I agree on the visa in Russia, and I believe you should get information for the transit visa of the country you'll go through on your way to Russia, you might have to get one before leaving home.

Some of your intercity travels will take longer than half a day, like how do you intend on going from Turkey to Hungary ? Since this is your first trip, you still haven't experienced the fatigue we get by frequent long train ride. It's energy draining, and hard to keep such a pace for 3 months ! I think one or two of the "extremities" would be better left out of this trip and saved for another one, such as Greece-Turkey, Spain-Portugal, Scandinavia or Russia.

And maybe plan "one week off" where to relax and chill, at the 2/3 of your trip.

Although your choice of cities is great, I feel it'd be a shame if you don't go to the countryside at all, or at least smaller towns, where you'd get the true feeling of the culture.

:cheers:

your itenerary looks really crazy. i would try to cut three or four cities from that list.

i would give 4 days to london, 4 days to budapest, and 4 days to berlin

also if you're trying to go from krakow to moscow thats going to be a loooooong train ride. the train probably goes thru ukraine so i would consider stopping there, either in lviv or kyiv for a few days, as it is a really cool country

I think you have a good itinerary (if a little jammed!). The travel will take WAY longer than you think. For example, you have Venice and Athens right next to each other. That is a long day! :eek:

I counted up your days and it was roughly 60 so if you are spending 10 weeks I think you are okay. Personally I would suggest spending 12 so you can pepper in your days as you find places you like.

--Joey

I agree with the others that it is a little bunched. Take out a few cities and decide what you really want to see. I know the whirlwind sounds exciting now, but like atchoum says, it can be exhausting. To get from venice to athens, is pretty much a 1/2 a day and a whole night getting there. Don't discount the fact that you might get sick too. With all that moving around and beating on your body and mind, you will need some down time! I took two days in Sevilla Spain to recover from a head cold so i could enjoy more time after that well rested and healthy.

You are going for the experience, so experience it right? I hurried through a couple cities before i decided to throw my itinerary over my shoulder and stick to places for at least 3 days. I am glad i did, it was worth it for me. If you really feel like packing it all in i say go for it. Especially if you are going back. I met some that were keeping up at that pace.

As far as places ive been...
Athens - I agree w/ Marc, it doesn't deserve much time, the islands are worth considering for down time or hardcore partying.
Paris - did a week there and could do a week more. From museums to nightlife. I recommend the night ride - Fat Tire Bike tour.
Prague - The buildings still stand and it's cheap and beautiful. Over the river to the north there are a bunch of college bars. Have an expat/student show you the real prague at night. Doors that you would easily pass by lead to amazing places.
Barcelona - did not run into one person who didn't love this place.
Spain - Sevilla, Granada were two of my favorites. Cities with real spanish feel. Sevilla - Real Alcazar, Cathedral, bullring. Granada - Alhambra, caves, tapas, flamenco.
Switzerland - On the expensive side but amazing countryside. Interlaken for extreme sports (go canyoning, hiking, biking, wwrafting).
Rome - architecture was amazing, you can see a lot in three days. Get a tour from Alex at the colliseum and forum. Runs tours in groups of 6 to 10 - amazing.
Berlin - Surprisingly one of my favorite cities. The history there is worth soaking up for a few days. NewBerlin free tours with Charlie as a guide. Best four hour tour ever! you hear me ever! Dresden is worth hitting up for architecture in my opinion on your way to prague. Very cool city.

That's just my two cents. I did an 11 week euro trip a few months ago and am by no means an expert. These people will help you out though and they know what they are talking about. You might even run into one or three of them like i did. Good luck planning, i am sure you will figure it out.
-moe

i think that as long as you only use your itinerary as a rough estimate you will be ok...what i mean is that so long as its "give or take a few days here or there" so that you can stay in some places you want to or leave sooner and so on

now here's my personal opinion....PORTUGAL!!!!!!! don't just go to oporto or lisboa...go to several cities...both of those places are phenomenal....I wish I would have had more time...and the beaches in the south of portugal are amazing... I spent two months backpacking and about 70% or more of my time in Spain and Portugal...FABULOUS places!

Good luck with your itinerary :)

thank you all for your input i appreciate it a lot, my friend and i are talking about all of your ideas and working on finding out what we must see, what we want to see and what we will come back to see. When i have a revised itinerary i will post it.
Thanks again
:cheers: