Namak

Hello. My friend and I are planning a whirlwind 2-weekish long "backpacking" trip (i.e. we will be utilizing stylish backpacks and staying in hostels) through Europe in December. Because we are about 1 week into our plans, there are no plans other than the completely unrealistic ones we've made so far. So, can anyone recommend a part of Western-Europe that we should absolutely visit/avoid? Right now our tentative plans are Hamburg-Amsterdam-Paris-etc.-etc.-etc-back to Hamburg. We're wide-eyed girls from a small town in deep, dark Africa, so anything beyond dirt and sand would be exciting. One more thing, can someone explain what "10 days within 22 days" means when it comes to Interrail Global passes. Does that mean that if our trip is 22 days long, we can hop on and off trains as many times as we like, but on only 10 of the 22 days? Thanks a lot.

marc873

You could also go to Belgium, maybe Brugges or Antwerpen. Quite beautiful cities. As for your pass, you can use 10 different days withing the 22 day timeperiod. Each day you use will be dated on your pass, then stamped. When you hit the 10th day, thats the last one.

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Esterina

Hello Namak and welcome on the boards ! :D What part of dark Africa are you from ?

Frankly, I don't see what part of Europe deserves to be avoided ! So much to see and do there...

A 2-week trip is fast gone by, and we usually recommend to count a good 2-3 days in major cities, in order to have enough time to see the main attractions. To that, you add travel time in between cities. So for your trip it would gives something like this :

Day 1 --» arrival
Day 2 --» 1st city
Day 3 --» 1st city
Day 4 --» move to 2nd city
Day 5 --» 2nd city
Day 6 --» 2nd city
Day 7 --» move to 3rd city
Day 8 --» 3rd city
Day 9 --» 3rd city
Day 10 --» move to 4th city
Day 11 --» 4th city
Day 12 --» 4th city
Day 13 --» move to Hamburg
Day 14 --» departure

This is of course a rough itinerary. I assume you're landing in Hamburg, and in my opinion, this place could be done with only one full day, unless you're meeting friends there. But basically, 3 to 5 cities will fill your 2 weeks quite nicely.

My first thought was "why be so close to Berlin and not go ?!", it's such a great city to visit ! But then, it would take you far from Amsterdam and Paris. So Marc's suggestion fits your itinerary /trip duration better.

Also to take in consideration : weather (december=cold and in some countries snow), activities/likings (sports, history fans, arts, basic tourist attractions, party, etc), budget (more $ in Scandinavia and less in Poland...).

A loop is the best solution, so what ever the direction you intend to take, make the itinerary so that you don't waste too much time in the train.

A few ideas :
West --» Germany/Netherlands/Belgium/France or
East --» Germany/Poland/Czech Republic or
South --» Germany/Austria/Switzerland or
North --» Germany/Scandinavia

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Namak

Thanks. I was born and grew up in Namibia (OK, so not exactly deep and dark, but odd enough) and now live in Alaska...hence the username. So, I should be well suited for the cold European winter. Again, thanks for the tips!

Esterina

Alaska and Namibia, you are ready for extreme weather conditions ! :D

Namak, would you have time to share with us tips about travel in Namibia and Alaska ?

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Namak

Of course! Where?