20 day First Trip

[PeteAC]

Hello,

I am just about to graduate from college and me and a friend are planing on going to Europe for about 20 days (May 20 - June 10). I have a few cities in mind, but don't really know a lot about traveling between them (train vs. flight?). As a rough itinerary I was thinking...

Amsterdam
Paris
Barcelona
Cinque Terre
Rome
Munich

Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance

-Pete

[Canadian Bacon]

Welcome welcome to the boards!!!

Can't extend that 20 days any longer? like make it a month? if not, 20 days is still enough time to have some good times.

Your plan sounds like a good start... where are you flying in/out of?

20 days including travel in/out of country?
20/6 = about 3 days per place... you will be travelling quite a bit. how much time will you be spending per city?
Also, start looking at hostels now, the good ones get booked real fast.

[PeteAC]

Unfortunately can't extend the trip...have to start my job mid June. After doing more research I've come up with what I think is our itinerary.

May 20 Depart Chicago
May 21 Amsterdam
May 23 Paris (overnight train to Barcelona on May 26)
May 27 Barcelona (overnight train to Florence on May 31)
June 1 Florence
Jun 3 Cinque Terre (Overnight Train to Munich on June 6), stop in verona?
Jun 7 Munich
Jun 10 Depart Munich

I realize that there is a lot of Travel involved, but I think we can handle it, if this is unrealistic by all means let me know. Any hostel suggestions would also be appreciated.

Thanks,
Pete

[Dig]

Your plan looks pretty good. I think I would cut out one of the cities though just so you can get to know a city. But people travel for different reasons and in different ways.

There are already quite a few good reviews of hostels here. You might get answers quicker with a search. Also log into some of the bigger hostel search engines like hostelworld (there are several other good ones) and read current reviews.

Have a great trip and welcome!

[Canadian Bacon]

Sounds like a good plan for a 20 day trip. Good thinking about those overnight trains, cutting down on travel time and hostel money =)

I would allocate an extra day to Amsterdam =) I'll be there myself soon, but earlier then you. Perhaps I'll leave a tpunk graffiti somewhere

[PeteAC]

Thanks for the encouragement. Hopefully the overnight trains will save me on hostel money, but I've been reading that even with the Eurail pass, the over night trains still cost a lot, especially if you want a bed. Does anyone know more about this?

[Canadian Bacon]

Yeah they cost more, but when you factor in the fact that you're not paying for a hostel, its not that much more comparatively. Personally I slept just fine on the trains...

What I personally avoid is having an overnight seat.... those are brutal

[offhegoes03]

I think your trip looks good overall, you're not trying to squeeze too many cities into a short amount of time. I'm personally not a fan of overnight trains, but I know they can save time and allow you to see more in a shorter amount of time. I didn't have good experiences with either the reclining seat or the bed in the cauchettes. I got a decent amount of sleep, but not enough to make me feel completely rested. I usually ended up taking a nap in the hostel when I arrived in the next city anyways. The seats don't recline enough and aren't very comfortable, and I was on the top bunk in a cauchette and the room got extremely hot and I had to stand out in the hallway for an hour to cool down at like 4 am. It could be a completely different experience for you, but that's just what I went through. Some people really love overnight trains, but I'm not as crazy about them. I'd say leave things flexible. If you hate your first overnight train, maybe cut a city out of your itinerary and take a train during the day. You might love the overnight trains though, so I definitely recommend at least trying them. Even if you aren't crazy about them, it won't ruin your trip.