Alrighty, after a little research, I think I've finally figured out the itinerary I want...and the order.

Can you guys/gals please take a look and let me know what you think. Am I spending too much time at one place that I should shorten to let me stay longer somewhere else? Should I scrap something all together to allow for more time somewhere? Is there a better order I should go in? I have from April 17th when I arrive until May 30th to play with.

London (3 nights)
Paris (3 nights)
Barcelona (3 nights)
Rome (4 nights)
Florence (3 nights)
Venice (2 nights)
Gimmelwald (3 nights)
Munich (3 nights)
Salzburg (3 nights)
Vienna (3 nights)
Budapest (3 nights)
Prague (4 nights)
Berlin (3 nights)
Amsterdam (3 nights)

Also, I'm planning on taking the rail everywhere, except for the London-Paris trip.

Suggestions please!! :)

That sounds like a great trip. The only suggestions I have is to maybe cut a night from Salzburg and add one to Berlin. Berlin is so big, and three nights might not be enough to see everything you want. On the other hand, Salzburg is not very big, and I felt like it did not offer too much to see/do except for the incredible scenery.

The other tip is to allow some time to visit some smaller towns. Maybe in some of the cities you have four nights planned, take a day trip to a place an hour or so away to see a less touristy town. You will find prices to be a lot cheaper, and it will be easier to talk with locals that are not used to being swamped with tourists.

One last tip, allow some flexibility. I planned my last trip out like you did, but there were some towns that once I was there I decided to shorten my stay or even stay longer than I wanted. You also might think of other places to visit that you had not planned to go to.

Thanks Skid! I was thinking that same thing about me probably changing my mind once I got there and started to talk to people. Do you think it's safe to skip my hostel reservations then and just play it by year or should I book ahead and hope my plans don't change too much?

Hey Brandon, I was in Europe this summer for 3 months and learned a number of things.

First, you can be 99.99% certain that whatever itinerary you start out with will change drastically during the trip. So because of that, book only your first city. I recommend the Generator in London. It's big and busy but will give you a good idea of what a big hostel is like right off the bat so you can decide whether or not you want to stay with that or find smaller places. Plus it's pretty close to a number of sights like the British Museum, Leicester Square and is damn near across the street from the British Library.

Other than that your allotted time in cities is pretty right on except for one thing. If you can get an overnight train from Budapest to Prague then you only need 2 nights in Prague. Prague is pretty centralized and it's easy to see everything. If I were you, with what I learned this summer. I'd take those 2 nights from Prague and spend 2 nights in the Cinque Terre. It's on the way from Barcelona to Florence and I GUARANTEE that you will not regret it. It's one of those places that I had 2 days allotted for and ended up staying 5. Trust me on this one. Plus, it'll be a great reprieve from the hustling from one big city to another like Skid said. Doing only big cities, while they have the highest cultural bang-for-you-buck, can get tiring, monotonous, and you miss out on meeting the REAL people of a country.

Anyway, if you have any questions, feel free to PM me. The only place on your trip that I didn't go to this summer was Budapest so I may be able to help.

Good luck and have great friggin' time man.

By the way, where in CA are you?

Jason

I think you have to realize that getting places takes a REALLY LONG TIME. I would allow more time for each place, but that's just me. Just in Spain and Portugal this past summer, I had many 7-8 hour train rides. 3-4 days goes by so quickly and you don't want to end up not seeing much and packing/unpacking constantly.

To make the most of your time use night trains... get the Eurorail 2nd class (if you are under 26) and get the month unlimited. It will give you the option to go where ever you like.. if not, then check on www.easyjet.com and www.ryanair.com for cheap air fares. I used Easyjet and it rocked! It's just like a normal air line... good luck!

:cheers:

Ya, I see what you guys mean. I've looked it over and I think I'm gonna fly from Paris from Barcelona and from Barcelona to Rome. That should get rid of my LONG trips :)

Maybe I'll take a night off Salzburg and Munich...then I can go to Cinque Terre....cuz I've been hearing sooooooo many great things about it!

I think the best suggestion on here was to only book the hostel for your first city man. Cause seriously if you can stick to your itenirary then you arent a travelpunk. :lol:

Brandon

About booking hostels, you are going to be there right before the big tourist season starts, so what I would suggest is to do what the others said about booking a hostel for your first city. After that, my advice would be to maybe do online reservations the day before you head out to the next city. This will allow you the flexibility by just booking a day ahead and you will know that you have a bed waiting for you when you arrive to the city.

Even if you don't feel like booking hostels at all, you will still be fine at that time of the year. Most train stations in at least medium size cities have a booking agency that holds rooms for hostels and pensions and there will be "runners" at the train station trying to get you to stay at their pension/hostel/home. Be cautious if you try this route, because the place might be far out of the city, but you can also get a good deal this way.

Thanks again you guys...I guess I'll just chance it...cuz I think you're right...I bet I will end up changing my mind..heh

budapest...prague :wub: :wub: :wub: i wanna go!! :worship:

Then go ;) haha. As it is, I'm going alone and won't know a single person on the continent!

hahaha....i'm 14, maybe in a couple of years i can go

I love that list: All those big places ... and Gimmelwald.

Sounds like fun. Maybe we'll cross paths.

Just tell them you're going to the store really quick to grab some milk. Maybe they won't notice if you're gone for a month ;) haha

hey brandon, When I spent some time in europe I found that it was nice to spend at least 4-5 days in one spot. Due to the fact that there is obviously tons to see in most of those cities it could take a couple of days to to that. Another couple of days in each spot allowed for the trip to be laid back, and you could really enjoy, absorb and learn about your surroundings. Not to mention the train rides are brutal despite being so close together on the map:)

Derek