10days, 4 countries !!

Old Sep 17th, 2015, 03:31 AM
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10days, 4 countries !!

Hello Fodors,

I am planning to take a EUROTRIP with my friends .
We are planning to explore France, Italy, Spain and Benelux(All 4 bordering countries).
First trip , so goosebumps and panics.
We want to complete this trip with maximum coverage of places.
We would like to know how to start from London and move forward.
which countries first to go and how much time at each destination.
Is train good and cheap or airways is it ?
Any help would be appreciated.

Many Thanks!
ankitbokaria is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2015, 03:34 AM
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A magic carpet would be best. Or teleportation. Unless you have discovered faster-than-light travel.

Four countries in ten days? I'm tired just thinking about it
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 04:13 AM
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Hi, welcome to Fodors.
Benelux is 3 countries, so you visit 6 countries in 10 days.
(BElgium, NEtherlands, LUXembourg - ok they are small).

Look first at a map.
pariswat is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2015, 04:27 AM
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Yes, I would agree. You could easily spend 10 days in any one of those countries.

I'm in my 50's and tend to take things at a slower pace. However, my 25 year old daughter, is currently in Spain with friends. She just spent 5 days in Madrid and now her group is spending another 5 days in Barcelona. They haven't found a shortage of things to do.

To give yo a little more perspective, We are also heading to Spain and Italy in a few weeks for 14 days. We're visiting a 2 destinations in each country and with travel time we'll only get to spend 2 or 3 full days in each destination.
debinthepeg is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2015, 04:39 AM
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I think you're not taking into account the time it takes to get from one place to another. Each time you move, you lose a day to travel. Do the math.

You can't see a country in a day or two. You can barely see one place in a day or two.

There must be a reason you want to see these places. If so, do them justice and give them the time to see them properly, not ticking off a box to say you've been there.
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 04:51 AM
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While 6 countries (and do you mean a total of 6 cities - or ar eyou going to try to race around to even more places?) in 10 days is physically possible you will be spending a very large percent of your time just getting from one place to another - a very blurred tour of the train stations of europe.

Also going from Netherlands down through France to Spain is sort of a straight line. To get from there to Italy you would really have to fly from Spain to Italy.

To get an idea of the time involved look at bahn.de which lists all the train schedules for euope (except local commuter trains). This will allow you to see how little time you will have anywhere.

To get the best rates you typically have to look at trains and flights 90 days in advance and lock yourself in - after that changes often result i much higher fares.

You also need to consider time of year. Are you OK with very hot temps (summer in Spain and Italy)? Or with bad weather/cold temps - if you're going in winter - which could make a nonsnse of any travel plans.

Slow down and actually see something. (My 19 year od DD and 2 friends spent about 6 weeks in europe 2 summers ago and visited 8 cities - and still felt they missed a lot in the places they visited.
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 05:01 AM
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Unless you are on a game show and forced to do this, you should limit it to one maybe two countries.
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 05:43 AM
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Thanks for your response !
I beleive it was an over ambitious dream.
I beleive i have to break the journey .
what about netherland and france in phase 1.
And Phase 2 - spain and italy.

Then what would you suggest.
ankitbokaria is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2015, 05:55 AM
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Pick one !
It is not a race nor a scavenger hunt.
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 05:57 AM
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One now, another later next year.
Am just asking are these two countries matching the combination
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 06:32 AM
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You still can't see, much less explore, two countries in 10 days. You can only see two or three cities or areas at most. Pick the things you want to see. Starting from first choice, see how how much time they rquire, including transportation.
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 07:31 AM
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What time of year is this trip?

Where is your starting point? Is it London or elsewhere?

Do you have budget constraints?

The easiest way to get from London to the continent is by Eurostar train. It's about 2.5 hours to Paris or a little over 2 hours to Brussels from which you can continue to the Netherlands. But the Eurostar is an expensive train. Buy tickets early for a significant savings.
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 08:17 AM
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I generally spend at least 3 days in a city, and it's never enough time. On my last trip, I made the rookie mistake of not counting the 7 hour travel time from St. Petersburg to Tallinn, so I really had only 2 days in Tallinn. I'd love to go back and spend more time there.

I had four days in Warsaw, and it wasn't enough. I'm going back next year.

The itinerary you propose would be too much for me. Assume you'll be back. Once you get the travel fever, you'll be hooked and will doubtless make travel a priority.

I began traveling in 1963, and I'm planning next year's trip already.
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 10:36 AM
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This is a real opportunity for us and may be one of the few times we can recommend a Eurail Pass. They could get on and just keep going. Buy sandwiches in stations when they change trains, see cities AND the countryside as they go. Maybe even add a couple of countries to the 4/6 to really make it worthwhile. Take night trains too, so no hotels to pay for, making it cost-effective as well. What an adventure!

http://www.eurail.com/eurail-passes

Trip report, PLEASE.
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 11:16 AM
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Are you considering a Eurail Select Pass - thus the 4 bordering countries? If doing anything in 10 days that would be an overkill buying a pass - just regular point to point tickets bought well in advance to get discounted rates would be the cheapest.

Let's say - London 4 days
Paris 3 days
Amsterdam 3 days

that's about enough and all that is possible and IMO a great short first-time itinerary - those cities are close together by train - fly into London and out of Amsterdam or vice versa.

For lots on trains check www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets; www.budgeteuropetravel.com (download their free and superb IMO European Planning & Rail Guide) and www.ricksteves.com.
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 11:16 AM
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Are you considering a Eurail Select Pass - thus the 4 bordering countries? If doing anything in 10 days that would be an overkill buying a pass - just regular point to point tickets bought well in advance to get discounted rates would be the cheapest.

Let's say - London 4 days
Paris 3 days
Amsterdam 3 days

that's about enough and all that is possible and IMO a great short first-time itinerary - those cities are close together by train - fly into London and out of Amsterdam or vice versa.

For lots on trains check www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets; www.budgeteuropetravel.com (download their free and superb IMO European Planning & Rail Guide) and www.ricksteves.com.
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Old Sep 17th, 2015, 03:52 PM
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Where are YOU and your friends most interested in, most drawn to?

You could pick any one country, and a couple cities or town within and spend your 10 days doing that.

All the places you list would make up 3-4 different trips. Unless you just want to get on a train and pass thru each one, which is of course possible.
suze is online now  
Old Sep 17th, 2015, 04:18 PM
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Yes, Amsterdam and Paris would make a great first trip in 10 days. Assuming you actually have 9.5 days - and are coming from someplace that will leave you jet lagged. You might even be able to spend a little while in Brugges - to get a feel for a smaller town:

Day 1 - arrive Amsterdam
Days 2 and 3 Amsterdam
Day 4 early train to BRugges
Day 5 late train to Paris
Days 6 through 9 Paris
Day 10 leave for home

If this isn't how many days you actually have - or you are figuring arrival or departure differently you wold need to modify.

This would give you time to get a nice feel for 2 major cities and enough time to explore one of the charming small gems of europe.
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