jnc

Hi there-
My wife and I are making plans to spend about 5 months in Europe. I know I said 2 months in the title, but you'll see here soon what I mean.
My wife is nurse and we're planning on living/working in Edinburgh on a 13 week contract, and travelling within the UK/Ireland and possibly knocking out the whole Paris bit in our off days (3-4 days a week).
When the contract is up, we want to make our way around Europe for 2 more months. Rough itinerary as follows:
Amsterdam (2 Days)
Berlin (2)
Prague/day trips (4)
Vienne (3)
Salzburg
Munich (2)
Innsbruck
Bern/Day trips (3-4)
Luxembourg (1)
Koln (1)
Brussels (1)
-May add something here, as its a LONG trip from Brussels to Madrid... Any suggestions? I'm thinking maybe Mont St. Michael-
Madrid/Day trips (2-3)
Seville (1)
Lisbon (2)
Barcelona (1)
Marseille(2)
Nice (1)
Torino (1)
Milan (1-2)
Lugano 1/2 Days then on to Venice
Venice (2)
Florence (2)
Naples (1)
Patras (via Bari)
Athens/Day trips (3-5)
Sicily (2)
Rome (5-7)

jnc

Of course... after all that I forgot to ask for thoughts/opinions. Is a Eurail pass a good way to go with this? I will be doing the pricing point to point, but just curious as to what other experience were with the pass. Is this itinerary doable or to stretched out?
Your responses are greatly appreciated!

Doble_Vergasser

Holy cow (your list leaves no city undone).

So you are talking about 60 day rail passes plus at least $15,000 (right) plus the 13 week UK portion. You might want to think about how many days of your 60 days will go to picking up and relocating rather than seeing sights and cities.

Best case you are spending 25% of your time (therefore 1/3 to 1/2 of your budget) moving from city to city. My point here is that packing up a hotewl room, settling the bill, pulling all the suitcases to the train station, the train ride, finding the new hotel, and then finding the nearest restaurant, pastry shop, pharmacy or whatever takes half a day - best case.

What are your (and yor wife's) special interests and what time of year is this contemplated for?

janisj

2 months might sound like a generous length of time. But it definitely isn't when divided between 26 (yes <B<twenty-six) cities. This itineray is totally nuts. Sorry - it sounds like you put some thought into it. But you will quite literally spend more than 1/2 of your time in transit, in train stations, and checking in and out of hotels.

Cut at LEAST half of your destinations and a minimum of 2 or 3 countries.

janisj

I was in so much of a hurry I totally messed that up. It should read &quot;. . But it definitely isn't when divided between 26 (yes <b>twenty-six</b cities. . . . &quot;

Michael

Consider a buy/sell program. If leasing a Renault Clio, count on 45mpg. Both Renault and Peugeot have such programs, but Renault posts its prices right on the internet:

http://www.renaultusa.com/

I assume that you would still qualify as a non-EU resident.

henryandcasper

I totally understand the feeling of wanting to make the most of your time and see as much as you can. However, I think you won't see as much as you think (or want) with this very very hectic itinerary. You'll be exhausted and burned out within 10 days. Also, don't underestimate how taxing even short train trips can be. By the time you factor in packing, shlepping to a station to get tickets and shlepping from a station to find your new hotel, even a 2 hour train trip turns into 1/2 a day. I would suggest spending a minimum of 4 days in each place and therefore cutting your list of stops in half. My husband and I took a two month trip to Europe last spring and my initial itineray looked a lot like yours at first! It was agony to pare down but the trip ended up feeling perfectly paced...Of course the down side is...I'm already bugging him to go on the next adventure so we can see what I cut from my list...

mjs

When I was 20 I used the 2 month student Eurail pass to do a 65 day grand tour of Europe which covered Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Munich, Vienna, Salzberg, Venice, Rome, Zurich, Barcelona and Madrid. Plus day trips. Every 10 to 15 days we would collapse in one place and bascially do nothing but hang out and do laundry and eat. I cannot imagine trying to do what you are proposing to do and stay sane.

jnc

Thanks for the great advice. Its easy to think that 2 months is a lot of time to fill up, and without realizing it, you've killed more time travelling than seeing what you want to see.
I actually didn't put too much time into the itinerary yet, other than to just list everything that struck our interest and roughly how long I thought it might take for each, so your comments are super clarifying! (I'm a former roadie in the US, so being in a new city every other day is almost the only thing I know!)
I revisited the list of cities and cut out the less important ones. Sounds like the best thing to do is stick to a few main cities and take a side trip or two. Something more like this?
Amsterdam (3 days)
Prague (5 days)
Vienne (5 days)
Bern (5 days)
Madrid (4 days)
Barcelona (4 days)
Venice (3 days)
Florence (3 days)
Athens (8 days)
Rome (8 days)

We'd likely be travelling October-November, backpack style and tending torward the cheaper hotels, pensions, hostels, etc. Having never travelled in Europe, I'm looking for all the help I can get!
Thanks Again.

suze

much much better!! seriously, your first list was makin' my head spin -lol.

RoadCrazy

Your revised trip is a great improvement! One thought, you might want to catch a cheap flight to Athens and start there and work your way back. Greece is great, but you'd want to catch at least a little warmth and sunshine while it's still there -- plus, because its appeal is more seasonal than other destinations, more hotels will be closed and museums and the like will keep shorter hours.

janisj

Amazing improvement! I'd probably add a day or 2 to both Venice and Florence - to really enjoy Venice and to have more time for day trips out of Florence. You have plenty of &quot;wiggle room&quot; since you could cut a day or 2 from both Athens and Rome and still have nice long stays.

Definitely consider RoadCrazy's idea. By Nov. lots of island places will be closed for the season.

In fact I would start in Greece (very cheap flights available from the UK especially in the off season). Then fly to Spain and start your train journeys from there working your way back north ending up in A'dam.

And do compare flying on some of the other legs when you are pricing point to point vs. EurailPass. Some budget airlines are much cheaper than rail. But also consider the inconvenience of getting in from some outlying airports vs. central city train stations.

hanl

Hi
Just a thought: Amsterdam is easily accessible from Edinburgh as a weekend break destination - there are daily flights with Easyjet (www.easyjet.com). If you visited Amsterdam on a weekend during your Edinburgh stay, it might give you a bit more time to focus on the other cities when you start on your 2-month itinerary.

suze

jnc- you are a quick learner

jnc

Well I've always been good at watching others and faking my way through it!
I generally hate to look like the stereo typical tourist with the hip bag, 3 cameras, staring at a map while wandering through the streets!

Thanks for the advice on Greece and Amsterdam. Starting in Athens will definitely get the trip moving in the right direction and cutting Amsterdam from the iten. gets rid of a long travel leg.

mjs

I actually have some thoughts which are alittle different about your 2 months for the continent.
First if you are traveling in October and November I would not start south but would concentrate on starting north and working your way south as the weather turns cooler. I would rather be in Germany or Switzerland or eastern Europe in early October than late November. Secondly I would look into inexpensive hotels rather than Hostels as my limited experiences with hostels has not been great and I think you can often get a much nicer place for two people in a hotel than in a hostel for not much more money.
I can also make a few comments about your last chosen destinations. Amsterdam - 3 days: seems about right. Prague - 5 days: OK. Vienna - 5 days:
Seems like too much time for me even if you include a day trip to Salzberg. Bern - 5 days: No comments as I have not been to Switzerland in many years. Madrid - 4 days: Depends on how many day trips you want to make. ? Segovia, ? Toledo, ?Avila etc. 4 days seems ok with day trips to say Toledo and Segovia. Barcelona - 4 days: Might consider 3 days unless you want to do some day trips. Venice - 3 days: OK. Florence - 3 days:
Might want a day more here for day trips to Siena, and maybe Lucca/Pisa. Athens - 8 days: Would personally not go to Greece without going to the islands. Perhaps consider 2-3 days in Athens and 5-6 days in Crete or Rhodes. If I were not going to the Med I would skip Athens. Rome - 8 days: 5 days is probably enough. If you cut out Greece I might add either more time in Switzerland (expensive), Italy or perhaps Budapest or Andalucia or southern France.

PalQ

The train is a great way to go - you take a bit longer but actually see the Europe in between - and meet the locals as well. And the train service is so fantastic - if thinking about a rail trip i recommend you get the free European Planning &amp; Rail Guide from BETS (request one on www.budgeteuropetravel.com) - this is a great primer on European rail travel and free. don't forget that BritRail passes are bargains often compared to walk up fares in the UK for your UK days. British trains are great - twice hourly Edinburgh to London (4.5 hrs). A railpass gets you a great pass holder fare on Eurostar trains London-Brussels or Paris - $75 - cheaper than any other fare and one which can be changed once in Europe up until the time of departure - much better than $90, $120 and $150 fares you could pay one-way - on weekends expect about $150 but you could still use the passholder fare on weekends subject to availability and there is only a certain number of pass holder fares sold on each train - consider reserving in advance and then having the possibility to change it in UK up until time of departure with no penalty. (BETS above are also Eurostar experts; 800-441-2387). Anyway you got a great trip outlined and i move like you want to do - fairly fast - in this case on consecutive-day Eurailpass makes sense - Eurailpasses, along with BritRailpasses qualify for great passholder fare on Eurostar.

CHRISTIAN101

Also, www.ryanair.com has the very cheapest flights! I just found airfare for Three people round trip from Frankfurt to London for 115 Euros total!!

CHRISTIAN101

My husband and I are on a 60 day Europe trip right now. We are in Germany right now and are leaving for Paris tonight on a night train. We purchased the first class Eurail passes, and have been incredibly impressed with the trains. We just got back from Budapest and Vienna the day before yesterday. YOU HAVE TO GO TO BUDAPEST!!! It's an amazing city. Someone will most likely meet you at the train station and ask you if you want to stay in their apartment for like 40 Euro. The city is amazing, one of my favorites so far, after Amsterdam... Also, you can take night trains for about 20 Euro, much cheaper than a hotel room. They have beds; or you and your wife can sleep in an enclosed 6 seat room, where the seats lay out, if you have a first class Eurail pass... A lot of options...

ira

Hi J,

&gt; travelling within the UK/Ireland and possibly knocking out the whole Paris bit in our off days (3-4 days a week). &lt;

I take it that DW will be working 12-hr days 3-4 days a week, and then she will just run off to Paris, etc with you?

&gt;Amsterdam (3 days)
Prague (5 days)
Vienne (5 days)
Bern (5 days)
Madrid (4 days)
Barcelona (4 days)
Venice (3 days)
Florence (3 days)
Athens (8 days)
Rome (8 days)&lt;

I hope that this is not the order in which you will visit these cities.

Have you ever been on the road for 60 days before?

Greece is a definite outlier.