Hey all -
I have basically 60 days in Europe this summer from about June 25 to August 25. My plan is to focus primarily on England, which is where I'm flying into and out of, but also on Germany, Italy and France. Here is a rough itinerary I have set up.
Each city has the number of nights next I tentatively plan to spend there.
London 7
Brussels 1
Antwerp 1
Amsterdam 3
Hamburg 3
Berlin 3
Dresden 1
Prague 3
Vienna 3
Munich 4
Venice 4
Rome 4
Florence 4
Milan 2
Leichtenstein 1
Zurich 1
Rothenburg ob ter Tauber (Germany) 3
Frankfurt 2
Luxembourg 2
Paris 4
As it stands now, this is how the time is split up between all the countries:
Italy 14
England 7
Germany 16
Czech Republic 3
Netherlands 3
Luxembourg 2
France 4
Switzerland 1
Lictheinstein 1
Austria 3
Belgium 2
I am trying to figure out given the time I have, where I should spend more time and where I should spend less time. I like to people watch, I enjoy seeing different cultures, and I also like architecture and places with a rich history and I like just going through different cities and getting a good feel for what they have to offer.
My first thought is that I'm spending too much time in Germany and not enough in Italy, France and England. But there seems to be so many good cities in Germany. Any input
Thanks!
2 months in Europe, focusing on England / Germany / Italy / France
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None of your one night stops make sense IMO. One night nets about 1/2 a day, sometimes less. So a lot of extra travel and expense for nothing much.
I don't think 16 days in Germany is necessarily too much - it's your choice - but you'd be wise to cut one or more of the megacities and spend some places that were spared in WW II where you can indulge your interests in architecture and history. Rothenburg is nice, if terribly touristy, but it actually takes only a day or maybe two tops, and it's not the only smallish place of interest. You really ought to take an outing to nearby Bamberg while you're in R'burg - fabulous old town. South of Hamburg, you might want to check out the Weserrenaissance buildings in Hameln and Rinteln, or the 700 half-timbered buildings in Hannoversch Münden.
http://www.bamberg.info/en/
http://www.hameln.com/tourism/sights/renaiss.htm
http://www.hann.muenden-tourismus.de/fileadmin/Mediendatenbank/PDF/Fremdsprachen_Flyer/english-complete-hannmuenden.pdf
Agree with janiaj - you haven;t allowed any time to get from one place to another - so you 1 days stops are really not stops at all - you will have only a couple of hours to see anything. As it is you are losing about 10 days to travel that you haven;t accounted for.
I really think you need to lay out your trip day by day - where you will start, what you will see and if you will be there that night of move on (and allow at least half a day to do it). Once you do that you will have a much better idea of what your trip should look like.
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Is it correct to ssume you have given great thought to the places you are going and have chosen them because of your own interests?
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My thoughts
Take out the rubbish
Brussels 1
Milan 2
Leichtenstein 1
Zurich 1
That gives you 5 days to play with. Not sure what you are missing in England that means Germany has so much but I suggest put 3 days in York in and spread the other 2 days in Florence and Amsterdam.
Then I'd make Florence into more of a day visits to Siena while making Dresden a day visit from Berlin and Antwerp could be a day trip from Amsterdam.
Finally, think about Frankfurt, I'd drop it and add to Luxembourg with one of those days being a day trip to Trier and another to Rheims.
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I 2nd the vote for Bamberg and for limiting Rotenberg. You won't need 3 days there. I also 2nd a stop in Amsterdam and leave off Milan.
As for Belgium, I'd take out Brussels but supplant it with Brugge. I find Brussels underwhelming but Brugge has so much character and history.
I couldnt agree more with bilboburgler about Frankfurt, drop it and add Trier, which we were stunned by. A day or 2 is enough there.
I'd also consider a 1-2 day stop in Salzburg over time in Zurich.