30 day europe trip HELP!

Old Oct 2nd, 2014, 02:02 PM
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30 day europe trip HELP!

Hello all,

I am from new york, i am looking to do a 30 day tour of europe. Some places i would like to visit are santorini, athens, mykonos. from there i would like to go up the coast to croatia, cross over to italy start in milan and work my way down italy, cross over from sicily to ibiza. I m not sure if this route makes sense. Also i do not know how much time in each place i need to spend and how long it takes to get to each place. How do i book hotels? do i book it in advance or hen i get there ? how do i know where to book the hotel? and for what days ? how many days in each ? how do i get from one place to another? SOMEONE HELP!

thanks
jonna is offline  
Old Oct 2nd, 2014, 02:35 PM
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how do i get from one place to another?>

well by train or bus or boat or bike or foot for starters.

Fly into Athens and then either take the frequent boats from Piraeus, Athens port - many overnight boats or fly- fly to the farthest one out - Santorini I think then boat to Mykonos and Athens - I did this once and also hit some other islands island hopping to Athens.

When are you going - makes a big difference - winter I assume as you are going to the warmest weather places in Europe (Crete is a larger Greek island that is usually warm and very fascinating).

From Greece to Croatia can also be done by boat - from Igoumnitsa or Patras on teh west coast - I assume you are going along the Croatian Coast as sites like Dubrovnik and Split are there - if going inland to Zagreb, etc then you can take the newly re-opened or soon to reopen rail service or fo curse bus (or always fly).

Work your way by bus or boat (in season coastal ferries go practically to Triest) - hit Trieste then bop over to Venice - trains are best from Trieste to Venice and onto Milan and onto Rome.

From Italy you can also take an overnight ferry to Barcelona (saves cost of a hotel and has the trappings of a cruise ship) or if possible from Sicily to Ibiza as you say.

There is no railpass of use to you as your trains are limited. For lots of great stuff on European trains I always spotlight these superb IMO sources - www.seat61.com; www.budgetueropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com - for train schedules all over Europe check www.bahn.de/en - the German Railways web portal for schedules that I and many find the easiest to use - great for planning purposes.

Inside each country usually the national rail system offers nice discounts if you like to lock yourself into a specific train weeks or months in advance to get as those tickets are sold in limited numbers and are hard or impossible to change or refund.

30 days is certainly ambitious for such a wide-ranging trip - you may want to dwell this time on Greece and Italy.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2014, 02:36 PM
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You are planning to cover a lot of territory in your 30 days. You have a lot of research to do.

First, you need to decide the places you most want to see. Make sure you are giving yourself enough time in each pif those places. How to decide? You need to know that it takes time to get from place to place from cheek out of one hotel to check in at your next will take up at least half a day, and often, most of a day. So if you want three days in a place, you need to spend four nights there. Take a look at some guidebooks to help you see what is in the various places you want to see. Also look at the destinations section at the very top of this page, as it has a lot of info that is in the Fodors guidebooks.

Generally, you will be taking the train or flying from place to place except for the greek island where you amy want to take ferries. Take a look at www.seat61.com for info on trains.

Do you need to book hotels ahead? That depends on the time of year you are traveling, but generally, yes. Otherwise you may waste a lot of time trying to find a place to stay. The guidebooks can help you decide where you want to stay in terms of area.

When is your trip?

I know the research can seem overwhelming, but it is the way to plan a trip. You'll learn, then you'll know how to plan your next trip.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2014, 02:55 PM
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This is where some good guide books would help.
For such a beginner, get two for each country. I actually think a Rick Steves might be good for you, but also get one other. Start by reading through some in the book store.

Read about places you want to see and figure how much time it will take to visit those sights. Consider that you will have to take metro, bus, taxi, or walk to get to some of the sights. Add that to your time.
Read trip reports and similar questions on this forum.

Type in questions in a search engine like: how to get from Athens to Santorini and you will get lots of answers.

Look up info in the destinations forum here.

When do you wish to go?
What is your budget?
What are your interests: major sights, museums, ruins, food, partying, etc?
Book multi-city flights, into first country, out of last.
Book hotels on line yourself.
Cheap flights from city to city within Europe are sometimes best, saving time and money, but other times, train city center to city center saves time because there is little time getting there or waiting for security.

You need to do a lot of research yourself before people can give you much specific advice.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2014, 03:13 PM
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wow thank you guys so much. I plan on going in june 2015 and need to get a move on this fast. I think it may be a better idea to stick with greece and italy makes more sense I will start re searching the forums on here for starters thank you all for the help !
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Old Oct 2nd, 2014, 06:56 PM
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Look through some guidebooks at your local library or bookstore to see which seem most helpful for your purposes, keeping in mind that you might find different ones helpful as you proceed with your plans. For example, you might want to look at the National Geographic Traveler or Eyewitness or Insight Guides -- all with great pictures -- to get started, and then switch to, say, Fodor's or Frommer's when you are ready to begin prioritizing, and finallly the Rough Guide or Lonely Planet or Moon Guide when you are ready to make detailed plans. Enjoy!
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Old Oct 3rd, 2014, 03:37 AM
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I've planned multiple month long trips. I'm pretty organized so here's my approach. I use an excel spreadsheet. I list the dates down the side. For each day I list the city, the hotel, the mode of transportation and the activity I plan to do. Then I research each place I want to visit. Some websites actually say things like "allow 3 hours for your visit", etc. Then I go through a "mock" booking. I pick hotels, transport, etc. I list the cost and the arrival and departure times. That will give you a good idea if what you want to do is achievable, both in terms of cost and time. Sometimes, in doing the research I have to add or subtract a day and sometimes I just have to cut things out due to lack of time. Once I'm happy with it, I think about it for a while and then I start booking. I also look at other people's photos to see if I want to go to certain places. Hope that helps.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2014, 05:52 AM
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Good plan to just stick with Italy and Greece. You will get to see and experience a lot of both countries in a month, yet will still leave feeling like there's so much yet left to explore. Happy planning!
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Old Oct 3rd, 2014, 08:38 AM
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While 30 days may seem like a lot of time to most people, in fact it is no time at all when you are thinking of all of Europe. That's the first mistake.

Europe is not a country, it is many countries. Whatever your home country is jonna, think in terms of 30 days to see the entire country. Now think in terms of seeing more than 1 of your home country. How far would 30 days go?

I think 30 days is a decent amount of time to visit any ONE country in Europe. It's more than enough to not end up doing the 'If this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium' that the typical tourist 'seeing Europe' does.

There is as much to see and do in Greece (just as an example, you can pick any other country in Europe and say the same) as there is in all of the USA or Canada or Australia. It is this thinking of 'Europe' as if it were one country that gets people saying, '30 day tour of Europe.'

If you want to visit 5 cities in 5 different countries in Europe in a month, then that is possible. You are only going to visit those 5 cities, NOT visit those 5 countries. The point being, you need to decide what you really want to do and what your expectations are. Spending 3 days on Mykonos, 2 days on Santorini and 3 nights in Athens is NOT the same at all as spending the entire month in Greece. One is a superficial 'tasting' while the other is a drinking the whole bottle of wine experience.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2014, 10:41 AM
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Italy and Greece at that time of year makes a lot of sense and a more relaxed trip than traversing the whole Mediterranean.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2014, 12:56 PM
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In 30 days you could also easily include a bit of Turkey - Istanbul and Ephesus (ancient Troy) and then from Kudasi or other coastal town take the short boat ride over to the nearest Greek island - Kos I think (I did this years ago) and then work your way thru some islands to Athens - then take any overnight ferry from Patras to any of several Italian towns - including Venice - and explore Italy - ending up in Rome - southern Italy to me is much more interesting than anything north of Florence and at that time of year much nicer weather.
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