teamcassius

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are heading to Europe this July-August for approximately 5 weeks. We have just started thinking about where we want to go and are looking for ideas to get us started on our plans. My girlfriend is interested in visiting some of the smaller towns and getting more of a feel for the cultures. She loves the idea of getting up and going to sit in a coffee shop each morning. While I also like the sounds of this, I am also interested in seeing some of the architecture and main attractions as I have never been to Europe. I am also a big nature lover, so beaches or hikes are right up my alley.

Do you have an awesome route that would incorporate bits of all of this that we should consider? The only catch is that we need to be in London July 27-28 for an event. Otherwise, we are open to any and all suggestions and we aren't entirely sure what is realistic in 5 weeks. We are thinking of trying to stay mostly in AirBnBs if that helps at all.

A couple of our vague ideas so far are:

1) Start in Portugal and make our way London.
2) Start in Poland and make our way to London.

Has anyone made a similar journey to either of these?

We are looking for any and all ideas to get us started. Thanks!

burta

In five weeks you have adequate time to start at either end and make your way to London, but probably not to include both ends (Portugal and Poland) since these are quite far apart and will take a lot of your time just transiting. I am most familiar with Western Europe and can suggest starting in Lisbon and working your way north, then into Spain, and France. If this is your first time to Europe, you may want to see the major cities: Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, and London. In between you can see the beaches and small towns you are interested in. You can make your way north with a combination of rental car, buses, and trains. Just know that there is a substantial charge for picking a rental car up in one country and dropping it off in another. So if you do rent a car, plan to use it within a country, and drop it off before crossing the border into another country.

If you let us know what your budget is, the experienced travelers on this forum will be more helpful to you.

teamcassius

Thanks for responding! Our budget is flexible but we heard around 200EUR per day for each of us can be done. Please let us know if we are crazy and need to spend more or less. So I guess that puts us close to 8,000EUR for the trip not including our flights to and from Europe.

StCirq

200€ per day for each of you (assuming that means 400€ a day for the two of you) would be extravagant for us. We travel a LOT in Europe (we live here) and can easily get by, and enjoy good food (with the occasional splurge) and wine, museums, trains, and accommodations, on about 150-200€ a day (or less) for both of us. To give you a (very) recent example, we just came home today from spending 2 days (one night) in Sarlat in the Périgord. Our accommodations (nice apartment) were 60€, breakfast (Continental) yesterday and today were each 7€ for the two of us; lunch yesterday and today were 22-25€ each for the two of us; dinner last night at one of our favorite bistros was 26€ (including 1/4 of a pichet of Pécharmant) for two. Add in the two times we stopped for a café crème at 4.50€ for two, and the one time we stopped for a beer each (6.50€ total) and the Irish coffee we each had today because it was freezing cold (14€ for two), and there you have it except for gas (maybe 10€ back and forth to our house) and the tour guide of London that I bought at a bookstore (7.15€).

Granted, it's February, when prices are low, and we didn't take trains or visit any attractions, but maybe this will give you some idea of prices, at least in France, which is not a cheap country. We also spent 10 days in Hungary and Slovakia in October, including trains, for under 2,000€, including sightseeing and train travel and food and accommodations.

If you're willing to do a LOT of research (and I am), you can travel well but very affordably in Europe.

shelemm

I would do a three week circle of Krakow, Prague, Vienna with renting a car, seeing villages and countryside along the way. Then train or flight to the Netherlands and tour there for a week, and then go to London. All places are magnificent and very, very different from one another.

PalenQ

Trains are fantastic and most are want to go to famous large cities their first trip -places where cars are a boondoggle - many city centres now restricting private vehicles-parking can be expensive and public transit so so excellent.

For ideas on train trips and itineraries check www.budgeteuropetravel.com (especially their online European Planning & Rail Guide with suggested rail itineraries in lots of countries; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

And if taking several longer trains take a look at railpasses - if under 26 you can get the bargain Youth Eurailpasses or Youth country passes (like for Switzerland a really good deal the Swiss Pass).

Poland to London would give you more variety of countries than perhaps Portugal to London:

some places to chose from:

Poland - Warsaw- Krakow
Budapest
Prague
Vienna
Salzburg
Munich
Around Germany
Amsterdam
Belgium
Paris then Eurostar 'Chunnel' train to London.

Masterphil

Lots of places to hike, but my favorites by far are the Dolomites (stayed in Ortisei) and Bernese Oberland (stayed in Grindelwald). I like the list of cities PalenQ has posted, specifically Prague, Vienna, Salzburg. Brugge, Belgium was nice, but the rest of Belgium didn't do much for me. I'm heading to Krakow this year, so I can't comment on it, but I heard good things. For me, doing all of the research is at least half the fun, if not more! Try to find the big cities you definitely want to see, then find the smaller places you want to see, then play around with train schedules, flights, etc. to see what is feasible and what is not. It's a big puzzle, but lots of fun to figure out. You are going to Europe! You can't make many mistakes. Have fun!

suze

400 euro per day for a couple is PLENTY!

I would simply get a map of Europe, pin it to the wall, and start thinking about what places appeal most to each of you. Get that combination of her wants and yours together... some city stops, some countryside.

5 weeks is not as long as you think once you get moving. I wouldn't plan on more than 7 places to stop.

teamcassius

Thanks everyone! I realize I made a typo and I meant I heard 200Eur per day for each of us is a good budget. Sounds like you agree StCirq.

I appreciate the route and city suggestions. We are going to spend the next few days researching to try to narrow down where we might want to go. I'll post again when we have a rough idea and would be happy to hear some suggestions.

PalenQ

Again don't be too ambitious - 3-4 days in each major city and a day between them.

PalenQ

meant 3-4 days at least in each major city.

PalenQ

I meant I heard 200 Euro per day for each of us is a good budget>

You could do a lot less... or a lot more. Hotels and restaurant/food choices are key.

teamcassius

Thanks again everyone! We have taken your advice and have started to dwindle down our choices. At the moment, we are thinking of starting our journey in Switzerland. Let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas about the following route. In between each city/town, I have accounted for a travel day. Should I give more or less time anywhere based on your experiences? I'm considering scratching Zermatt.

1) Flight into Geneva - 3 full days
2) Train to Zermatt - 2 full days
3) Train/Gondola to Murren - 3 full days
4) Train to Lucerne - 3 full days
5) Train to Zurich - 2 full days
6) Flight to Poland ~6 full days between Warsaw and Krakow
7) Flight to London - 5 days

ssander

My thoughts:

Lisbon
fly to Madrid
train to Barcelona
fly to Rome
train to Florence
train to Venice
fly to Paris
Eurostar to London

ssander