abmamo

Hi everyone! I have finally consolidated an organized trip to Europe. I would like to hear anyone's opinions and advice with this trip! I am about to graduate college and planning a trip in May with my two friends. We only have a month and want to see a lot of culture/museums/beautiful architecture but also go out at night. Advice welcome! Thanks

London>Paris>Amsterdam>Berlin>Prague>Venice>Florence>Barcelona

Day 1 Travel to London
Day 2-5 London
Day 6 Afternoon train to Paris (2 hour 30 min)
Day 7-9 Paris
Day 10 Versaille
Day 11 Spend the day in Paris, Train to Amsterdam
Day 12-13 Amsterdam
Day 14 Train to Berlin (6 hours)
Day 15-17 Berlin
Day 18 Train to Prague www.bahn.de/en (4 hours 40 min)
Day 19-21 Prague
Day 22 Fly to Venice
Day 23-24 Venice
Day 25 Travel to Florence
Day26-27 Florence (3 hours)
Day 28 Fly to Barcelona (1h 30 min)
Day 29-31 Barcelona
Day 32 Fly Home

Hans

That's also a good itinerary though, judging from your other threat, probably not the last

I think all the cities you included now as well as the one you left out from your wish list are very interesting. It's in my opinion not really possible to say which of them is "better".

I think the number of cities you included is reasonable. Don't add another one without dropping one from the current list.

Barcelona is a little bit out of the way (as Budapest would have been). But personally I wouldn't advice against Barcelona if you can get a cheap flight.

Venice is a special place but during the tourist season also very crowded. If you travel during the season, I personally would prefer Rome but I'm sure many people will disagree.

If I was you, I wouldn't continue to play with the itinerary but instead check accomodations, flights etc. and look at the costs. If you see that you're within budget, then everything is fine. If not, you might think about exchanging one of the more expensive places with a cheaper one as Budapest.

I don't want to advise dropping a place where you really want to got to. But if there are two places which seem similarly attractive, then going for the cheaper one makes sense in my opinion. It's nice to be able to afford a more centrally located accomodation or a nice restaurant or not to worry too much about the costs of going clubbing.

jgg

I think Hans gave excellent advice. I agree that it would be helpful to look up pricing for trains/planes/accomodations to each location to be sure that all fits in your budget. I know some people might say you're moving too fast, and of course it's easy to spend a week in London, Paris and many other locations you mentioned. But OTOH, though as a family we have always done slower travel, my daughter studied last year in Rome, and I know they did a lot of quick travel - even did Dublin, Brussels and Paris in less than a week, so I get that you want to move quickly. Also, in your itinerary you gave the whole day for traveling which was very wise - often people count the travel day as a sightseeing day as well, and that often doesn't happen. I think overall you have given a decent amount of time to each city.

For accommodations be sure and consider apts - use VRBO and airbnb. To look up hotels in your price range use booking.com and put in your price parameters. Also, consider hostels. My daughter found some to be not too bad.

Bamaman

The first and last day of any European trip are unproductive days. Every day you move to another city is also included. That would be 9 days out of 32 days, and 21 days to see 8 places is too difficult. Your trip would just be a blur.

It'd be nice to see so many places on one trip, but your trip would be more efficient if you'd limit it to cities that are closer to each other.
You could fly into Paris and take the Eurostar to London. (9 days total.)
Then, fly on cheap budget air carrier to Budapest and take a train to Vienna, Prague and Munich. (16 days)
Or, fly to Rome and take a train up to Florence and Venice (10 days.)
Then fly on Vueling over to Barcelona.

These are just suggestions. I've been to all these cities but Barcelona, and they're all worthy of 4 day stays each.

Aramis

abmamo;

Routing is excellent, 3 days minimum in every stop, 4 days in most of the cities which skew to the younger crowd for nightlife, except Amsterdam. where you have 3.

You have all the advice you need - start planning your accommodation.

You will probably be told by some that you are moving too fast, or spending too much time in the cities and foregoing the countryside and smaller towns, but you are you, not them, and I'm sure you are aware that Europe is not all big cities. You have chosen what appeals to you and they aren't taking the trip.

Sassafrass

Time wise, pretty good plan.

It is terribly heavy on cities, but they are all interesting, and that may be your personal interest. You might be able to squeeze in a day trip here or there to some smaller town or village, and that might be interesting for you.

Logistically, Rome would be a better fit than Barcelona, and unless you have a big interest in seeing Gaudi's work, Rome is, IMHO, more interesting and exciting. You will already be so close to Rome. It just makes sense in this trip.

Whatever you do, with the planning you are doing, it looks like you are well on your way to a great trip.

abmamo

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I made some minor tweaks but my friends and I have finally committed to a schedule. My biggest reservation is not doing a smaller city but I really don't know where I could fit that in Recommendations would be appreciated! I have done some calculations, and with the rate of $40/night of a hostel as a temporary number, I have calculated that total trains/flights/hostels will be around $2600 which is on par for budget and leaves the rest for food/travel/museum fees and other expenses.

May 6 Travel to London
May 7-10 London
May 11 Train to Paris
May 12-14 Paris
May 15 Versailles
May 16 Train to Amsterdam
May 17-18 Amsterdam
May 19 Night train to Berlin
May 20-22 Berlin
May 23 Train to Prague
May 24-25 Prague
May 26 Fly to Rome
May 26-29 Rome
May 30 Train to Florence
May 31-1 Florence
June 1 Fly to Barcelona
June 2-5 Barcelona
June 6 Fly Home

Sassafrass

Oh, no! You gave up Venice? Well, guess you can save one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in the world for another time.

Form London, you could do a day trip to Bath, or a number of other smaller cities. It would be a long day, but a nice change from London.

You could use one of your Florence days to see Sienna or Luca and Pisa.

There are several interesting things for easy day trips from Rome to have a small city or country experience.

The nice thing about day trips - you don't have to plan ahead, just decide when you are there if you want to do any.

Sassafrass

BTW, your choices are good for night life.

abmamo

Awesome! Thanks Sassafrass... good to know I don't have to plan too far ahead another time. And I know! I am bummed about Venice... it looks so magical and beautiful. But I definitely hoping to go with someone special sometime it just looks so romantic.

danlev

You made a great choice, swapping Venice for Rome on this trip. Myself I would have sacrificed Barcelona but it sounds like that's a must-see for you, so go for it. And it is definitely a party town. But you will not regret going to any of these places! And you are wise in how you've allocated the number of days in each.

Sassafrass

I almost said you could save it for a honeymoon trip, but you never know how things might be taken, so I erased it. So, you have something very special to look forward to someday. Venice is magical and very romantic at night to walk around with only the sound of water and your footsteps, but not much in the way of nightlife. Barcelona is more fun. You will enjoy it!

Aramis

Have you compared the relative cost of flying PRG-ROM and then FLR-BCN with PRG-FLR and then ROM-BCN? Rome to Barcelona is generally a pretty cheap fare - I'm not sure whether it is the same from Florence.

Whichever pair is cheaper might drive whether you choose to fly into Rome or Florence unless you have other logistical reasons for the order.

dvillegas

Hi

As you plan to book on the fly and short of budget I recommend you to check, for accommodation:

www.airbnb.com
www.infohostal.com

Those are the main sources for hostels and cheap accommodation