newfiedene

A friend and I are trying to plan an across-Europe road trip, and we want to rent a car for the voyage. We want to do a loop in the following order in about a month:

1. Paris
2. Gent, Belgium
3. Amsterdam, Netherlands
4. Berlin, Germany
5. Prague, Czech Rep.
6. Vienna, Austria
7. Croatia
8. Naples, Rome, Venice, Italy
9. Lucerne, Switzerland
10. Back to Paris,France

We were wondering what would be some great things to see and do and eat We are both active females in our 30's and this would be our first trip to these countries and probably our last.

Any insight would be appreciated.

dgassa

Although I didn't go to the places you're planning to go to, here are links to two trip reports I wrote on another the Slow Travel Web site. They could give you some help on planning you trip, finding places to stay, a budget and the like.

http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/tripreport.asp?tripid=1259

http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/tripreport.asp?tripid=1826

More detailed infomation on my blog;
2006 trip

http://www.gassawaysadventures.blogs...spring_12.html

2010 trip

http://www.gassawaysadventures.blogs...1_archive.html

Hope this helps in your planning.

StCirq

You won't have time to eat. Pack a month's worth of food in your luggage.

janisj

You have 10 countries (counting France twice) - and 10 specific cities where a car is next to useless - totally useless in some of them. All in 4 weeks. Just not sensible IMHO.

adrienne

You have 10 cities and 1 country in 30 days. Have you done the math? It's 2 days per location (traveling from one place to another will use up about a third of your month) so you won't have time to see much. It's not practical to ask people to post what to see and do for all these places.

If you're in your 30s how do you know that you'll never get back? That's a depressing thought that in the next 50 years you won't come back to Europe.

I agree that since you're only visiting cities a car would not be practical. You'll spend lots of money on gas and tolls and parking and spend lots of time trying to find places to park.

newfiedene

Instead of a car, would you recommend the train adreinne and janisj?

Yes, it is depressing adrienne, but sadly this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me

The reason France is in there twice is to fly in and out (to and from Canada), but I am thinking flying out of Italy would be easier thus removing the need to go back to France.

Thanks dgassa!

janisj

"<i>Instead of a car, would you recommend the train adreinne and janisj?</i>"

Yes - but it is still too many destinations over too wide an area.

"<i> I am thinking flying out of Italy would be easier thus removing the need to go back to France.</i>"

I assumed you had already booked your flights - apparently not. Yes, open jaw helps a lot. In to Paris and home from Italy (or where ever your last stop is. But still an LOT of moving/travel for 4-ish weeks. After a certain point, the more you move around the <i>less</i> you actually see. You spend half your time just moving from one hotel to the next.

dgassa

If I could offer one suggestion. Slow down, go to fewer places. You'll see more and enjoy it more. I guess that's two suggestions.

goldenautumn

newfiedene,

If you do some googling, you can find sample itineraries of one-month train trips through Europe. You can also find blogs of people who did them so you get some idea of what it is like to be rolling along like that, day in and day out.

Here is one example of a 3-week train voyage through Europe. You can see it is close to your original itinerary with some things you don't want but without any that you do. But since it is a 3 week itinerary, and you have 4 weeks, you can obviously mix and match:

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/desti...rope/eur22.htm

I'm not endorsing the above itinerary, just showing you how one pro put it together. You can find other ones in books and online.

Since you haven't already bought tickets, and if you are certain you want to see Amsterdam, Thinking about flying into Amsterdam first.

Also, you should definitely pick your own top destinations, but if I thought I could only go once in my lifetime see Europe, I wouldn't want to miss Athens. But like I said, it's your trip.

goldenautumn

Probably my description of the sample itinerary was unclear.

It contains some destinations you haven't mentioned and it doesn't have some that you say you want.

goldenautumn

Here's another 30-day sample itinerary that would be closer to my own interests than the one I linked to above, although I'd eliminate some cities:

http://www.statravel.com/sample-rail-itineraries.htm

goldenautumn

and this...

http://www.backpackeurope.com/tips/i...y/samples.html

fourfortravel

I went to Europe for the first time in my early 30's and savored every day of that week thinking I might never return. Now I'm in my 40's and have not only returned to Europe a few more times, I'm currently living here.

Slow down. Lob half the cities off of your wish list and have fun.

adrienne

<< Instead of a car, would you recommend the train >>

Absolutely. At the very least you'll arrive refreshed and ready to see the sights. You can read, nap, look out the window, get up and stretch. The train will put you in the center of cities and you can get a taxi, subway, or bus to your hotel.

For the long journeys pack a lunch that you can eat on the train.

I would fly from Croatia to Naples.

jane1144

Also, remember that, if you fly "open jaw" into one city and out of another (which you should IMHO), you would attract large drop-off fees for returning a rental car in a different country. You definitely do NOT want a car in most larger cities. Parking is a nightmare and very expensive when available. European train travel is a joy and will likely help with your budget as well.