BeanSC

Visit Europe in April 2012 for a month trip. Tentatively this is my plan, please let me know is this possible to happen and make sense to you. If you have any information about my journey from destination to destination please feel free to share with me, thanks.

April
01 - Arrive Amsterdam (Netherlands) morning
02 - Amsterdam
03 - Amsterdam to Brussels (Belgium)
04 - Brussels to Frankfurt (Germany) via Luxembourg
05 - Frankfurt to Schwarzwald Black Forest (Germany)
06 - Black Forest to Zurich (Switzerland)
07 - Zurich
08 - Zurich to Geneva (Switzerland)
09 - Geneva
10 - Geneva to Salzburg (Austria) - Overnight train, coach or fly??
11 - Salzburg
12 - Salzburg to Vienna (Austria)
13 - Vienna
14 - Vienna to Venice (Italy)
15 - Venice
16 - Venice to Milan (Italy)
17 - Milan
18 - Milan to Pisa/Florence (Italy)
19 - Florence to Rome (Italy)
20 - Rome
21 - Rome fly to Lisbon (Portugal)
22 - Lisbon
23 - Lisbon
24 - Lisbon to Sintra (Portugal)
25 - Sintra to Porto (Portogal)
26 - Porto
27 - Porto to Madrid (Spain)
28 & 29 - Madrid
30 - Madrid to Barcelona (Spain) till May 4 leave Barcelona at night.

ira

Hi bean,

16 venues in 30 days?

Before you go, check with your doctor to make sure that you won't have a hear attack about 1/2 way through.

franco

One day in Florence, one and a half days in Rome? Why even bother going there? Rome is the most interesting place on this planet, you could easily spend your entire 30 days there, and you want to make do with one and a half days?

janisj

every time you move from one place to another takes a minimum of 1/2 a day and sometimes a <u>full</u> day. Plus your first day and last day are pretty much 'non-sightseeing' days. So go back over your whole itinerary and see how little time you have in some places.

Then cut way back on the number of destinations -

BeanSC

Ira - Thanks for your advice.

Franco - Florence visit because of The Mall outlet which my friend would like to visit. What is the sightseeing I should not miss in Rome?

Janisj - Agreed with your travel time, thanks for your suggestion.

WomBatt

Sorry - you are likely from the Americas or Australasia and need to understand this is not a small area and what is involved transport wise.

WomBatt

Above at the same time as you posted, hope you will get a grip.

BeanSC

WomBatt - No, I'm not from America or Australia. I'm from Asia.

Wa145nzJeffery

April will have holidays on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday and the first Monday in May is a holiday in most of Europe. You need to check that your transport is running and what the timetable will be as it will be a restricted service at best.

Wa145nzJeffery

Just checked - Good Friday is April 6th, Easter Sunday April 8th and the following day April 9th are all public holidays. If you leave on May 4th you will miss the may day holiday.

nytraveler

My head is spinning!

What you have here is a very extenisve tour of the train stations of europe - since you won;t hve time to see anything else. IMHO even on a very quick basis a large city needs 4 nights (3 days) and a smaller one 3 nights (2 days) to see anything. If you want yuo can stay longer in central larger cities and do a day trip or two verus bouncing around like a ping pong ball.

Suggest you go to the bahn.de web site to check out train schedules - to see why - in many plaes - you will have only 3 or 4 hours to acutally see anything.

AWE8

As many have already said before me, your current schedule is a bit of a waste of your trip. You're basically going to be running the whole time and not seeing or really experiencing anything except the inside of train stations and crowds. I suggest that you cut down the number of cities and actually ENJOY the time you spend in each one because if all you want to do is see the main tourist attractions and not do anything else, then you might as well just look at a picture on the internet

PalenQ

Are you going by train - I suppose so since you are mainly going to big cities (like normal first-time tourists are understandly wanting to do - cities they have heard about all their lives) - cities where cars are a complete hassle and you could not cover as much ground driving as on trains that now roll along at speeds of nearly 200 mph in many countries. OK even if doing half of the original idea - a good compromise IMO then some kind of railpass may interest you since you will still be traveling a lot on trains - and check out these fantastic IMO sites to help plan the rail portion - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com. And for train schedules all over Europe I always use the Wunderbar IMO www.bahn.de or German Railways online schedules that covers all European trains it seems - and do not forget the scores of overnight trains linking hundreds of European cities - can relocated from one corner of Europe to another at night - saving travel time and the cost of a night's accommodation to boot.

PalenQ

Good Friday is April 6th, Easter Sunday April 8th and the following day April 9th are all public holidays>

and the week before and after Easter is a hectic travel time in places like Italy and even all over Europe as many Europeans and school kids have two weeks holidays then.
Book hotels early if traveling then!

mari5

Transportation IS certainly part of the "European experience"(mingling with the people and learing how things are "done" in Europe)...,..HOWEVER you do have a very agressive schedule planned., and you might want to revise some parts in order to SEE a little more of the places you REALLY want to see. Yes,, it's hard choosing,, but in the long run I think you'll have a much better quality trip.

BeanSC

Wa145nzJeffery - Thanks for your holidays information.

nytraveler - Thanks for the website suggestion.

AWE8 - Thanks for your suggestion.

PalenQ - Yes, will travel by train most of the time. Thanks for the website link and suggestion.

PalenQ - Yup, half of the accommodation booked.

mari5 - Thanks for the kind suggestion.

chapla

My suggestion is to print off a map of Europe w/cities.Then eliminate at least 6 or more. A month sounds like a long time but moving from place to place and touring is very tiring. You do need some down time-Easter weekend would be good to relax for a few days because many places will be closed.

janisj

"<i>Easter weekend would be good to relax for a few days because many places will be closed.</i>" . . . And those that aren't closed will be very crowded

Sassafrass

You could do your trip as planned. It is physically possible, though you would not see much of anything.

Have you been to Europe before and seen many of the major sights? If not, I am wondering about your choice of places to visit. I know everybody has different interests, but I must say, many of your choices are not on most people's list of first of even second visits to Europe. On the other hand, with your schedule, you won't have time to visit them either. I am not being sarcastic, but realisitc.

"Florence visit because of the Mall outlet". On this one, I am just shaking my head. It is not that people aren't different and you can enjoy malls in different countries, but it is somewhat sad because it is the only reason given for visiting Florence.

PalenQ

What kind of places will be closed on Easter weekend? Not sure but do know that anything the average tourist will be interested in will be open - museums, sites, etc - some stores and restaurants I guess could be closed but for tourist things being closed not a factor IME.