jamikins

Keep in mind that two nights only equals 1 full day. With 7 locations you are going to lose 3.5 days in travel, and lose most of your arrival and departure days.

I think you are short changing London and Paris. I would drop one or two of the other locations and add the time to London and Paris...especially because you are likely to lose a day to jet lag in London...

ira

Hi AB,

You can slow down and enjoy your visit or come home with a blur in your mind.

For 1st timers I recommend
Fly into London for a week
Train to Paris for a week

then either visit Madrid, San Sebastian and Barcelona
OR
visit Venice, Florence and Rome

Enjoy your trip.

msteacher

It is not at all crazy to cut London if that is the city that least interests you. You definitely need to cut something, so if it must be London, so be it. Your latest itinerary which now includes Switzerland is a step backwards, in that you are now in 8 locations. Really too much traveling to actually experience and enjoy any of the places you visit. I think everyone here is advising you to get it down to at most 6 locations.

All of the places you mentioned are delightful in their own way, so you will enjoy whichever cities you choose. The real key is the time and expense involved in getting from one to another. So start looking at train and flight schedules to determine what makes sense... it often becomes clear which cities to visit once you have the actual facts about how easy or hard it is to get from place to place. Happy planning!

RoamEurope

I like IMDone's analogy and for a first trip, I think it is fair to try to do the "survey course" instead of the advanced. As such, I'm less inclined to advise a week per city than most here. Try a lot and then identify where you want to spend more time on your next trip. However, I think you need to mix 3 and 4 day stops at the very least... two will not cut it. Also you might look at overnight trains between your longer points, to see if you can combine sleep and travel as a way of maximizing your time.

And I also would drop Switzerland.

Jean

If you investigate the overnight train idea, make sure you note whether you'll have to change trains in the middle of the night. Sometimes these changes involve sitting around a train station for an hour or two when nothing's open. If the journey doesn't involve a change, but you're a light sleeper, take note of how many times the train will stop along the way. Some people can sleep through anything, but I find the arriving/departing noise and motion enough to wake me up and so I arrive sleep-deprived.

Lastly, if the O/N train arrives at the crack of dawn, investigate whether you can drop your luggage at your lodging. Many (most?) budget lodgings don't have 24/7 reception. Otherwise, you'll have to babysit your stuff for a couple of hours. Not a big deal, just have a plan.

abmamo

heres my proposed itinerary: Would love feedback thankyou again!

Day 1 Arrive in London
Day 2 Sight see in London
Day 3 Day in London
Day 4, London
Day 5 Train to paris
Day 6 Paris
Day 7 Versailles
Day 8 Paris
Day 9 Travel to Amsterdam
Day 10 Amsterdam
Day 11 Amsterdam
Day 12 Train to Berlin
Day 13 Berlin
Day 14 Berlin
Day 15 Train to Prague
Day 16 Prague
Day 17 Prague
Day 18 Prague
Day 19 Train to Budapest
Day 20 Budapest
Day 21 Budapest
Day 22 Train to Vienna
Day 23 Vienna, train to Venice
Day 24 Venice
Day 25 Venice
Day 26 Flight to Barcelona
Day 27 Barcelona
Day 28 Barcelona
Day 29 Barcelona
Day 30 Barcelona, fly home ☹

artsnletters

Are you thinking of taking the night train from Vienna to Venice? Because otherwise, you will have no time in Vienna at all, so you might as well just go straight from Budapest to Venice.

abmamo

Yeah after doing some research, it seems like all of the trains from Budapest to Venice stop in Vienna... I wasn't planning on going to Vienna but I figured if it stops there, I might as well get a day out of it

artsnletters

That's OK if you're taking the night train onward, but otherwise, you'll have just part of an afternoon and maybe a little part of a morning in Vienna, which doesn't seem worth the bother by the time you get from the train station to your hotel and back. Lot of hassle, no time to see the place.

With as long a trip as you'll have between Budapest and Venice, it probably makes most sense to fly.

abmamo

I definitely don't mind night trains.. actually hoping to do a lot by night so I can still soak in the day. I am an easy sleeper. Thanks for your advice!

adrienne

Budapest to Venice is such a long train ride 14 to 16 hours. You should consider flying.

You said that Paris is the most important city and you had planned to give it 5 days but I see that you're only allocating 2 days to Paris. You're giving more than 2 days to almost every other city.

abmamo

True. I am thinking of cutting Budapest all together to devote more time to Paris as well as Italy.

Day 1 Travel to London
Day 2-4 London
Day 5 Travel to Paris www.eurostar.com
Day 6-9 Paris
Day 10 Travel to Amsterdam www.thalys.com
Day 11-12 Amsterdam
Day 13 Travel to Berlin www.eurolines.com
Day 14-15 Berlin
Day 16 Travel to Prague www.bahn.de/en
Day 17-18 Prague
Day 19 Travel to Vienna
Day 20 Travel to Venice
Day 21-22 Venice
Day 23 Travel to Florence
Day 24 Florence
Day 25 Travel to Rome
Day 26-27 Rome
Day 28 Fly to Barcelona or ferry? www.vueling.com
Day 29-31 Barcelona
Day 32 Fly Home ☹

nytraveler

Well I went to europe the first time when I was 19 - with my boyfriend - and my late teen/early 20 daughters have been ging recently with friends or fiance - and all of us are much slower travelers than this.

Bouncing around may seem like a good idea - but if you are going to be out pubbing/clubbing most nights and up at 7 every am for full days of sightseeing you will be exhausted - and trying to see major cities in 3 days will - IMHO - leave you very dissatisfied.

You need to sit down now and determine what YOU want to see in each place. No point in going somewhere and missing the key sight because it's on the day it's closed - or you are too exhausted to see more than one sight.

Suggest you get a selection of guide books, a couple with pix and the Michelin green guides (which tell you how long it takes to see a sight (you CANNOT do Notre Dame or the Tower of London in 30 minutes - that is just a walk by.)

Then start with what you must see and how it its together.

And don;t forget that a large part of visiting europe is to sit in a cafe or bier garten and watch the world go by fr an hour or two. Plus some of these cities are very large and just getting from one sight to another can easily ake 30 or 45 minutes.

You are young and can return many times. Travel to get at least a little flavor of a few places instead of trying to rush through too many places and making a tour of airports and train stations. (My younger D and friends made 8 stops in 6 full weeks 2 summers ago. And that wasn;t stopping other places in between the main ones. And they want to return almost everywhere to see more.)

The other point is that all that travel is expensive - and you can rakc up thousands of $ in costs easily. Have you run a budget for this yet - looking at european versus US costs?

Hans

abmamo, what are you looking for?

If you want to go mainly for culture, it's something different than some culture plus nightlife.

And how important is money?

Berlin, Prague and Budapest are comparably cheap and you'll have a lot of fun.

I also loved the nightlife in Barcelona but I'd make sure to be there in the weekend since it starts really late. Which also means no flying out on Sunday.

Paris and London are huge cities and they're quite expensive.

Venice is impressive but it's really mainly about the sight-seeing.

I really liked your London-Paris-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague-Budapest-Vienna-Venice-Barcelona itinerary but would think about cutting out one of the cities to have some days you can assign to whatever place you want to stay a few days longer.

If money matters, I'd kill London, Paris or Venice.

abmamo

Hans thanks so much. Money is obviously important but I would rather enjoy my time in a city than worry too much and miss out on certain activities. Would it be ok to go to Barcelona during the week? I think we were going to go right smack dab in the middle of the week and leave on that friday.

A blend of culture/museums/art & history paired with going out and enjoying the night scene is important to me. I think I might cut out Amsterdam.

Which destination in Italy would you chose? I have read Venice is such an experience and truly amazing. Will there be other travelers looking to meet people and go out at night or should I go to Florence instead? Thanks again!

Day 1 Travel to London
Day 2-4 London
Day 5 Afternoon train to Paris
Day 6-8 Paris
Day 9 Versailles
Day 10 Spend the day in Paris, Night train to Berlin
Day 11-13 Berlin
Day 14 Afternoon trip to Prague via Train
Day 16-17 Prague
Day 18 Spend the day in Prague, night train to Budapest
Day 19-21 Budapest
Day 22 Train to Vienna
Day 23 Spend the day in Vienna, sleeper train to Venice
Day 24-27 Venice (possible day trip to Florence?)
Day 28 Fly to Barcelona
Day 29-31 Barcelona
Day 32 Fly Home ☹

colduphere

Fascinating thread.

adrienne

The latest itinerary is looking better. Venice is like no where else - it's magical.

I think Florence deserves more than a day trip from Venice as you'll spend about 5 hours commuting. You could add a day to Vienna.

Better to see the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua and explore Padua from Venice (about a half hour from Venice) and use Venice for some down time, just wandering around. This is a town that is definitely eye candy. The outer islands will take some time, especially if you go to Burano and Torcello. That's most of a day since it's a long boat trip.

If you stay in hostels you'll meet other young people looking to team up for sightseeing, a meal, or clubbing. Lots of people in hostels are on their own.

abmamo

Thanks colduphere! I am really enjoying all of the responses and feedback. This is just so exciting. Adrienne, if I were to add a day in florence, do you have any advice on where I should cut out? Also, is it common/easy to fly from Florence to Barcelona or perhaps Venice to Barcelona?

Blaise22

I have been to all the cities you are considering except Amsterdam, Berlin and Barcelona. I think two days is plenty for Prague, Vienna or Budapest. But I would spend at least five days and preferably longer in London or Rome. And I would spend a minimum of a week in Paris. There are just too many great things to do and see there that I really think you will regret it if you do less than that.

Hez

Having been to all the places you are looking at, bar Barcelona, I'm utterly perplexed as to why you would cut out Amsterdam if you're looking for "A blend of culture/museums/art & history paired with going out and enjoying the night scene is important to me." I would cut out Budapest & Vienna based on that.