branderson925

Hi there friends! Back at it again with itinerary feedback requests.

I am looking to travel with Wow Airlines from Boston to Europe (Likely fly into Amsterdam or Copenhagen and back home from Paris) Just found out my work will be closed April 3rd - April 19th which would be a perfect length for my budget and would be enough time to really see a nice collection of places high on my list.

I know a lot depends on where the fly-in destination will be. I will be traveling with my girlfriend who loves to travel and like myself studied abroad in Europe for half a year. We share similar interests that sort of run the gamut but basically underlining our interest in history, culture, food and beverage! We also really like art and museums but would like to have a couple of particular outdoors sights in the mix. We also are pretty active and don't mind a heavy load (with some more leisurely days built in). We quite enjoy walking, hiking and bicycling would be great activity to repeat while exploring new cities. We are sort of low frills you could tell by our choice in airlines. We'd mostly be using hostels but perhaps some couch surfing and maybe one splurge hotel just to mix things up in perhaps one of the cheaper cities.

Below is a possible itinerary. I have been to Amsterdam before and could take it or leave THIS TIME AROUND, however my girlfriend's never been and I would not mind in the slightest. We both have not been to Copenhagen and I sort of love Scandinavia. We would be using mostly local trains, whichever's cheapast and maybe a budget flight or two via RyanAir or Easyjet. Also of note we particularly like eating and drinking a good bit. I am a sommelier so wine is kinda important. I would love to spend time in some wine region along the way. I just want to keep the trip practically planned and don't want to spend a fortune getting out to region without other related places on the "logical path". I know this isn't a huge amount of time but we willl back. We're only 25 and 22 respectively.

April 3 Fly from Boston - Copenhagen
April 4 - 6 Copenhagen (Train to Oslo)
April 7 - 8 Oslo
April 9 (Fly to Warsaw early am)
April 9 - 10 Warsaw
April 11 (Train to Krakow)
April 11 - 12 Krakow
April 13 Train to Budapest
April 13 - 15 Budapest
April 16 Fly to Paris
April 16 - 19 Paris (only I have been)

Neither of us have been to any of these cities but are familiar with central and eastern europe to a degree. These locations are not set in stone and are open to suggestions. We've been doing our research a bit and know we would find difficulty in finding places that disappoint.

Thanks for your help

annhig

mmm - there's not much here that's connected with your interest in wine, is there? as well as being quite expensive in itself, Scandinavia is very expensive when it comes to booze and has zilch to do with wine, and i'm not sure about Poland either.

Really only Budapest has wine connection which is a shame given your interests.

Personally I would try to fly into Berlin, then get the train to Dresden where you can cycle along the Elbe and explore Europe's most northerly wine region. Then get the train to Prague [more history] and end your trip in Budapest which is surrounded by vineyards.

There you have it - central/eastern Europe, history, hiking, cycling and wine!!

AND it'll be reasonably cheap, except perhaps in Prague where you could have your splurge.

dyoll

15 whole days (not counting arrival and departure).5 countries and 6 cities - an awful lot of your time is going to logistics. Krakow - Budapest is not easy by train. Even the shortest flight takes many hours with airport transfers, waiting time etc. Seems a lot of hopping around between far distant places.
More comfortable is overnight ferry between Copenhagen and Oslo. You save a night in hotel and an extra day for sightseeing. From Oslo do the Norway in a Nutshell route to Bergen to see the fjords.

Whathello

Yes, Scandiavia is quite expensive - Poland is not.
For the rest, I find this itinerary well balanced.

nytraveler

IMHO too fast for me - but if you have traveled before and it fits our needs OK.

However, Copenhagen and esp Oslo are very expensive and you may want to delay them until you have more money to spend.

I would substitute Berlin and Prague (both great for young people and also much less expensive).

Strongly suggest you lay the trip out day by day and insert actual travel times from bahn.de to see how little time you will have for doing/seeing things in each city.

limmy

I think Kraków-Budapest IS easy by train for someone short on time/cash since it's an overnight train. It doesn't eat any active time since you ride during sleeping hours and the cost of one night's hotel is taken care of with the ticket.

Branderson - given your interests & budget Budapest (with a trip into wine region) is a very good match. Extremely inexpensive, good arts scene, food & wine, history. If you end up cutting any stops (maybe Warsaw or Paris?) I think adding that time to Budapest will suit you well. If you like art you might love the Brody House hotel and their studio/performance space down the street
for something to do at night.

April might be a bit wet/cold for cycling but you could plan to hop on bikes for city exploring whenever you have nice days.