20 free days of Europe
 

Hi Guys,

I am new to this forum, and would really love to ask your opinion on my next trip to Europe on the 6 of Feb 2017 until 26 February 2017

my purpose on this trip is for my honeymoon with my soon to be wife ( getting married on October 15 2016 ) and to watch my favorite Football team Ajax Amsterdam. but i really need some ideas..

so let me explain what i have in mind.

My trip will begin at Amsterdam on the 6th of Feb 2017. but since the game is on the 12th, i will go to Hague, Delft Town, and Rotterdam until 10th before i move back to Amsterdam to watch the game.

Then from Amsterdam i will fly to Hamburg on the 13th. how long should i stay in Hamburg?

from Hamburg, i will probably visit Berlin ( again, how many days? ) then from Berlin maybe go to Dresden, and from Dresden, to Prague. and from Prague, to Vienna, then Salzburg and my final destination will be on Munich. because i will fly back to my home country from Munich.

i know it's a tight schedule for 16 days ( minus 4 days because of plane and trains )

can you guys help me plan or narrow down the itinerary? because actually the main city me and my fiancee would like to visit is Germany, Czech and Austria, but since we only have a flight to Amsterdam from Indonesia on the 6th, i will spend almost a week in Netherlands alone..

please advice!

Sincerely,
Wilson

i cant find the edit button, basically i would like to add up that, the game of Ajax vs Sparta Rotterdam is on the 12th of Feb, so that is why i kill the time by going to Hague and Rotterdam,

is there any other better place to be while i kill the time until 10th of Feb around the city of Amsterdam?

Just for train info -check www.bahn.de/en - the German Railways site for schedules and deep discounted tickets involving Germany if you book way in advance - for general info check www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Unless you have a personal reason to go to Hamburg I would cut that one off and go directly to Berlin where there is no much to see and do. Hamburg is nice but lots of cities are nice and you have to trim a bit

I'd maybe do Dresden as a few-hour stop Berlin to Prague by train - put bags in station locker and everything is a short walk from the station.

If wanting to hop any train anytime look at the Eurail Select Railpass

It might be sunny, but Feb is usually the coldest month in The Netherlands, perhaps in most of Europe, so be prepared with very, very warm layers of clothes, gloves, scarves, etc.
Haarlem is a lovely town closer to Amsterdam.

Where does your bride want to go on her honeymoon?

Haarlem, Leiden and Utrecht are other interesting cities to have a look. When the weather is fine (cold and sunny) go to the Zaanse Schans for its open-air windmill museum. Use www.ns.nl/en/journeyplanner/#/
As PalenQ advised, skip Hamburg. You've got precious little time for all you want to see. There is no need for flying from Amsterdam to Germany. It's a relaxing 6 hours on the train to Berlin. Not much longer than by plane, if you take into account the time for getting to and from the airport, checking in, etc.

Haarlem to me is a real gem- Amsterdam like canals- a lively regional town- great market square with church and belfry - I now stay in Haarlem instead of Amsterdam - much cheaper and a real Dutch town vs cosmopolitan that Amsterdam and Haarlem has superb rail links to all the places you mention and tonfromleiden mentions.

I really like the B&B I stay in in Haarlem- right in the town center on a canal - Bot B&B:

http://www.botbedbreakfast.com/

Stay in Amsterdam too after the game but Haarlem is a great place if day tripping mainly.

Thanks everyonefor all the reply, seems like almost everyone are telling me to skip Hamburg, well to be honest, i haven't really research much on Hamburg, the reason i included Hamburg on my itinerary is because i plan to move up North from amsterdam, all the way to the south into Austria before making my final stop to Munich.

most of the forum says to skip Bremen, so the only big city after Bremen is Hamburg, which is why i include Hamburg.

so if i skip Hamburg and go directly to Berlin from Amsterdam, is there any of the side stop you would recommend? because it will be a 6 hour train ride?

because if isee the map, i will be passing Hannover and Wolfsburg. should i make a day stop at any of the two?.

if i skip Hamburg, i think i might be able to spend more time in Vienna which is what my fiancee wants @Kathie.

so in conclusion, here's what i have in mind.

6feb-12feb = Hague, Delft, Rotterdam, Haarlem, Amsterdam

13feb-15feb = Berlin

16feb make a short stop, 1/2 day = Dresden

16feb-18feb = Prague

19-22 = Vienna or Salzburg?

23-26 ( i will fly back to Indonesia on 26 noon ) = Munich

do you guys think this is good?

i know i made a mistake by going to Amsterdam as early as 6feb, where the game only start on the 12th, which is why i will be stuck there for a whole 5 days, unless.. i go to Belgium for a day or two??

Are your flights booked?

@Sassafrass

Yes, they are booked, since they are having a huge discount for Singapore Airlines, i had to make a decision within 2 days and it's filling up soon, so pulled the trigger.

why?

With that much time before the game, I would have considered landing in Paris, but that is my interest, not yours, and I do love the Netherlands too. The towns are beautiful. I just prefer later in Spring. However, if it is cold enough, you might even ice skate. Doing that in Haarlem or Delft would be fun!

For your time in Austria I might suggest Vienna over Salzburg. February can be gray and damp across Central Europe, making stops in cozy Viennese cafes rather enjoyable after a day outing. Take a fiaker ride just as the daylight is fading, wrapped in a warm blanket in the carriage. The big ice skating rink in front of the Rathaus (Town Hall) could be lively fun, as well. And if you are really set on Salzburg, you might consider an overnight en route to Munich if even for a sampling of the city.

'Where does your bride want to go on her honeymoon?'

Maybe she could help you fill in the days before your match.
(BTW, I hope she likes soccer...)

I kind of wondered if it had not been for the game, would he have chosen a nicer time of year, with long, warm days to sit at cafes outside, rather than the gloominess and short days of winter.

Paris is much more whatever in February than central Europe - flowers start coming out even IME.

well, for us, winter is not really a huge problem, because we live in a tropical country, so in fact, we actually love winter ( i used to study in Canada for 5 years, and i love winter eeach year! )

It might be freezing cold and maybe not as bright as during the summer, but February is the only time of the year we have so much time off to travel,

That being said, since we chosen the same destination to start in Amsterdam, so i decided to go ahead and purchase the ticket for the Ajax game, and i am a die hard fans, so its a big plus for me..

for now Paris is not in our plans because we just wanted to see more of East Europe.

anyway, i have a question, would it be better to skip Prague for Budapest before i move to Vienna? because i also really love to see Budapest as i heard a lot of my friends saying how beautiful the city is!

Understandable, Twefoju, that you would enjoy winter. When I lived in a mostly hot area, I enjoyed going North for trips in Winter. Now I have cold Winters, and like to go to the Caribbean for trips in Winter.

Your wife might enjoy the book, Tulip Fever, by Deborah Moggach. It takes place in Amsterdam at the height of the Tulip and bulb craze in the Netherlands.

Don't miss the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Vienna is a beautiful city. If you enjoy Opera, check dates for what is being performed. Maybe see a performance of the Lipizzaners at the Spanish riding school. Tour St Stephens Cathedral.

Sparta - Ajax. I'm from Rotterdam so I'm rooting for Sparta of course.

OP, distances are so small in NL that you can well stay in Amsterdam and visit all those town without having to stay there overnight. IC direct from Amsterdam to Rotterdam takes about 40 minutes!

Utrecht is nice too. So, set up camp in Amsterdam, make daytrips, generally relax into it, do winter stuff if it's there (there are a couple of icerinks, for instance on Museumplein) and enjoy the match! Ajax is at its most dramatically bad at the moment and Sparta is on the up! And there's the rivalry between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Do make sure you don't end up in a section with Rotterdam supporters! Matches do get violent on occasion, also around the stadium pre and post match.

In winter, in northern Europe, the good times are indoors. Nice cafes, concert venues, the concert halls, indoor festivals...Outdoors everyone is longing for spring.

PS, since you're going to quasi live in Amsterdam and since it's february, there is wiggle room in room prices, and you might set up not as central but close to a central tramline and with somewhere where you can cook a little if the fancy strikes you.

the doubletree at NDSM has a fantastic view of the city: it's like taking the ferry to your own private "island" and NDSM has a number of superb eating places, equally with spectacular views.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/nl/bou...rc=hp_iw_title

PPS: the ferry takes you directly to and from central station and runs late into the night, plus it's free.

@menachem.

Thanks! Your info really helped alot. Yeah I was just thinking the same since I checked the train timing from ams to other cities are only less than an hour at most. So we wouldt have to check out each time we move to cities. I will def stay in ams and just visit those cities on the go..

Oh and I have a question. I booked the lower tier long side on section 121 amsterdam arena.. is that the ajax side or will be rotterdam side? Ill be damned if section 121 is for rival side. Ill be like so awkward...

I really cant wait to be in Amsterdam arena for the first time in my life since my support for Ajax in 2002!!

You're safely on the Ajax side, twefoju!

420/421 is for the Ajax hardcore fanbase. You'll be right beneath there at almost field level. Should be very atmospheric.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZUxNW07cgc

:P

Ill be damned if section 121 is for rival side. Ill be like so awkward...>

and potentially life threatening?

It could be with Feyenoord playing Ajax, but with Sparta, twefoju only needs to learn the Sparta march and yell "Sparta naar voren!" every once in a while ;)

Whoever scores first usually wins, right? so if Sparties are winning it may be fine but if not... well that is the stereotype some Americans like me have of soccer fans.

I remember long ago seeing soccer fans at Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium on trams out front trying to rock and tip them over - before they could succeed cops on horses came and shooed the fans all out - most were ordinary all-American or all-Dutch looking teens and young adult males.

No dear fellow, whoever scores the most points wins, like in a lot of sports. Sigh.

Feyenoord - Ajax matches are notorious (very good that Feyenoord's chants aren't regularly translated, they're condemned and condoned at the same time). ADO Den Haag are the worst offenders. To such an extent that there are matches in which the ADO team took part that were played in an empty stadion, without spectators.

Violence was at its worst during the mid 1990s. Since then a number of control measures have kept it under control. One of the worst aspects of that was, and is that Ajax is widely seen as a "jewish" club. Hence completely unacceptable chants by mostly Feyenoord and ADO supporters that were pooh poohed in official and government circles however. Reacting to that, Ajax supporters started calling themselves superjews and started sporting Israeli flags.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blnXHybSUhM

Intersting menachem - it was in the late 1980s I saw those young soccer fans try to rock over the tram just after it took off from loading folks on Olympiaplein in front of the stadium - just after it turned left - tram stopped and it was quite a show. They did not seem like soccer hoodlums just younger guys. I wonder why though - did not they realize they could get hurt if they succeeded in tippling the tram?

Maybe soccer fans are not the brightest folks around?

lol, to be honest, i didnt know what to expect from the match, as i have always watch Ajax from tv since forever, Eredivisie isnt that big here in Indonesia, although we have some Dutch culture here, but then everyone just watch EPL, Serie A and La Liga,

so i usually didnt have hangout friends for Eredivisie, no one knows the young dutch player, and i am so hoping by the time i watch the game on 12 february, Ziyech will play regularly for us, i am almost certain he will be our main player right away!

anyway. i have decided to visit Hague, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Delft for the 1 week stay i will have at Netherlands

so menachem, if you are around for the match, all the best for both team! i will be there so maybe if you can give me some more tips about Netherlands, i would appreciate, i am just worried now most places would close due to heavy winter in Feb.

'No dear fellow, whoever scores the most points wins, like in a lot of sports. Sigh'

I've always heard that international soccer is a game played by 11 people per team, coming from the whole world, and at the end the Germans win.

No ?

'No dear fellow, whoever scores the most points wins, like in a lot of sports. Sigh'>

Maybe not in average matches but I watch some of the big games - World Cup, etc and it seems teams get the first goal tend to sit on it as we say and play not to let the other team score.