mmmichelle01

I am in the preliminary stages of planning a backpacking trip with my friend. We have alloted 21 days and she has informed me that she doesn't care where we go she just wants to go. My dilemma is there are so many cities that have caught my eye and I'm having a hard time narrowing them down. Some of the places that interest me are Paris (I've been before and loved it), Brugges, Berlin, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Florence, Arles, Avignon, Barcelona, Madrid (Been here as well) and Lisbon. I know that is impossible to see all of these cities in 21 days, and that's not what I'm getting at. My question is: If you had 21 days in Europe how would you incorporate these cities into your itinerary? Where do you recommend we go? All help and comments are appreciated. Thanks

Robert2533

A little more information would be helpful, like when do you plan to do this whirlwind tour and just how much of Europe are you willing to miss on this trip?

My advice is to rethink what it is you're trying to accomplish and pick a spot to spend some time to really explore and get to know the area. You can always plan a return and actually have some knowledge about where you?re going on the next trip.

cigalechanta

You ask an impossible question IMHO. We all have different tastes as to landscape and food. So, please read a guide book so you will know what appeals to you. But wherever you decide, goodgle the tourist offices who have alot of information for back packers and also try the thorn tree on the lonelyplanet.com because so many backpackers there are so sophisticated about where to stay. It sounds great, Have a wonderful time.

TopMan

Personally, I find the "you've asked an impossible question" responses above amusing..perhaps if you hadn't told them about the backpacking since we seem to have very few of those folks posting regularly.

It all depends on how much time you want to spend in each place and how much actual "backpacking" in the stereotypical sense you are really going to do.

Apparently no actual hiking such as in Switzerland, etc....

My advice: since you've been to Paris already and have a limited amount of time I would also skip Brugges in favor of the following, and in this order:

Berlin (unless it is prohibitively exopensive to fly into that city (alternative could be A-dam or Frankfurt), then Prague, then Vienna.

Then Munich, then Venice, Florence, Rome. I'd skip Arles and Avignon in favor of ending up in Barcelona

You can easily rail to all these cities or, in some cases, use cheap flights.

My take on it is obviously very different than others but please remember it is YOUR TRIP, YOUR decision about how it is best spent, and try to do as much as you feasibly can so that you come back with few, if any regrets.

ira

Hi mmm,

TopMan has a good plan if you are really intent on exhausting yourself for two weeks.

This looks like a good expedition for railpasses.

An alternate is to fly into Munich (2), train to Prague (3), Vienna (3), Venice (3), Florence (3)and Rome (3). Fly to Paris (4) and home from there.

See www.volareweb.com for air between Rome and Paris.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en for train schedules.



To save money, you can take night trains between cities and sleep in 6 berth couchettes or your seat.

mmmichelle01

Ira, yes I already had planned on doing a majority of this trip via rail, and had not considering flying from Rome to Paris, that's actually a neat idea. Thanks to you, and everyone else, for your input, I really appreciate it.