Fodor's Travel Talk Forums

Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (https://www.fodors.com/community/)
-   Europe (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/)
-   -   23 days North Europe and Italy. (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/23-days-north-europe-and-italy-1082464/)

hits20 Dec 30th, 2015 12:39 AM

23 days North Europe and Italy.
 
Hello... I need someone to help me to plan my itinerary. This is my first trip to Europe with my two younger brothers and I am quite excited. We have 23 (+2 if we have to) days in total. We will be flying in to London on the 9 April 2016. Our flight arrived at noon. We plan to do London, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Venice and Florence. I wasn't sure how this route go about. This is my plan.

London - 5 nights
London to Milan - Alitalia (very early flight coz its the only direct flight - might need to stay overnight in the heathrow airport)

Milan - 1 night
Trenitalia

Venice - 2 nights
Italio

Florence - 3 nights
Thello (night train to Paris)

Paris - 5 nights
Thalys

Amsterdam - 4 nights
Eurostar (back to London)

London - 1 night
Then back home.

What do you guys & girls think? I am open for suggestion. Is there any better way that I can travel?

janisj Dec 30th, 2015 02:49 AM

If it was me - I'd do London, train to Amsterdam, fly to Italy (any of the three cities, doesn't really matter which order), fly to Paris, train to London.

What I'd REALLY do (assuming you've already booked the tix to/from London) is arrive London, immediately fly to Italy, then fly to Amsterdam, train to Paris, and put all the London nights together at the end.

(Just fyi, There are all sorts of non-stop flights between various London airports and all three cities in Italy - no need to sleep in the airport)

Southam Dec 30th, 2015 03:03 AM

Or, if you are still in the planning stage, use a multi-city search function to fly into London and home from Amsterdam to save retracing your steps. Plenty of other possible combinations.

janisj Dec 30th, 2015 03:42 AM

Absolutely, do open jaw if you haven't yet bought your tix. I assumed you have already booked because you included your arrival time.

nytraveler Dec 30th, 2015 04:12 AM

Do not buy roundtrip tickets in and out of London - that wastes a whole day. Fly into London and out of your last city (search for multi-destination tickets on air web sites). This will not cost any more and will save you a day.

I would do

London (eurostar to Paris)
Paris (thalys to Amsterdam)
Amsterdam (fly to Venice)
Venice (train to Florence)
Fly home fromPisa (30 minutes from Florence)

I have dropped Milan - not a great choice unless you have some specific reason to be there - and just one day is a waste.

I think starting in London works ell since it is euope light (at lest the language is the same - sort of) before you are dropped into countries with completely different languages and culture (although I have found very few people in Netherlands who don't understand at least basic english)

hits20 Dec 30th, 2015 05:11 AM

Thank you all. We haven't buy any tickets yet. We are still in the planning stage before we buy our tickets middle of next month. We are from Malaysia. So, it's cheaper to fly in and out from London. My younger brother just asked me to add in Rome into the itinerary. I'm getting headache of planning. Personally, I would drop Milan but he wants to go shopping in Milan. I guess I have to plan a 25 days trip instead. Please help again... Anyway, thank you again for all your suggestion. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. And Happy New Year to everyone!!!

hits20 Dec 30th, 2015 05:13 AM

One more thing, isn't it easier to fly out from Heathrow Airport than the other airports in London? I was told it's much more convenient. Is that so?

sandralist Dec 30th, 2015 07:54 AM

25 days would be better. But if you are stuck with less, your brother can take a day trip to Milan to shop. It is faster from Florence.

Go to the Flyer Talk forum and ask people there for help finding the best open-jaw tickets from Malaysia to Europe and back to Malaysia again. Tell them what cities you want to see. Somebody might come up with a good solution:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:00 AM.