bells_on

hi all....

my roommate and i have been saving our pennies and we've been planning a big trip to europe for may 2007. i've been reading alot here on fodors and have found a tonne of useful information and tips, but i need your help/suggestions for our timeline.

first - we're two girls from canada in our mid20's, we're not into hostels and are budgetting an average of $160 canadian (which is about $140 u.s. or 105 euros) per night for hotel/apartment. we will splurge on a few big dinners but will probably try to eat super budget as often as possible.

i have been to europe before (amsterdam, vienna, salzburg and the u.k.) but my roommate's never been. we definitely don't want to try to do too many cities and rush from place to place.

here's our tenative itinerary, let me know what you think:

leave from montreal

5 days/6 nights in paris (including a day trip to versailles)

5 days/4 nights in prague (including a day trip to cesky krumlov)

8 days/7 nights in munich (many day trips - neuschwanstein, garmisch, innsbruck, mittenwald)

3 days/4 nights in venice

2 days/3 nights in florence

1 day/night in cinque terre (not sure where to stay though)

3 days driving through tuscany to rome

5 days/4 nights rome

what do you think?? here are my more specific questions:

1. are there any obvious "too long in that place/ not enough time in another" ??

2. coming from florence, where is a good place to stay so we can spend a day exploring cinque terre?

3. is one day exploring cinque terre enough??

4. driving from the cinque terre area to rome, which towns are a must see in your opinion?

any help/advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated....

Cato

Looks like a superb trip. Very well thought out, but...

I'd spend less time in Munich and not do all those daytrips. Go down to the garmisch area and do your trips to neuschwanstein, innsbruck and mittenwald. You might also skip the CT and spend more time in tuscany.

rogerdodger

Sure would be a better read with the use of upper case letters where needed.

Wayne

For a long stay such as yours, there are so many options that no one approach could be called best. If what you have described is your choice, then stick with it. I do agree with the other comment that perhaps Munich is an overstay, but you are clearly planning to use Munich primarily as a base for exploration--and with that as a plan, it sounds fine to me.

I assume you'll be driving your rental car the entire trip, so be sure to search for a bargain. Renting well in advance will usually yield the best rate; and if you save a few euro per day on car rental, you will reap lots of savings over 33 days. Also, you might want to investigate a lease of a car rather than rental--it could save you more money.

You could stay outside the CT area, but on the coast along the rail line, and then visit all the villages in the CT in one day. I like the village of Lavagna, and Deiva Marina is also nice. Both are on the rail line. It's also possible to stay in a B&B in one of the CT villages, but unless you stay in Monterosso or possibly Riomaggiore you will probably have to park some distance from your hotel, maybe climb a lot of stairs, and pay for parking too. In Lavagna you can park your car at the Hotel Valentino. Hotel Clelia in Deiva Marina is nice. Whether they fall into your budget, I'm not sure. As for how long, I'd suggest more than a day for a good visit.

Villages to see on the way to Rome: My favorites are (not in route order)--Orvieto, Montalcino, San Quirico d/Orcia, Pitigliano, Pienza, Volterra, San Gimigniano, to name a few. There'll be lots of suggestions from others.

Otherwise, I envy your opportunity to spend so much time exploring some of Europe. My only concern is your budget for hotels. Some places such as Venice will raise the average. Hopefully you have looked into most of the potential accommodations and feel confident in the average cost you have indicated. I believe it's possible if you work carefully and early enough.

Cato

You don't need a car to do much of this trip. It is quite a drive to go back and forth to all those places from Munich.

Option: Train from Paris to Prague to Munich.

NeoPatrick

To me, visiting the CT is all about doing the hike which is a very full day allowing for a nice little stop in each of the five villages. To do that, though, sort of requires two nights -- one on each end of the hike.

I agree that all those day trips from Munich require a lot of traveling, while staying in Garmisch would be much more central for all that. In fact you could get a great little apartment for a week in Garmisch and save a lot on your budget.

Cato

Neo, I agree about the CT. The two night trick forced me to give it a pass on my last trip to Italy. I don't think you could leave from Florence and do it all in a day, even a very long one.

blackduff

Shaving a few days from the Munich period-think about Salzburg. Maybe you could fit your schedule to pass through Lucern for a day or so too.

Both of these cities can be viewed quickly in a day, if needed. They certainly worth the time spent.

Blackduff

Cato

ttt

suze

Looks well thought out to me. I don't like to deal with rental cars but prefer to keep it to public transportation. It seems you could do this entire trip by train, no?

gwm

I agree with what some of the other posters said about the Cinque Terre. I think you'll regret it if you only allow one day. Mind you, when we were there a couple of years ago we only stayed a day (at a hotel on the main road high above the coast), but that was because we were unlucky with the weather (rain and temperatures around freezing). As we had a car and a flexible itinerary we moved on, and then had several days of glorious weather at Finale Ligure west of Genoa, but that's another story.

Assuming you don't have awful weather (and you probably won't), you could spend a wonderful few days on the Cinque Terre taking train rides and doing walks. I suggest you base yourself in La Spezia and take boats or trains from there.

bells_on

thank you for all the input. we've decided to cut a few days off of munich and add to the cinque terre portion.

also, we will be taking trains for most of the trip - except we are planning on renting a car after we're done in cinque terre.

we want to drive through the tuscan countryside and end up in rome (but drop off the rental car at the airport so we don't have to drive *in* rome).

thanks again! and i'm sure i'll be back posting more questions soon....

GBC

You have made a very good start. I agree that your revision of Munich/CT is a good one. Although it is tight, I think you can do it on 105 euros per night, particularly as you are planning to travel early in the season. We always travel in May - it is a very good time to be in Europe. Try not to reduce your time in Paris, Prague, Venice or Rome. As it happens, we plan to be in Prague at about that time. A good trip to us all!