StephP2

Looking to spend 4 weeks traveling across Europe in April/May. We are open to doing anything, just want to see Europe!

Our original thoughts:
Week in Italy- Venice, Rome, Tuscany, Cinque Terre, Sorrento, Riomaggiore. Obviously there is a lot to do in Italy, so some day trips would be needed.

Week in Greece- Santorini, Mykonos, Zakynthos Island, Crete

Week between Paris and London- visit the Eiffel Tower, Nice, the Gardens at Marqueyssac. We have friends to visit in London/Manchester area. I've been to England twice already, but my friend hasn't. I'd prefer seeing the coastal side if there is time.

Week 4???- Some other places we want to see...Czech Republic, Austria (have people to stay with there), Belgium, Berlin, and Switzerland. As much as I'd love to see all of those places, I understand it's not feasible.

Looking for some recommendations as far as traveling between cities, different sites to see outside the "typical touristy stuff", best places to stay and take day trips from.

Any advice is more than appreciated!!

cathies

Well. I'm exhausted after reading your plans!

Week 1 - Italy, you can't see 6 towns in 7 days - it's not possible.

Same for the next 2 weeks, it's not doable.

I would suggest that you dump at least half of this and start again. Keep in kind that you lose a minimum of half a day each time you change locations.

StephP2

Those are just some of the cities we have as options. Looking for suggestions on what are the best spots.

cathies

Well that's a relief . The best spots will depend on your areas of interest and whether you like museums and galleries or whether you prefer to be outdoors.

I haven't been to Crete but most posts here about it recommend at least a week so that may not be an option for this trip. Or alternatively skip the other islands and spend an entire week on Crete soaking up some sun and relaxing.

My suggestion would be to get some guidebooks and read up a bit. Then work out a plan that that doesn't involve too much travel between cities. London - Paris works because its a short, fairly easy trip. From Paris you can work out another region that interests you. You could head south and make your way into Spain and across into Italy, including Cinque Terre which will give you your coastal area. Or from Paris you could head east into Germany, Austria etc. but don't try to do it all.

We can help more once you have fine tuned your plans a little. Four weeks is a lovely amount of time to have, so lucky!

Sassafrass

Mostly use trains in Italy.

Fly from major cities to other major cities

Based on your personal interests, choose your own favorite places and start blocking out how much time you want or need to spend to see and do what you want in each place. Then block out travel time between. Example, if you just drove or trained from place to place, you would use up three days of your week in Italy traveling, leaving only four for sight seeing. At a minimum, 1 full day in Venice, 2 in Rome, 1 in CT, 2 in Tuscany, etc. Do you want to see Pompeii from Sorrento or visit Capri? Two days needed for those 2 places. That is 8 days with no travel time.

janisj

You do not have nearly enough time to see even a fraction of your 'wish list'. Don't see how you could possibly think you have a 'spare' 4th week.

A week isn't long enough for London/Manchester/Paris . . . let alone Paris, London, Manchester, Nice, the Dordogne (Marqueyssac) and anything 'coastal'.

That one 'week' could fill your 4 weeks right there - at least 3 full weeks would be needed to visit Manchester, London, a coastal area of England, Paris, the Dordogne and Nice.

(BTW - there is no 'London/Manchester area' -they are 200+ miles apart)

Same w/ Italy - your 'wish list' is easily 2 FULL weeks worth.

And Greece - 4 islands (and presumably Athens) would take at least 10 days.

So - no, you don't have a 4th week to play with. Italy/Paris/London/Manchester . . . there's just about 4 weeks. You could maybe add one more location - the Dordogne or somewhere on the UK coast.

cathies

Janice, the OP came back to say that her first list is a wish list. I think she realises she can't see al, of it and that her OP wasn't very well written.

janisj

I saw that - but there are only 4 weeks, and she has listed 5 countries (including the CR tag). So they need a lot more 'refining' than just asking for 'best spots'.

I thought I gave useful advice . . . >>Italy/Paris/London/Manchester . . . there's just about 4 weeks. You could maybe add one more location - the Dordogne or somewhere on the UK coast.

cathies

That's ok then, I didn't think you had seen her update. I agree that it certainly needs refining!

mamcalice

With 4 weeks, and to include items on your wish list, I would limit the countries to three - probably Italy, France and England. Save Greece for a later trip.

Spend 10 days in Italy, choosing 3 destinations.

Spend 10 days in France, including Nice and Paris.

Spend the last 8 days in London and Manchester.

Or, choose Greece instead on one of the other countries.

bobthenavigator

I agree with above. With the major destinations you are considering, I would pick a max of 8, with Greece being the obvious outlier. Paris, Rome and London all requre 5 days each. Start with your " must see" and build from there.

Heimdall

Because of its location Greece is almost always an "outlier" when planning a multi-country trip through Europe. Athens, however, is only 2 hrs by air from Rome, so take that into consideration when deciding whether to include it in your final itinerary. One week isn't very long, but you could, for example, do 3 days on Santorini (flying straight there upon arrival in Athens), 2 days on Naxos or Mykonos, and 2 days in Athens at the end. The other cities in your itinerary are mostly 3-4 hours flying time from Athens.

StephP2

I appreciate the feedback. I'm well aware it's not possible to see all those sites in only 4 weeks. Like I said above, I was just throwing out some cities of interest to get some feedback on the top ones to see.

Janis- I have a friend living in London currently and another in Manchester- hence the London/Manchester comment!

Based on all of your feedback this seems like a better itinerary:

England:
London - 2 days
Manchester - 2 days

France:
Paris - 2 days
Nice - 2 days
Obviously not enough time to see every thing France has to offer, but France isn't our biggest priority.

Italy: 10-12 days.
Rome - 3 nights. Day trip to Sorrento
Venice - 3 nights
Cinque Terre - 2 nights
Tuscany - 3 nights

And then option A:
10 days in Greece:
Santorini - 3 days
Mykonos - 4 days
Zakynthos Island - 3 days

OR option B:
Austria:
Vienna - 3 days

Czech Republic:
Prague - 3 days

Germany:
Berlin/Munich - 4 days

Heimdall

Well, if you combine Zakynthos (in the Ionian Sea) with Santorini and Mykonos (in the Aegean Sea) it would mean going through Athens three times, unless you can find direct flights to/from those islands from another European city. Even then it would mean transferring through Athens to get between Zakynthos and the others. If you are going to Greece it would be a good idea to spend at least a couple of days in Athens anyway.

Sassafrass

Are you allowing travel time? If not, that will certainly eat into the time you've planned for each city/place. Venice to CT - most of a day, Rome to Venice - half day, etc. Were you going to Pompeii Capri, Positano or anywhere else on the AC besides Sorrento? Sorrento is just a nice little touristy town, a good base for the other places, but not worth the trip just for itself.

nspotz

I would drop Zakynthos if you are doing Santorini and Mykonos, it's not easily combined with the other two. Is this your first trip to Europe? If so, I highly recommend devoting a large chunk of time (which I see you have considered doing) to Italy... It has a little bit of everything-history, beuatiful scenery, culture, food, beaches, countryside etc... Try to space your time between smaller towns in Tuscany and the big cities like Rome and Venice... we LOVED the Cinque Terre by the way!

Mimar

How are you getting to Paris? You could fly on to Manchester upon arrival in England, train back to London, then take the Eurostar to Paris. I'd drop Nice, stay 4 days in Paris and fly to Rome. Are you using the train between cities in Italy?

I think option B will be easier to do than Greece. The Greek islands are slow in the off-season. In May hotels and restaurants are just opening up, ferries run less often than in the high season. I keep suggesting some days in Athens. There will be plenty going on there.

Before you can harden your itinerary, you really need to decide how you're going to travel between stops and investigate how long that travel will take. Add in the time to find your way from the train station or airport to your hotel. Two days in one place is 3 nights in a hotel.

msteacher

If you will only have 4 days each in England and France, I would stay in one city the whole time in each country. London and Paris are the obvious choices, with easy train travel between the two. Though Manchester and/or Nice could be substituted if you prefer those cities; would just require a little more travel effort.

Or the alternative would be to pick one country (England or France) and spend all 8 days there, split between two different cities.