Wrexter

Hello All

My wife and I are planning a 5 week Europe Trip for Early May to June 2017

I have been to europe before but she has never been (we are both 30). This will be our trip to farewell children free life so really want to make the most of it!

With just over 6 months to go really want to get our itinerary locked in so we can start booking accommodation.

BUDGET
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Overall budget is no more than $25,000 AUD for the whole trip (less if we can manage it).


OUR LIKES
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We love food, finding local spots, nature & big cities.


ACCOMMODATION
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To save on costs we are looking at staying Airbnb / Hostels (private) whereever possible. From being in Europe before i know you can stay at some amazing hostels.

TRAVEL MODE
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We are departing from Perth, Australia. We are considering flying Emirates and having a 2 day stopover in Dubai on the way.

We would like to stick to trains (overnight where possible) for main travel, although if distance is long take flights.

ITINERARY
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Our Current Itinerary:

Dubai - 2 Night
Barcelona - 4 Nights
Paris - 4 Nights
London - 6 Nights (have family here to catch up with)
Berlin - 4 Nights
Grindenwald - 2 Nights
Venice - 2 Nights
Rome - 3 Nights
Santorini - 4 Nights

Other Possibilities

Would love to see the beach at Zakynthos but not sure if we can fit it in.
Cinque Terre

Please recommend any tours, day trips, activies, must do's, must eats, festivals etc other destinations

Many thanks in advance

Christina

FYI, there aren't any overnight trains on your itinerary except one possibility, those just don't exist very much any more as flights are often a lot cheaper and with high speed trains, most routes don't need it. The only one on your itinerary would be between London and Berlin, but really that route will take at least 2 transfers and you don't get an overnight train until you are in Germany, there is one between Koln (COlogne) and Berlin. But first you have to get from London to Koln which means transferring at least once in Brussels (or more on other routes). And there may be time between trains or you get into Berlin at an hour you can't do anything anyway (like 5-6 am).

You can fly on a budget airline like Easyjet in only 2 hrs, paying maybe 100 GBP or so. Overnight trains are not cheap, either, even if you don't have a private sleeper car.

So that's my main comments, you are getting around a lot, you might consider just cutting out Greece entirely to make the trip less tiring and to save some money (as you'll have to fly there from Italy). The flight home from there could be more expensive than from Rome also but you'd have to check that.

RM67

You can get from London to Berlin by train in a day. The route is via Brussels and Cologne as cited above. No change of stations is needed in either city so it is actually quite seamless. Also it doesn't (have to) involve an overnight train. I did it in February and got into Berlin Hbf about 8pm. It will cost more than flying.

Airbnb is a good call for Barcelona and London. Berlin hotels are not that pricy tbh, so you may find it OK just to use booking.com for that.

Emirates have their own booking service for stopovers so have a look and see if anything in the brochure takes your fancy (usually includes free transfers and 24hr checkin)

I don't know that I have fully understood your post but if your wife is pregnant, this itinerary will be shattering.

rhon

As RM 67said, check emirates for their stopovers. We did two nights in Dubai - arrived in the morning, had the day there and then next day did a tour out through the desert and back with more time that day before flying on early next day.
With itineraries such as this, you need to keep in mind travel times between places. Trains are often centre to centre while flying involves time to and from the airport. But long trips will impact on time spent on the ground. Remember that two nights in a place only gives one full day. Somewhere along the way you need time for mundane things like laundry.
Start thinking in euros for the European part and GBP for the UK. Australian dollars mean nothing to most people on these forums - we are Australian but work in euros because our costs, other than flights, are in that currency. Work out in euros an approximate amount you can spend per day on the ground.
You are really only spending a few days in each place other than London, so most time will be spent exploring that city. Do not try to add in any other cities. It is nice to see something other than cities, but you are young and that is what probably appeals more for you. The countryside and smaller towns are different from the cities. You get a different perspective. We are older and prefer a slower paced trip both for comfort and for economy. For example we are in the last week of a ten week trip to France and have spent a lot less than your budget for five weeks.
I would probably put London at beginning or end and keep the main Europe part as a block. So fly Dubai to London then work across and home from your last stop, or vice versa. Paris to London is very easy by train. Very often train journeys are cheapest booked at least three months out. Check the website man in seat.61 for valuable advice on train travel.
Good luck.

BigRuss

Two things.

First in response to <<Please recommend any tours, day trips, activies, must do's, must eats, festivals etc other destinations>>, the places you're visiting have tons of information available and you know your interests. Get with the research.

Second: IS YOUR WIFE PREGNANT? If so, you need to dial back on how much you think you can both do. She'll be in the mid-late stages and will tire easily. If not, the limitation does not apply.

Wrexter

Thanks for the suggestions guys

Just to clear up the confusion, NO my wife is not pregnant and will not be pregnant during our trip but thanks for the concern

Lexma90

Whether or not your wife is pregnant, you are moving around quite a bit. Consider whether fewer different destinations, or possibly some that are closer together, might make for a less busy itinerary. That way, you won't feel like you're heading off to another train station (or airport) every couple of days.

Asking for tours, day trips, activities for 8 locations in Europe is a big request. Get a bunch of guidebooks, either from the library, Amazon or you local bookstore; watch travel videos, there are thousands available. See which locations really appeal to the both of you, and start making lists of things you would like to do. Fodorites are much better at answering specific questions than those really broad requests.

RM67

PS if you click on my ID I have TRs for both Berlin and Barcelona which might help. My must sees would be la boqueria, Montjuic, Miro foundation and some gaudi in Barca, and The East Side Gallery (wall murals) and as much cold war era architecture and art as you can stomach in Berlin. Also Berlin does derelict quite well, so maybe the pool complex recommended by Cowboy in my thread?

FuryFluffy

Hi Wrexter, welcome to fodors. If you want to know the must-do and must-eat in those cities, you may search fodors for others' trip report or old questions about those cities. There are hundreds of threads, with a vast wealth of informations. I know you prefer to ask and gather it all in your thread, but really just click on the top thread you find, people have been telling many things.