5 Weeks Abroad
 

I am heading to Europe on August 22nd. I haven't been abroad since I was 11 and I was too young to appreciate anything. I was too enamored with video games and tv to care about where I was. I am now 26 and the purpose of my trip is a wedding at Lake Como, Italy. I have managed to get work off and my days are numbered as far as planning a memorable trip.

I am flying into London and I want to visit: Rome, Venice, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. I am trying to figure out the best way to navigate through all these different cities. I wish I could start out in Spain and work my way East but I have to be in Lake Como on August 30th to attend said wedding and that kind of throws a wrench into my plan of a straight path into Germany.

If anyone could offer any tips, tricks of the trade or anything else one might find helpful I would greatly appreciate it.

Also, is there any sort of directory I can look in that has a list of reasonable places to stay throughout my journey? A link to that would be awesome.

Thanks

I'd look first at low-cost flights between major cities to save time and possibly money (compared to train). You can do that at www.whichbudget.com.

Also, for the long-haul flights (assuming there are ones), consider an open-jaw flight so that you could, e.g., fly into Barcelona and out of Berlin.

It would help if you gave some more info. Why are you flying in to London if you're going to a wedding in Italy? Will you be spending time in London before Lake Como? Also, how many days are you setting aside for the wedding? Are those days included in your 5 weeks or not?

If your flights aren't booked yet, I would suggest the following:

Visit the Italian cities (if the wedding is at the beginning of your trip), then fly to Berlin. From there, it's easiest to take the train to Amsterdam, then to Paris. From Paris, fly to Barcelona or Madrid, visit both cities and fly out of the latter.

You'll have to work out how much time to spend in each city based on what you want to see. Spend some time researching the different cities and their attractions to decide. Providing more information will help us give you better advice.

Thanks for your responses. pavfec in response to your question I am flying into England because I am using my American Airlines miles and they restrict me by only letting me fly into London. I would have flown directly to Italy but the dates conflicted with when i could use my miles. I am planning on staying 2 to 3 days in London before I depart to Italy. My plan for the wedding is to stay in Lake Como for only a couple of days. I really do not know how long travel times between countries is going to take me so I am trying to be brief in my stays. Anymore help you can give to a rookie traveler would be awesome. Thanks

TTT

How about

Arrive London August 23rd

Fly to Venice August 26th

Train to Lake Como August 29th

Train to Milan September 1st/2nd

Train to Rome September 4th/5th

Fly to Barcelona or Madrid on September 9th

Train to other Spanish city on September 12th/13th

Fly/Train to Paris on September 16th

Train to Amsterdam on September 22nd

Train to London on September 25th

Fly out September 26th

I cut out Berlin because I couldn't figure out where it most logically fits...

For these type of enquiries by relatively clueless folks asking about transport options i always say strongly consider the ultra good rail system and railpasses - perhaps mixed in with flights. And i always refer two sources to get an excellent idea of the train system: www.ricksteves.com has a wealth of info on rail travel as well as cheap flights and at www.budgeteuropetravel.com you find good stuff on rail travel and you can request their excellent and free European Planning & Rail guide which is a great primer on European trains and railpasses as well as many non-rail tips. Fodorites however are the very best source i've seen in my 38 years of European traveling - ask any question, no matter how esoteric or arcane and you'll get expert answers.

If you were to take a train Paris to Amsterdam then it's a Thalys high-speed train that requires reservations and has a Byzantine pricing structure - early bird booking can mean saving literally hundred bucks/person or so over just showing up - www.thalys.com or www.voyages-sncf.com and hop on any SMILYS fare - technically requiring a round trip but cheaper than any one-way i think - throw or give the return ticket away. But hard to get. Book early. In US prices are generally higher than online in Europe but you never know - RailEurope is currently offering a 50% off Thalys full fare tickets thru the end of August. (I always recommend calling BETS 800-441-2387) for any Thalys info or booking - experts but also won't have some of RE's mailing fees. If you do buy a railpass have the seller make the Thalys reservation for you as with a pass on spot this train often is sold out it seems.