7 week Itinerary help!
 

Hi all!

I am in the middle of planning our first trip to Europe!
My partner and I head off in Sept via NYC, hit up Europe then Visit Tokyo on the way back home to little old NZ.

Now - I have based our time in places from roughly what we want to see, areas of interest and from bit and pieces I have read online.

Am I doing too much? I feel as though I am but I can't bear to drop anything...although considering shortening our stay in Prague and just using it as a transit to Venice... or we could do Vienna...
Budget is modest. Interests are unique different things - we will hit up museums etc. but feel we will tire of this very soon. Very interested in places like Matera and Atlas Mountans for instance.
We've travelled before around south east asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos + Thailand) and it worked out around 3 - 4 days per city but we are now trying to do 3 - 4 days per COUNTRY...
(Note Portugal was added as we had to have a stop over there, so added a day to get to Sintra which is right up our ally!)

Interested to hear what you all think!

FRI 18-Aug-17 ARRIVE LONDON DAY 1 FULL DAY 0740
SAT 19-Aug-17 LONDON DAY 2 FULL DAY
SUN 20-Aug-17 LONDON DAY 3 FULL DAY
MON 21-Aug-17 LONDON DAY 4 FULL DAY
TUES22-Aug-17 LONDON - PARIS DAY 1 HALF HALF 0819 - 1147 London - Paris

WEDS23-Aug-17 PARIS DAY 2 FULL DAY
THURS24-Aug-17 PARIS DAY 3 FULL DAY
FRI 25-Aug-17 PARIS DAY 4 FULL DAY

SAT 26-Aug-17 PARIS - AMSTERDAM DAY 1 HALF DAY 0730 - 1337
SUN 27-Aug-17 AMSTERDAM DAY 2 FULL DAY
MON 28-Aug-17 AMSTERDAM DAY 3 FULL DAY

TUES29-Aug-17 AMSTERDAM - BERLIN DAY 1 HALF DAY 0500 - 1222
WEDS30-Aug-17 BERLIN DAY 2 FULL DAY
THURS31-Aug-17 BERLIN DAY 3 FULL DAY
FRI 01-Sep-17 BERLIN DAY 4 - POZNAN/KRAKOW 3/4 DAY
1637 - 1923 Berlin - Poznan
2236 - 0606 Poznan - Krakow

SAT 02-Sep-17 KRAKOW DAY 1 FULL DAY
SUN 03-Sep-17 KRAKOW DAY 2 FULL DAY Camp + Salt mine
MON 04-Sep-17 KRAKOW DAY 3 - PRAGUE FULL DAY 2202 - 0722

TUES 05-Sep-17 PRAGUE DAY 1 FULL DAY
WEDS 06-Sep-17 PRAGUE DAY 2 FULL DAY
THURS 07-Sep-17 PRAGUE DAY 3 HALF DAY + VIENNA 1452 - 1849Prague - Vienna Hbf
2127 - 0824 Vienna - Venice Hauptbahnhof

FRI 08-Sep-17 VENICE DAY 1 FULL DAY
SAT 09-Sep-17 VENICE DAY 2 FULL DAY
SUN 10-Sep-17 VENICE DAY 3 FULL DAY

MON 11-Sep-17 VENICE - ROME DAY 1 HALF DAY 0925 - 1310
TUES 12-Sep-17 ROME DAY 2 FULL DAY 0924 - 1055
WEDS 13-Sep-17 ROME DAY 3 FULL DAY 1038 - 1210

THURS 14-Sep-17 ROME - NAPLES DAY 1/POMPEII FULL DAY 0735 - 0845

FRI 15-Sep-17 NAPLES - MATERA Day 1 HALF DAY Bus 4 hrs
SAT 16-Sep-17 MATERA DAY 2 FULL DAY 3.5 hr drive
SUN 17-Sep-17 MATERA DAY 3 FULL DAY
MON 18-Sep-17 MATERA - BARI - BARCELONA HALF DAY 1630 - 1845
Matera (Bari) - Barcelona Vueling.com $178

TUES 19-Sep-17 BARCELONA DAY 1 FULL DAY
WEDS 20-Sep-17 BARCELONA DAY 2 FULL DAY
THURS 21-Sep-17 BARCELONA DAY 3 FULL DAY

FRI 22-Sep-17 BARCELONA - MOROCCO DAY 1 FULL DAY 0740 - 0905
SAT 23-Sep-17 MOROCCO DAY 2 FULL DAY
SUN 24-Sep-17 MOROCCO DAY 3 FULL DAY Atlas Mt
MON 25-Sep-17 MOROCCO DAY 4 FULL DAY Atlas Mt
TUES26-Sep-17 MOROCCO DAY 5 FULL DAY to Casablanca for Flight next day

WEDS 27-Sep-17 MOROCCO - PORTUGAL DAY 1 FULL DAY 0645 - 0845
THURS 28-Sep-17 PORTGUAL DAY 2 FULL DAY Sintra day trip
FRI 29-Sep-17 PORTGUAL DAY 3 - GREECE HALF DAY 1315 - 1800

SAT 30-Sep-17 GREECE DAY 1 FULL DAY (will be staying with family in Pyros)
SUN 01-Oct-17 GREECE DAY 2 FULL DAY
MON 02-Oct-17 GREECE DAY 3 FULL DAY
TUES 03-Oct-17 GREECE DAY 4 FULL DAY
WEDS 04-Oct-17 GREECE DAY 5 FULL DAY
THURS 05-Oct-17 GREECE - JAPAN 1/4 DAY 1255 - 1425

Thanks in advance for the help and feedback!

Should be a wonderful adventure! I just wonder whether you will really have time to see what you think you will see, as you don’t account for time beyond transportation itself – remember to count getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, getting local currency, getting lost ;-), etc -- easily an hour (or more!) on either side of your transportation itself. These “extras” can be particularly important when you plan to fly from one place to another, as airports are often somewhat out of town and because you must arrive at airports substantially in advance of your flight, so each flight can take an additional 3 or more hours (above and beyond the extra time already mentioned).

You probably already know that with this plan, you will be spending a LOT of time in transit relative to the time you have to actually see and do things. And in a number of your more southern locations, you can expect a substantial mid-day “siesta” during which a number of things will be closed.

I admit that this schedule would be too fast-paced for my tastes, but it really depends on what YOU want to see and experience. Just a few comments:

IMO, your time in larger cities - and particulary in London, Paris, Rome, and Barcelona -- is quite short. (Not to mention that you have NO time in Naples itself.)

Your plan for Greece is hard to understand – WHERE in Greece would you want to spend your time?

While I understand your interest in Matera, note that 3 nights is a very generous allotment for it, particularly in comparison to your other visits.

Personally, I’d cut a destination or two – but only you can decide. I think it will be more rewarding for you to see a bit less, but a bit more in depth or with a bit more leisure (as you choose). And for a trip this length, you might want to be sure to give yourselves a few “down” days for laundry, etc. JMO.

If traveling on a budget, remember that moving around a lot can be a money eater!

As you note, you are not visiting countries – you are hitting some big cities. Some of us find it more rewarding to visit fewer cities, and instead to add in some time in each city for a day-trip or two to a smaller town or park or whatever.

Hope that helps!

Now, if I may ask a small favor of you: It is hard to read text in all capital letters, and it seems like “screaming” – so please, in future posts, refrain from all caps! Thanks in advance. :-)

Is this the Kiwis' trip of a lifetime? I like it - several days, not just one night, in the major cities. That's good planning.

Still, I wonder just when your stamina will give out? It's hard work, making the most of your time in places where three days or four days are great but, really, a week would not be too much, and as you keep at it, target after target, surely you'll need some serious downtime at least twice on this trip, no?

I suggest that you plan on doing not much of anything in Venice and again in Barcelona. Just don't have an itinerary for those cities. A list of what to see, sure, but no timetable, and a willingness to pass up on a few targets on that list if your need to just chill takes precedence.

A detail: From Krakow, doing both the camp and the salt mine in one day won't really work. Give the camp a day, best with a tour.

No need for a tour for the salt mine, this is how it works: The salt mine, if you catch an early train, can be done in a half day: You simply go to the Krakow train station (the new one, next to the building that still has the old blue Glowny neon sign on top but has been closed down), buy a return ticket (dirt cheap, pennies), it's a slow local train, you get off after about 20 minutes in Wieliczka, walk a couple of hundred yards, stand in line for tickets and tell the agent which language group you wish to join, go to the appropriate flag (can't remember if US or UK) and soon a guide will take the next group down into the mine.

Happy trails!

Good to see you are at least acknowledging that travel time exists. Most people posting itineraries write as if it didn't. I do agree with kja that you lose more than just the actual travel time itself. Otherwise, your time allocations seem reasonable in terms of the percentage of time lost to moving to/from places.

I don't know why you wrote, "we are now trying to do 3 - 4 days per COUNTRY". You are not attempting to visit any country as far as I can see, only cities. If you want to try and visit a country, you have to go outside of cities and spend time in smaller towns/villages as well. If cities are what interest you, that's fine but I don't see any need to reference countries.

It is too hectic for me personally. With 7 weeks, to work with, I would be more likely to look at 7 stops and doing a day trip here and there from those bases. You may find yourself getting tired of moving before you make it to Greece.

Actually, there are three places where the OP is visiting a whole country in a few days: Portugal, Morocco and Greece. Let me discourage you from doing this. Both are worthy destinations, but both deserve much more time is you want to have any experience of these places.

I agree that it would make sense to cut some destinations so you actually have time to experience some of the wonderful places you have chosen. Go through your list of places and prioritize them. That will help you decide what to cut. This is unlikely to be your last time to Europe, so as you make cuts, think of it as choosing what you want to see this time vs. next time.

And while you have allowed for transit time, you have only allowed for the amount of time the flight or train takes, not for other things, as kja mentioned. Also, when you arrive in London at 7:40 am, you will not have a full day. It will be at least a couple hours before you are at your lodging in London, and I expect you will have some jet lag.

Also, if your budget is modest, less moving around will make your money go farther.

Generally I like your itinerary. Some questions:

Are you renting a car in Matera?
Where is Pyros?

I'd drop Portugal and fly directly to Athens. Put another day in Barcelona and maybe London.