Critical Review Please
 

Flying into & out of Amsterdam. <BR>No car...train only <BR> <BR>1st night- Amsterdam <BR>2nd-4th night - Paris (to London via chunnel) <BR>5th-7th night - London (to Belgium via ferry) <BR>8th night - Luxembourg City (to break up the trip from Belgium to Italy) <BR>9th-11th night - Florence (1/2 day Pisa) <BR>12th night - Venice <BR>13th night - ???? (Venice/AMS/or in between) <BR>14th night - Amsterdam <BR> <BR>I have read on this forum that the Day Train from Venice to Salzburg has beautiful scenery. Spend that 13th night in Salzburg?

I should have added that the reason Paris is second is because I want to spend Bastille Day there.

Chris. <BR> <BR>You are right about the senery from Salzburg to Verona, but there are other scenic routes through Switzerland, which would shorten the journey - its a long loop to go via Salzburg, and I don't think it is worth it. <BR>Regarding your idea of stopping in Luxembourg to break the journey to Italy. Luxembourg is very nice, but it is still a heck of a long way to Italy the next day. You need to break the journey further south if you can. <BR>Generally you are going round in circles a bit the first week. Why not Amsterdam - London -Paris, which puts you much closer to Italy. You are also possibly biting off a bit more than is desirable in 14 days; something ought to give, either London or Florence possibly. <BR>Returning from Venice to Amsterdam will almost certainly require a night train, probably from Milan. There is a very good Dutch train that leaves Milan at 2005 every night except Sunday. Unfortunately it is not covered by Eurail, and is not cheap either. It has seats, couchettes (4 berth) or 2 berth sleeping cabins. It is train No.208 if you wish to enquire about it. <BR>Sorry, I've just re-read your post and see you are planning the Salzburg loop for the return journey. If you do this it is much easier to spend the 13th.night in Innsbruck - more trains, and better scenery. The route is Venice-Verona-Innsbruck. Incidentally a night in Verona would be very rewarding too, if you drop Florence. Then you could go Verona-Innsbruck-Munich or even further en route to Amsterdam.

I agree with Tony - quite frankly I'm exhausted from just READING your itinerary! You may be in the cities you've mentioned but at this rate you probably won't remember them. Why not think about spending a bit more time. Also, be aware, that the trains don't always run on YOUR schedule e.g., there may be strikes, delays, etc. You may also want to consider flying intra-Europe. They have some cheap fares and there are also some coupons that you can purchase here in the US before going that allow you to fly rather cheaply (although you still have to consider time getting to and from airports). Finally, you're really not allowing yourself much time in each city after you get there. What is the goal of your trip? Just to be in the cities or to really see some cities? This isn't meant to be critical - just trying to be helpful.

Thanks to those above who have commented. This is my first trip to Europe. I will re-think some of the itenerary & check back here later. <BR> <BR>Any comments by anyone else? <BR> <BR>

Hi Chris! There are many different ways to re-work your schedule. One possibility is to focus on Northern Europe, mainly London, Amsterdam, Paris, and maybe even a bit of Belgium (2-3 days to quickly see Brussels, Brugges, maybe Ghent, since you are ferrying to Belgium anyways). I would drop Italy (and Luxembourg) because you will spend a lot of time getting down and then going back up to Amsterdam. If you want to maximize sightseeing, you might want to focus on doing day-trips from bases. For example, a visit to Versailles is a must for anyone going to Europe the first time, and this can easily be done by RER train from Paris.