Critque my first time Europe Trip Itinerary
 

Hi I am planning a trip to Europe with my Mother (she is able and energetic - young at heart and very daring) we have about a month all up starting in London and ending in France. At first plan we were only doing london paris and rome, and then as i started planning I thought it made more sense to go down one route and travel backup a different route. We will be travelling by train.

I just wanted to know if I have any fatal flaws in my Itinerary?

- London 7days Includes overnight tour to stonehenge and bath
- overnight Ferry to Amsterdam
- day and night to explore the bare basics of Amsterdam IE Anne Frank House
-Early Morning Train to Koblenz Rhine River Area for 2nights to take in the castles and do a rhine river fireworks cruise
-Early Morning Train to Lucerne 2nights to take in the Mountains
-Overnight train to Venice
day and night in Venice to do a gondola ride and city walking tour
-Early morning Train to Florence day and night
- late afternoon train to rome for 4nights
- late afternoon train to Naples for 2nights to do pompeii and capri
- overnight train to Nice for 2nights
- morning train to paris for 5nights before flying to Greece for 7days.

I know its a bit of a whirlwind. I do have 1 extra night I can stay somewhere - I'm just not sure if this extra night should be Lucerne, Venice or Florence?


any advice appreciated

thanks heaps

Whew! You're right, it is a bit of a whirlwind tour and even if your mum is energetic, young at heart etc., you must take her age into consideration. My mum was 79 when I took her to London & Paris for 2 weeks and believe me the problems started right from the word GO!
Tired swollen feet and ankles, very painful knees, and in the end just could not manage to enjoy herself the way she would have liked to.

Go prepared with lots of anti-inflams and prescription drugs for an emergency otherwise you'll end up like me - spending buckets of money at the doctors!
Take a day every now and then to slowdown with the sightseeing or else it may all just be a blurr.

Which ferry are you planning on taking to Amsterdam? The Harwich - Hook of Holland ferry? If so be sure to buy the "Rail and Sail
" ticket which includes train travel from Hook of Holland to any station in the Netherlands. http://tinyurl.com/2mxa9x
If you only have a day in Amsterdam buy tickets online for Anne Frank Huis and maybe for the van Gogh museum before going to save you time queuing.

In my research I came across seat61 which recommended London to Asterdam by overnight train+ferry. Apparently fares include the train from London to Harwich, the Stena Line ferry to Hoek van Holland, and the Dutch train from Hoek to Amsterdam, all in one ticket.


Thanks for the advice about online tickets.

cheers

Give us some info as to your ages,interests and when you are traveling-I fly to Europe everyweek for work and at 56 I am somewhat exhausted looking at your schedule.

You are covering a lot of territory but I think you are spreading yourselves a bit thin in Italy. Italy is a wonderful experience and you have left precious little time to enjoy it. You are giving London its due but the rest of the trip is very rushed.

I don't know how to suggest that you allow more time for Italy. I think your original plan of London, Paris and Rome makes more sense. By cutting out Amsterdam, Switzerland and Germany, you could spend more time in Italy. But if you prefer these locations, you could perhaps eliminate Venice, Florence and Naples and go directly from Lucerne to Rome.

You might be surprised at the amount of time that is taken up by moving from one location to another.

Good luck in your planning and in your travels.

And most people do not sleep well or at all on overnight trains. You can buy tickets with an open jaw which means that you can fly into one city and leave out of another without backtracking.

I do think that you need to rethink some of this but without knowing your mom's age,health,etc. its difficult. I should tell you that most of the people that I have on my flights coming home comment that 21-28 days traveling is way too exhausting even for seasoned travelers and that they wished that they had done only a 14 day trip as it makes everything blur and too tiring.

I'm tired after reading your schedule... All this early morning trains, overnight trips... Be sure to rest and linger.
When do you travel? Do you travel light luggage wise? Temperatures in Stonehenge can differ quite a lot at any moment of the year from those in Greece...
From the beginning in London till Paris, you change "bedrooms" about 12 to 13 times... Rather sporty.

The pace of your trip makes me think of the time i was a student and we did eurorail through europe just to do the most cities we could in the smallest amount of time...
Is your mother able to follow that pace?

Far too many stops, far too much time on trains. And almost all in cities. With this much time, it would be nice to see something of the countryside.

Some points:

If you go to Koblenz, consider going down the Mosel. I found it prettier and smaller in scale than the Rhine.

You're going to Naples, Pompeii and Capri, and skipping the Amalfi Coast?

Venice, Florence, Nice and the Cote d'Azur all deserve more time. As does Bath.

If you decide to prune back this tangled mass of an itinerary, Fodorites can help you with using public transportation to smaller towns and cities.

Otherwise, why not just take a group tour? They'll handle the transportation with drivebys for all the most famous sights.

thanks for the feedback, We will be travelling at the begining of September into October. I am 35yrs and my mother will be turning 60yrs but she has no ailments, she is not on any meds what so ever and still works (on her feet all day as a cook in a small cafe). I am also well, work fulltime and run 5kms most days.

We have travlled together before through Indonesia and New Calidonia. She has always kept the pace. And she loves the train! She did the Ghan from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia and really enjoyed. Me, I prefer shorter train travel ( I spent a year communiting to Sydney every day for work which was 5hrs return- lucky I like to read on the train!). We have 2 overnight trains planned and our longest day train travel will be Koblenze to Lucerne (6hrs). I could do this as an overnight trip too but I thought what are we going to do in Koblenz (Kamp-Bornhofen) till 11pm before the night train comes! so I thought the scenery is probably nice that way on a day train? so probably better to travel the day arrive mid afternoon and relax in the hotel before two days of mountain exploring. We could do an extra night in Lucerne (making it 3 nights) as a bit of a rest between our harried journey either side? But I was wondering if that extra night is better spent in florence? I'm pretty sure we only want to do Venice for 1 day and night to do the gondola and city walk (though I imagine it deserves much more!).

You are right I understand that these cities deserve much more time than our schedule allows but this is to give us a bit of a taste to see where we might want to go next time for a longer haul. It is a bit like the grand tour usually reserved for the young!!!

I looked at a group tour covering most of this terain but Mum was keen on the train and independent experience. And we were concerend with a tour about spending most of our days on a bus. And the time given to Rome was so minimal. At least this way we are in most places (except venice and florence) for at least 2nights.

I could sit in Rome for 10 days and just day trip to pompeii and florence but I thought it would be nicer to explore at liesure a little by staying overnight?

But thankyou all, I will consider what has been suggested, which is why I put my itinerary out there for feedback :) I will see if there is anyway to slow our itinaery down a bit.

cheers