euro trip 2014
 

greetings everybody!

This year we are planning a euro trip for 2 weeks. I will be travelling with my wife and a two year old kid.

my place of entry would be ITALY
we plan to travel on either late march or early april

following are the itineraries that we are keeping as an option with tentative days marked in bracket

1. italy(5)-hungary(2)-austria(1)-czech republic(1)-germany(2)- ( france(2) optional )
2. italy(5)-switzerland(3)-france(3)-germany(3)
3. italy(5)-switzerland(2)-france(3)-spain(4)
4. italy(5)-france(3)-germany(3)-czech republic(2)

my question to the experts here is:

-which of my itinerary is best option? in terms of diversity like we would prefer a trip which contains beautiful scenic views, history, archaeology, mountains all in one :)

if you have any other itinerary which would match my need please feel free to suggest

thanks,


Muhammad Ali

We need a few more details. I assume you are flying into Italy and flying home from your last destination? I also assume that you would like to take trains from one destination to another and if that is so then you will want to look into rail passes and travel first class. If that is the case you will need to look at the Eurrail map and consider the route you would take from one destination to another and the time involved in travel. You may want to cut down your destinations to 3 depending on your route and the time involved to get from one to another. Also note that you will want to travel as light as possible with regard to baggage if you are going to be taking trains.

Is this your first trip to Europe? If yes then be careful in Italy (Gypsies). Carry a security wallet under your shirt.

Unless Italy is a must I personally would limit my trip to Czech, Germany, Switzerland regarding scenery, mountains, etc.

You have too short a time in all of your destinations. You haven't accounted for the fact that it takes at least a half day to travel from one place to another. With 2 weeks, especially since you are traveling with a toddler, I would suggest no more than 4 stops, not 4 countries but 4 stops. Considering your interests, one thought is to fly into Rome, travel to Switzerland, then to Paris and fly home from Paris.

Well, totally unrealistic for times IN places, to get TO places, and to travel with a young child.
Choose Italy (since it seems to be a priority) and one other place.

With only 2 weeks and your criteria I would stay in France.

What archeological sites will you be visiting in the countries you listed? Have you figured out how to get from one place to another and how much time it will take?

thanks for your post

yes, italy is a must for me.

yes, i have taken travel time into account. apart from italy i am not looking to visit more than 1 or 2 cities in other country.

these itineraries which are not looking realistic are picked from random websites.

places which have caught my eye are berlin, prague, paris, budapest, rome, venice

You want scenery and mountains in the cities?

If Italy is a priority then visit Rome, Florence, and Venice during your 13 days. That would be enough moving around, especially with a 2 year old.

Yikes! None of your itineraries are good ideas. This trip would be like a marathon at a dead run. Plus, you will be traveling with a toddler. You are going to find that your itinerary may center around the youngster's schedule and not yours. Lastly, the only sightseeing you will experience will be looking out of the window from some form of transport.

If it were me the itinerary would consist of no more than three locations in one country, or two, if they were contiguous.

Buon viaggio,

yes, i have taken travel time into account. apart from italy i am not looking to visit more than 1 or 2 cities in other country.

NO, you really haven't taken travel time into account. And you speak in "countries" rather than "cities". Get it down to cities.

WHEN do you land? One day gone--you are in Italy, say.
WHEN do you leave? At least one more day gone. WHERE do you leave from?
See Italy, since that is your desire.

Italy is mandatory because I've applied schengen visa through italy.

more realistic plan would be a country from eastern europe (preferably prague) and Western Europe along with italy

6 days in Italy along with arrival and departure

None of your itineraries are practical for such a short amount of time. Do you have 12 days? 14 days? Does that include travel to and from your home?

You need to look at actual time in places and how long it takes to get from point A to point B. Getting a toddler ready/packed, checking in-and-out of hotels, getting to-and-from train stations take up time, not just the actual train travel time.

List your travel in hotel nights for each place you want to visit (FYI - 3 hotel nights somewhere equals only 2 sightseeing days).

Two weeks is enough time to hit the highlights of a few cities in Italy.

14 days excluding arrival and departure.

Last year we travelled through bali s Korea and Japan with same procedure. Stay for a day or two in each city. And in Japan it was same train/bus

<i>Last year we travelled through bali s Korea and Japan with same procedure.</i>

Was that with the kid? If not, your plan is completely daft (all of them). If so, good luck - a toddler is not an infant and you'll learn the hard way how much more you need to do to keep junior happy.

Yes. With the family. My kid was almost 1 at that time

<i>My kid was almost 1 at that time</i>

That means junior was a semi-potted plant who was basically moved around like luggage and could be kept on an artificial schedule of eat-sleep-explore-sleep-poop-eat-sleep. Not going to happen with an ambulatory toddler whose needs are more complex.

None of your plans make sense - for two people let alone with a toddler. But you have benn toold this in every response. Yet you persist and come back with ' well, we did this last year in Asia.'. So since you are set on some hectic/ unrealistic itinerary - do what you want. We can't make you change your mind.

I am not trying to be rude - but what you want to do isn't realistic. Remember that every single time you move from one city to another takes at least half a day. And some of those moves require an entire day. So you don't end up with a day in Austria or 2 days in the Czech Republic but a few hours in transit.

You say you took these ideas from the Internet - well those are the itineraries from hectic coach tours where you leave the hotel a 8:00 AM every morning and ride the bus all day long .. . Not something you can do with a 2 year old.

These are not small countries.
Where in Italy? Where in Germany? Where in France, etc.?

Italy seems to be a must do for you. Do wish to see Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Verona, Padua, the Amalfi Coast? Are you looking for architecture, art, food, small walled towns like Luca and Sienna, major sights like the Sistine Chapel?

In Germany, do you wish to see the black forest, Munich, Berlin, small medieval towns and castles, chalet villages in the mountains?

To decide the best itinerary for yourself for Europe, it is important to know exactly what you want to see out of the thousands of possibilities.

>>>14 days excluding arrival and departure.<<<

So you have 16 hotel nights?

Can you race around Europe? Yes. There isn't any point to it unless you just want to check city names off a list to say you've been there. If you want to actually see some things, you need to allow time in places, not just on transport.

Arrive Italy (where?) and 5 days (where?) doesn't mean much. Do you mean just one city in Italy? 5 days would be enough for Rome, but not for "Italy".

Thank you all.

2 full days in Rome
2 days in venice
1 day milan/florence

Yes I get your point. So basically what you people are suggesting is I stay in italy and pick one more country?

The idea of moving around was to feel and see different cultures.

@sassafras
excellent post. Yes thats what ive told my wife to do. Narrow the things so that we can finalise where to go