Europe Adventure - Need feedback
 

Hello Everyone,

So my family and I are planning a sixteen day trip to Europe during for summer. I need some feedback on this brainstorm of an itinerary. Thank you in advance!

We definitely want to visit England and we have relatives in Germany and Switzerland.
Other countries that we would love to see are France and Italy.

Now, I have been doing research and I know that it is probably not a good idea to cram all of those in at once...especially with a 16 day time frame.

Here is a rough itinerary

*Fly from Philadelphia on air Icelandic (I heard it is cheaper)
*Stop in Iceland and then continue into London.
*Spend around 5 days in England - (We plan on going to London, Liverpool, and around the English countryside but try and use trains to stay close to London)
* Afterwards, travel to Paris, France and spend 2-3 days there. (Paris isn't the top of our list to go)
* Travel up to Germany and stay there - Stuttgart to see family - and then do an hour long drive/ day trip up to the family in Switzerland. (Probably spend 5-6 days combined)

Should Italy even be considered in this equation? Let me know what you think!

Thanks! :-)

No, Italy should definitely not be considered.

When do you mean when you say "travel up to?" How? Train? Car? Air? You mentioned driving on the day trip in Switzerland, but will you have a car the whole time?

You definitely want to do an open-jaw ticket for this type of trip - into Paris and out of Switzerland - whether Icelandic Air accommodates that possibility or not.

<i>Spend around 5 days in England - (We plan on going to London, Liverpool, and around the English countryside but try and use trains to stay close to London)</i>

Too many things for 5 days. You might want to look at some guidebooks to see what there is to do in London and environs.

to both of you- thank you!

And for StCirq, I plan on driving or taking a train. But that something I am still figuring out which one would be more time and money saving. And yeah, now that you say it, I think Italy would be for the next visit.

And thanks Michael, I think that is probably a good idea to spend some more time in England because that was the number one country we plan on visiting. Thanks for the help!

I'd probably stick to two countries in 16 days, particularly if you are counting travel days in with actual days on the ground. Since Paris isn't a priority for you, think about dropping it altogether. Plotting out the actual days always helps me pare down my initial ideas.
So something like
Day 1 flight leaves Philadelphia
Day 2 arrive Iceland; depart for London. Get to hotel; do something outside to fight jet lag
Day 3 London- Tower of London morning; London eye afternoon
Day 4
etc. make sure you account for travel between cities. like i said, listing everything makes you realize exactly how much time you have.

I second flying open jaw and of course check all airlines. When I went to England last year Iceland air wasn't much cheaper that British airways, and I got a nonstop flight to London. Of course you may prefer a stop on the way but look at your choices first.

I don't think it has been cheaper to fly Icelandic since the late 70s...you can get deals if you look for them. Try Kayak to see what comes up on your open jaws flight searches.

If you skip Paris (why spend valuable time somewhere that's not a priority?) you should be able to find a cheap flight from London to Germany. See whichbudget.com and skyscanner.net.

You definitely need more time in the UK, given what you want to see. For trains see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ It will take a couple of hours each way from London to Liverpool and back.

If you're based in London, travel to and from Liverpool will take the major part of a day, so you'll have little time in Liverpool if you take it as a day trip. However, you might want to combine it with a trip into the Lake District, and you might want to check out flying from Birmingham to Stuttgart (there are direct flights)

I suggest dropping Paris. No sense shortening other stops in a place you don't particularly want to see. Add that time to England.

Fly into London and out of your last stop in Switzerland (open-jaw or multicity flight). Consider flying from London to Stuttgart. Use trains in Germany and Switzerland.

Once you have decided on a specific itinerary, come back to Fodors for more ideas.