Europe in 3 weeks?
 

This will be my first time traveling overseas, or really anywhere for that matter, so the cities that I am trying to see on my 3-week adventure include but are not limited to London, Manchester, Paris, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Athens, and Munich (for Oktoberfest). Any advice for a first time traveler would be greatly appreciated, and if this is too much to see in one trip. It seems that Munich may be cut out to make Athens work but I don't know if that is a good idea. Please HELP!! :)

We did a lot on our first trip -- we had 24 days and started in London for 2 nights, went on to Paris for 3, took an overnight train to Venice for 2 nights, Florence overnight, then on to Rome for 4 nights, flew to Athens for 2 nights, then took an overnight boat to Samos for 1 night, and stayed in Izmir for 2 nights, then a very long bus ride to Istanbul for 4 nights.

Suffice to say, we covered a lot of ground, one that Ira would call "not a vacation but an expedition". :)

Would I do it again? Probably not, but I loved every minute of it. When I went back this last time I spent a few extra days in London because I realized it didn't get nearly the time it deserved, and a week in Paris because I couldn't get over how much I loved the city, and didn't see as much as I would have since I came down with Bronchitis and ended up seeing a very nice French doctor for antibiotics.

As for your plan -- figure out what you really want to see and cut out some cities since you'll want to spend at LEAST 2 or 3 nights per city, (not sure about your choice of Manchester), and major cities like London, Paris & Rome need a minimum of 4-5 days.

So, I'd suggest cutting out Athens since it's so far away, and really once you've seen the Acropolis, it's not that great. That way, you can stay on the Western continent. I'll suggest this:

London - 4 days
Paris - 5 days
Venice - 2 days
Florence 2 days
Rome 4 days
fly to
Munich 3 days
That leaves you two days for travel time and additional padding in case you want to spend an extra day somewhere like Venice or Munich if you're a heavy drinker and a 3-day drinking binge isn't enough. ;)

I'd also suggest getting a good guidebook. I'm not sure of your budget or travel style, but I like Rick Steves Europe Through The Back Door for the first time budget (not student, not Richie Rich) traveler.

I'd also suggest going to your local library and getting travel videos to get a feel for different cities and decide what you really want to see.

Have a great trip!

Jules

Manchester to see Old Trafford and hopefully, beyond hoping and praying, to see a Manchester United game. I applied for tickets last year and was denied so I am praying that the 2008 season I will be a little more lucky.

You may want to cut out Munich and pad your days a little more here and there. That would also give you a couple of days to do the Manchester if you luck out & get tickets, and an extra day to tack onto a city you are more interested in.

Happy travels,

Jules

I'd cut out Athens and see Munich on the way to Venice (there is an overnight train between the two)

Hi S,

Yup, it's an expedition.

You might want to fly into MAN, train down to London, take the Eurostar to Paris, fly www.myair.com to Venice, train to Florence and then Rome (see Pisa as a daytrip from Florence), fly home from Rome.

If Munich is important, you could fly Paris to Munich
(see www.whichbudget.com)
and then train over the Alps to Venice.

I suggest leaving Athens for another visit.

Enjoy your trek. :)

((I))

Hi

My suggestion is that you don't try to cover it all. I know it is tempting to see many places but some of the cities that you mention are huge and there are lots of things to see and do.

I went to Paris in the spring this year and it is a beautiful city. I have posted a trip report with pictures and links on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com/Paris_France.htm and I hope that you can find some useful info there. I have also made a similar trip report for Rome : http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm . My wife and I went there last summer and again it is a great city. Note that I have also made Google maps for the two cities in order to make it simpler to see where all the attractions are located :d Good luck with the planning.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

9 cities in 3 weeks is too much imo.

Here's my math: you have 21 days. I subtract the first and last day right off the batt, because basically you are just coming from or going to the airport.

so 19 days left... when you change cities in most cases it will take about 1/2 the day - to check out of your hotel, get to the train station or airport, make the journey, get to your next hotel and check in. Doing this 8 times, subtract another 4 days.

Now you have 15 days to see 9 cities, meaning you will have less than 2 days in each place. That is definitely not a great plan in my book. You'll spend a LOT of money moving around so much, with little time to actually see the places you end up in.


For starters, I'd nix Rome and Athens for being the furtherst out of the way from the others, and needing the most amount of time to do them justice. Rome because it's a huge city, and Greece because it's a tad more of a logistic challenge to get there.

Oh and, you say "but are not limited to", you DEFINITELY don't have time to add any MORE places -LOL!!!

Here's my suggestion (which strangely enough follows quite similar to Jules above -lol!):

Fly in to London 5 days
train to Paris 5 days
fly or overnight train to Venice 3 days
train to Florence 3 days
train to Rome 5 days
Fly home from Rome

srippy?

thanks for all of the opinions, they are great. It looks like i will leave out Athens for sure but do what jules suggests just so that i get to go to Munich. that was one of the things that i didn't want to leave out this trip, who knows when i'll be back and when i do go back, i don't know if i will be able to drink as much as i can now, being in my mid-20's and all.

Then I'd add even a few more days to Munich, since it's a special occasion there!! Maybe try to stay 5 days at the end of your trip?