Europe Itinerary
 

Hello. I was looking for some suggestions on my travels this summer in August. I am visiting London, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, and Munich. I will be traveling for about 2.5 to 3.0 weeks. Here is my plan so far. I work for a big hotel chain so I am lucking out with great hotels at really good prices. Any suggestions on sights or dining in these particular countries would be appreciated.

Fly to London from home.
Arrive in London- Stay at Marriott Hotel Park Lane
Depart London Standsted. Arrive in Rome Stay at Marriott Grand Hotel Flora
Spend Day in Rome. Stay at Marriott Grand Hotel Flora
Leave Rome morning. Arrive in Florence(1.5hrs)
Leave Florence morning. Arrive in Cinque Terre(3hrs) Stay ?
Spend day in Venice. Stay at Ramada Hotel Venezia
Spend day in Venice. Stay at Ramada Hotel Venezia
Leave Venice in morning. Arrive in Milan(2.5hrs) Stay at Milan Marriott
Leave Milan in morning. Visit Matterhorn in Zermatt(3.5hrs) Stay at Holiday Inn Express Luzerne
Leave Luzerne in morning. Arrive in Zurich(3hrs) Stay at Renaissance Zurich
Leave Zurich in morning. Visit Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria. Arrive in Salzburg(6hrs) Stay at Renaissance Salzburg
Leave Salzburg morning. Arrive in Vienna (4hrs) Stay at Radisson SAS Palais
Leave Vienna morning. Arrive in Prague(5hrs) Stay at Radisson SAS Alcron Praha
Spend day in Prague. Stay at Radisson SAS Alcron Praha
Leave Prague in morning. Arrive in Munich(7hrs) Stay at Renaissance Munich
Spend day in Munich. Stay at Renaissance Munich
Leave Munich morning. Arrive in Frankfurt(3.5hrs) Fly out afternoon. Arrive in London. Stay at Marriott Hotel Park Lane
Fly home!

That itinerary is way loaded. Hope you love packing, unpacking, Marriotts, trains, and trains stations; after all, it will pretty much sum up your vacation. For example, why are you going to Milan, Zurich, Lucerne, Vienna, Munich for just an overnight? to sleep at their Marriott? You can do that in just about any city in the U.S.

Really, take another shot at this itinerary and narrow down the list of cities. Europe isn't going anywhere and hopefully you will be back. Also, you may want to check out the lonelyplanet.com forum (geared to backpackers).

This just is not at all my travel style; I like at *least* two nights in each city, and prefer three or four.

You may manage to "visit" 6 countries in 2-3 weeks, but you'll have very little time to actually *see* much of the cities you're passing through. Even on a whirlwind, I think you'll enjoy your trip more if you trim the number of destinations a bit.

I'd definitely cut Milan from your Italy portion and give that night to one of the other stops. The Cinque Terre will take a good bit of time to reach and cannot be appreciated if you're rushing there and away - the whole idea there is to slow down and relax for a day or two. If you can't do that, I'd recommend saving it for a different trip and sticking to Rome, Florence and Venice.

Is your flight already booked? If not, try for an open-jaw ticket into one city and out of another so you don't have to backtrack.

I think I counted 9 or 10 1 nighters!!! Do you know how tiring that will be! As Maira mentioned above you will be spending all your time checking in, unpacking and traveling. Hopefully everything will be on time otherwise you may only see the stations. Between weather and logistics this is not a vacation or an adventure but a city marathon!

Places such as London, Vienna, Prague and Munich truly deserve more than one night ( or 1/2 day depending on how you look at it.) And Rome too usually needs more than 1.5 days.

Do you have any idea what you plan to do in these cities? Are you into museums, castles, art, shopping, hiking, history etc?

Are you renting a car or will need to follow a train schedule?

If you pick up a guide book and decide what you really enjoy doing in these cities it may then automatically follow how many nights you need.

You can do a search on Fodor's for each of these locations and see what other people think are must sees, but are they what you enjoy?

Great itinerary. I'd see if you could squeeze in a few more stops. I'm guessing a troll.

Are you people for real, even stopping to consider that this might be a real post? No one, and I mean no one, with beyond a third grade education or who has ever picked up a tour book for more than 25 minutes could be serious. This is a joke.

Radisson, Ramada, Holiday Inn? I thought the rationale for hitting all these places was the discounted Marriott chain rooms. Since when do hotel chains and franchisees cut special deals for competitor's employees?

I'm not buying in either and not even for the hotel reason. C'mon. I've traveled in a hurry before, hoping to get a little more in but.... what, no side trip to Bali? (18.5hrs)

I could be wrong though, and if I am, please reconsider.

If it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium.

Adding to the "evidence", this is the first post for this person...

I am exhausted just reading this--it has to be a joke.

Wow! I am spending 14 days in just N and central Italy and wish I had more time. Can't imagine doing all that, do you want to experience any certain cities? Or just touch down in all of them? It seems like you'll see a lot of American style hotel rooms. What do you like to do and hope to see? Can you tailor it down or do you not think you'll ever have a chance to visit Europe again? :) In Florence see David at Accademia and the Boboli Gardens. I'd stay in Cinque Terre for a night if at all possible. www.cinqueterre.it 2 days in Venice shld be ok, San Marco and the Guggenheim might be worth exploring. Milan be sure to go to the roof top of the Duomo. That's all I can suggest. Good luck!

Wow. It doesn't seem like anyone cares for my planning. I did 12 countries last summer in 3 weeks and had the time of my life. I got to see the major points in ever major country that I visited. I am 25 years old and want to see as much as I can. This will be my last trip to Europe for quite sometime as I am beginning med school next fall. That is a little higher than a 3rd grade education. Yes it is a lot. It just seemed that when we went last year we saw pretty much everything we wanted to see in a day or two. I do work for a hotel management company and I am currently the controller for Marriott (which owns Ramada Intl), Radisson, and the Holiday Inn Select in San Diego... that is how I get a lot of discounts. Anyway I do appreciate the responses. I figured most of them would be negative. We will be taking the train and I realize things go wrong with time schedules. I guess last year the trip went so perfect and we came back with memories from all 12 countries. At our age we feel like seeing more countries is more exciting than vacationing, resting, and taking our time in one country. That is what Hawaii is for. We are both into castles, historic buildings, beer gardens, good restaurants...mostly the big touristy things. When I retire I plan on staying weeks in my favorite locations. I was just trying to get a response if this itinerary is even possible and maybe what countries would be a waste of time.

Wow. It doesn't seem like anyone cares for my planning. I did 12 countries last summer in 3 weeks and had the time of my life. I got to see the major points in ever major country that I visited. I am 25 years old and want to see as much as I can. This will be my last trip to Europe for quite sometime as I am beginning med school next fall. That is a little higher than a 3rd grade education. Yes it is a lot. It just seemed that when we went last year we saw pretty much everything we wanted to see in a day or two. I do work for a hotel management company and I am currently the controller for Marriott (which owns Ramada Intl), Radisson, and the Holiday Inn Select in San Diego... that is how I get a lot of discounts. Anyway I do appreciate the responses. I figured most of them would be negative. We will be taking the train and I realize things go wrong with time schedules. I guess last year the trip went so perfect and we came back with memories from all 12 countries. At our age we feel like seeing more countries is more exciting than vacationing, resting, and taking our time in one country. That is what Hawaii is for. We are both into castles, historic buildings, beer gardens, good restaurants...mostly the big touristy things. When I retire I plan on staying weeks in my favorite locations. I was just trying to get a response if this itinerary is even possible and maybe what countries would be a waste of time. Thanks again!

Sorry...accidently hit the post my reply button twice!

Well bmeyerhoff,

I think all of us are saying, no, it really canyt be done like this. Iyll just take one portion of your itinerary: Milan y Mattehorn y Luzern. The train from Milano to the Gornergrat (Matterhorn) station at Zermatt takes 5.32 or 5.44 hours with 4 or 5 changes. The next ride from Goernergrat to Luzern takes 5.56 or 6.20 hours with 5 or 6 changes. Youyll get into Luzern after dark, missing entirely the charm and the scenery it has to offer. Youyll never even know that youyre in Switzerland. Why not just spend that night in Zermatt and then leave the next day for Zurich or simply go Milan y Luzern y Zurich?

Do you have a good train site to investigate schedules? If not, try www.rail.ch.

s

I understand it is a lot. I have been following the train schedules from RailEurope.com or Eurail.com, which is where we got our pass. There it says 3.5 hours from Milan to Zermatt and Zermatt to Luzerne is 5.0 hours. I guess we figured leave Milan around 5:30 in the morning. Get there around 9:00 stay until 12:00 and get in Luzerne around 5:00. Not much time to see Luzerne. But what really is there to do there besides see the fairy tale setting. I didn't see us waiting in big lines for a museum or being overwhelmed with things to do there. And we do have the next morning to see some things that we might have missed. I guess it is more of a stop over than a place to really be excited about. And when we get back we will remember being there. It's obvious that it's a lot, but if we did twice as much in 3 weeks last summer how will this be too much. I wouldn't have changed a thing about the last trip we took. We actually drove from Sweden to Paris and our friends that live in Malmo Sweden got us into thinking that 2 days in Paris were enough. We had a blast but it was plenty of time...and that is a big city. I do appreciate the comments...I was just looking for some things to do while we were there. I really wasn't looking for the immature comments about going to Bali or having a 3rd grade education. My trip is planned, it will be great and this site has really deterred me from seeking advice from people that think there way is the right way to travel. For those who have the maturity level of an adult I would appreciate any suggestions of what to miss and what not to miss. I will then figure out what we have time for and what will be the most imporatant things for us to see. All other jokes and ridicules aren't necessary. Thanks!

I am going to try REALLY hard not to be rude here - but you have obviously made up your mind about this insane itinerary. Your comment that 2 days is "enough" for Paris pretty much sums it up. (Plus how can you possibly know what you missed if you passed through 12 countries in 3 weeks???)

Just like 2 days is "enough" for California -- or 2 hours for Yosemite -- or 6 hours between planes is enough to see London.

Everyone has said this is a nutty itinerary but you disagree - so do what you want. It IS your trip, afterall.

No one is saying you should only go one place - but arriving in a place after 5PM and leaving the next morning just to say you've been there just seems like a needless waste of time and money.

I agree with Janis. There are some places that would be fine to see in one night, but places like Rome could use 2 nights. If you took out the places that are far apart you could stay 2 nights in others. ie. you have a really grueling 4 days with 6 hrs of travel(salzburg) then 4 hours the next day and 5 hours the next day and then 7 hours. Why not eliminate Prague and then stay 2 nights somewhere else. 1-3 hours of travel is fine, but 6 and 7 get to be alot.

Some good points I guess. Can you really compare Paris to California. Maybe San Francisco or Los Angeles to Paris. And yes 2 days in either of those places is enough as I have done it many times. My thought process is touch base and see what I want to see and move on. Again just looking for comments on what to see in each place I WILL be visiting. That is all I'm asking...let's forget my nutty itinerary that is completely impossible, which just so happens to be very similiar to my trip last summer, which also happens to be the best trip I have ever been on. Please...I would just appreciate some advice on things to see. I will determine if my trip is too nutty for me to handle. Thank you e_roz for giving me the only suggestion so far. Those sound like great places to see.

Sounds like a busy itinerary. I only have info to add regarding Germany and Austria as I was just there in April.

We drove from Zurich to Fuessen which is 5 minutes from Neuschwanstein Castle and it took about 4 hours with some light traffic and lost time. The lines weren't too bad during the spring but my boyfriend who was there the previous summer said it was busy. Hopefully you'll get there early. Hint: Don't walk up to the castle, you'll lose time that way.

Munich was beautiful. I guess if you're just looking for the highlights then the Glockenspiel, the churches, and the garden would be good to see, it's all right near the hauptbanhof (main station). I assume you'll be getting drunk at the Hofbrauhaus. We did, two nights in a row.

In Salzburg we ate at something like a mircobrewery called Zipfer Bierhaus, good beer and food. We visited a few Irish pubs. The next morning we visited Mozarts Birth house and Mirabell Garden. There were other things we wanted to visit but did not have the time.

May I remind you that you are traveling during the summer, which is high tourist season. Expect lines and waits.

Have fun and be safe.