Hi, I am traveling with my Partner to Europe for the first time. We are flying to London on
Sept 15 and flying out of Madrid on Oct 7th 2012. We all ready purchased flights as we got a good deal on airline tickets. I have researched for a while several itineraries which we are doing on our own, but need advice.

We have an aggressive itinerary planned. Staying maybe 2 nights in London, taking the train to Paris for 3 nights.....the middle of the trip is still in the works...maybe heading from Paris to Amsterdam, 2 nights, then Frankfurt or straight to Munich, don't mind the overnight train to not loose time, but being Oktober Fest don't know if we can get rooms.....or maybe from Paris taking the overnight train to Zurich or Lucerne......the last part of the trip would be 2 days in Venice, 3 nights in Rome, Florence along the way (not staying) and finishing 2 nights in Barcelona and 3 or 4 nights in Madrid......I know it seems like alot, but I added the stays, overnight trains, and it add ups to the 23 days (or 21 without lost flight days in and out)......

Would I get a better deal purchasing a Eurorail Global Pass (expensive!) or just purchasing train tickets on site???

I want to purchase hotels prior to flying in for London, maybe Paris, and Madrid....is it safe to purchase the remaining on site...researching beforehand of course....safe for late september? just to add some sense of adventure and being free to change itinerary as we are there....we are in early 30's and late 30's so we don't mind walking and some adventure. we want to stay in centrally located hotels or B&B's, mainly budget, not so much hostels, as we do not want to sacrifice comfort given the intensity of the trip.

I am traveling very light, carry-on convertible backpack....

Hi eric,

sometimes i like to make my itinerary into a table; that gives you this:

Day 1 - fly into London. stay 2 nights [gives you max 2 days, not allowing for delays at the airport and jetlag]

Day 3 - eurostar to Paris [book as soon as you can to get best rates] stay 3 nights - gives you 2 1/2 days. again, book hotels asap - last sept i booked a hotel for this March and got a rate of €117/night instead of the rack rate of €225/night.

Day 6 - amsterdam/Frankfurt/munich/switzerland


Day 13 - train to venice - stay 2 nights =1 1/2 days

Day 15- train to Rome, stay 3 ngihts = 2 1/2 days or only 2 of you stop off in Florence en route

Day 18- fly to Barcelona, stay 2 nights [that's 1 1/2 days max]

Day 20- train to Madrid, stay 3 nights

Day 23 - fly home.

IMHO this is far too aggressive an itinerary, you will be exhausted by half way through and you will know a lot about european trains but not a lot else.

if you're going to do it with a rail pass, make sure at least you have the names and addresses of hostels in the cities you think you you may visit.

if you're going to book, do it as early as possible. [see my example above of the savings you can make by doing this].

2 nights in London gives you little over one day there. W/ a morning arrival you probably won't get to your hotel until late AM or noon-ish. You'll probably be jetlagged and won't feel even half way decent until the next day. So basically why stop in London at all? 3 nights in Paris nets you 2.5 days. and it just gets worse from there.

So -- either spend a LOT of time and money traveling from place to place and mainly see trains/train stations/taxis/buses . . . or spend less money traveling to fewer cities and actually have time to SEE something.

Your choice.

Consider this alternative itinerary

Nights 1-4 London

Nights 5-8 Amsterdam

Nights 9-12 Paris

Nights 13-15 somewhere in mountains or beach between Paris and Barcelona (as a "substitution" for trying to do Germany or Switzerland)

Nights 16-18 Barcelona

Nights 19-21 Madrid

You still have good diversity of countries, you see more than just cities, and you have time in at least some of the destinations to get a day or 1/2 day trip out to see more without packing and unpacking to change hotels.

Thanks all, I had the feeling the itinerary was too aggressive. I like Laurie Ann's itinerary. I think the best alternative since i have booked already the flight to London and out of Madrid, I will have to do Italy on a separate trip....and have more time to enjoy the different locations.