I think you need a map, some guidebooks and a train schedule. You also need to know that couchettes on trains are not covered by a rail pass - but are large add-on charges. Many overnight trains do NOT have seats - just berths. And if you try to sleep sitting up in seats you ned to take turns staying awake to make sure that your luggage and valuables don;t disappear during the night. (A friend of mine stuck on a seat in an overnight train had her camera stolen even though it was on the seat squashed between her and the armrest - on the side away from the aisle. She never noticed a thing.)

As for Monaco it is VERY expensive and basically for the uber wealthy. We have gone a couple of evenings while staying in Nice (a much bigger, more interesting and moderately priced city) to go to the casino and pretend to be James Bond. (The casino definitely has a dress code and high minimum bets.)

You shouldn;t waste any time there - Paris and Rome both have a huge number of things to see. Monaco has the Royal Palace, the casino, some incredibly expensive yachts in the harbor and branch stores of every designer, expensive jeweler and luxury car maker.

You need to do a day by day list of where you will be, how you will be traveling from one place to another, train schedules - and list of hostels.

And you are VERY late to be looking for decent hostels - versus the ones filled with thieves and drug users.

Overall you are bouncing around like ping pong balls - and should reduce the number of stops and actually see somehting and get to know the places you are most interested in. Give your self time to sit in a cafe and have a drink and watch the world go by. Otherwise you'll come home just way poorer than you left. You are spending a very significant amount of money to do this trip - don;t throw it away on running in circles.

Ok, I plead guilty of not having presented my argument clearly enough. The Cote d'Azur - and Nice is probably the most pleasant town there - is beautiful for old ladies with large white hats and lace gloves and shaved poodles, who have plenty of money to spend on elegant grand hotels and plenty of time to while away on the hotel terrace or the sea front, waiting for sunset. Or for aged dandies with red roadsters and blonde "nieces". Or for people who love to watch old ladies, shaved poodles, aged dandies, red roadsters and grand hotels, or blonde nieces.
But for twentysomethings whose main interest is culture and history, who are on a budget, and who have ONE destination to choose in France beside Paris, honestly, StCirq and thursdayd: would you really recommend Nice as that second destination? And not, say, Toulouse, Arles (or Avignon), Strasbourg, Beaune (or Dijon), Tours? Or Bayonne, given that they're interested to see the Basque Country?

nessa, perhaps you should explain why you decided to allocate time as you did, so to make us understand what you really want to do and see. For example, though some others will certainly disagree, I cannot imagine to spend three days in Amsterdam but stop just briefly en route in Brussels; and actually, on a "highlights only" trip like this (is it your first time to Europe?), and looking for small town vibe, I wouldn't probably include either of them (but rather go to Ghent and Antwerp, for example).

Well, I may be old, but I never wear hats and the only gloves I own are black. And my Nice hotel (on the pedestrian Rue de France) costs 55 euro for a single with balcony in the off season. I've found plenty to do in and around Nice - for seven nights this year and six nights in 2009 (click on my name for the TR).

Not that Strasbourg and Dijon and Bayonne and Arles aren't also good places to visit, but the OP was headed for the Riviera.

I agree you need to study the train timetables and a map. By your plan, you will see many train stations but few of the cultural, historical and romantic sights that you say are of interest to you.

Prague makes no sense, especially if you plan to go via Switzerland (whatever part you mean by that) and Munich and then after Prague to Venice. Prague is too much of an outlier unless you skip the in between bits and fly Paris to Prague to Venice.

I also question Amsterdam, but at least the train connections are slightly better.

I think you need to investigate lodging options in your budget range. You may already be too late in finding something affordable/available in some of these destinations, like Paris and Venice and maybe Barcelona and Madrid.

Consider that when you say you're staying somewhere 2 nights, that means you have only one full day plus a few hours. Rome and Paris would not be such short stops on my itinerary, but obviously this is your trip.

Consider also that you're going to need to deal with laundry a couple of times. However you do it (laundry service, thru your hotel or DIY), it still takes time which you don't have a lot of anywhere.

NEW Itinerary. OK so after serious considerations and time travel between places, I have narrowed it down to this.

Day 1) Frankfurt (go straight to Amsterdam)
Day 2-3) Amsterdam
Day 4-7) Brussels
Day 8-12) Paris
Fly from Paris to Prague
Day 14-17) Prague
Fly from Prague to Venice
Day 18-19) Venice
Day 20-24) Florence (Day trips to Sienna and Rome)
Day 25-28) Barcelona
Day 28-31) Madrid


I know this is still too much...
How would you change this itinerary?
I know Prague seems to be the outlier but I've heard amazing things about Prague.. So I'm not sure what to do

Drop either Brussels or Prague preferably both and spend a few days in Rome plus add a day to Paris.

I'd forget Brussels, or at least cut back. One full day is overkill.

Did all those things you heard about Prague include a) it's old town is WAY too small for all the people crowding in, and b) too many of those people are there to party (maybe better during the week, but google stag party and hen party prague)? I would go to Budapest instead.

Personally, I think it's a crime to go to southern Spain and not visit the Alhambra in Granada.

Are you really into art? Because if not I'd spend more time in Venice and less in Florence.

I think you may be trying to fit too many countries in to the itinerary. Prague is supposed to be very cool. We are going there ourselves this fall after spending a month in Italy. BUT
If I were you, I'd drop Prague for this trip. (You will travel to Europe again. You are young.) I would not try to do Rome as a day trip from Florence. However, if you have a free place to stay that is just outside of Rome, there may be wonderful day trips into Tuscany or Umbria you could do from there. You can get from Paris to Venice via train or flight. Then you could take the train to Rome or Florence, but I would suggest you pick one. Good day trips from Florence (which can be done by bus) would take you into Tuscany to see hill towns -- much smaller and different from the big cities you'll be spending most of your time in (except for Venice, which is a lovely one-of-a-kind gem. Traveling between cities does take up some time. I think you might find it better to focus on the must-sees you both have.

So. You do want to spend some time in Amsterdam (it is a GREAT social city for young people.) You do want to spend time in Paris. If you want to do "the big three" in Italy (Venice/Florence/Rome do concentrate on those. Especially if you have free lodging outside of Rome so that you can day trip easily into town. But you might consider dropping Florence. (unless there's a time-share you can use in Tuscany from which you could day-trip into Florence.) Spain appears in your itinerary because of possible time-share availability? Well, as a 20-something I would probably choose Barcelona and Madrid, too. ESPECIALLY if you get to stay in time-shares in those locations. (Where was the other location in Italy? I will say, Italy is much more expensive - in my experience - than France, so if you can get a paid-for place to stay anywhere in Italy that is near any of the "big three" I'd grab that. If it isn't that close to any of those cities, you might want to drop one of the expensive cities for the time-share.

Most of the people on this forum don't stay in hostels (there are a few, but not many). My daughter & two of her friends stayed in several about 5 years ago, and it was great because they really only used the hostels as a place to sleep.

This is much better. I would kill Madrid - but then I don;t like Madrid (I always think I'm in Chicago - which is great for Illinois but not so much for Spain). Add the days to Paris or go to Rome. They ruled a large part of the world for a thousand years - a whole lot better than 2 museums and a Royal Palace (that IS Madrid - except for night life)>

But - you still have all cities and not really any countryside or even smaller towns - except for Siena. You may want to consider exploring one or two that is an hour or so outside one of the towns you're visiting.

The new itinerary is still not appealing to me, but I recognize everyone has personal preferences. My preferences are Venice and/or Rome over Brussels.

How are you getting from Florence to Barcelona??

The best way from Florence to Barcelona is a train to Milan and the Elipsos night train to Barcelona, unless you find a cheap flight.

Thank for all your great replies! This is really helping so much. So it seems as if i need to cut down on the smaller places like Amsterdam and Brussels right? Are they more of a 1-2 day kind of place? Also seems as if Prague would be over kill, therefore I'm eliminating Prague. Also I have family in Pescara which I believe is about 2 hours east of Rome. Is that a good place to base myself and do day trips from there to Rome, Florence, Sienna, etc?

Attempt 3 Itinerary

Day 1) Frankfurt (go straight to Amsterdam)
Day 1-2) Amsterdam
Day 3-4) Brussels
Day 4-9) Paris
fly from Paris to Venice??? (flight $80- 1hr 40 min)
or take the train and pass through Switzerland?? (fare included in pass, beautiful scenery, 9.5 hours to Milano and 3 hours to Venice) Is it worth it?
Day 9-12 Venice (Do I need this many days in Venice?)
Day 12-18 Stay in timeshare near Rome or stay with family in Pescara and do day trips to Sienna, Rome, Tuscany and Florence?
Day 19- Make my way to Barcelona (By the looks of it, it is a VERY long train ride.. over 15 hours)(not appealing but if I do take this route I would get to see the French Riviera, worth it?) Flight is only 2 hrs- $100 dollars (No French Riviera)
Day 19 or 20-25 Barcelona and small towns (I need help with this one
Also my family is originates from Basque Country, I know its up north a little of the way, is it worth the trip?
----Fly out of Madrid


Thanks for all your help Fodorites!

Day 25-30 (?)

You can't day-trip by train to Rome, Florence or Siena from Pescara. You can drive Pescara-Rome in two hours, but I don't think you can rent a car at your age so you'd have to borrow a family car if that's possible. And presumably drive back to Pescara in the dark.

When comparing fly v. train journey times, you need to add the time required to get to/from airports (whereas train stations are in the centers of towns) and the time needed for check-in and security screening at airports (which, for better or worse, are non-existent in train stations).

When you say the timeshare is 'near' Rome, what do you mean? How close? Which direction? How would you get to the center of Rome?

Hey Jean, I think we have decided to stay with family in Pescara instead of the timeshare. That way can see if there are any timeshares available in Paris instead. So you would recommend making all my travel by train correct? even Italy to Spain? Thanks!

You cannot day trip from Pescara to Florence and Siena. There are mountains to cross and therefore limited routes. The train ride from Pescara to Florence is 5 hours one way. The train ride from Pescara to Siena is 7 hours one way.

You have to decide which is more important: seeing Florence and Siena while staying in a nearby location, or staying with relatives in Pescara and visiting interesting places closer to Pescara.

Oh, hmm.. OK that is definitely too far. So day trips from Pescara to Rome are ok (not too far) but to Sienna and Florence a bit too far. Would you recommend Staying a couple days in Florence and doing day trips to Sienna and surrounding towns? Or staying in Venice and doing the day trips from there? I'm not sure where I should be based at. Also are surrounding towns in Pescara worth visiting?
How long should I stay in Pescara? Considering the distance, etc

The train from Rome to Milan takes three hours. Then the sensible thing to do is to take the direct (and comfortable) Elipsos night train (no idea how that one works with your pass). But that train runs inland. If you wanted to go along the coast in daylight you'd have a much more complicated trip.

Go to seat61.com for info on trains in Europe and bahn.de for schedules.

It is 4 hours each way by train between Pescara and Rome. The first train Pescara-Rome is around 6:15 am and arrives at Roma Tiburtina at about 10:00 am. The latest train appears to leave Rome at about 6:30 pm and arrives Pescara at about 10:33 pm. So, let's review. You'll spend 8 hours on the train and about 8 hours exploring in Rome.

If you can borrow a car, make sure you know precisely where you're going to park in Rome and how you're going to get there. FYI, if you drive, be aware it will be dark shortly after 8:30 pm in early August.

It's more than 2 hours each way by train between Venice and Florence. The earliest departure to Florence is at 7:10 am and arrives at 9:30 am. The latest return is at 9:30 pm, arrives Venice at about 11:30 pm. A day trip to Florence from Venice means 4+ hours on the train and about 11.5 hours exploring. Getting to Siena from Florence is another 1-1.5 hours on a bus or train (each direction) plus connecting time. If you take the train, you would still have to get from the Siena train station to the city center.

Ok, so this is the update..
The timeshare that is available is in Padova, Italy (about 60k from venice). Its a really nice resort , although we are debating whether we should stay in a hostel in Venice just to be in the mix and not have to travel into Venice everyday, etc.
Any suggestions?