gmetcalfe

My daughter is studying in Oxford, England this Spring until mid Summer. I will be joining her in mid June and she wants to experience several countries in a fast, college travel pace. We will have 9 days to do this. She has given me a list of cities she would love to visit, but I need major help in knowing if it is possible, and any advice that you might give. We would travel by train, and it seems to me we would need to travel through the night to save time for sightseeing. We would leave on the Eurostar from London to Paris early in the day. We were thinking from there -- Paris, Amsterdam, Leipzig Germany perhaps, Prague and then Florence. Come back to the states from Florence. I am guessing we would use EuroRail. However, any additions or subtractions to these locations, any possible itinerary, suggestions, etc. would be most welcomed! You may know of locations we could travel to which would make more sense in doing in this quick fashion. We feel as if we are very unexperienced with this! Thank you.

StCirq

Traveling through the night on a train when you're in college might be an adventure. NOT so much as the parent of a college-age kid unless you want to spend 9 days in a stupor. Plus, there are no night trains between some of your destinations.

Not sure what you mean by Eurorail. The best train deals are almost always on the national railways of each country, but you have to book in advance, usually 3 months. A railpass, if that's what you're referring to, is usually a rip-off.

With 9 days and a fair amount of long-distance train travel, you'll have less than a day in each place. Sounds pretty miserable to me.

Personally, I'd send some funds to the daughter and let her do a fast-paced backpacking trip like her fellow students do, and plan a more "normal" vacation with her in Europe in the future.

IMDonehere

You can wave to the cities as you pass.

BTW, I would be afraid to attend Oxford. I watch those British mysteries and they have an unusually high murder rate, there. OTOH, they are all solved within the hour.

jamikins

This is a good site to learn about train travel in Europe http://seat61.com

Don't you want some time in each city to see some sights? To get 1 full day of sightseeing you need to spend 2 nights. Moving eats up time...you need to checkout, get to the train station, travel, get to your hotel, drop your stuff...so if you budget 1/2 day to be safe you can see that if you visit London to Paris, Paris to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Leipzig, then to Florence you have eaten 2 full sightseeing days. Overnight trains don't make sense for these routes. You risk spending most of your valuable vacation time in transit rather than enjoying the places you have paid to come see!

You may want to consider the overnight ferry from London to Amsterdam to start your trip http://seat61.com/Netherlands.htm#train+ferry

We have done it several times and are doing it again next weekend.

If it were my trip I would pick 3 locations in 9 days max.

Happy planning!

If it were my trip, I would want at least a couple full days in each city to experience something before running off to another city.

PalenQ

Agree with others - Europe may not be so big - at least western Europe but yes like jamikins says pick 3 destinations on the Continent max and close together - like Amsterdam (yes to night ferry to Holland and then go down thru Belgium - Bruges is a neat neat city most rave about and then Paris.

Nine days ain't nine days when you figure travel between cities and relocating itself takes time packing up - unpacking, tracking down hotel, etc.

for a fix on trains yes www.seat61.com is great for discounted train fare info and other neat stuff - for general info I like also www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - check out their free online European Planning & Rail Guide for lots of suggestions on where to go by train in each part of Europe.

thursdaysd

What St. Cirq said. Let her do the fast paced bit on her own, and then meet up with her for something slower.

Christina

<< We were thinking from there -- Paris, Amsterdam, Leipzig Germany perhaps, Prague and then Florence.>>

I'm sure the OP means European railways by Eurorail.

YOu only have nine days. I don't think you understand how big Europe is and how far apart Prague is from Florence, for example. That's a 16 hour+ train trip.

I think in 9 days, if you must leave from Florence, you could do Paris, AMsterdam, Prague and then fly to FLorence. I like Leipzig, but it's out of the way and you don't have enough time. The other cities will have some flight connections. In reality, since iot sounds like you don't have any reservations yet, I'd drop Florence, it is really the outlier in this plan. Save Italy for some other trip. YOu could do Paris-Amsterdam-Leipzig-Prague. But even Amsterdam to Leipzig is about 7 hours by train. Leipzig to Prague is about 4 hours and you change in Dresden.

So 2 days Paris, 2 days Amsterdam including train (train is 3:30 Paris to Amsterdam), most of one day transit to Leipzig, then you spend at least one full next day there, then go to Prague for a couple days. That's 8 days, add one where you most want. Fly home from Prague. This is possible. Adding FLorence into that would make it virtually impossible unless you only spend one day in each city.

Kathie

That trip sounds like a nightmare - except you won't get any sleep! If your daughter really wants to do this, I agree with StCirq - let your daughter do it on her own. She will get a chance to learn abut travel and she will do it differently next time. If you really want to do this trip together, choose 3 locations. It will still be a drive-by, but at least you will know you have been in those three places. Take the train, but don't buy a rail pass.

BigRuss

<<BTW, I would be afraid to attend Oxford. I watch those British mysteries and they have an unusually high murder rate, there. OTOH, they are all solved within the hour.>>

Stay away from Wyoming (Craig Johnson, CJ Box) and Cabot Cove, Maine.

To the OP: that trip won't happen in 9 days by rail. Have her narrow the number. And look into the various budget airlines that fly in Europe - if you're going to try to get to Prague or Florence from Paris or Amsterdam, you will be better served by flying.

janisj

what everyone else said -- and you simply can't use night trains for most of those city pairs.

suze

Paris & Florence would make a great 9 day trip! Squeeze in Venice if you want to add one more stop.

You're considering WAY too many places in you initial proposal.

suze

"EuroRail" are train passes (not a train itself) that may or may not be of any benefit to you.

nytraveler

Sounds dreadful.

If it were me I would do Paris and Amsterdam or Paris and Berlin - and actually see something of each place and include one that is great for young people (A or B).

What you have will just be an exhausting, expensive tour of the train stations of europe and you will have time to see practically nothing. And your daughter won;t have ANY time for student clubs or pubs in the evening to meet some local young people.

nytraveler

Sorry - if it were me I would encourage your daughter to do this trip with some of the students she is studying with so she can have the most fun adventure.

We traveled with our kids when they were tween/teens and in June I'm going with our 2 DDs to London and Paris (since I'm now retired) and this will be our last chance since elder is engaged.

But in between they went to europe a couple of times together or with friends, or with boyfriend/fiance.

KTtravel

Your travel plan is unrealistic and, frankly, would be no fun at all. It takes at least half a day to travel between cities and night trains will not always be helpful. You also may not get much sleep.

With 9 days, I would narrow down your visits to two or three cities tops. That will be a fast enough "college travel pace." Which places are your priorities? Since Lepzig is a "perhaps" I would drop that one immediately.

tomboy

Echoing. You'd see more of the inside of a train car, and more of the inside of a hotel room, than you'd see outside the trains and hotels.

NewbE

Building on what Christina said, I would do 3 or 4 days Paris, 2 or 3 days Amsterdam, 2 days Prague and fly home from Prague. I know that adds up to 8 days but the lost day is for transit between places. Leipzig may look like it's on the way, but I agree that connections to it will be sketchy. Italy is too much of a geographic outlier for this trip.

IMDonehere

Thinks Big Russ, I did know I had to beware of Wyoming.

mjs

I take it your daughter is studying at a US university program in Oxford? The dates otherwise make no sense. In any case, I too would recommend your daughter do this with her friends and I too would do no more than 3 places with the time allotted. I did three two month Europe trips with a 2 month Eurail pass when I was in my University days. It was nice in that we moved when we wanted to and stayed when we wanted too. Once did a night train ride from Copenhagen to Oslo, spent the day, took the night train to Stockholm and spent the day and took the night train back to Copenhagen. This was done due to cost as we could not afford to stay in those cities. Would not recommend doing something like that and neither of us could remember much of those cities after a few months.
She could you know probably do a weekend trip to Paris and another weekend trip to Amsterdam which would be better than what you are proposing. Could even fly to other places in Europe as well for the weekends for that matter.

PalenQ

"EuroRail" are train passes (not a train itself) that may or may not be of any benefit to you.>

Actually it's Eurail and applies to Eurailpasses and Eurail Tariff Tickets that may be used on any train participating in the Eurail scheme- virtually all regular passenger trains in dozens of countries except the UK, where BritRail is the agency that creates Britrail Passes to use there - you daughter may investigate the BritRail Youthpass that is valid for a 2-month period with flexible travel days to be used anytime - good for long weekends to Scotland or Wales or...