ssander

If I had 9 nights, I'd do:

Morning trains from Oxford (via London Eurostar) to Paris - 0.5 days
Paris - 4 nights (4.5 days)
Morning flight to Rome - 0.5 days
Rome 3 nights (3.5 days)
Morning Train to Florence - 0.25 days
Florence 2 nights (2.75 days)

...or substitute Venice for Rome:

Morning trains from Oxford (via London Eurostar) to Paris - 0.5 days
Paris - 4 nights (4.5 days)
Morning flight to Rome - 0.5 days
Venice 3 nights (3.5 days)
Morning Train to Florence - 0.5 days
Florence 2 nights (2.5 days)

...or some minor variation of these 4/3/2 night plans depending on your interests.

Anything more than that would seem to me to be too fast...just my opinion.

ssander

janisj

slight clarification:

>>Paris - 4 nights (4.5 days)<< would actually be 3.5 days on the ground in Paris

>>Venice 3 nights (3.5 days)<< = 2.5 days in Venice

>>Florence 2 nights (2.5 days)<< = 1.5 days for Florence

suze

Sure, the Paris, Venice, Florence would be perfect.

Maybe one night train for the experience if you'd rather do that than fly Paris/Venice.

bilboburgler

If you do decide to follow your daughter's plan would you be really kind and come back and tell us how it went?

gmetcalfe

I thank you all so much for your input and advice. It has been most helpful and what I needed to hear. Sounds like two good options would be Paris/Amsterdam/Prague OR Paris/Rome or Venice/Florence. I will talk with her and see what she prefers.

A question: IF we take the overnight ferry from London to Amsterdam, what would be the best sequence of cities? Could we go to Prague, then Paris, and then back to London to fly home? Or is that too much backtracking?

jamikins

Don't go back to London...it will waste time and money.

Fly back from your last location.

I would check and see:

What flight connections there are between Amsterdam and Prague, Prague and Paris. Amsterdam to Paris is an easy train ride but I have no idea about the cost or convenience of flights between Paris/Amsterdam and Prague.

What the cost of flying open jaw into London and out of Paris/Prague.

Prague is probably (I am guessing)going to be an outlier and complicate your itinerary. check www.whichbudget.com for airlines that fly between cities.

suze

It depends on the price of plane tickets. If the costs are similar I think flying home from your last city if best. But if it jacks the price enough that it would be more economical to return to London for your departure, do that.

jamikins

If you do go back to London don't forget to include the extra costs of getting back to London and other associated costs (travel in London, extra nights hotel etc) and consider how much this will eat into your precious vacation time.

elberko

The daughter needs to go back to London for school.

ssander

janisj...

Thanks for the calculation-error correction.
Old age is setting in and my counting abilities are diminishing.

I should have been suspicious when it I got 10.5 days in 9 nights without a time machine.

ssander

Kathie

"A question: IF we take the overnight ferry from London to Amsterdam, what would be the best sequence of cities? Could we go to Prague, then Paris, and then back to London to fly home? Or is that too much backtracking?"

I think you waste too much of your valuable time with that approach. If you want to take the overnight ferry to Amsterdam, I'd suggest just Amsterdam and Paris for your time. Prague is an outlier - take a look at a map. You could have one more stop, such as Bruges for two nights, but frankly, just two cities would be better.

PalenQ

You can take an overnight train to Prague from Germany - take a day train from Amsterdam to a German city like probably Cologne to catch it - a half-day in Cologne would give you the German notch on your belt and let you see a very very famous cathedral - smack plum right next to the train station. Walk along the popular Rhine Ufer - esplanade and hop on the night train (not sure which cities it serves but I think Cologne) - but only do this if you can fly from Prague back to London - otherwise it is too far for that limited time.

janisj

ssander: >>I should have been suspicious when it I got 10.5 days in 9 nights without a time machine.

Don't you wish we had time machines

Kathie

PalenQ writes: "You can take an overnight train to Prague from Germany - take a day train from Amsterdam to a German city like probably Cologne to catch it - a half-day in Cologne would give you the German notch on your belt and let you see a very very famous cathedral - smack plum right next to the train station. Walk along the popular Rhine Ufer - esplanade and hop on the night train (not sure which cities it serves but I think Cologne) - but only do this if you can fly from Prague back to London - otherwise it is too far for that limited time."

Yes, you could do this, but do it only if you have decided to visit Prague and just one other city, Amsterdam, in this case. Otherwise, you'll eat up way too much time getting there and getting back to London.