First europe trip; 1 month - 6 countries. Too Many?
 

My partner and I are planning on heading to Europe next year for our honeymoon, our current idea is that we'll go London>Paris>Gent>Amsterdam>cologne?>Berlin>Prague .
Our itinerary thus far is slightly vague but we were thinking
- fly into london. (stay 5 nights)
- hire a car and spend 2 nights at B&B's visit brighton, stonehenge. jurassic coast, maybe a day trip to bath. (2 nights)
- back to london, catch eurostar to paris
- Paris (5 nights)
- hire a car and spend 2 nights at B&B's visit normandy, mont saint michel, etc.
- back to paris, train to Gent.
- 3 nights in Gent (day trips to brugge and brussells via train)
- train to amsterdam
- 3 nights in Amsterdam.
- train to cologne? one night stay (or just straight to Berlin?)
- Berlin for 3 nights.
- Train to Prague stay in prague for 3 nights.
- Fly home.
That brings us to 26 nights excluding our flights too and from Australia. Does it sound like we are trying to accomplish too much? Should we spend more or less time anywhere? I wasn't sure if we should spend a night or two in cologne, or just head straight to berlin. We like the idea of visiting majo cities but also wanted to be able to see a bit of countryside which is where the idea of hiring a car in England and France came from. We will be travelling from mid November to mid December. Any suggestions would be great!

The plan looks ok, but the months are dire, the weather on the south coast of england is roughly the same as the north of france (wet and windy) and the days will be short. Prague will probably be colder as you get real continental weather there. So you will need a good selection of warmer clothes. You probably will not need shades.

I like the Gent bit and I might cut out cologne and make it more of a train based break with trips to Luxembourg as well.

I'm not sure why you want to see the countryside in November and December. Days are very short, it will be chilly and probably rainy - and Prague especially can be cold - with snow (you're on the central european plain - away from the warming effects of the gulf stream that keep the west cost of europe so oddly warm).

At that time of year I would stick to cities and towns - and expect shorter opening hours than you would get in the summer. If you want to drive and see smaller towns that's fine but don;t expect the countryside to look like anything.

And do bring warm enough clothing.

Agree with previous reply except: what will you do in Amsterdam for 4 days (3 nights)? I'd add a night somewhere else, possibly Berlin although it could be mighty cold there.

I'd say there are some flaws in your itinerary.

<< hire a car and spend 2 nights at B&B's visit brighton, stonehenge. jurassic coast, maybe a day trip to bath. (2 nights) >>

2 nights is 1 day - how are you going to do all this in a day?

<< hire a car and spend 2 nights at B&B's visit normandy, mont saint michel, etc. >>

Again - how are you going to do all this in 1 day?

Have you researched how long it will take you to get from one place to another? I'm thinking that you haven't. It's not only about the drive time or the time the train takes but you have to get to and from the train stations, pack and unpack, check in and out of hotels. Sometimes it takes forever to pickup a rental car in Europe, usually about an hour.

Way too much time running from place to place and not enough time to see things.

Use mappy.com or viamichelin.com to get driving times. Add 25% to whatever time they suggest.

For train schedules and duration use http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

Hi DW,

You are planning a honeymoon.

Slow down.

3 weeks is more than enough.

> London>Paris>Gent>Amsterdam>cologne?>Berlin>Prague <

You like cold, grey, wet, slushy weather that much? :)

May I suggest that you fly into London, train to Paris, Train to Rome, Fly home?

(1 week in each city)

((I))

OOPS,

Alternative:

Fly into Madrid or Barcelona, train to Rome, Train to Paris.

Alternative,

Three weeks in Spain (and/Portugal?).

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

UK MAY have warmer weather than some of the other places that time of year, particularly Berlin and Prague. So, unless you've been there before, why not take the opportunity to really see it? At least spend some more time in Southern England.

<<Way too much time running from place to place and not enough time to see things.>>

They're Aussie, this is how Aussies do Europe because it takes so bloody long to get there.

Can you re-think the timing? November and December can be pretty dreary (although holiday preparations in December would enliven the destinations a bit). Would tend to avoid the low countries (BeNeLux) in Autumn - that's just asking to be rained on the whole time. Would consider going south after hitting Paris - either to Spain or Italy.

For a good look at trains in Benelux and Germany check out these info-laden sites - www.ricksteves.com; www.seat61.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - and check out the Benelux-Germany Railpass valid on nearly all trains in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg and Germany - just hop on any train anytime - such fully flexible tickets can cost a ton - there are discounted tickets on www.bahn.de/en for Germany but those must be booked weeks in advance to guarantee as they are sold in limited numbers and then are set in one to a specific train on a specific date and even a series of them may cost as much as the pass.

Train fare from the German border to Prague is cheap.

For Eurostar tickets the early bird doth get the proverbial worm - deep discounts if you book really early to get the limited number of discounted seats - just show up and you'll pay a ton more. www.eurostar.com is the official site.

Here's an idea if you are set on the scope of countries as you have it. Stay more days in each of the cities rather than renting the car and staying out. You can watch the weather report and if it seems nice take a day trip out one or two of the days.

That would be more leisurely than the packing and unpacking your overnight country trips would require. But you can still see a lot getting a morning train (or bus or car rental) out and back in the early evening. And you would have more flexibility to do what you want on any given day.

Guidebooks for those cities often have a few such day trip ideas in the back. Or there are specialty guide books about day trips. Search Amazon or your library. Or there are various kinds of organized day trips. For example London Walks has many London walks of course but also day trips out many days of the week by train and then a walking tour when you get there.

Do not underestimate how short the daylight hours are in Northern Europe that time of year and how long it takes to drive even short distances (whether because of traffic or road conditions or you get lost or whatever). You can check sunrise and sunset for various places on www.timeanddate.com and driving time on www.viamichelin.com.

<i>- hire a car and spend 2 nights at B&B's visit brighton, stonehenge. jurassic coast, maybe a day trip to bath. (2 nights)</i>

From my experience, that is too much. Travel on the motorways is fast enough, but once on local roads, travel is slow. Use www.viamichelin.com to get a sense of distance and time, adding 20% to the time given, and remembering that the time given does not include the time spent visiting a site.

You should limit it to London, Paris, Ghent, Amsterdam. So much to see in each place.

From my experience, that is too much. Travel on the motorways is fast enough, but once on local roads, travel is slow>


so so true - motorways are fast but nothing can compare to a winding back road but alas take hours at times to get anywhere.

As far as how short the days are, we were in London once right after Christmas and dusk was at 3:30, totally dark by 4:00. Really really short days!

As far as how short the days are, we were in London once right after Christmas and dusk was at 3:30, totally dark by 4:00. Really really short days!>

I was in Edinburgh in mid-November and it was also dusk around 3 pm! Sun came up around 9:30 if i recall correctly.