First Trip to Europe
 

Hi everybody, from Malaysia and planning my trip to Europe. However, was a bit confused on the order of country that I should go first and the rest. Hope someone can help me.

I have 3 weeks to spend in Europe and planned to visit the following places.

1. Paris
2. Rome + Vatican
3. Amsterdam
4. Venice
5. Brussels or Barcelona

Please advise me on the best and cheapest route I can take. Really confuse with the overflowing information.

Hi; If I were to do this trip, I would fly into Rome, train to Venice, fly to Paris, www.easyjet.com , train to Brussels and train to Amsterdam. Then fly home from Amsterdam. You could then decide how many days in each city. Lots of day trips from each location. Richard

Richard,

Thanks for your rely. So you suggest me to skip Barcelona? What if I wanna inlucde Vienna?

Another matter is, flights to Amsterdam is much cheaper than to Rome and Paris. What if I started from Amsterdam? And, is it Eurostar that I shall take fromParis to Brussels and Amd?

I loved Barcelona. Unlike any other place I have ever seen. Brussels is beautiful, but (there will those who will jump all over this next statement!!) similar to other European cities. Barcelona is unique!

Sounds like a great trip. I'm assuming you have 3 weeks (21 days) on the ground & that does not include your arrival in Europe day & your departure from Europe day. If so, I realize you did not ask this, but I'll stick in my 2 cents; hope you don't mind. But anyway, rather than adding Brussels or Barcelona, I'd just stick with the other 4 cities. 21 days divided into 5 cities = 4 days per city. But really once you minus out the travel days, it is about 3 days. Your top 4 cities are great choices, although I'd pick London over Amsterdam - but maybe you've been there, or maybe you prefer the cities you listed, which is a great thing, since it is your trip!

Re: how to decide the order of the cities, my suggestion would be to
1. go to kayak.com, determine the cheapest flight to & from the European cities of your choice, & those are your starting & ending points.

2. Still at kayak.com, plug in the hoppers between the various city combos, except between Rome/Venice, which will only be a relatively inexpensive 4 hour train ride.

3. Once your find your route, go to the airline websites & check their price/route. Then, buy your air tickets directly from the airline. I usually find the airline to give a better price/route than the ones given on kayak, & you are dealing directly with your carrier. But kayak gives you a field of choices.

4. Then before purchasing, I would check the train costs & time required, as Richard suggested. Keeping in mind that a 4 hour train ride & a 1 hour plane ride can result in the same time required, because of airport hassles & time requirements. Another bonus with trains is eliminating the lost luggage issue.

Good luck & enjoy that wonderful trip, Julie

Here's a possible itinerary. Fly into Amsterdam, train to Brussels, train to Paris, train or fly to Barcelona, train to Venice, train to Rome. Fly home from Rome.

I suggest a train from Barcelona to Venice, because the scenery is worth seeing. Along the French and Italian Riveras, the train runs along the coast.

Right now, you have six destinations in 21 days. Getting from Paris to Barcelona to Venice to Rome all will take a day. Including the flights to and from Malaysia that's five travel days. If you decide to see Vienna, I would drop one of the other destinations.

gmajor23,

Here's a suggestion.

Fly into Amsterdam, train to Brussels, train to Paris, overnight train to Venice, train to Rome, overnight boat ferry to Barcelona, fly home from Barcelona.

Taking an overnight train and an overnight ferry will save you days of travel.

I don't like the long train ride from Barcelona to Venice, not merely because it is long, but because unless you are willing to take the even longer train connection through the Alps and Torino, the coastal scenery is flat and the train goes through many tunnels along the Italian riviera. I would avoid that long train ride since to give you more time in the cities you want to see.

Have a great trip!




I'm glad you understand that Rome and the Vatican are separate places!

Thanks all for your reply. Now I would really have to digest all the info. Sorry for my shallow knowledge, is the train referring to Eurostar (route between Brussels Paris...)

Actually my main focus was on my the 4 cities, but since I rarely get the chance to visit Europe, so I was a bit greedy in getting to all the places. Maybe I have to prolong my trip, and I also forget about the JETLAG that I have to go thru. That maybe take another day.....

The train between Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris is the Thalys, not the Eurostar.

Any other suggestions for me?

If you can add 1 more week and make it 4 instead of 3 I think it would be more enjoyable pace & you can more easily fit in all the places you originally mention.

Here is some information on the cities you wish to visit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/amsterdam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/brussels http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/paris http://wikipedia.org/wiki/rome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/barcelona Richard

Anyone suggestion for me if I choose to start from Paris?

The rest are Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome+Vatican, Venice or Barcelona....

I like Ira's plan, but if you want to do Barcelona, geographically and logistically, Zeppole's advice makes lots of sense. It would also be about the most pleasant and interesting way of doing this itinerary that I could think of.

Iris and Zeppole,

Thanks for your advise. Can you tell me the estimation TRAVEL time taken for those transportation that you suggested? Very much appreciated if you can tell me the train or flight company name that you think would be cheap...

Thank you very very much...

gmajor,

The ferry that runs between Rome and Barcelona is an overnight ferry that takes 19 hours. But you need to get from Rome to the dock in Civitavecchia.

http://www.traghettiweb.it/en/tw_com...agnia=grimaldi

This is a good website for finding train schedules, plus overnight trains:

http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml

And for cheap flights in Europe, look at www.whichbudget.com.

Skyscanner.com is a good airline site that includes the budget airlines (found at whichbudget) as well as the national carriers. It's a very powerful tool...

Rick

Thanks a lot...

But anyone have ride the 19hours overnight train from Rome to Venice before? Is it worth for that compared with train?