Help with Europe Itinerary - going for one month
 

My husband and I are planning a trip to Europe from mid-July to mid-August. We haven't been able to tie down dates until about a week ago (for various reasons) so now I am trying to finalize the itinerary, find places to stay, and figure out transportation between the cities.
We are okay getting to europe and back ? I am using double miles and all flights are wide open right now.
I have been to Europe a few times ? although its been about 10 years since my last trip there. I?ve been to England, Scotland, France, Italy.
He has never been ? so I want to make sure we go to the major cities/countries so he can experience it. I also would like to see some new cities so its not all a repeat for me.
Following is our proposed itinerary ? a couple of questions:
- Are we allowing enough (or too much) time in certain cities?
- Any recommendations for areas of the city to stay in, and particular hotels (we are hoping to spend 75-100$ a night
- Recommendations on things to do, places to eat
- Anything special to do in these cities that isn?t a typical tourbook site?

Paris (5 days)
Fly to Madrid (4 days)
Train to Barcelona (4 days)
Fly (if reasonable), or a very long train ride to Rome (5 days)
Train to Florence (4 days)
Possibly Lake Como or Milan (4 days)
Zurich (3 days)

I also had thought about Lisbon and Amsterdam. I have been to Amsterdam, although only for 24 hours. We could fly directly into Amsterdam (works with our air tickets) and add that on to the beginning of the trip, and cut Lake Como and Zurich a little shorter at the end. I didn?t know if that was being to over-ambitious though. I also heard great things about Lisbon ? and we could possibly fit that in between Paris/Madrid ? but once again, we might be taking on too much.

Thanks in advance for any advice/assistance!!

Also, we are 30 years old - so we have a lot of energy (I think) and I think we can handle the whirlwind we've planned. We dont' neccessarily need to stay in the heart of the city where the action is - however, I don't want to have to take a long train ride whenever we want to do something. I'd rather pay a little more and have things more convenient

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No, your original posting didn't get lost. And an important tip that Fodors should have told you when you first registered: you can always find your own posts by clicking on your own name.

Best wishes,

Rex

After having planned more than 100 trips to Europe for myself and others I have adopted some guidelines that suit me. One is to spend half of your time in big cites and the other half in villages of less than 10,000. Another is to have a max of 4 hours transport time between desinations. I find your itinerary to be far too wide. I would prefer staying in the 3 contigious contries of France, Italy and Switzerland. Just my 2 cents !

4 days are too many in Florence UNLESS you are hugely into the Renaissance or are planning to use a couple of days for day trips. 3 days seem quite a lot for Zurich unless day trips are a feature of your stay there as well. Milan--1 day max. Lakes--if you just want to chill out (I'd be bored out of my gourd after 2 or 3 days--but that's just me), then 4 days are fine, but it's a bit long if there are other places you are passing up that you might want to see.

You are all over the map. Need to narrow your focus.

Here is one option that has big cities, small towns, lakes, mountains and wonderful countryside:

Fly in to Rome (5 nights)

Train to Venice (4 nts)

Train to Florence (4 nts)
Daytrips to Siena and Lucca

Train to Lake Como (4 nts)

Train to French Alps/Annecy (3 nts)

Train to Burgundy (3 nts)

Train to Paris (7 nts)

Daytrip to Loire Valley

Travel segments are fairly short and you stay long enough in each place so you are not too rushed. Check out France/Italy railpass?

For the Spain portion, you should look into flying from Madrid to Barcelona. It only takes 1 hour, and flights can be had for as little as $35 each. Check out www.iberia.com and www.spanair.com

In Madrid, I stayed at High Tech Petit Palace Ducal, across the street from the Gran Via metro (about a 7 minute walk to Plaza Mayor and the museums). It was reasonable and I really enjoyed my stay there.

In Barcelona, either the Barri Gotic, Las Ramblas, or the Eixample area are popular (I stayed at the Hostal Palacios in Eixample, and it fits your price range).

If you want more details on Spain, including my hotels, click on my name and look for my trip report from about 1 1/2 months ago.

Hope this helps a little! How lucky to be able to take a whole month! :)

Karen

ChatNoir has a great itinerary that would be smooth logistics. I would merely add Luzern to the mix as you transition to France. Spain alone deserves a month next year.