Help with itinerary
 

My friends have all decided that for graduation we want to take a backpacking trip across Europe. Heres what were planning so far. I'm really worried about how much travel is involved, is there any places we could cut out (possibly munich?) Any places we have to add time to? Thanks for any input!
Day 1- Leave Miami
Day 2- Arrive in Madrid early AM
Day 3- Madrid
Day 4- Madrid to Barcelona
Day 5- Barcelona
Day 6- Barcelona to Paris
Day 7- Paris
Day 8- Paris to Munich
Day 9- Munich
Day 10- Munich to Amsterdam
Day 11- Amsterdam
Day 12- Amsterdam to Mykonos
Day 13- Mykonos
Day 14- Mykonos
Day 15- Mykonos to Santorini
Day 16- Santorini
Day 17- Santorini
Day 18- Santorini
Day 19- Santorini to Naples
Day 20- Naples
Day 21- Naples to Sorrento
Day 22- Sorrento
Day 23- Sorrento to Rome
Day 24- Rome
Day 25- Rome to Florence
Day 26- Florence
Day 27- Florence to Venice
Day 28- Venice to Madrid to Miami

I'll take a wild guess and say that subsequent posters will tell you that you have way too many stops in your itinerary.

Look at it this way: You have 28 days. Ten of those days are designated "[X] to [Y]." That means you're spending a third of your time just getting from one point to another.

Now, it's not as if in every instance it will take you a full day to travel from one spot to another. For example, Florence to Venice shouldn't take a whole day. But if traveling by train, you have to take into account the time needed to vacate one place, get to the station ahead of time, train time, and the time needed to get to an accommodation and get settled in.

Would you do a trip that involves one day in each of these: Boston-Miami-New Orleans-Houston-Dallas-Los Angeles-Portland-Denver-Chicago-Boston?

Imagine the fortune you’d spend just getting from A to B to C etc.! And having only one full day in each city, where most of those European cities have a LOT more to offer than those US Cities I listed at random!

What you list sounds like the business trip from hell, the kind where you want to demand from your boss some danger money and two weeks vacation when you get back, to recuperate.

Honestly, this is madness, not fun. Rethink, regroup, read up on each city and define why you want to go there or why you could skip it. Then cut back, drastically.

You’re young, fares to Europe can be cheap if you look in the right places - you’ll go again and again, so don’t spoil it by overdoing it this first time.

1.5 days in Rome, <B><u>half a day</B></u> in Venice, 1.5 days in Madrid, 1.5 days in Barcelona, 1 day in Paris, 1 day in Amsterdam . . . etc etc etc

HUGE waste of time and money to see almost nothing IMO

No need to book a trip that starts and ends in the same place - doubling back across Europe just to go board a plane makes no sense. Fly into one place, fly home from another.

Some call this an "open-jaw" booking. Some airlines don't penalize you for booking separate one-way fares, cheaply - look at Norwegian, IcelandAir, Wow, figure their rock-bottom fares by adding the baggage charges and seat reservation charges then compare them with the biggie airlines.

Paris and Amsterdam and other stops demand more time - Amsterdam especially for folks your age and Rome and Florence and Venice.

If you cut out Greece and spread those days around then you'd have a sweet itinerary- Greek island are neat but how many days on a beach do you want - IMO rather take advantage of time to see more of Europe proper.

anyway if going by train check out some kind of Youth Eurailpass for the non-Greek portion - probably a 15-day/2mo Global Flexipass - for lots of train info check www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com.

Less can indeed be more and vincenzo is right that you will receive a chorus of that message from others who respond.

Travel days between most of your bases will take much of the day- relocadting,packing up unpacking, finding the hostel or hotel, etc.

Yes michell makes a great point - if doing Greece - fly into say Spain and work your way via Italy to Greece and fly home from there - saves time and money of doubling back.

The big issue, as I see it, is you are "hitting" mostly big cities which have tons to offer (though you will see little of it) and skipping all if the great sights right nearby. These would take practically no travel time or extra money, yet give you many amazing sights.
Examples:
Madrid: You are skipping Toledo, Córdoba, Seville, Granada, etc. just Google them and see what you are missing - some world class things.
Naples: so close to the Almafi Coast, Pompeii, Capri, Positano, etc. a crime really to not see it. This is true for many of your choices.

Are you looking for lots of relaxing and/or partying? Is that why the largest chunk of time is for Santorini and Mykonos? Nothing wrong with that, if that is what you want.

Get a map and look at organization. Most people would logically go Naples to Rome to Florence to Venice.

You have lots of time to plan and a lot of work for do.

Somewhat of a silly trip. As others have said, you are not spending enough time in important places. Also, doesn't Miami have a beach ? Why would you want to go to ones in Greece and Italy ? Very bizarre. You need to rethink the whole trip.

The longer your trip the longer your stops should be. Even being young, you will start fatiguing. I'd add some nights to your priority places and determine which you wish to cut. If Spain takes precedence over Greece, check out its islands like Mallorca. It's ok to eliminate some places...you're young...you will come back! Also, not sure if you have budget concerns, but each move can be costly. Transportation is something else to research, especially cost versus time when going between places. Happy planning!!

When I see itineraries such as this, I think the person wants to tick off destinations on their bucket list, just to say they've been there.

aharmel1, I hope you'll heed the advice of the others and focus on quality rather than quantity. You will come back from this trip without the priceless memories one gets from actually immersing themselves in the culture of the city/country.

Just my two cents worth, but I've always listened to the Fodorites when they tell me I'm trying to do too much.

Seriously, how did you come up with this plan? Tear up that itinerary and start again. It's an amateur effort, which makes sense because you are amateurs. Listen to people here who have done this stuff for years.

Get a BIG paper map of Europe, tack it to a wall, and get to know the Continent. Put pins in the places you want to visit. You have 28 days. You should plan to visit about 5-6 places in that time - the rest of your time will be taken up traveling between places.

Then go online and learn about the various national railways and how and when to get the cheapest tickets between places. Start with www.seat61.com and memorize everything you can from that website.

Do NOT buy round-trip tickets. That is a waste of time and money. There is absolutely no reason to have to circle round Europe to get back to the place you landed in, paying to backtrack and probably seeing the same things twice. Think linearly and fly into one place and out of the last - they're called open-jaw or multi-city tickets and should not cost much if anything more than a RT ticket.

If you're taking intra-Europe flights, get online and check out cheap flights, but only for trips where trains don't make sense.

f you're taking intra-Europe flights, get online and check out cheap flights, but only for trips where trains don't make sense.>

and night trains can let you cover lots of ground with using less daytime time than even flying and save on the cost of a hotel.

Night trains are being canceled like crazy all over Europe. There are only a few left, and they are bound for distinction.

You're right - with the advent of cheap flights but OP can take at least three in the first part of their trip like Munich to Amsterdam I believe.

Days are gone yes when overnight trains went everywhere and as a young buck on a Eurailpass I spent a whole month sleeping on trains -sometimes bouncing back and forth between cities.

Thank you all! I will take all the advice and come back with a better plan in a few weeks.

Yup less can indeed be more sometimes!

One great guidebook for folks your age - Let's Go Europe (amqazon.com) - written by college students for others backpacking that age. Study it and be more informed.