Hi all,

I'm heading to Europe in mid-November! With my cousin, I am spending time in Dublin (2.5 days), Paris (3 days), Amsterdam (2 days) and London (2 days - I've been there before for a longer trip). Please feel free to chime in on your thoughts for that part of the trip.

MAIN QUESTION: Flying out of Dublin, I have 4.5 days (including travel time) to myself before heading on to Paris. I was hoping to see Berlin and Vienna, even if just the highlights. Does anyone have any thoughts on an itinerary. Is this a fool's mission?

I'm not clear on how many total days you actually have - but I fear that you are not allowing the time to get from one place to another - and will end up spending a ton of time betting from one place to another rather than actually being places.

Although I ADORE London - if you have already been there before I would spend those days (plus the travel time) and put them towards Berlin/Vienna. Without those 2 extra days I would do only one of the two - not try to do both and end up giving short shrift to both.

I personally prefer Berlin - but without knowing more about you and your interests I have no way of knowing which you would enjoy more.

But I would fly from Dublin to Berlin and then head to Paris from there.

But with a full itinerary it would be much easier to make recos.

Hi there - thanks so much for your reply!

The timeline for Berlin/Austria can't be altered because I'm meeting my cousin in Paris at the end of the 4.5 days. I have the option of choosing between the two cities or trying to fit them both in. Assuming that the airports aren't too difficult to navigate to, I have it in my budget to fly between cities. I've started to look into overnight trains as another option.

I love history, so Berlin appeals to me for WW2 and Berlin Wall history. It's also been recommended to me by friends. In Austria, I'd mainly want to experience the symphony and hopefully see a Christmas market. I like to do a mix of exploring and formal site-seeing when I travel. On this trip, I'm favouring quantity over quality in terms of cities visited, though I would be willing to change the itinerary if people thinks it's too tight to get anything out of it.

How are you calculating your 4.5 days? Do you have 5 nights (which would = 4 - 4.5 days)? If so, and losing half a day traveling between the two cities you could squeeze in 3 days in Berlin and about 1 day in Vienna. Anything less than 5 nights, and I'd pick one of them.

Good question! I leave Dublin mid-day on the Sunday and arrive in Paris on Friday morning. It's technically 5 nights but there won't be much of any valuable travel time on the Sunday and I'll be traveling to Paris very early Friday morning or late Thursday night.

What about if I do night trains between Berlin and Vienna to save some travel time?

How do you slew pin night trains? Not everyone does/can . . .

I am a very good sleeper - I think I could!

jeeze - sorry for the typo -- but apparently you got my drift

(auto correct is a biatch)

This trip sounds very rushed to me. I recommend that you get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, note their opening/closing times, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, including AT LEAST two or three hours on either side (for getting to/from the train or whatever, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, obtaining currency, and getting oriented). Then see how things fit together. You might end up deciding to cut a destination or two....

BTW, I've enjoyed a night train or two -- as long as they actually give me time to sleep (which not all do). And I learned the VERY hard way that I can't manage more than one overnight train every few days (at most).

It does sound rather rushed. Check out train timings and then work around it.

If you are looking only to do the highlights in Berlin, consider a Hop on hop off tour. I would spend time in the Jewish/Holocaust memorial/museum, do a guided walk of the wall (loads of companies offer that and some even include Potsdam)so I reckon you may be able to wing it in two days.

For Vienna, visit the Hofburg Palace sights for a half day, and may be the Kunsthistoriche Museum (spelling?!), try to visit Schonbrun and then catch a show (and your breath) at the Opera, and do remember to eat an apple strudel with ice cream by the Opera house!

Good luck in working the logistics!

<< What about if I do night trains between Berlin and Vienna to save some travel time? >>

Have you looked at the night train schedule? Many people post about taking night trains before checking it out. It's 14.5 hours on the train and you lose an entire morning.

You won't be able to see the highlights of both Berlin and Vienna in this time (4 days). Choose one or the other.

From Berlin you can spend a day in Potsdam; from Vienna a day at Melk Abbey.