It's a bit of a whirlwind tour!! Any itinerary tips?
 

Hi there! I am lucky enough to have 16 days off between jobs a bit of money saved up, so I thought I'd have a taste of Europe :)

I'm flying into London in late August and out of Berlin 16 days later in September.

Here's just a skeleton of my itinerary:

3 days in London
3 days in Paris
1 or so days in the Rhine Valley
2 days in Munich
1 day in Salzburg
2 days in Vienna
2-3 days in Prague, possibly up to Warsaw
1 full day in Berlin

I'm meeting a friend over in Prague, so there's not a lot of flexibility there. Does anyone have any suggestions- am I packing too many cities in or are some worth seeing for 24 hours?

I appreciate any input or tips on what to see where! Thanks!

That's much too much moving around for me, and the travel time between cities will eat into your time in each place.

I prefer to spend several days in a city, seeing everything I want to see without feeling rushed, and being able to stroll around and just soak up the feel of the place. In 16 days, I'd probably want to go to no more than four cities.

&quot;<i>am I packing too many cities in</i>&quot; Oh, Yeah!

You say you have 16 days off between jobs. That would indicate your entire trip is 16 days.

2 days are spent flying to/from Europe
1 day is pretty much shot to jet lag
1/2 to 1 full day is lost every time you move from one city to the next.

you do the math - your 16 days suddenly becomes about 10 days free for sightseeing and visting your friend. You need to cut your list of destinations about in half. Even IF you really mean 18 days w/ 16 &quot;on the ground&quot; in Europe - still too much and too far in too little time

I do have 16 days on the ground, 18 total days. I do agree that I love to get a feel of the place; I just want to see as much as possible, any tips on which cities are a must see? (have I completely forgotten any on my list?)

which cities are musts is entirely up to you. Everyone has their own unique lists of &quot;must see's&quot;

If you tell us what sorts of things you enjoy/want to see/do and we can give better advice.

&quot;<i>I just want to see as much as possible</i>&quot; - the more places one crams in the less they actually see. Except for lots of the insides of train stations, trains and airports.

Cities like Paris and London need more time to even scratch the surface. 5 days is about minimum in either city to get a feel for what's what and where's where.

Places like Salzburg are smaller so a couple of days might be OK.

My reaction to your itinerary is perhaps a little different from most other posters'. I think your itinerary is fine!

Forget about 'day lost to jetlag'! From your username I assume you'll be coming from the USA - hardly a long flight. (I fly to Europe 24-26 hours with maybe an hour's break at Singapore en route, and even for me the idea of losing a day to jetlag would be intolerable!!)

I find that 3 days in big cities like London or Paris, and 1 day in smaller ones like Salzburg, is more than enough for 'first time round'. Mainly on first trips I'm getting an 'overview', and it's only on 2nd or 3rd trips (to the selected few that I want to revisit), that I feel a need for more time to explore in greater detail and depth.

For me it's not so much the cities that attract, as beautiful regions, small towns and villages. That's why, if I were to differ with your itinerary at all, it would be to allow 3 days in the Rhine with maybe a day less in Prague and forgetting about Warsaw. And I might lose even more city time in favour of meandering more slowly between, say, Rhine and Munich (o'night Rothenburg) and, say, Prague and Vienna (o'night Ceske Krumlov).

But it's all a matter of personal taste of course. To me these small-town over-nighters would be more enjoyable than the cities, but not everyone will agree.

Hi N,

&gt; I just want to see as much as possible,...

In which case why bother staying in any city? Get a railpass and sleep on the trains. :)

Since Prague is a must, how about sticking to Munich (3 nights), Salzburg (3 nights), Vienna (4 nights), Prague (5 nights). There will be more than enough to keep you occupied.

From Munich, you can visit Dachau and the castles at Fuessen.

From Salzburg, you can take a daytrip or overnight to the Salzkammergut and/or Berchtesgaden.

From Vienna, you could visit Budapest and Melk.

Berlin, London and Paris will be there for your next visits.

Enjoy your visit. Take a little time to pick the roses.

((I))

Ira, please stop telling people to pick other people's roses...!

Sniff the roses, yes. Smell the roses, yes. Pick the roses, NO!

I think you should go to fewer places and stay longer in each if possible.

Berlin for one day is not nearly enough time, for example, and IMO. I'd give Prague a minimum of 2-3 days; I'd skip Salzburg entirely and spend more time around Munich or in Vienna and unlike Ira I wouldn't try to add Budapest to Vienna, either.,

Of course, everyone here is assuming that you enjoy traveling like WE do...if you don't then perhaps your itinerary will work. It is certainly physically doable (OK...some of the people here would be choking in your dust, admittedly).

If it were me, I'd do London, Paris and Munich. take the chunnel between london and paris perhaps overnight. try for another overnight train paris/munich. I am quite sure there are overnight trains between prague and germany as well so maybe you can take one to berlin before flying out?

twoflower: I'm sure almost no one who has flown from Seattle to Europe would ever consider it a short flight. It is shorter than from OZ or NZ for sure - but still overnight and w/ an early morning arrival.

You guys have some great points and tips- thank you! After reading all of the posts I really thought about it, and I know I'd like to thoroughly get to see a few cities rather than pass through many.

I've cut out London as my cousin lives over there and I'd rather visit for longer another time. SO

4 days in Paris
4 days in Munich
4 days in Vienna
4 days in Prague

That sounds a bit more like a vacation.. I figure I can take a day trip out of Munich and possibly Vienna if I feel the need to see more. I just wish I had more time ;) I'd still love any more advice!

That's a much more manageable trip. You can also do a stopover for one day and night in Salzburg (its an easy stop on the train between Munich and Vienna) by cutting a day from Munich or Vienna (I'd cut one from Munich).

I travel at autobahn speeds too. I don't mind changing hotels and going from place to place, it becomes part of the adventure. If you have figured travel time between cities you will know how long you have to spend in each place. You may want to cut back a little to give yourself a little slack in case of a hiccup in the plans.

Remember, Europe will probably still be there next time and you don't have to conquor the whole continent in one visit.

Hi Nicole

Your 2nd plan is much better. Gives you a reasonable amount if time in each and the travelling times aren't too bad. Personally I'd swap Berlin for Vienna but as I'm a bit of a Berlin lover I'll admit to some bias. :-)

HI N,

Much better itinerary.

&gt;I figure I can take a day trip out of Munich and possibly Vienna if I feel the need to see more. &lt;

As I noted before, if you skip Paris this time (include it on our visit to London) you will be able to take daytrips from the other cities without being rushed.

((I))

MUCH better - you're a quick learner, we usually have to beat people up longer before they come around :)

My only (very) minor suggestion would be to add one or even 2 days to Paris and take it away from maybe Vienna or Prague (both are wonderful but fairly compact and you can see a lot in 3 days).

The reasons I suggest adding some time to Paris include 1) well, it IS Paris, 2) your first day will be pretty jetlagged and you might be a bit overloaded/disoriented, 3) There is soooooo much to see/do it really takes 5 or 6 days to just get a taste of Paris

OR - - take ira's suggestion and combine London and Paris on your next trip . . . (but don't try to do both in a week)

Agree you'r trying to do way too much here. It takes the best part of a day to change cities - so of your 16 days 8 are spent going from one place to another. You'll never see anything in ost of those places.

Agrre that if the endof trip is fixed by meeting a friend - you have to cut several cities off the front end.

nytraveler: NicoleinSeattle changed her plan/itinerary in her last post -- dropping everything except Paris, Munich, Vienna and Prague.