London Italy Amsterdam 4-22 Aug 2017
 

Hi All

A group of 4 on 1st trip, will be travelling to London on 4th Aug 2017 and back home from Amsterdam on 22nd Aug 2017.

Any recommendation on the best route via flight/train/bus for the following :
How many days in each place.

London
Rome
Florence ( Pisa, CT )
Venice
Milan ( Lake Como )
Amsterdam

Thank you.

You have listed 9 destinations. Assuming you leave home on the 4th, you will arrive on the 5th if you are coming from most places outside of Europe. This gives you 16 full days. Moving between your 9 destinations will eat up another 3-4 days. This leaves you somewhere around 12-13 days to visit 9 destinations. You need to cut down the number of your destinations to have a decent trip.

Hi

How to re-arrange the destinations for last stop at Amsterdam? We are open to the best available options.

Assistance, please?

thank you.

For no-frills one-way air fares in Europe: www.skyscanner.com
For everything to do with rail travel: www.seat61.com
Each time you move will cost you better than a half-day, what with the travel itself, packing up and unpacking, and moving between hotels and transport terminals. Plus the energy and strain of navigating unfamiliar territories. I'd drop at least one of the Italian destinations, or drop Amsterdam.

Gosh what a rush.

Well Florence looks important as it is commutable distance ot Pisa and CT. In August CT will be crammed with people, the pathways will be unmovable and the trains (well the trains could be a mob). Of all of this I'd drop CT.

Pisa is half day from Florence so I'd look at

London 3nights
Fly Venice 3 nights (drop in on Padua and Lake Garda)
Train Florence 3 nights
Train Rome 3 nights
Fly to Amsterdam 3 nights

I can't see much time for Milan either, swap Garda for Como

Four people, nine major destinations, 17.5 days on the ground, jet lag, for at least some of you for at least a few days, about 3.5 days internal travel = a crappy/testy group and very little time to see much in most of those fabulous places.

If London and Amsterdam are the 'musts' - And wanting/needing a little extra time for London, first because it is by far the largest city and you need to have some recovery time then pick maybe two of the Italy stops and eliminate the rest

Something like 5 or 6 days in London (6 or 7 nights), travel day fly to say Rome, 5 nights in Rome, half a travel day train to Venice, 2 or 3 nights in Venice, travel day fly to Amsterdam, 2 or 3 nights in Amsterdam, fly home.

If Florence/Pisa are more important to you substitute them for Venice.

Re bilboburgler's itinerary -- while 'doable' it would leave you a grand total of 2.5 days or less in each destination which is <i>nothing</i> in London and almost <i>nothing</i> in Rome, and doesn't leave time for day trips from Florence or Venice..

You really do need to account for travel time and there being four of you which will mean some things take longer.

London
Rome
Florence ( Pisa, CT )
Venice
Milan ( Lake Como )
Amsterdam>

I'd suggest:

London -4 days
Fly to Rome - 4 days
Train to Florence - 2 days
Train to Venice -2 days
Lake Como - 2 days
Fly to Amsterdam-4 days

Rather rushed but doable. Book Italian trains in advance to get discounted tickets -www.seat61.com is the best site for booking your own discounted train tickets -other sites I like for a ton of general info on trains - www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

Not close to doable -- they don't have that much time.. Your itinerary would require more than 23 days. They have 17.5 days plus their departure day.

(to get 2 free days in a city requires 3 nights)

Not close to doable -- they don't have that much time.>

It is doable as I show -yes only two nights not full days in any place but Rome, London and A'dam - lots of folks travel like this - whether we Fodorgarchs deem it 'not close to doable or not'.

So it's really 1.5 'full' days in Florence and Venice and Lake Como.

Many folks would be satisfied with just a look -to have seen say Florence or Venice- they do not have to stay several days in any place or just skip it in my, yes subjective, opinion.

Yes it is a little rushed -I would suggest cutting off Lake Como and adding a day to Venice and Florence and then it would be doable for you or not?

Or drop a day from Amsterdam and put it in Florence -could even do a day trip like taking the bus to nearby Siena for a taste of an iconic Tuscan hill town and see something besides mega-huge tourist meccas (Siena is touristy too in summer but not nearly as swarming as Florence or Venice -amongst the most mobbed tourist towns in Europe in their main historic core and one reason many do not really enjoy them but endure them at this time. Plus weather in Florence swelters with highs in 90s then - some folks will be content if not happy to get out after a short stay - all that is needed to see the must sees IMO.

Agree with janisj. Drop Milan,the lakes, CT, and either Venice or Florence. I too would do London, Venice, Rome and Amsterdam if you need to fly out of Amsterdam. Thankfully Paris is not on your list. Add back Florence if you can fly home from Rome and skip Amsterdam.

Well yes I failed to note you wanted to go to Pisa and CT on one of your days in Florence - if so add a day or two to Florence and drop Lake Como- check into tours from Florence that do the Leaning Tower and CT in one day - really hard to do on your own by train.

Pisa yes is a short train ride from Florence but CT about 3 hours all told.

Hi

Thank you for all the suggestions.
Is it possible to take train from London to Rome/Venice? An overnight train? Just an experience.

Not direct from London but yes from Paris you can take an overnight Thello train (www.thello.com) right to Venice- and yes I love night trains and to do one will be an experience not forgotten (some love em some can't stand then though - you will get vastly differing opinions here on that).

Get a private compartment for two or four and bring any food and drink aboard and earplugs if bothered by noise -there will always be some from inside and outside the train. Some vino may help sleep IMO.

Nope -- not realistically anyway. And how will the four of you get along when 2 or 3 of you arrive in Rome sleep deprived?

Most folks can sleep -I've taken zillions of night trains and never had any problems sleeping-nor did many others apparently in my couchette.

Very realistic and many Europeans do it every night (though the number of night trains has declined due to cheap flights).

You do not want to go by night train to Rome as there is none but to Venice.

Like I said there are varying different opinions on this but I speak from my own experience of taking again hundreds of night trains.

https://www.seat61.com/thello-train-...s-to-italy.htm -Man in Seat 61 gives a positive take too.

You also save money on a hotel for a night.

Lots of young people all over Europe to a lot of different destinations in a short period of time. They sleep on overnight trains, put their luggage in train stations while they sightsee for a day. They have a lots of fun. Most people know this. A great many older travelers did it themselves when they were young and haven't forgotten. Lovely movies have been made about such young travelers in Europe.

Even many older travelers to Europe spend less than a day in Pisa and Lago di Como, only a day in Florence, only a day in Venice, only a day in CT. If one is not going to museums, I'm a bit stumped as to how to fill more than a day in Amsterdam, but most young people enjoy more time in the city. But rhe only cities here requiring multiple days are Rome and London.

If the travelers don't want to fly but use trains I'd probably do the order this way:

London>Venice>Lago di Como>Florence>Rome>CT>Pisa>Amsterdam

In the above itinerary, one would need to fly at the very end from Pisa to Amsterdam. And one could stay in Pisa and day trip to le Cinque Terre, saving a hotel switch.

The VAST majority of night trains have been eliminated/discontinued -- for good reasons.