Massive Itinerary
 

Hi there,

I have been working on my 14 week Itinerary for Europe and UK 2016. I am after any feedback and advice that you can offer. I still have just over a year to plan this trip and a starting early in order to save and research as much as possible.
The first part of the trip will be traveling with a friend who has family in Italy. From the 23rd of May I will be traveling solo. I will be staying with another friend in Edinburgh, (& Loch Ness Trip) she may join me in Ireland. My husband will meet me in Frankfurt on 24th June and continue the rest of the trip with me.
I know this is a VERY full schedule. Trust me I can handle it. I know you will tell me to drop one of the Greek Islands and probably Brussels. But it may be one of those things I need to learn myself... anyway constructive criticism is appreciated. This will be my first (and last for a long time!) trip in Europe.

Saturday 16th April Fly NZ-AUS-Abu Dhabi
Sunday 17th April Arrive Abu Dhabi
Monday 18th April Abu Dhabi (Fly out Late)
Tuesday 19th April Milan
Wednesday 20th April Milan
Thursday 21st April Train to Lake Como
Friday 22nd April Lake Como
Saturday 23rd April Train to Bolonga (6hrs)
Sunday 24th April Train Bolonga to Venice (2hrs)
Monday 25th April Venice
Tuesday 26th April 1pm train to Florence (3hrs)
Wednesday 27th April Florence
Thursday 28th April Florence
Friday 29th April Early train to Lucca (2hrs)
Saturday 30th April Lucca – Day trip to Pisa (1hr)
Sunday 1st May Lucca – Trip to Cinque Terre
Monday 2nd May Early train to Rome (3 hrs)
Tuesday 3rd May Rome
Wednesday 4th May Rome
Thursday 5th May Rome
Friday 6th May Early train to Naples (3hrs)
Saturday 7th May Naples
Sunday 8th May Early Ferry to Isle of Capri (1 hour)
Monday 9th May Capri
Tuesday 10th May Capri
Wednesday 11th May Ferry to Amafi
Thursday 12th May Amafi
Friday 13th May Bus to Salerno Sation (1 hour) Train to Taranto (3hrs) then to Brindisi (1hr)
Saturday 14th May Overnight Ferry Brindisi to Patras
Sunday 15th May Ferry Arrives Patras 1pm
Monday 16th May Train to Athens (4 hours)
Tuesday 17th May Athens
Wednesday 18th May Ferry Athens to Mykonos (7am)
Thursday 19th May Mykonos
Friday 20th May Ferry to Santorini (3pm)
Saturday 21st May Santorini
Sunday 22nd May Ferry Santorini to Athens (3:30pm)
Monday 23rd May Athens to Montenegro
Tuesday 24th May Montenegro
Wednesday 25th May Bus to Dubrovnik
Thursday 26th May Dubrovnik
Friday 27th May Dubrovnik
Saturday 28th May Bus to Split
Sunday 29th May Split
Monday 30th May Split to Plitvice Lakes National Park
Tuesday 31st May Plitvice to Zagreb
Wednesday 1st June Zagreb to Edinbrugh
Thursday 2nd June Edinbrugh
Friday 3rd June Edingbrugh
Saturday 4th June Train to Loch Ness (5 hrs)
Sunday 5th June Train home Loch Ness (5hrs)
Monday 6th June Edinbrugh
Tuesday 7th June Fly to Dublin
Wednesday 8th June Dublin
Thursday 9h June Dublin
Friday 10th June Train to Cork (3.5 hours)
Saturday 11th June Cork
Sunday 12th June Fly to London
Monday 13h June London
Tuesday 14st June London
Wednesday 15h June London
Thursday 16th June Early Train to Brussels (2.5hrs)
Friday 17th June Brussels
Saturday 18th June Early Train/Bus to Bruges (1 hour)
Sunday 19th June Brugge
Monday 20th June Train to Amsterdam (3.5hrs)
Tuesday 21st June Amsterdam
Wednesday 22nd June Amsterdam
Thursday 23rd June Train To Frankfurt (5 hours)
Friday 24th June Frankfurt
Saturday 25th June Frankfurt
Sunday 26th June Train to Munich (3.5 hours)
Monday 27th June Munich
Tuesday 28th June Train to Zurich (3.5hr)
Wednesday 29th June Zurich
Thursday 30th June Zurich
Friday 1st July Train to Lucerne (1 hour)
Saturday 2nd July Lucerne
Sunday 3rd July Lucerne
Monday 4th July Train to Bern (1 hour)
Tuesday 5th July Bern Night Train to Salzburg
Wednesday 6th July Salzburg
Thursday 7th July Salzburg
Friday 8th July Salzburg
Saturday 9th July Train to Vienna (2.5 hours)
Sunday 10th July Vienna
Monday 11th July Train/Bus to Budapest (3.5 hours)
Tuesday 12th July Budapest
Wednesday 13th July Budapest
Thursday 14th July Bus/Fly to Krakow
Friday 15th July Krakow
Saturday 16th July Krakow (Night Train to Prauge)
Sunday 17th July Prauge
Monday 18th July Prauge
Tuesday 19th July Prauge (to paris overnight train)
Wednesday 20th July Paris
Thursday 21st July Paris
Friday 22nd July Paris (Fly out PM)
Saturday 24th July Travel back to NZ
Sunday 25th July Arrive back in NZ

Really? Two days here, one day there. Why even bother.

Well, I'd say you have too much city and too little country side. Like 3 swiss cities, but no time in the Berner Oberland which is the best part of Switzerland. Also, the best of Ireland is outside the cities.

I also think in a trip this long, I would pick somewhere to stop for a week and settle down. Take a break, do some laundry. I don't think I could sightsee every day for 14 weeks. But if I only have 2 days in Paris, I have to fill them up.

But you said you can handle this pace, so it's your trip. Maybe build in some flexibility in case you do get worn out?

Forget Ireland Dublin and Cork are the 2 main Cities you might as well do Manchester and Liverpool whilst in the UK. Ireland is not about cities its about getting out of the brickwork and meeting the people.

As china-cat said, it's your trip, but I have to agree with her. With that amount of time, I would definitely include more down time and try to balance the city travel with some smaller regions.

I'm curious what kind of advice/criticisms you want, as I suspect most people would immediately say that this is much too busy a trip. I've been to some but not all of the places on your list, and I don't quite understand why you're traveling the way you are -- it feels like a list that has to be ticked off rather than a thought out plan of travel. I wouldn't be able to absorb the experience of travel after a while with so many places.

Personally, I prefer to stay in one region and know it better. I would choose a few countries in this time period that interest me, find a base in each area and travel locally. Even a week at a time would give you so much more opportunity to absorb a place and still see a wide number of areas.

Only my opinion, of course.

Way too ambitious. Wont be able to catch your breath much less see anything. You have 45 different stopping points (if my math is correct) in 98 days and that is not including overnight flight days lost. Your transportation costs alone are going to be astronomical with all that moving around, not counting the packing and unpacking at every stop. Unless this is a once in a lifetime trip, would reconsider my priorities and cut down that which you can forego until a return trip.

You do say that this is a first and last (for a long time trip), but at the end of this forced march across Europe, I'd be amazed if you can remember enough of it to identify which memory was in which place.

No-one doubts that you feel that you can handle this schedule, but by its end, you'll be exhausted. It feels like you got a map out and stuck pins in it. I appreciate that you're probably wanting to see as much as possible, but honestly, less is more on one of these trips and you're doing an enormous amount of back tracking across the continent.

You really need to reconsider the numbers of places that you're visiting, cut it down and travel at a more leisurely pace.

I'd take a day out of Dubrovnik and cancel Loch Ness (which is basically a loch (and not the prettiest) and a newspaper article, blown into the biggest load of tosh.

Zurich is a bit of a waste of time, nice cathedral, that's it and so three days, unless you are visiting your banker makes no sense. Blow the time in the Swiss countryside.

Rest of it looks ok, though I might also drop Ireland (as an outlier), not vital and you will enjoy this.

I think I'd add time to maybe another greek island or extend the Split into Split/Brac/Hvar/Trogir up the coast from Dubrovnik.

Just check the transport Venice to Split I think, if it is easy, I might change the sequence a bit in this area

Skip Frankfurt and add those days to Amsterdam.

'I know this is a VERY full schedule. Trust me I can handle it.'

Looks perfect to me. I might have done it when I was young, wouldn't now. Actually I did somehting similar in the US, visiting 10 cities in 30 days - I LOVED it.
I suppose you are young. I hope you're alone - doing this with someone would become difficult to handke. Enjoy, don't bother if people say it is like ticking places - it is your trip. Ponder the argument about one week to decompress and wash - very sound advice.
Definitely keep Brussels, most beautiful place in Europe - thus in the world. I live 20 kms from there...

Holy Moley!

I did a trip with a somewhat similarly paced itinerary in 2004. The differences were that I was traveling for ten months, and that I was considerably older than the OP. (You can see my itinerary at http://wilhelmswords.com/rtw2004/index.html ).

I did not find that places all merged into each other. I can still clearly distinguish Warsaw from Krakow, for instance. However, I did have slower paced sections within the overall trip. These days I still tend to travel "fast" when I'm visiting new areas, but "slow" when I am revisiting places I enjoyed on a previous trip.

The OP is traveling from New Zealand and I understand the urge to see as much as possible. Let's stop telling her how to travel and consider where it might make sense to drop places in order to allow some down time. I entirely agree, for instance, that if you're going to Switzerland you should head for the countryside and not the cities. I haven't been to Ireland, but again, that sounds more like a place to spend time in the countryside. And some cities definitely need more time than others - London, Paris, Rome, all need at least four, better five days, and I would not shortchange Venice, Vienna or Budapest.

Seg:
If you're intent on doing a 14 week marathon this way..ehaustion is no small problem, Seg. Literally and dangerously, it can sicken you. Have you considered doing three trips of five weeks each over the next three, four or five years years or even two trips of seven weeks each over the next number of years? I would guess that the traveling money used in your gerrymandering backtracking would cover the exra NZ to Europe flights or more.

Makes more sense and much more enjoyable and comfortable..and in the long run, sharply memorable....IMHO.

Stu - not sure why you think this trip has anything to do with gerrymandering! In any case, New Zealand is a long, long way from Europe, I can understand the urge to spend long enough to make up for the flights, it's what I do myself. And it may well be that the OP will be starting a job, or perhaps a baby, after this trip and will not have the opportunity to travel for five or seven weeks again for a long time.

I do agree with scheduling slower paced sections - apart from resting, on a trip this long you need time for resupply and reorganizing.

>>I know this is a VERY full schedule. Trust me I can handle it. I know you will tell me to drop one of the Greek Islands and probably Brussels. But it may be one of those things I need to learn myself… <<

I suspect you may be reluctant to take actual constructive criticism . . . You say you can handle it -- I could 'handle' it too but would never ever take a trip like this. You will (quite literally) be spending almost as much time on trains and in train stations as actually being/seeing some of your destinations. When will you do Laundry? When will you take a breath and sit down in a cafe?

At very minimum cut 1/4 of the destinations (which are up to you) and have time to enjoy the places that remain. It would still be fast paced. Me personally, I would cut maybe 1/3 but 1/4 is a good start.

It isn't that 3 days someplace isn't 'enough' but that 3.5 months of constant 2 and 3 night stops will be VERY tiring and you will always be 'on the clock' having to pack up and move on at a set schedule. I'd think more something like a few 6 or 7 day stops (maybe renting apartments) interspersed w/ a few 2 or 3 day-ers in between.

It almost looks like a laundry list where you have allotted nearly the same amount of time to widely different places. 3 days in London and 3 days in Salzburg? There are 1000 X more things to see/do in London than in/near Salzburg

A couple of minor details -- ditch the train trips to Loch Ness and back. First of all there is no train to Loch Ness. There are trains to Inverness but you'd be spending a night in Inverness simply t spend an hour or two looking at one of the less attractive Lochs in Scotland. If you want to get to the Highlands/Loch Ness . . . then take a day tour w/ Rabbies https://www.rabbies.com/one_day_tour..._ed.asp?lng=en

You are going to Ireland but only visiting Dublin )OK but not nearly as special as some of the other cities on you itinerary) and Cork (why?). Again -- do a small group tour. Stay maybe 2 nights in Dublin and maybe another Rabbies https://www.rabbies.com/tour_ireland.asp But there are other good companies you could check out.

OOPs - that should say >>(Dublin is OK but not nearly as special as some of the other cities on your itinerary)<<

Gretchen - same question to you for even replying.

I could never plan, day by day, a 14 week itinerary. I might have an idea of where I wanted to go and a rough outline but things change.

You meet people you might want to hang out with; you discover places where you want to spend more time; certain places you want to leave ASAP.

So, plan your first week; after that just play it by ear, organising maybe 4 to 5 days in advance.

My take (for what it is worth.)

Why are you taking a 6 hour train to Bologna and leaving the next day? I would spend at least the next full day in Bologna before heading to Venice.

I haven't been to Cinque Terre but, from what I have read, I think it deserves more time than a day trip from Lucca.

I would skip Naples.

Have you considered flying from Rome to Athens? You're spending a lot of time getting to Athens and then only staying one day?

I agree with skipping Loch Ness -- it was not as interesting to visit as I had hoped.

I would allow more time for the Irish countryside unless you decide to skip Ireland altogether.

I would skip both Frankfurt and Munich. Oops, I see you are meeting your husband in Frankfurt. He is not skippable! In that case, I would skip Munich.

I would skip Zurich and instead visit the Lauterbrunnen Valley for a few days -- one of my favorite places.

I would definitely add a few more days to Paris.

I think you need more bases (with day trips) and a LOT LESS moving every day or two.

For example, you have about 25 nights in Italy - and want to see pretty much most of it. Right now you have ELEVEN different hotels/cities. You can see almost everything on your list with four bases. I would skip Milan (nice city but not a highlight of Italy - if you have something you really want to see - like the Duomo, then stash your bags in the train station and see that, but don't overnight. I personally would switch Lake Garda for Lake Como.

And I would make my first base Verona. 5 or 6 nights. From there you can see Lake Garda, Bologna, and Venice ( and of course Verona as well - great city). Venice is only an hour by frequent train. Some will say you will miss out on the 'magic' of Venice early in the morning or evening. But if you are as energetic as you think then take the first train - they go from about 5am till midnight.

Second base - Florence - 5 or 6 nights. You can easily do a combined day trip to Lucca and Pisa. I've done it, lots of people do it. You can also do a day trip to the CT (either public transportation or a tour).

Third base - Rome - 5 or 6 nights

Fourth base - Sorrento -6 nights do day trips to Capri, Amalfi, Positano, Napoli.

Then FLY to Greece. You have three days wasted just traveling there, not seeing anything, certainly not relaxing. You can fly from Naples to Mykonos on easyjet. Then ferry to Santorini and then back to Athens. You'll have several days to add to each place, you could even add in Naxos or Paros with the time you've saved. (And probably way cheaper than the way you have it planned.) And now instead of 6 or 7 different places in 11 days you have 3 and still see everything you want.

Croatia looks reasonably OK

Agree with the above about Scotland. Skip Loch Ness. Whole time in Edinburgh - do a day trip to Sterling or somewhere if you want to see a nice lake.

I'd skip Ireland and add the time to London and do day trips to places like Oxford, Bath, etc.

In Belgium, spend all four nights in one place, not Brussels - do that as a day trip if you must. Brugge, Ghent and Antwerp are all much nicer. They are all only about an hour from each other, no need to change hotels.

If you can pick up a day here and there with this tighter itinerary, adding a night to Amsterdam would be good - lots of great day trip options from there.

Why do you want to go to Frankfurt?

With 7 days in Switzerland I'd pick two bases - Lucerne for 2-3 nights (easy day trip to Zurich is you really need to) and the rest in Interlaken. Everyone will tell you to stay up in the mountains, but from a base in Interlaken you can day trip to Bern, spend a day on the lake (very pretty, lots of cute towns), and a couple days up in the mountains - and pick the best weather days for those trips as it's a waste of time if totally cloudy.

I would drop one of the remaining towns between there and Paris. I'd drop Saltzburg. And while I loved Krakow, look into the logistics of getting there - it's not easy. Might not be worth it for this trip.

Add at least 2 days to Paris so you have 4 minimum.