12 Days (11 nights) in Europe.....PLEASE help with itinerary! So Confused!!
Jul 2nd, 2012, 01:52 PM
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12 Days (11 nights) in Europe.....PLEASE help with itinerary! So Confused!!
Hi all....I'm trying to put together a European trip for my husband and I for next July 2013. (its the only time in the summer we can travel) I really want to make this an unforgettable trip as it may be our last BIG travel vacation for some time. (We hopefully will be trying for kids after)
We are headed to Italy in Sept for a wedding and sightseeing. Will be staying in Ravello, Capri, Florence, and Rome.
We are both in our early 30's and I have only traveled to Europe for one trip. (England, Scotland in my early 20's) My husband has traveled as a young child. I would love to travel to Switzerland as the sights of the lakes and mountains look breathtaking. I also have such a desire to see Venice and enjoy it at night when the crowd has left. (this does not have to happen on this trip) We love cities and smaller towns just to get the different feel of each, seeing some "must see" sights, but also enjoying a relaxing day taking in beauty of our surroundings. A few museums are ok, but we would rather be outside exploring. There are many places we would love to see one day considering we have not traveled as much as we want to in Europe. Would love some help coming up with a first draft for an itinerary that will work for 11 nights.
Thank you...this site has always been very helpful!
We are headed to Italy in Sept for a wedding and sightseeing. Will be staying in Ravello, Capri, Florence, and Rome.
We are both in our early 30's and I have only traveled to Europe for one trip. (England, Scotland in my early 20's) My husband has traveled as a young child. I would love to travel to Switzerland as the sights of the lakes and mountains look breathtaking. I also have such a desire to see Venice and enjoy it at night when the crowd has left. (this does not have to happen on this trip) We love cities and smaller towns just to get the different feel of each, seeing some "must see" sights, but also enjoying a relaxing day taking in beauty of our surroundings. A few museums are ok, but we would rather be outside exploring. There are many places we would love to see one day considering we have not traveled as much as we want to in Europe. Would love some help coming up with a first draft for an itinerary that will work for 11 nights.
Thank you...this site has always been very helpful!
Jul 2nd, 2012, 03:35 PM
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bob,
I think those four locations in Italy are for this Sept? And the 11/12 days are for next July if I understood correctly.
We just returned yesterday from six weeks and we absolutely fell in love with the Zell am See and Hallstatt areas in Austria. We returned once again to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland which we adore.
If you love outdoor exploring than there is tons to do in these places. From Lauterbrunnen you can go to the Jungfrau one day, and hike morning to night if you wish the other days.
In Zell you can daytrip to the beautiful Krimmel Waterfall and drive the Grossglockner over the pass. On your way to Hallstatt you can visit Hohenwerfen Castle and the falcon show, and the Eisreisenwelt Ice Caves in Werfen. These ice caves were absolutely stunning!!! Hallstatt is a lovely little town right on the lake. Just walk around and enjoy the area, take a boat ride, tour the salt mine. Daytrip to nearby small towns.
There really is a lot to do in these areas. I'd suggest 5 for Lauterbrunnen and 3 for Zell and 3 for Hallstatt. This will give you a little taste of this area. 11 days will go by like that.
I think those four locations in Italy are for this Sept? And the 11/12 days are for next July if I understood correctly.
We just returned yesterday from six weeks and we absolutely fell in love with the Zell am See and Hallstatt areas in Austria. We returned once again to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland which we adore.
If you love outdoor exploring than there is tons to do in these places. From Lauterbrunnen you can go to the Jungfrau one day, and hike morning to night if you wish the other days.
In Zell you can daytrip to the beautiful Krimmel Waterfall and drive the Grossglockner over the pass. On your way to Hallstatt you can visit Hohenwerfen Castle and the falcon show, and the Eisreisenwelt Ice Caves in Werfen. These ice caves were absolutely stunning!!! Hallstatt is a lovely little town right on the lake. Just walk around and enjoy the area, take a boat ride, tour the salt mine. Daytrip to nearby small towns.
There really is a lot to do in these areas. I'd suggest 5 for Lauterbrunnen and 3 for Zell and 3 for Hallstatt. This will give you a little taste of this area. 11 days will go by like that.
Jul 2nd, 2012, 05:13 PM
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Michele_d....Thanks so much for the reply! And yes the Italy trip is in Sept. If we wanted to do Switzerland and one other country...what would you recommend. We totally understand that just staying in Switzerland would take up even more than 11 days to see it all, but because this will be our last LONG trip for awhile we would love to see two countries.
Jul 2nd, 2012, 05:45 PM
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Thank you michele!
Dayle......YES! Very undecided! As I continue to do research I am finding more and more cities in Europe I would love to visit....and now knowing it will be our last BIG trip for awhile I just want to make sure its what we truly want to see....Europe just has so many amazing places
Dayle......YES! Very undecided! As I continue to do research I am finding more and more cities in Europe I would love to visit....and now knowing it will be our last BIG trip for awhile I just want to make sure its what we truly want to see....Europe just has so many amazing places
Jul 2nd, 2012, 10:56 PM
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I hope you don’t take this as an indictment on your planning. Like Bobthenavigator, I couldn’t figure out which trips went with which of your thread. So I traced your posting hosting history. Kudos to michele_d in figuring what you ended up doing. I would not have figured out without tracing how you got to this point:
May 30, 2011: trip to Europe for May or September 2012
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ould-we-go.cfm
Oct 14, 2011: trip to Italy for September 2012
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-itinerary.cfm
Dec 27, 2011: trip to Italy for September 2012 itinerary decided
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-in-italy.cfm
Jan 1, 2012: long trip to Northern Italy for June/July 2012, another short one to Tuscany in Sept 2012
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...inute-help.cfm
Jan 7, 2012: long trip to Northern Italy for end of July 2012. Some proposed itinerary
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-need-help.cfm
Feb 19, 2012: one consolidated trip to Northern Italy for August 2012
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...lease-help.cfm
July 2, 2012: one consolidated trip to Southern Italy and Florence for Sept 2012; another trip to Switzerland in July 2013
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...o-confused.cfm
Looking at you reached the current point; I suspect that your planning process is probably adding to the confusion. You have listed many likes and dislikes. This is good. However, if you try building just one itinerary based on these criteria, you would end up waffling with; oh here is another interest place and oh wait here is another one. It is much easier for other to comment on specific itineraries.
For putting together something with many components with trade-offs (destinations/time/money, etc) it is much easier to compare many different itineraries. It is not necessary to choose any one of them initially, and therefore it is not necessary to agonize choosing which destination need to be included. Just create several different itineraries with different mix of destinations. After you come up with these itineraries, you can compare them to identify what works well in one itinerary and what doesn’t. You still don’t need to choose any one itinerary. The comparison helps you realize what you value more and what combinations work well. Once you come up with several contenders, bring them to this forum and get input on validities of itinerary assumptions you made. In this way, you can progress from getting stuck on ONE itinerary vs. progressively narrowing and improving itineraries to come up with one you can live with.
Here are some specific itineraries getting a lot of input:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...p-to-italy.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-itinerary.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...elp-please.cfm
And here is an example of how a lengthy dialog saved a vacation:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...and-france.cfm
If you have your heart set on Venice and Switzerland, of course you can do it. However, you need to focus on what is important to you so you can drop off others. Some think you must visit only the close by destinations, but you need to decide what combination works for you. This is where several itineraries are worth generating.
Do you want Berner Oberland + Venice; or Berner Oberland + Austria Lake area; or Berner Oberland + Luzern; or Austrian Alps + Venice, etc, etc.
You are only limited by the total time available.
Sleeping/resting time + eating time + travel time + sightseeing/activity time = 11 nights.
More you travel, less hours available for others such as sightseeing. However, not all the hours spent on sightseeing are the same. Some destinations give more value for the time spent. That destination is worth consuming travel time to get there. Perhaps Venice is such place. But only you can decide.
You cannot do everything, but you can choose one that is more satisfactory than others given the constraints.
May 30, 2011: trip to Europe for May or September 2012
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ould-we-go.cfm
Oct 14, 2011: trip to Italy for September 2012
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-itinerary.cfm
Dec 27, 2011: trip to Italy for September 2012 itinerary decided
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-in-italy.cfm
Jan 1, 2012: long trip to Northern Italy for June/July 2012, another short one to Tuscany in Sept 2012
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...inute-help.cfm
Jan 7, 2012: long trip to Northern Italy for end of July 2012. Some proposed itinerary
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-need-help.cfm
Feb 19, 2012: one consolidated trip to Northern Italy for August 2012
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...lease-help.cfm
July 2, 2012: one consolidated trip to Southern Italy and Florence for Sept 2012; another trip to Switzerland in July 2013
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...o-confused.cfm
Looking at you reached the current point; I suspect that your planning process is probably adding to the confusion. You have listed many likes and dislikes. This is good. However, if you try building just one itinerary based on these criteria, you would end up waffling with; oh here is another interest place and oh wait here is another one. It is much easier for other to comment on specific itineraries.
For putting together something with many components with trade-offs (destinations/time/money, etc) it is much easier to compare many different itineraries. It is not necessary to choose any one of them initially, and therefore it is not necessary to agonize choosing which destination need to be included. Just create several different itineraries with different mix of destinations. After you come up with these itineraries, you can compare them to identify what works well in one itinerary and what doesn’t. You still don’t need to choose any one itinerary. The comparison helps you realize what you value more and what combinations work well. Once you come up with several contenders, bring them to this forum and get input on validities of itinerary assumptions you made. In this way, you can progress from getting stuck on ONE itinerary vs. progressively narrowing and improving itineraries to come up with one you can live with.
Here are some specific itineraries getting a lot of input:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...p-to-italy.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-itinerary.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...elp-please.cfm
And here is an example of how a lengthy dialog saved a vacation:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...and-france.cfm
If you have your heart set on Venice and Switzerland, of course you can do it. However, you need to focus on what is important to you so you can drop off others. Some think you must visit only the close by destinations, but you need to decide what combination works for you. This is where several itineraries are worth generating.
Do you want Berner Oberland + Venice; or Berner Oberland + Austria Lake area; or Berner Oberland + Luzern; or Austrian Alps + Venice, etc, etc.
You are only limited by the total time available.
Sleeping/resting time + eating time + travel time + sightseeing/activity time = 11 nights.
More you travel, less hours available for others such as sightseeing. However, not all the hours spent on sightseeing are the same. Some destinations give more value for the time spent. That destination is worth consuming travel time to get there. Perhaps Venice is such place. But only you can decide.
You cannot do everything, but you can choose one that is more satisfactory than others given the constraints.
