Who said anything about a 2.5 hour lunch!?!? Perhaps you're misinterpreting what I mean by a "sit down" lunch. I was referring to one course (or maybe two with desert) in a restaurant where I sit down and wait staff bring the food. Both of the lunches we had in Rome were an hour at most and not hugely heavy (cacio e pepe & shared tiramisu one day, for example).

I agree on dinner - especially the timing - if you show up for dinner before 8 you'll be the only people (other than maybe other tourists) there, and will miss the whole atmosphere of the evening.

In Athens you may find some super-cheap deals around Omonoia or Metaxourgeio areas, but avoid those. Stick with Syndagma, Plaka, Acropolis, Monastiraki, maybe Koukkaki or Psyri.
Many spots of interest are in walking distance or a couple of metro rides away on those areas.

Just curious. Does that $1400 per person include ALL the flights - from Canada to Europe plus the intra European flights?

As others have said you can have a good time and get a 'taste' for each place in the time you have. I would start new threads, one for each destination and title it "If you had "x number of days in Lisbon (Paris, etc.) how would you spend it.

I'd also of course get a guide book for each destination and see what entices you. The things you've mentioned are the 'famous' sights, many of which are places you just walk by, so you can really fit in more. But in addition to seeing the things you've heard of, try to incorporate some walks through neighborhoods. You do not NEED a guide or to pay for a 'walking tour', most guide books have walks (frommers has the best, and they are available on their website as well as in the print guidebooks). But incorporating some time in neighborhoods as well as looking at major sights will give you much more of a feel for each city as well as a more balanced visit. A major advantage of doing it yourself rather than signing up for a guided tour, is that you can do it whenever you want, you aren't locked into a time. In such a short visit that's important.

Another time saver is to seriously consider if you really want to go INSIDE all the famous places you are considering. For example, it's going to take a big chuck of your Rome time to go into the Vatican museums. Perhaps visit St Peter's Square and the Basilica but skip the museum this trip. Same with the Colosseum,etc. In Paris, certainly go to the Eiffel Tower but do you really want to spend hours waiting in lines just to go up to the viewing platform at the top?

Once you've designed your itinerary for each city come back here and post it and people will tell you if what you've planned is 'doable' and make suggestions.

I would get on booking.com right now and book the hotels. Booking.com gives you prices and map locations. Their reviews are pretty reliable as well. But you should double check your choices on tripadvisor.com

I would also make sure you research the best (fastest/cheapest/most convenient) way to get to/from each airport to city center. You're going to be doing a lot of that, best to know in advance what your options are. But not necessary to book them in advance, just know what you are going to do once you get there.

My photo galleries have photos of all the places you are going. Always helps me to look at photos of places to help me decide what my 'must sees' are. www.pbase.com/annforcier

>>Next is looking for a place in London area... Hopefully somebody can suggest a particular location accessible to most tourist attractions. Walking distance would be great!<<

No place in London is near more than a few of the major sites - the city is HUGE, much larger than any of the other places you are headed. But not to worry since nearly EVERY hotel in central London is near Underground stations and on bus lines.

A few neighborhoods that are central and w/ lots of budget and mid-priced hotels would include Victoria, South Kensington (<u>South</u> Kensington, not Kensington), Russell Square/Bloomsbury, the south bank near Westminster Bridge/Waterloo station, Southwark/London Bridge, and parts of the City (a specific area, not 'London' in general)/Tower Hill

Check out londontown.com - you can plug in your dates and budget.

Bear in mind that 'budget' is a relative term in London. Nice hotels will generally be more expensive than in some of your other stops.

$100 per person per day for food is fine. You can definitely make that work. Do some casual, inexpensive meals like bakeries, take-out, picnics, to allow for a few nicer ones.

Well I would hardly call one modest course the "main meal of the day", especially given the smaller size of portions in Italy. I think we must have a much different idea of what "main meal" is - I had assumed 3 courses plus espresso afterward - and shared veggies with the main course.

thank you so much for all the suggestions and tips. We have already booked a couple of budget hotels based on the parameters suggested by members of this community. We selected a place as per close proximity to below:

Rome - near Piazza Navona
Athens- near Acropolis
Lisbon - near the avenida libertade
London - along Belgrave ( however this area is still pricey for 3 nights) and most of the hotels under $200 a night don't have good reviews on Tripadvisor... We booked a place but would want to cancel if something better comes along...

@ Isabel - thank you for the tip on researching the logistics/ proximity to and from airport. This will make a huge difference in our itinerary...

@Hez @Suze @NYtraveler thank you for the meal tips. Yes, we'll have an hour lunch and nothing more,... Maybe a snack around 4pm and then dinner around 8 ish... Dinner time is the only time we can probably unwind and sit down for 2 hours or so... As we hope to be galivanting all day

Any tips on accommodations in Amsterdam? Brussels? Paris?

nytraveller - could you please go back and read what I wrote? I said "2 sit down lunches" - I never said they were the "main meal of the day". Geesh.

>>London - along Belgrave ( however this area is still pricey for 3 nights) and most of the hotels under $200 a night don't have good reviews on Tripadvisor... We booked a place but would want to cancel if something better comes along…<<

That is the Victoria area. Which hotel did you book? We have probably heard of/know about it.

$200 is really not a lot in London - that's about £120 which could be a good deal unless it is a true dump.

MsWorthy, I'm curious about the flight to Lisbon... where in Canada are you leaving from? Are you going with Air Transat? Is it $1,400 RT per PERSON?

I'm leaving from the east coast and have to backtrack to Montreal to catch my overseas flights, so I'm just curious.

Well you keep saying Canada.. but I am from here too and its a pretty big country.. so if that deal was from the west coast it wasn,t too bad,( but not great) but if it was from a hub like Toronto , Montreal etc. I think you did not get a great deal... but I guess this is not helping.

I can help with hotels in Paris and London.

In Paris I have stayed in two budget hotels that ARE well located.. walk to many sites and public transport around city and to and from airports convenient. Both hotels are clean and well run.. but both hotels feature a well known trait.. SMALL rooms.

Hotel St Pierre ( on rue Ecole du Medicine.. several hotels have similar name) I have stayed in this hotel numerous times.. last time was just 6 weeks ago. This is a true budget hotel.. but.. as I said.. excellent location.

Hotel Diana... this hotel has a likewise excellent location, is a tad nicer inside then Hotel St Pierre, and I have stayed here a few times too.

In London.. we just were there this past summer.. stayed in two places.. one I do NOT recommend( room was way too small , even for us and we are used to small) Studios2let.. do not go there. .lol
But,. the place we stayed our last few days was great.. included a FULL cooked to order breakfast. Staff were lovely.. room was lovely.. it was within walking distance of the British Royal Museum and buses take you everywhere else ( I find London more spread out site wise then Paris) .
The Celtic hotel was great!

In London I would consider a top site to be the Tower Of London.. really fascinating the included Beefeaters tour is interesting and amusing.

Weather in Rome in March can still be fresh,,, 9-12 C as month goes on...

By the way, give that TA the gate--forever. Ridiculous, and only good for him, not you.

@justineparis and @ruby99 - $1400 is for two people including intra-Europe flights. Departing from YUL.

Then you did get a deal on airfare!

You did not get a deal.. and your TA is stupid.

Flights on Airtransat YUL to Paris in Feb.. taxes all in.. 741 dollars. .

Your ta was a useless twat.

Inter europeon flights and trains would come in less then the extra 700 bucks your ta drained you for.

Sorry.

Next time do some homework before you go to a TA.. you may decide to book all your own stuff yourself.

I booked our flight /YVR to London.. then flights from London to Dublin, ( Ryanair) Dublin to Marjorrca( AerLingus) , Majorrca to Paris ( Easyjet) and Paris to London ( on Eurostar) .. and those inter euro flights and train all totaled less then 400 bucks.. you got ripped off, ps.. Virgin Alantic had economy flights from Vancouver to London last summer for 800 bucks.. geesh people DO your homework if you are on a budget. !

I am sorry.. don't mean to yell at you.. I am just frustrated your TA was such a crapper and you were innocent and trusting victims.

Anyways.. I agree.. go for the adventure.. just be more careful. Do your OWN booking and research on hotels.. no more trusting that ta for advice!

Any day on holiday is a good day!

Didn't she just say the $1400 was for BOTH people? If so, then it was a pretty good deal - financially. However that doesn't factor in all the money you are going to spend getting to and from all those airports - not to mention all the time out of your vacation that will be spent in transit. So if the $1400 was for both of them, including all the flights, then the TA wasn't a total jerk - but probably has never traveled. Good reason not to use a TA.

The St Pierre in Paris is fine. I have stayed there and would again. Very good location, and pretty typical for a Paris hotel.

In London look at Travelodge Waterloo. It's a chain hotel but it's fine and the Waterloo location is good.

Ok - I don't mean to pile on hear, but I think you really need to talk to your travel agent about fixing this. Based on justinparis post I thought, hmmm, I wonder if I put in some random dates in Feb from Montreal to London to Paris to Rome and back to Montreal (those being the places you actually wanted to go) and it's coming up on Kayak at $900USD. So you're paying an awful lot of money to go places you didn't even want to go to. That's crazy and your TA should fix it. Are they part of a larger company, maybe you should call their boss?

It just seems to me that you've either been hoodwinked into buying some deal that your TA was getting a kickback on, or they are completely incompetent.