Taking my 26 yr old to the above cities (his choices) to celebrate graduating from university. He's never been, I've visited Venice a few times. Leaving Sept 29 (arrive the 30th), I return home on Oct 15, and he carries on. How would you allocate days per city? Flying between cities, a good taste of each city is the goal.

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-->Interesing combination!

While it really depends on your interests, as a general rule:
- Plan on about 5 days (6 nights) for Stockholm, to include a day-time boat ride through part of the archipelago.
- IMO, there’s enough to hold the interest of many travelers to Warsaw for 2 or 3 days, more if one has a specific interest, but I think many will say less time would be more than enough. You might want to consider adding Krakow, which is a gem, and can easily merit 4 or 5 days.
- Venice is one of those cities about which people really differ. I’d say 4 full days for a first visit; others think just a day or two or, conversely, a week or more.

Hope that helps…

There were many interesting discussions, and lots of laughter, moving from 2.5 weeks in a Calabrian village to his chosen 3 cities! Would you recommend a day trip outside of Stockholm in addition to the mini cruise? I am at a bit of a loss about Warsaw but feel v comfortable with Venice.

Oh gosh, sorry for all that strange formatting stuff! I have no idea what happened.

Other than visiting the archipelago, the only day trip I took while in Stockholm was to Uppsala -- I enjoyed it tremendously, but truth in advertising: I have a family connection to Uppsala, and so can't claim to be an objective commentator. I'm sure there are other options, too.

Warsaw and Krakow are, these days, no more difficult to visit than anything else in Europe. If your son is interested, I'm sure he can consult some good guidebooks at a library or bookstore -- or if he's too busy with test prep, and you are willing (or want to steer a bit!) you can do the same and distill some ideas for his consideration.

They're all well worth seeing, IMO.

Maybe slit time between the three and with Warsaw where IME a few days was enough maybe take a train to Krakow, to many nicer than Warsaw overall in looks - Auschwitz is just a short train or bus or taxi ride from Krakow.

Take trains from Venice maybe for a few day trips like to Padua or Vincenza or Verona.

Stockholm do an excursion to lovely archepelagos nearby or other towns.

For lots on trains and where to go by them from those cities check www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

If you plan to visit Krakow and Wielicka (Auschwitz only if you are really interested in), you may have a look at train timetables:

Warsaw - Krakow: trains every 2 hrs, 2 1/2 hrs journey
Krakow - Venice:
Krakow dp 21.55 - overnight train with sleeping cars - Vienna 7.00/8.25 - Venice ar 16.25
or Auschwitz dp 7.40 - Venice ar 22.45 (4 changes)

The best place for train timetables for Europe is bahn.de

Thanks everyone for your replies.
A change: substitute Krakow for Warsaw AND add Berlin.
I am doing the planning - son on the final exam push and then he flies to a remote fishing camp to work without internet access before he starts his time off.
Girlfriend joining him after I leave and they will spend time in the Veneto .
With 14 clear days I am thinking of:
4 days Stockholm
Fly to Berlin on 5th day + 3 days
Fly ? train ? (Have to investigate) to Krakow on 9th day + 2 days
Fly to Venice on 12th day + 2 days (I have been to Venice for 15 days before)
I fly home on the 15th day and Will carries on.
It is meant to be a brief taste for his first visit. Not too fast for me and probably slow for him.
Thoughts?

There is a Ryan Air non-stop from Stockholm to Krakow (plus several non-stop flights from Stockholm to Warsaw., and Krakow is a 2 1/2 hour train ride from Warsaw); There is a Ryan Air non-stop from Krakow to Berlin, and many non-stop flights from Berlin to Venice. Maybe that's his best routing, since there are no non-stops from Krakow to Venice, but I didn't look at all the possibilities.

There are direct flights from Krakow to Venice on Easyjet and Ryanair, just not every day of the week for each airline. Use skyscanner.com.

I must admit that trying to fit Stockholm, Berlin, Krakow, and Venice into the same 14-day trip sounds unpleasantly rushed to me. Are you sure you can see and do what you want in that time? This plan seems to shortchange each of 4 different and wonderful cities.

Sorry! I didn't look at all the possibilities for fights while planning my own visit to Poland, and I wasn't aware of non-stop flights to Venice from Krakow. Good that there are more options and that your son will have more timetables to work with.

Thanks again to all.
Kja, I know your pain. He is leaving this to me and is a very appreciative, relaxed, West Coast "kid" and won't have any time for input. I may be over-thinking this.
My dilemma is how to split the days keeping in mind he will be spending additional days in Venice at the end with his girlfriend. So, it is really Stockholm and Krakow in early October with Oct 13 and 14 in Venice. That's why we threw in another city like Copenhagen.
?

"So, it is really Stockholm and Krakow in early October with Oct 13 and 14 in Venice. That's why we threw in another city like Copenhagen."

Huh? I thought it was Berlin.

Krakow deserves more time. There's plenty to do (old town, Nowa Huta, Wawel Castle, various day trips).

To kja: you can edit your own posts and get rid of all that formatting (probably from trying to quote something?).

Hi Russ , it is Berlin Or Copenhagen Or Amsterdam, basically another city...

Krakow is a long long all-day train ride from Berlin - there is a direct overnight but that takes 8 hrs but all night on a bus even if seats recline - maybe for younger folk. so fly that portion IMO.

Berlin is a fabulous addition - so much there there.

This thread I started is a little old but has timeless things in it:

https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...ournal-550993/

Would they possibly like to go someplace warmer? Ryan Air flies from Krakow to Rome, and then they can take a train from Rome to Venice. i think Ryan Air also flies from Krakow to Athens. October can be pretty chilly way north.

With Stockholm, Krakow, and 2 days in Venice as “set” elements, you have a trip for which I would want 12 days plus transportation – 5 days for Stockholm, 5 for Krakow, and 2 for Vienna. Once you add in transportation, you don’t have much left!

Including Warsaw – for, say, 2 days – makes a lot of sense to me; when would either of you ever get back? And the timeframe works reasonably well with a tweak here or there.

Adding Copenhagen – at about 3 days – could work well if you nip and tuck.

Adding Berlin – at about 5 or 6 days – doesn’t seem to me to make much sense.

But of course, it really depends on what YOU want to see and do. Here's what I recommend: Get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting lost/oriented, etc.). Then see how things play out.


@ BigRuss: One can only edit a post for an hour or so after submitting it. Obviously, if I had noticed in that time period, I would have edited it.

I would let the flight schedules between cities determine the third (not including Venice) destination.

I haven't been to Stockholm, but Krakow definitely warrants more time even if your son sightsees at hyperspeed.

Thanks, all, more work to be done.