zoohairee

Hey, I'm an 18 year old student from Singapore.

I have been to different parts of Asia like Japan and Korea alone and recently I have been considering a trip to Europe this December (During my semester break, which is 2 weeks)

I was wondering if you all could give some inputs on this itinerary or some tips that might help when I am there.

Depart from Singapore

Day 1: London
Buckingham Palace
Piccadilly Circus
Westminster Abby, Big ben & London Eye
London Bridge

Day 2: London
Camden Town
Soho
Hyde Park, Kensington Garden, Notting Hill
Harrods

Day 3: Paris
Travel from London to Paris with EUROSTAR
Eiffel tower
Notre Dame
Arch de Triumph
Sacre Coeur

Day 4: Paris
River cruise
Louvre
Galeries Lafayette

Day 5: Amsterdam
Travel from Paris Nord to Amsterdam with Thalys
Hire a bike
Free and easy

Day 6: Amsterdam
Canal cruise
Concertgebouw

Day 7: Berlin
Travel from Amsterdam to Berlin.
Brandeburg Gate
Reichstag
Siegessaule
Checkpoint charlie

Day 8: Berlin
Berlin Wall
Kurfurstendam
Kadewe

Day 9: Vienna
Opera house
Sacher cafe (Coffee)
Austrian National Library

Day 10: Vienna
Schonbrum Palace

Day 11: Rome
Fly to rome
Colosseum
Trevi Fountain
Pantheon
Galateria La Dolce Vita

Day 12: Rome
Vatican City
St. Peter’s Basilica
Capitoline Hill

Fly Back to Singapore

Thank you!

Tulips

Hi zoohairee, you seem to not have taken into account the travel time. Are you arriving in London on day 1 or the day before? If you check out on day 3, get to Paris, check into your hotel - part of the day will be gone, and you'll have 1,5 days left in Paris. Same for Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna; you have 1,5 days to see these cities. You will also spend a lot of time and money on travel.
You are planning to see 6 large cities in 12 days, including traveling between those places.

You can physically do that, if that is what you want and you have the budget for all the flights and trains - but it is not going to be a very pleasant holiday.

Also, consider that in December it is dark early, and it will be cold and wet. This can mess up your travel, with delayed flights and trains.

baldrick

Do you do this trip running, or Nordic walking style??? What is the purpose of your trip? Take a selfie in front of every monument you mentioned?
Quantity you have, quality... I doubt...

Unsufficient estimation of travel time and not taking into account the seasonal imperatives (reduced daylight time, weather conditions, hectic travel time,... ) will make your trip a stressful experience...

janisj

You have 11.5 days and want to visit 6 major cities in 6 different countries spread of most of Western Europe . . . in December.

Nights 1-2 : London 1.5 days free
nights 3 - 4 Paris 1.5 days
nights 5 - 6 Amsterdam 1.5 days
nights 7 - 8 Berlin 1.5 days
nights 9 - 10 Vienna 1 day
night 11 Rome less than half a day
day 12 - Rome sight see half a day then fly home that evening

sandralist

If you want to see this much of Europe in 2 weeks, it would be easier if you took an organized 12 day tour. Have you looked into the possibility?

For December, it might be better to stick with train travel, and if you can handle a few overnight trains for sleeping, that would buy you some time. Lots of young people who do this kind of trip post on the Lonely Planet message forum Thorntree, and they can give you ideas from their personal experience about what works and what doesn't if you want to see a lot of different cities and countries.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntr...western-europe

tonfromleiden

Yours is the typical »I want to see as much as possible« itinerary. With all the travelling involved, it will turn out to be »I did have a short look at some must-sees in a few European capitals«.
If you can bring yourself to skip London and Paris or Vienna and Rome, you'll have much more time to enjoy it all, instead of constantly looking at your watch to check whether you have to move on to the next attraction on your list before it gets dark.

pariswat

Hello Zoo

I did trips like that when 18. Also alone.
I wouldn't anymore but still I'm glad I did.

If you are pretty sure you can come back to Europe in a reasonable time, I'd cut some cities and visit more in depth.

If not, then be prepared to do it in a rush, have your memories being blurred after. But being alone, it is much more doable that if you were several.

Sassafrass

Biking and canal cruising in Amsterdam in December might not be too much fun.
Keep the cities that have more indoor things or museums you would like to do/see and cut those where most of your activities would be outside and it would not be fun to be cold/and or wet. Look into even more concerts, plays, etc. for evenings, especially in London.

Too much on first day in London. Switch day 1 with day 2.

bilboburgler

Things to think about

1) Christmas and New Year occur in December, so watch out as in various cities it becomes a seriously expensive time to be a tourist. It can mean that restaurants become booked out etc. But these are all big cities so not so bad.
2) Too many stops, as others say, great if you like that sort of thing.
3) Cold and wet. Yep, be prepared, but you are going to cities so there will normally be a coffee shop within walking distance if it chucks it down
4) Short days and the days can be very dull especially long the Atlantic coast.

nytraveler

A couple of notes:

I'm not sure you have taken into account the weather - which will be chilly to cold with potential for freezing rain, sleet and snow. Also daylight hours will be very short and often dreary and some sights will not be open longer hours as they are in warmer weather.

You have also not allowed for the time it takes to get from one place to another. Most of what you will do in trains - go to bahn.de and look at the English version to see what the actual length of train journeys.

You have given yourself only 1.5 days - at best - in major world cities - some of them enormous - esp London.

You have not stated your specific interests but IMHO in most places you have not listed what would be to me the major sights. For instance, in London the first places to visit are the Tower (a good 4/5 hours at least, the British Museum or any of the major art museums (National Gallery, Tate, Tate modern, etc). And at that time I don;t believe Buckingham Palace is open to the public (I think only Aug/Sept when the family is in Scotland).

If you are really intent on seeing all of these places then you might consider a tour so you don;t have to deal with all of the transfers. luggage and transit. However I would instead cut back to 3 cities - or 4 at most - instead of 6 - so you actually have time to see/enjoy each of the places you visit - instead of having just a very expensive blur and save money by doing your own planning.

anyegr

December is going to be cold. The daylight hours will be very short. And if the weather gets really bad it may disrupt travel between cities.

I hope you realize that you will not have time to actually see much of any of the cities you are planning to visit. But if all you want is to be able to tell people you were there, that's ok. Being young you probably have the energy for rushing around.

I would NOT prebook the London Eye in December. If the weather is bad you won't be able to see anything from it.

I also wouldn't prebook a bike hire, since there may be snow and ice.

dwdvagamundo

If it were my trip, I'd do only Italy: Venice, Florence, Rome. They should be warmer than most or all of the others, especially Berlin and Vienna. Don't know that you'll be prepared for winter weather.

PalenQ

To save tons of money on the Eurostar train London to Paris and Thalys Paris to Amsterdam book ASAP for deep discounted fares (which however are I believe non-changeable non-refundable so be sure of your exact train time and date as they are train-specific) - www.eurostar.com and www.thalys.com. And check also first class for discounted ducats as they are at times not much higher than the cheapest remaining available 2nd (standard class on Eurostar) fare.

Amsterdam to Berlin is a good day train - check www.bahn.de/en for similar deep discounts.

Berlin to Vienna is a long slog think about flying or taking an overnight CNL CityNightLiner) train - I think there is one but not sure. http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/pr...t-travel.shtml

There is also a Vienna to Rome via Venice and Florence overnight train.

For lots on trains and overnight trains check www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

zoohairee

Thanks all for the feedback, appreciate it a lot. Will make some changes.

manouche

If you're planning to be in London during Christmas week you should change this because the city shuts down without even public transport on 25 and 26. Almost everything in Paris stays open though.

jamikins

Not true about London. There is no transit at all on 25 Dec but they run a Sunday service on 26 Dec which is s big shopping day! 24 Dec things start to close in the afternoon but pubs etc in the soho West end area are open in the evenings, transit closes earlier but still runs into the evening.

kerouac

I used to travel around like that, too, when I was 18, but I didn't take a list of places I wanted to see in each city -- I would just read my guidebook on the train and make plans as I went, taking the weather into consideration.

And since it was in the days before mobile phones, I was the only person in the world who knew where I was.

pariswat

'And since it was in the days before mobile phones, I was the only person in the world who knew where I was.'

I'll confess I sent some postcards to my family giving indication as to where I was going when I ended up in strange places...

I remember once attending to a sect meeting, in the hope of staying at their place. It was quite interesting. But I guess if my kids would do it now, I'd get a heartattack.

PalenQ

London must be the only major world city to shut down all transit on Christmas Day - must make it hard for folks to visit friends and family if they don't have a car. Seems primitive in today's world.

PalenQ

and mean while pubs are open or some and doing a land office business I understand.