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Post by cableguy on Oct 15, 2006 12:37:16 GMT -5
hi
these are the countries where im going and the places
im doing this like a anti-clock wise motion. i hope to spend bout 3 days in each place. some places im just passing threw. so pls tell me what you think if you dont think it can be done let me know i dont see why it couldnt except for trains maybe?. i tend to go round april and get back round about end of june
france- paris, bourdeaux
spain- madrid,malaga,alicante,velenceica and barcelona
then back to france-marseille, nice and monaco
italy- milian, rome, venice maybe naples and florence
im passing threw slovenia
croaita-zagreb
passing threw hungary- budapest
austria- vienna
germany- munich
switzerland-zurich
back to germany- stuttgrat,numburg then berlin
holland- amtersdam ,rotterdam
this gives me about 70 days staying in these places which then gives me bout 20 days for all the travel time so any places in these countries where i must go or any places i have said where i shouldnt bother. type of traveling i want is night life aswell as culture.
ok thanks looking
cable
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Post by pointofnoreturn on Oct 15, 2006 15:15:19 GMT -5
You could do your itinerary in a circular fashion. Start in Paris and make your way east then south then up to the Spanish coast then back to Paris. If that's something you like to do, it could be like this:
(Keep in mind I am not including travel days/time - just a general idea of how many nights you could possibly spend in each city)
Fly to Paris (3-4 nights is ideal)
Train to Rotterdam (not really sure, maybe 1-2 nights?)
Train to Amsterdam (3 nights?)
Train to Berlin (3 nights)
Train to Nuremberg/Stuttgart (I think you should skip both)
Train to Munich (2 nights but personally I think you should skip Munich. I don't find it appealing).
Fly from Berlin to Rome with easyJet (17-40 euros, depending on the date but that's the Winter 2007 prices).
Rome - 5 nights (including daytrip to Naples via train)
Train to Florence (3 nights)
Train to Venice (2-3 nights but beware, it's $$$$)
Train to Milan (1 night. Trust me, not a lot of people on this board likes Milan. You could walk around the city and visit the Duomo and just stay in the airport overnight).
Fly Milan to Madrid using easyjet (about 22 euros)
(Sorry, not familiar with Spain)
Madrid - xx nights
Train to Alacante - xx nights
Train to Valencia - xx nights
Train to Barcelona - xx nights
(Skip Malaga because RailEurope's map shows that city being far away from the others).
I guess you could take the train from Barcelona to Bordeaux (2 nights?) then back to Paris and then head home.
You could buy a RailEurope pass for a certain number of countries or whatever. I'm not too familiar on that so maybe someone will post advice concerning that.
Keep in mind that the iterinary I suggested is only a rough itinerary. It's just kind of like a basic tool for you to think about work around it.
P.S. Why are you not considering the UK? Unless you're from there, it'd be a shame to miss out on visiting London!
I think you should skip Croatia and the rest of the eastern European cities as well as Switzerland. Zurich isn't all that. I don't think you could get a rail pass for some of the Eastern European cities. I'm not sure, so I'll just skip these.
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Post by cableguy on Oct 15, 2006 15:48:06 GMT -5
hi
wow thanks for the info really helpful wasnt expecting that amount of help lol thanks. im not traveling england coz i live there from runcorn lil town 30 miles from liverpool which i think is a cool place liverpool that is. i was thinking going scotland visit my sis then make a start traveling. been ireland before only to dublin for a couple fo nites that was good i thought the day time was alot better than the nite time. anyway like i say thanks for the help cheers
cable
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Post by herrbert on Oct 15, 2006 15:56:53 GMT -5
Fly Milan to Madrid using easyjet (about 22 euros) (Sorry, not familiar with Spain) Madrid - xx nights Train to Alacante - xx nights Train to Valencia - xx nights Train to Barcelona - xx nights (Skip Malaga because RailEurope's map shows that city being far away from the others). Did anybody say Spain? Madrid, with trips to Segovia an Toledo, at least 5 days, 3 for Madrid, and 2 days each for the daytrips). Alicante is good for the nightlife but from a historical point of view I would leave it out of the itinerary. Barcelona. I would choose 4 days to see the city. Valencia 2 or 3 days. If you are going to Spain, than you should also consider, Granada, Sevilla and Cordoba in the South, and Salamanca to the West of Madrid. If I take a look at the rest of the trip: I would recommend you to take a look at www.bahn.de, and enter the trips between the cities. If there are trips that last longer than 5 hours, then take a look if you can find a ticket for an low-budget airline. When you are interested in Arts, then skip Florence as a maybe, and make a place you must see for sure. I think pointofnoreturn is a little too harsh to skip Croatia, the beaches are very good, and it getting more popular every year. But I agree on her remarks on Zurich and London. Unless you are really interested in the Porsche Museum or Mercedes, then I would urge you to reconsider about going to Stuttgart. Barcelona to Bordeaux, would mean a trip by train of at least 7+ hours (that's the fasted train i can find), so make that a flight as well, but for Spain I would rather go for this. Fly to Madrid (from whereever (either Bordeaux of Milan), go South to Cordoba, Sevilla and Granada. If you would like Malaga is not that far (about 3 hours by train), but to me it's not that different from the other coastal cities you picked - Alicante/Valencia. I would choose one of them, and skip the others, then head north to Barcelona to continue (or towards Nice, in your plan, or fly to Bordeaux, as suggested by pointofnoreturn). |
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Post by pointofnoreturn on Oct 15, 2006 16:04:09 GMT -5
Only reason I left out Croatia was that there wasn't really a point-to-point thing in terms of transportation. Unless the guy decides to go for the Eastern European countries, definitely count in Croatia but he didn't list too many so I left it out.
Florence - you hit the nail on the head for this. Most of Italy's cities are geared towards the arts and the Renaissance (with the exception of Rome which is truly historical and a must-see).
And............. now suddenly I want to go to Spain!!! Damn you! LOL!
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Post by herrbert on Oct 15, 2006 16:26:46 GMT -5
Zagreb, would make a not to bad connection, if he would make his travel like this: Florence - Venice - the Croatian Coastal area: Istrië or Istria, then Zagreb to continue to Budapest. If he doesn't care for the coast (maybe because he has a lot of coastal towns already?) he could head for Zagreb. I agree it's not the first city, you think of when you go to Europe, but something else might be interesting aswell. Venice - Zagreb by train is just under 7 hours. and Zagreb - Budapest is just over 5 hours. As for the railpasses: I am not an expert. But i reckon, that sometimes it's better to buy a p2p-ticket in the first place. As for Spain: me too ... ;D I am just back from a quick visit, but I want to go back a.s.a.p. (most likely february). |
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Post by cableguy on Oct 15, 2006 17:15:23 GMT -5
hi
thanks for all the advice on what you have given makes me think i can spend more time in places where i would love to go. some places i have named like nuremburg and zagreb some others aswell are manily just stop of points spend one or two nites there. but if you think its not really worth that then i could save my self alot of time, money and effort. anyway thanks for the help i will let you guys know on where i am going as some places now like zagreb maybe even budapest i may not go but i here that it is a place to go.
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Post by pointofnoreturn on Oct 15, 2006 17:22:06 GMT -5
Cableguy, you could consider going the opposite direction. France > Spain > Italy (maybe hitting Nice before you enter Italy on the way) > Eastern European Countries (the ones you listed) > Germany > Belgium/Netherlands > UK (back home) See if that works for you  |
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Post by cableguy on Oct 16, 2006 8:42:02 GMT -5
pointofnoreturn
yea that was the way i was thinking but i could go the other way. but like i say some places are just somewhere to get my head down maybe look around see if anything good. ok thanks again for your help to you aswell herrbert.
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Post by herrbert on Oct 16, 2006 12:55:25 GMT -5
If you want to skip places like Nürnberg and Zagreb, then I would recommend flying directely to the place where you want to go, instead of spending two days on a train. Of course you will have to find a low budget flight, but in most cases you will find something.
If you leave in April, then I think it's best that you start out the way pointofnoreturn suggested. Go to the South when you have seen Paris, because in April and May the temperatures in Spain & Italy will be nicer than in Holland and Germany. But when you reach Germany and Holland in the beginning of June, the weather will be nice here as well (at least, if we have a normal year).
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