Please critique my itinerary

[kristengingera]

Here is my itinerary. I will be travelling with my boyfriend in April-May 2007. We hope to save some money and time by taking night trains.

Is this schedule doable? Thanks for any advice!

Apr 18-19- Fly Montreal to London, then Ryanair flight to Dublin
Apr 19-20- 2 nights, 1 day in Dublin
Apr 21- 6 day Paddywagon tour
Apr 26- Flight to Paris
Apr 26-30- 4 nights, 4 days in Paris, with day trips to Versailles, D-day beaches, night train to La Spezia
May 1-3- 2 nights, 3 days in Cinque-Terre, train to Florence
May 3-4- 1 night, 2 days in Florence, night train to Rome
May 5-8- 3 nights, 4 days in Rome, night train to Venice
May 9-10- 1 night, 2 days in Venice, night train to Vienna
May 11-12- 1 night, 2 days in Vienna, night train to Prague
May 13-14- 1 night, 2 days in Prague, night train to Munich
May 15-16- 1 night, 2 days in Munich, night train to Berlin
May 17-18- 1 night, 2 days in Berlin, night train to Amsterdam
May 19-21- 2 nights, 2 days in Amsterdam
May 21- Somehow get to London for flight home

[pointofnoreturn]

I think you should stick to one day trip in Paris like Versailles. I think you should spend more nights in Florence (3 nights) and Rome (4-5 nights). Not terribly familiar with the Eastern cities so I'll leave it up to the others.

[me]

sounds good for Ireland. but the continent is *way* too rushed!

the only place on your list that i haven't visited is the one where you plan to spend the most time. as i've never been, i can't imagine that Paris deserves more time than Vienna & Prague combined! [Vienna was the capitol of Habsburg Europe - Historically 2nd in import only to Roman Empire. Prague is, well, Prague.]

3 days is OK for CT, it could even be shortened. but just about everywhere else needs more time. all these 1 night stops are crazy! you probably should cut some places; Munich would be 1st on the chopping block, from my perspective. it's the wrong direction between Prague & Berlin.

- d

kristengingera said:

Is this schedule doable? Thanks for any advice!

[herrbert]

I agree with the others, for most cities on the continent you have too little time, the two days for Amsterdam can be OK.

I would take a look into flying between some places. Between Berlin in Munich, it would be most pratical to fly, also consider flying between Berlin and Amsterdam. Flying can be really cheap, if you can catch some flights, and in that way reduce the numbers of days and countries, you could get a different railpass (cheaper). If you would stick to every city, my list would be like this:

Paris (4 or 5 nights) (fly to Pisa)
Cinque Terra (2-3 nights unless you want to go hiking), make a short stop in Pisa, on the way to Florence
Florence (4 nights)
Rome (5 nights)
Venice (2 nights)
(* you could consider flying Paris - Rome, and go the other way in Italy -> Rome, Florence, CT, Venice)
Munich (3 nights) (fly Venice - Munich with Hlx.com for 20-25 euros)
Vienna (4 nights)
Prague (3-4 nights)
Berlin (4 nights)
Amsterdam (2-3 nights)
flight to London

For all these places you need to take time, as they are serious sightseeing cities, and for some you want time to do a daytrip. (Rome -> Pompeii, Florence -> Siena, Vienna -> Bratislava, Munich -> Castle near Füssen). So my advise is to take more time, and if you don't have more time, to leave some of these places until a next trip.

[madamtrashheap]

kristengingera, please take into account what the others have written as rushing though Europe will just result in a lot of photos of places you don't really remember. Plus, sleeping on nighttrains doesn't make for a good night's rest, so consider this too as you may be tired when you arrive in the cities and not make the most of your days there.

As PONR wrote, stick to the Versailles day (half-day) trip for Paris for two reasons: 1. you'll need the rest of the time to see Paris 2. the D-Day beaches at Normandy warrant more than a day trip. It may only be 2hrs one way on the train, but overnighting in Bayeux, etc would allow for better access. Eagle may have more on this subject as he was just there last year.

For flights from Amsterdam to London, check EasyJet, British Airways and BMI for good deals.

Have a play with your itinerary and see what works for you now. Happy planning!

[kristengingera]

I revised my itinerary...for all the night trains we plan on reserving the sleeper or couchette.

Apr 18-19- Fly Montreal to London, then Ryanair flight to Dublin
Apr 19-20- 2 nights, 1 day in Dublin
Apr 21- 6 day Paddywagon tour
Apr 26- Flight to Paris
Apr 26-30- 4 nights, 4 days in Paris, with day trips to Versailles, D-day beaches, night train to La Spezia
May 1-3- 2 nights, 3 days in Cinque-Terre, train to Florence
May 3-5- 2 night, 3 days in Florence, night train to Rome
May 6-9- 3 nights, 4 days in Rome, night train to Venice
May 10-12- 2 night, 3 days in Venice, night train to Munich
May 13-15- 2 night, 3 days in Munich, with daytrip to Dauchau, night train to Amsterdam
May 16-18- 2 night, 2 days in Amsterdam
May 18- Train/Chunnel from Amsterdam to London
May 18-21- 2/3 nights, 3/4 days in London
May 20/21- Flight London to Montreal

[madamtrashheap]

kristengingera said:

for all the night trains we plan on reserving the sleeper or couchette.

That's a good plan, but still keep in mind that trains aren't the quietest places for sleeping - unless you sleep like a log.

The new itinerary looks less rushed - shame you removed Vienna and Prague, but it's a good idea to keep them for another trip and perhaps add Budapest, Bratislava, etc to that one.

Still think you'll find 3 days of sightseeing in Paris (I'm including a half-day at Versailles here) too short, but if you want to visit the D Day beaches then that will be the only way.

On the train ride from Cinque Terre to Florence, consider a quick stop in Pisa. Have a look at this link for info: pretravel.proboards1.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&n=1&thread=2947&page=1

In Munich, I see that you've included Dachau. You'll only need half a day, unless you want to see the movie they show at 11 and 3 (from memory). That leaves a day to do a trip to the castles (Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, etc) if that interests you.

Is there any reason why you're choosing to travel by train from Amsterdam to London rather than fly?

You'll enjoy the Paddywagon tour - good crowd and they cover some good cities in Ireland.

[herrbert]

It looks much better. only one quick remark: Florence - Rome is a under two hour trip, so I guess a nighttrain would not be possible.

And unless you see the Channel Tunnel as something you want to do, I would fly Amsterdam - London.