Europe Sept 2003

[oztraveller]

Hello,
I have just decided with a friend to spend a month in Europe next September. I have never backpacked before and know basically NOTHING - so any advice would be welcome. Because I only have a month to travel, I am wondering if it will be better to fly around some parts of Europe (i have heard the flights are very cheap). Then use the train in some areas?
I am planning to go to (in no particular order) London, Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, Athens, greek islands, Rome, Barcelona/Madrid, San Sebastian and Borduaex. Would like to also see Switzerland but don't think I will have the time?
Obviously money is a big issue, as the Aussie dollar doesn't go far in Europe!
Cheers :

[nitsansh]

It's quite ambitious plan to see all these places in a month...
I suggest you look at previous posts on this forum because they might apply to you... there's still plenty of time to deal with details...

[Kim]

I don't think you will have time to do Greece and Spain both, having only a month.

They are in complete opposite directions of each other and unless you flew, it would be seriously time consuming. The cheap flights don't always fly to every place-it's sort of a hit and miss kind of thing. I would also personally scrap Bordeaux-we didn't find it all that exciting.

You could do something like this:

Fly into London
Amsterdam
Paris
San Sebastian
Madrid
Barcelona
Venice
Rome

It would be best if you could get a flight flying into one place and out of another. If you did the sample intinery I gave you, you would fly out of Rome.

With that, I would also try and get a flight from Barcelona to Venice.

Here's an approximate breakdown of times:

London to Amsterdam. Might be able to get a flight cheaper than taking the Eurostar via Brussels.

Amsterdam to Paris 4.5 hrs

Paris to San Sebastian 9.5 hrs

San Sebastian to Madrid 6.5 hrs

Madrid to Barcelona 7 hrs

Barcelona to Venice (via Nice) 20.5 hrs

Venice to Rome 4.5 hrs

As you can see, that's ALOT of time on the train as the places you want to see are pretty spread out. That's still 8 places so you are giving up about 6-8 days to travel time alone.

If you wanted to make it less travel time, you could do London, Amsterdam, Belgium (you have to go to Brugges!) then concentrate on either Spain or Italy-that way there wouldn't be so much back tracking. Or look for cheap flights..

Kim

[nitsansh]

You can do most long journeys at night, so you save a day to travel.
From London to Amsterdam, if you don't fly, you can travel by the overnight ferry Harwich - Hook Van Holand.
There's a night train between Amsterdam and Paris.
I believe there should be a night train Paris - Hendaye (for San Sebastian).
There is a night train Madrid-Barcelona.
From Barcelona to Venice, take the night train to Milan. I figure this journey is "only" about 16 hours.

An alternative route would be to fly from London to Spain, move on to Italy, France, Netherlands and fly back to London.

If you insist on going to a Greek island, shop around in London for last-minute charters or package deals. Or fly to Athens with Easyjet.