Where to go

[[e-mail]]

I am going to travel in Europe for 30 days.  Where should I go?  I want to get the most out of my trip without being exhausted.

[nitsansh]

There's no place you SHOULD go.
You should make some research and make a list of places you would like to see most. Then, you may ask for comments from some of the experienced travellers here, who have been there, done that...
There are 50 ways or more to tour Europe in 30 days. There are many places worth visiting in Europe, hundreds of them. There are many things to do. Don't even think you can make it all in a month.
With 5 months of travel in Europe behind me, I can tell you I have seen maybe a quarter of what I'd like to see.

[snorkelman]

i agree with nitsansh.  in general, most first time travelers try to hit london, paris and then whatever floats their boat. 30 days is a decent amount of time for your first trip.  There are 2 ways to do it.  1) see as much as possible and then your second trip can be spent enjoying some places for longer periods of time.  2) spend decent amount of time in a few locations.  although many others disagree with me, i think that all first time trips to europe should be the whirl-wind tours.  that way you can see a lot and figure out what you would like to go back and see.  This is premised on my belief that once you go to europe, you WILL return.  And, even if you do not, then you will have seen a bunch of stuff.  In general, i suggest a minimum of 3-4 days in paris and rome and then you can spend shorter times in other areas (for instance, Pisa can easilly be done as a day trip from a base location in florence).

[nitsansh]

I must say that I was not in a position that I had to choose what to see in 30 days. When I planned my grand tour, it was for 3 to 4 months, but still, I realized I can't see everything. I've allready been in Italy earlier. I decided to concentrate on central, northern Europe and the Brittish Isles, and leave the south and east for later trips. That was still in the days of the Iron Curtain, when eastern Europe wasn't on the backpackers beaten path.
My 3.5 month tour included about 40 places in 11 countries. I spent the longest time in London. Staying at a friend's house made it easy...
Elsewhere, I stayed the longest time in Paris - 6 days, Amsterdam and Copenhagen 5 days each (including day trips). In most other big cities I stayed 2-3 days, and also had many places where I only stayed 1 day, and even less.
I travelled with consecutive 2 month Eurail Youth pass most of the time, so short journeys were no problem. Nowadays, most Eurorailers use flexi passes, which has a limit of travel days and make it difficult to do 1-day stops. Also, flexi passes require more careful and detailed pre-planning.
With my unlimited pass, it was no problem to change plans "on-the-fly", for example, going from Sweden to Finland rather than Berlin.

However, I won't make it easy and suggest what I would see an optimal itinerary. This is YOUR trip and only you can make this choice.
Rick Steves has some itinerary suggestions on his website which could be helpful.
www.ricksteves.com

[nitsansh]

This is the webpage I refered to:
www.ricksteves.com/rail/itinplan.htm

I must say that my priorities are quite different than Rick Steves' suggestions. In many cases he suggests much less time than I think is necessary for the "must" sights.
Take for example Paris AND Versailles in 3 days. Paris without Versailles in 3 days is quicky for me.
Rome, Florence and Venice all in 5 days? I'll give ithem 7, including travel time.
Copenhagen AND Stockholm in 3 days? Each one deserves 3 days if you ask me.

However, that table include most of the places you should choose from, which makes your work a bit shorter...
Strangely, Benelux countries are ommitted, as well as Greece and all of Eastern Europe, but for the countries included, it's fine.

BTW: Can anyone explain to me what RS refers to as "hill towns"? I think I know Italy pretty well and never encountered this phrase!

[[e-mail]]

One word -- PRAGUE!