3 Weeks in Europe--How about a few suggestions?

[nanner]

I am going with a friend (although we hope to find at least one other buddy to come along) and we would like to spend about three weeks in Europe this summer. Oh, and of course, we are poor college students. These are the places we'd like to see and we would be departing from the USA:

England, France, Switzerland, Amsterdam, Germany, Italy, Spain

Maybe you could give me some tips for the order in which to visit these countries, transportation info while on a budget, and some not-to-miss cities.

Thanks! I'll take what I can get.

[rchua]

do you have any idea of which cities you want to visit? three weeks is quite short to visit seven countries. i'd advise you to get an open-jaw plane tickets since this will save you time and probably money as well.

[pointofnoreturn]

3 weeks is definitely too short to visit all these countries. My advice would be to pick up a Let's Go guidebook and Rick Steves' Europe through the Backdoor.... then you can narrow down the places you want to see.

[Eagle]

nanner, Welcome! I definitely agree with the others! First of all, trying to visit seven countries in a three week visit is going to be difficult. While it might be technically feasible, you'd probably find that most of the trip was spent looking at the world either through a train or airplane window. It's much more realistic to narrow down the list.

Since you're "poor college students", I'd suggest choosing cities that are fairly close geographically, in order to minimize travel times. Also keep in mind that England is going to be more expensive than the Euro countries, due to the exchange rate.

As rchua mentioned it would really help to have some idea of which cities are of most interest to you? It would also help to know what sights you're most interested in - Museums, Art galleries, historic sights, night life or

As PONR mentioned, a Guidebook will be very helpful in working out an Itinerary, and Europe Through The Back Door is one of the best for Itinerary planning, rail skills, etc.

For such a short visit, I'd also recommend open-jaw flights for best efficiency. Speak with a travel agent to find out what flights are available from your area. It would help to know where you're flying from, as someone here might have experience with that area?

Good luck with your planning.

PS: I moved this Thread to the Pre-Travel Planning section, as it's probably the most approprate Forum for the topic.