Itinerary suggestions?

[madamtrashheap]

Yes, I'm partial to Florence ;D, but am placated to see you'll include it next time!

For herding the hoards in Paris, get everyone to make a list of the places they want to see/things they want to do, then work out how close they are to each other and you'll find that you can cover a lot of ground even in one day. Or even split up for those who want to see different things. The major sights have Metro/RER stops right by them, so it's easy to jump on an off with a pass. Others, like the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay, are within easy walking distance, so you'll often find you're self walking around the city too, thus seeing even more sights! If you tackle the sights in order of their promixity to each other, you should get a lot done and still enjoy yourselves too. Make sure you look into the Monuments and Museum Pass to save time in lines/queues and money.

[davidva]

After looking through Let's Go and various websites, I've come up with a rough list of what I would like to see in each city. I was wondering if what I have planned can be done in the alloted time I have for each city. If there is anything you think isn't worth checking out, or if I've allotted too much/too little time in a particular city, I'm open to suggestions. I realize this is a lot to look through, but any advice is appreciated!

(time indicated in each city is independent of travel time)

Barcelona (3.5 days, 4 nights)- walk through Las Ramblas and La Boqueria, Picasso Museum, Esglesia Catedral, Castell de Montjuic, Chocolate Museum, Arc de Triompf, the Aquarium, and look at various Gaudi sites (catedral de la Seu, Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia, Casa Vicens, Casa Mila, Casa Batllo, and Palau Guell)

Prague (4.5 days, 4 nights)- St. Nicholas Cathedral, Rudolfinum, Charles Bridge, Old Town, New Town, and Wenceslas Squares, Prague Castle, Old Royal Palace, Jewish Quarter (Josefov) and the Museums of Communism, Torture Instruments, and Spiders and Scorpions

Budapest (4 days, 3 nights)- Budapest Castle, Fisherman's Bastion, Vajdahunyad Castle, Gellert Hill/Citadel, Matthias Church, Castle Labyrinths, Parliament, Great Synagogue and Jewish Museum, St. Stephen's Basilica/Panorama Tower, and the Communist Statue Park. I am not interested in the baths.

Munich (4 days, 3 nights)- 1 day trip to Neuschwanstein/ Hohenschwangau Castles, 1 day for Hitler/Nazi Tour and Dachau Tour, 1 day spent attempting to sample every beer in Munich, and fitting Residenz in there somewhere

Rome (5 days, 5 nights)- Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Crypt of the Cappuccines, Capitoline Museum, Vatican/St. Peter's Basilica/Sistine Chapel, Domus Aurea, Roman Forum, Capitoline Hill, Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi, Spanish Steps, and a day trip to Pompeii

Amsterdam (2.5 days, 3 nights)- Dam Square, Anne Frank's House. I've already been here before.

Paris (4.5 days, 5 nights)- Notre Dame, Palais de la Cite, Musee D'Orsay, Louvre, Palais-Royal, Pantheon, Arc de Triomphe (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier), Eiffel Tower, Bastille, the Catacombs, Place de la Concorde, and a day trip to Versailles

Edinburgh (2.5 days, 4 nights + 3 day Haggis Tour)- Edinburgh Castle, Castle Hill/Outlook Tower, Museum of Scotland, Palace of Holyroodhouse, High Street

Dublin (2.5 days, 3 nights)- I'll maybe try to take a walking tour that will encompass most of these, but if not...Trinity College, Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Temple Bar Area, Guiness Brewery, and Old Jameson Distillery.

In my experience, it's really hard to determine the time needed to see a sight based on a paragraph and a picture in a book or on the internet. I saw Big Ben, House of Parliament, and Trafalgar Square in about an hour, but spent upwards of 7 or 8 hours at the Tower of London, so any advice is appreciated!

[herrbert]

It depends on which kind of person that you are. As you say yourself, visiting a place will take more time, than to just see it from the outside. Looking at your plan I would say in general it looks really good.

There are people that claim, you can visit the Louvre for 7 days, and still be missing a lot of the collection -> so for this place, and maybe some of the other museums, you have to make a plan (see the highlights, or concentrate on one collection)

As you have already been to Amsterdam: the things you mention can be done in half a day. (if you like van Gogh, the van Gogh museum is also worth a visit, calculate approx. 4 hours to see it properly)

Would you fill up the itinerary with some places along the way? I notice that some of the places, are quite isolated (if you fly in, and out again - that shouldn't be a problem, but if you are planning to cover this by train. it might just be too much). And other make a good connection (Munich-Prague-Budapest -> I would be tempted to swap Amsterdam for Vienna, to reduce the time you spend to travel to Amsterdam, for a very small to-do-list)

[davidva]

I'd say I definitely plan on going inside about half of these places. Some sites I just want to check out the outside (Gaudi), and in my experience, many cathedrals begin to look the same after you have been in more than a dozen within a short time span, so I probably won't go in all of those. I'll probably take MadamTrashheap's suggestion on Musee D'Orsay and the Louvre and fit those two in to a whole day if possible. I'm not really an art person, and definitely not the kind to read every caption on every piece, but I think it would be worth it to devote a whole day to those two. I guess you can say I'll be going in to the museums to see the tourist spots within the tourist spots, and that's about it.

I did a lot of sight seeing in Amsterdam last time, including Van Gogh. The only reason I'm going back is because I have friends flying in for Rome, Amsterdam, and Paris. It's a small sight seeing list because sight seeing isn't really on their itinerary for Amsterdam, but unfortunately, it's a non-negotiable portion of the trip.

And yeah, I'll be taking overnight trains to connect Budapest, Prague, Munich, and Rome, but cheap flights everywhere else, except maybe Amsterdam to Paris. I won't mind an extra hour or so in the air if it means I can get to where I'm going! I just want to make sure I shouldn't shift a day or two here or there based on what I want to see before I book my plane tickets.

[madamtrashheap]

As for the sights you've listed in each city, you've covered ones that I would have suggested, just a few more to add:

Dublin: Kilmainham Gaol (Jail) is well worth a visit, but is a little way out of town, as is the Guinness Storehouse (old Brewery). If you can, do a hop-on-hop-off bus tour that drops off at the Gaol first thing in the morning (it opens at 9 or 9.30, can't recall exactly) and start there then make your way back into the city via Guinness.

Rome: Domus Aurea (Golden House or Nero's House)- for fans only, but I enjoyed it. Make sure you book in advance (at the ticket office on site) as tours are limited to 10-15 people at a time and you'll be given a specific visit time. to adhear to so don't miss it. I did hear that it recently closed due to some flooding, so check that it is open again for your visit.

Amsterdam: take your friends on an evening cruise of the canals, it's cheesey, but good for you too as you've already been here. There is a House Boat musuem that's kind of different too, if that interests you or your friends, otherwise I'll leave the rest to you.

A lot of the sights you've listed are close to each other in each city, so grab a map and plan your days to cover the most ground in a logical manner. EG: Rome - the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Capitoline, Roman Forum (and Trajan's Forum too) and Domus Aurea are all in the same area (aka ancient Rome) so you can cover them all in a very long and well planned day. Buy your combination ticket for the Hills and Colosseum at Palantine Hill (less queues) and you can slide straight past the lines at the Colosseum, thus giving you more time around the whole area. If you can't fit it all in (there's a lot to cover) over one day, don't stress as you have plenty of time to out-ruin yourself. Then you can do a stroll from, say, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Hadrian's temple, Pantheon (best building in Rome ;D) and end either at Piazza Navona for gelati, or head down via del Corso to Piazza del Popolo and visit the church on the right with the great Caravaggio frescoes.

Now I'm getting excited for you!

[herrbert]

davidva said:

And yeah, I'll be taking overnight trains to connect Budapest, Prague, Munich, and Rome, but cheap flights everywhere else, except maybe Amsterdam to Paris. I won't mind an extra hour or so in the air if it means I can get to where I'm going! I just want to make sure I shouldn't shift a day or two here or there based on what I want to see before I book my plane tickets.

I guess you could take a look into connecting Barcelona and Rome, instead of going to Prague first. There are some good deals with airliners like Vueling.

If you are able to take the Thalys, you can do the trip Amsterdam - Paris (Gare du Nord) in just over 4 hours. If you calculate the time you need to get to the airport in Holland, to check-in, and do go to get your luguage in Paris (and to get to whereever you are staying in Paris), I think it doesn't make a lot of difference.

[davidva]

Awesome. I'll definitely check in to all this. Thanks guys.