4 weeks - end of may-middle of june

[sarahg]

My friend and I are planing on traveling around europe for about 4 weeks this spring (end of may until mid june). I'm living in Italy this year and have done some travel around the country so we won't spend anymore time here. He's flying over from halifax and we were planning on meeting in frankfurt (best options for flights).

We've pulled together a route to take with the places we want to go but are not sure how much time to spend in each place.

Any suggestions on how to cover the places below in 4 weeks (how much time in each city):

Start: Frankfurt
Bruxelles
Amsterdam
Berlin
Prague
Vienna
Munich
Somewhere in switzerland
Nice
Lyon
Paris
London (not much time needed there as I will be visiting london at the end of this month...it is just where we will fly home from)

[herrbert]

Hi Sarah G,

I think it is a little bit tight, I think you will need to find a few days, or to skip one or two places.

Frankfurt (1 day, or maybe a day to Mainz)
Bruxelles (1 day, but consider Brugge 2 days instead)
Amsterdam (2-3 days)
Berlin (4 days)
Prague (3-4 days)
Vienna (4 days)
Munich (3 days)
Somewhere in switzerland - Gimmelwald (2-3-4 days)
Nice (not been there, but I guess 2-3 days)
Lyon (idem)
Paris (4-5 days)
London (as you say it is just to take the flight home, in my opinion spend some time there).

The number of days in Switzerland depends on whether or not you want to do some hiking. For the French cities I am not sure.

Muy importante: make a stop in Cologne, when traveling from Frankfurt to Belgium, to see the Cathedral. (just across the square from the trainstation). If you want to take a nighttrain to Berlin, then do Amsterdam first, as the nighttrain is leaving in Brussels, but you can also do a flight Amsterdam - Berlin (transavia)

[madamtrashheap]

welcome to the boards sarahg!

Herrbert's suggestions for number of days and side trips are pretty good, so I'll just fill in the blanks:

Gimmelwald - 3 days would be perfect as it's a bit of a hike by train from Munich and you'll fall in love with the mountains. Only other place I'd suggest is Engelberg, up to you.
Nice - the time of year you're going is when the beaches are first open and the weather is warming up, so if you want to lie in the sun & explore (Monaco, Cannes, etc) spend 3 days there, otherwise 2 is plenty.
Lyon - I love Lyon for it's food, old town, wine and general feel, so would suggest 2nights (1 full day). In fact, from Nice to Lyon, make sure you have a stop in Avignon for a few hours to wander through the town and former Pope's palace. It's still in Provence so the smells and colours will be coming into bloom at that time of year.
Paris - 5 days would be ideal if you really want to sightsee, visit Versailles and have time to soak it in.

As for Brussels vs Brugge, if you've never been to Belgium then Brugge is the prettier of the two, but Brussels has it's merits (both chocolate and beer museums! as well as national art museums) so it depends on how much time you have as to where to go.

Hope this helps you plan your trip a little more.

[sarahg]

Thanks for the tips!