New - My 3 Month Itinerary

[pointofnoreturn]

I think your budget should be more than enough, in my opinion. You might find yourselves not spending too much money on food anyways because most of the time, you're simply too busy! I'm not big on breakfast and lunch (usually just a tea for breakfast) so I only often ate a snack and then a dinner - so not that much money in retrospect!

I'm envious of your itinerary! That should be a memorable trip!

P.S. When buying train tickets in the UK, buy the London-Edinburgh (Waverley) one 2-3 months prior to departure to get the lowest fare. I believe the train line that covers that route is GNER and the cheapest fare should be around 15 pounds each person, one way. As for London to Bath, the cheapest fare should be 9 pounds each way with First Great Western. I'd tell you to go with Megatrain for the cheapest fare (sometimes low as 1 pound) but the times are not great and you wouldn't have any time to tour Bath.

[herrbert]

I think it looks good, for a lot of places you will find that you have a half day extra, as you can arrive there early if you want. The only place I would really add a day would be Vienna. 2 whole days, and maybe a half in my opinion is too little. There is a lot to see, and so. (I would suggest to take one day out of Prague or Amsterdam, and add that day to Vienna).

From Salzburg you could do a trip to Werfen (45 minutes by train) and visit the Ice Caves and the Castle there.

Segovia / Toledo: both are great places to visit, and if you could find the time, I would try to visit both. I had a lovely time in both cities.

Just another question: Railpasses are usualy quite expensive. Are you sure that using you pass in Italy is worthwhile, as traintravel is not that expensive over there.

[pointofnoreturn]

I agree with herrbert - train travel is cheap in Italy. I usually bought the Regional tickets (the cheapest but typically the longest) when travelling by train in Italy and it saved me a lot of money compared to buying a pass.

[me]

heartshapedbox said:

<snip>
July 7th – Train from Sorrento to Naples/Fly from Naples to Munich
- 3 full days (Day trips to Dachau and Neuschwanstein)
July 11th – Train from Munich to Salzburg w/ stopover in Innsbruck (Day six of rail pass)
- 2 full days
<snip>

Neuschwanstein, near Füssen, is pretty close to a straight line between Munich & Innsbruck.

might it work better to do this as a stop between the two? in the past, German train stations, unlike smaller Italian train stations, have always had coin lockers where you can leave bags to explore while in transit.

this could also give you an evening & a morning in beautiful Innsbruck.

- d

[heartshapedbox]

Okay guys, things have changed quite a bit haha so your input is greatly appreciated once more!

My boyfriend's father, who travels quite a bit for work, decided to give us his travel points for our trip to Europe - so that $950.00 ticket is now about $200.00 each in taxes! Eee! The only stipulation is that we have to now fly in and out of London, so I've changed the itinerary to address that:

Saturday April 26th – Fly from Vancouver to London
Sunday April 27th – Arrive in London/Travel from London to Paris
04/28 – Paris
04/29 – Paris
04/30 – Paris
05/01 – Paris (Day trip to Versailles)
05/02 – Paris
Saturday May 3rd – Train from Paris to Bruges
05/04 – Bruges
05/05 – Bruges
Tuesday May 6th – Train from Bruges to Amsterdam
05/07 – Amsterdam
05/08 – Amsterdam
05/09 – Amsterdam (Day trip to Haarlem)
Saturday May 10th – Train from Amsterdam to Berlin
05/11 – Berlin
05/12 – Berlin
05/13 – Berlin
Wednesday May 14th – Train or bus from Berlin to Prague
05/15 – Prague
05/16 – Prague
05/17 – Prague
Sunday May 18th – Train or bus from Prague to Vienna
05/19 – Vienna
05/20 – Vienna
Wednesday May 21st – Train from Vienna to Salzburg
05/22 – Salzburg
05/23 – Salzburg
Saturday May 24th – Train from Salzburg to Munich (Stopover in Innsbruck)
05/25 – Munich
05/26 – Munich (Day trip to Dachau)
05/27 – Munich (Day trip to Fussen)
Wednesday May 28th – Fly from Munich to Naples/Train to Positano
05/29 – Positano
05/30 – Positano
05/31 – Positano (Day trip to Capri)
Sunday June 1st – Bus from Positano to Sorrento
06/02 – Sorrento
06/03 – Sorrento (Day trip to Pompeii)
Wednesday June 4th – Train from Sorrento to Naples/Train from Naples to Rome
06/05 – Rome
06/06 – Rome
06/07 – Rome
06/08 – Rome
Monday June 9th – Train from Rome to Florence
06/10 – Florence
06/11 – Florence
06/12 – Florence (Day trip to Siena)
Friday June 13th – Train from Florence to Venice
06/14 – Venice
06/15 – Venice
06/16 – Venice (Day trip to Verona)
Tuesday June 17th – Train from Venice to Cinque Terre
06/18 – Vernazza
06/19 – Vernazza
06/20 – Vernazza
06/21 – Vernazza
Sunday June 22nd – Train from Cinque Terre to Nice
06/23 - Nice
06/24 – Nice (Day trip to Cannes and Antibes)
Wednesday June 25th – Train or bus from Nice to Aix-En-Provence
06/26 – Aix
06/27 – Aix
Saturday June 28th – Fly from Aix-En-Provence to Madrid
06/29 – Madrid
06/30 – Madrid
07/01 – Madrid (Day trip to Segovia)
Wednesday July 2nd – Fly from Madrid to Lisbon
07/03 – Lisbon
07/04 – Lisbon
07/05 – Lisbon (Day trip to Sintra)
Sunday July 6th – Train from Lisbon to Lagos
07/07 – Lagos
07/08 – Lagos
Wednesday July 9th – Bus from Lagos to Seville
07/10 – Seville
07/11 – Seville
07/12 – Seville (Day trip to Cordoba)
Sunday July 13th – Train or bus from Seville to Granada
07/14 – Granada
07/15 – Granada
Wednesday July 16th – Fly from Granada to Barcelona
07/17 – Barcelona
07/18 – Barcelona
07/19 – Barcelona
Sunday July 20th – Fly from Barcelona to Dublin
07/21 – Ireland tour
07/22 – Ireland tour
07/23 – Ireland tour
07/24 – Ireland tour
07/25 – Ireland tour
07/26 – Ireland tour
07/27 – Dublin
07/28 – Dublin
Tuesday July 29th – Fly from Dublin to Edinburgh
07/30 – Scotland tour
07/31 – Scotland tour
08/01 – Scotland tour
08/02 – Edinburgh
08/03 – Edinburgh
Monday August 4th – Train from Edinburgh to London
08/05 – London
08/06 – London
08/07 – London
08/08 – London (Day trip to Bath)
08/09 – London (MY BIRTHDAY!)
Sunday August 10th – Fly from London to Vancouver

This was my reasoning: As we're going to have to travel back to London at the end of the trip regardless of what we do, I figured that I would rather keep all my London days together rather than having some at the beginning and some at the end. Our flight gets into London at 11:30am so we have tons of time that day to get to Paris and I think that ultimately it would be worth it (no matter how tired we are) to have the trip flow better. It seems like it would be pretty easy to get into central London and take the eurostar into Paris (I know its more expensive than cheap flights but we're willing to pay if it means not having to go through another airport on the same day). Is this feasible?

Thank you!

[herrbert]

The Eurostar doesn't have to be more expensive than a budgetflight. The cheapest seats go for 45 euro, which is a good deal. Just like for flights, you need to reserve a ticket way in front, and also give a time for you to check-in. So give yourself enough time to make it to the station, from the airport, and some time in case of delays.

There is a nighttrain between Brussels and Berlin, which you can also use if you travel between Amsterdam and Berlin. This would mean backtracking a little bit, but if you are able to sleep on a nighttrain, it can save you some time. Another possibility is to fly Amsterdam - Berlin (check Transavia.com)

I think Vienna is really rushed. As Brugge and Amsterdam are really close to eachother, you wouldn't lose a whole day traveling.I would cut off one day in Amsterdam, and use that in Vienna, you really need your days there.

You can consider, to start your trip in Nice. There are loads of cheap flights from London to either Nice or Marseille. It would be really to get from there to Paris with a TGV. (from either Nice or Aix) This would at least save you the long trips between Cinque Terre and Nice. If you want to fly from the Provence to Madrid, it would mean backtracking to either Marseille or Nice. As far as I know there is no airport in Aix. So maybe it would be worth considering starting the trip in Nice instead of Paris.

[me]

actually, in looking at the map, MRS - the Marseilles airport - is almost equidistant between Marseilles & Aix. (28 vs 30 minutes)

of course, Marseilles prolly has better public transportation to that airport than Aix has.

did a quick search, www.mrsairport.com/eng/acces/acces_bus.jsp#digne lists ½ hour coach trips between Aix & MRS for just €7,80

oh, one other thing - i suggest adding another day in Rome. you could take it away from CT. to me, CT doesn't need as much as 4 days - but Rome needs more than just 4! as i've said before, Rome is the most important city in the history of Western civilization!

herrbert said:

If you want to fly from the Provence to Madrid, it would mean backtracking to either Marseille or Nice. As far as I know there is no airport in Aix. So maybe it would be worth considering starting the trip in Nice instead of Paris.

[heartshapedbox]

Thanks, I'll look more closely at that advice. We're trying to avoid night travel if we can because, while I've never tried it, my boyfriend has traveled a bit and has trouble sleeping .. so I'll take a flight between Amsterdam and Berlin into account.

Also, I know that two days in Vienna looks short since it's a major destination but we're mainly stopping there so that my boyfriend can visit some friends he made when he traveled Austria, Hungary and Romania .. unfortunately its just not high on my "must-see" list so I feel two days will be enough for this trip at least.

[me]

try foam earplugs. some melatonin might help, too. (melatonin can also help with jetlag)

- d

heartshapedbox said:

We're trying to avoid night travel if we can because, while I've never tried it, my boyfriend has traveled a bit and has trouble sleeping .. so I'll take a flight between Amsterdam and Berlin into account.