4 Month Trip, May-August

[canuck88]

Hi everyone, I'd like to get some feedback on the trip I hope to take in a few years, provided I can save enough money!

Place...(Nights)
Dubai (7)
Venice (3)
Florence (4)
Pisa (1)
Cinque Terre (4)
Genova (2)
Barcelona (3)
Madrid (4)
Lisbon (4)
Paris (7) -> Daytrips to Versailles and Dieppe
Bern (4)
Interlaken (2)
Lauterbrunnen (2) -> Daytrip to Schilthorn
Zurich (3)
Munich (3)
Budapest (6)
Vienna (6)
Prague (6)
Berlin (6)
Amsterdam (5)
Cologne (2)
Luxembourg (4)
Brussels (4)
Arras (2) -> Daytrip to Vimy Ridge
London (6)
Bath (2)
Salisbury (2) -> Daytrip to Stonehenge
Oxford/Cambridge (2)
Leeds/York (2)
Edinburgh (3)
Belfast (3)
Dublin (4)

Am I missing any key places, staying too long in some places, not enough in others? I have been told 6 nights in both Budapest and Vienna may be too many, should I mix up part of the itinerary to add Innsbruck and Salzburg, or make the short trip to Bratislava. Another thing is should I opt for Bruges over Brussels, or do both? And which daytrips from Madrid are the most worthwhile?

Thanks!

[herrbert]

- From Madrid go for daytrips to Toledo and Segovia. Those can be reaching in 30 minutes by train. Also Cuenca is a good daytrip, but it takes a bit longer to get there.

- I would set up base in Brugge, and from there see some other towns in Belgium, and there are a lot to choose from: Gent, Antwerp, Brussels, Leuven, St. Niklaas.

I would make Pisa just a stop, when travelling from Florence to CT. A few hours there will be enough.

I don't know if you can do Dieppe as a daytrip, but Eagle can help you out there. (there is also another recent thread where Dieppe is mentioned.

I would say 6 days is long for Budapest (3 would do), Vienna (4), Prague (3) and even Berlin (4). You can trow some other town in the mix like Bratislava (as possible as daytrip), Salzburg (if it's gonna a be a summertrip, a daytrip to the ice caves in Werfen), Innsbruck, Cesky Krumlov, Dresden.

Also I wonder how you connect Munich and Budapest. (flight?)

4 days in Luxembourg is about 4 days more than the town itself deserves. If you want to go there for novelty reasons, I would suggest a stop between Zurich and Munich, in Vaduz, capital of the might country of Liechtenstein. But back to LUX, maybe 1 day will do. I would rather choose for neabry towns like Trier or Maastricht to spend a day or 2.

I think the UK/Irish part looks ok, but I would try to spend some more time in Scotland, the scenery is beautiful, and it would be wise to go further north. (Isle of Skye)

[byoons]

i recently went (this past summer) to western europe, and one of my favorite places were Gimmelwald in Switzerland. It is very close to Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen. You can use Interlaken as an outdoor adventure place as you might already heard about (skydiving, iceclimbing, paragliding, canyoning), and Gimmelwald as a nice relaxing place up in the alps. Great scenery and hiking trails. Try looking up the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald.

I'm surprised there is no Rome on the itinerary as well. I thought Rome was amazing, lots to see.