3 month itinerary

[pp09]

Hi guys, my friend and I are heading to Europe for 3 months, we've booked flights flying in and out of London, and have booked a few internal flights wiht budget airlines, which are mentioned in the itinerary below. We're planning on using a Eurail global 2 month pass from Jul 11th - Sept 11th, and then point-to-point rail tickets until the 18th. Any feedback about our itinerary would be really helpful!

23-Jun London
24-Jun London
25-Jun - 9 July
(15 day tour England, Scotland, Ireland)
10-Jul London
11-Jul London – Paris (12.00-4.00)
12-Jul Paris
13-Jul Paris
14-Jul Paris
15-Jul Paris
16-Jul Paris – Bordeaux (9.15-12.15)
17-Jul Bordeaux
18-Jul Bordeaux – Nice (6.00-2.25)
19-Jul Nice
20-Jul Nice – Barcelona (10.00-8.00)
21-Jul Barcelona
22-Jul Barcelona
23-Jul Barcelona
24-Jul Barcelona – San Sebastian (6.40-12.20)
25-Jul San Sebastian
26-Jul San Sebastian – Madrid (8.30-2.00)
27-Jul Madrid
28-Jul Madrid
29-Jul Madrid – Lisbon (flight 3.15-3.45)
30-Jul Lisbon
31-Jul Lisbon
1-Aug Lisbon – Milan (flight 5.40pm-9.10)
2-Aug Milan – Verona – Venice (9.00-10.30; 4.30-5.40)
3-Aug Venice
4-Aug Venice
5-Aug Venice – Cinque Terre (10.50-3.40 (Genova))
6-Aug Cinque Terre
7-Aug Cinque Terre
8-Aug Cinque Terre – Florence ((La Spezia)9.20-11.40)
9-Aug Florence
10-Aug Florence – Rome (9.30-11.10)
11-Aug Rome
12-Aug Rome
13-Aug Rome
14-Aug Rome
15-Aug Rome – Athens (flight 11.00-2.00)
(10 day tour of Athens & islands)
24-Aug Athens – Delphi - Athens
25-Aug Athens - Olympia
26-Aug Olympia - Athens
27-Aug Athens – Vienna (flight 9.40-11.00)
28-Aug Vienna – Zurich – Gimmelwald (7.40-4.20; )
29-Aug Gimmelwald
30-Aug Gimmelwald
31-Aug Gimmelwald
1-Sep Gimmelwald – Zurich – Salzberg ( ; 1.40pm-7.30)
2-Sep Salzberg – Budapest (3.00pm-8.50)
3-Sep Budapest
4-Sep Budapest
5-Sep Budapest – Prague (9.30-4.40)
6-Sep Prague
7-Sep Prague
8-Sep Prague – Berlin (8.40-1.20)
9-Sep Berlin
10-Sep Berlin
11-Sep Berlin
12-Sep Berlin – Amsterdam (8.30-3.00)
13-Sep Amsterdam
14-Sep Amsterdam – Brugge (8.00-12.00)
15-Sep Brugge
16-Sep Brugge – Brussels – Luxembourg (8.00-9.00; 9.30 12.30)
17-Sep Luxembourg
18-Sep Luxembourg – Brussels – London (10.00-1.00; 6.00pm-7.00)
19-Sep London
20-Sep London – Bangkok

[madamtrashheap]

pp09, welcome to GFE!

I looks like you and your friend have already done a lot of research and put a great deal of thought into your trip, which is great to see. Just a few questions and notes:

You could look at going Paris-Bordeaux-Spain-Nice-Cinque Terre-Florence-Venice-Rome and continue your itinerary from there (I understand Rome-Athens flights are easier than from other cities). The Spain (Barcelona) to Nice train ride is a long one and there's no overnight train, so you could look at flying Madrid (or Barcelona depending on final order) to Nice with Iberia to cut down on travel time.

No Greek Islands this time? August is the peak season as I'm sure you know, so they will be busy but fun at that time of year.

Vienna-Zurich-Gimmelwald: This section is a bit of a schlep as you've noticed (around 12hours by train) so you could look at flying between Vienna and Zurich, then taking the train from Zurich to Gimmelwald (via Interlaken Ost) which may speed things up. Alternatively, there is a train that goes from Vienna to Basel with a connection to Interlaken Ost which means one less change.

No interest in Munich?

Any day trips planned for either between cities (eg Pisa between CT and Florence) or from cities?

[pp09]

thanks for the reply madamtrashheap!

can't seem to find nice-barcelona flights that suit our dates/budget, i think we might just have to stick out the long train trip.

did manage to find some cheap flights for vienna-zurich so we'll have a think about that one, thanks for the suggestion.

we're doing the greek islands as part of a tour, so luckily we don't have to worry about coordinating that bit for ourselves, should be fun!

a few daytrip possibilities, eg Sintra from Lisbon, Pompeii from Rome, Verona between Milan and Venice, and thanks for the tip about Pisa between CT and Florence. any other suggestions welcome!

[madamtrashheap]

Jan 9, 2009 20:27:26 GMT -5 pp09 said:

can't seem to find nice-barcelona flights that suit our dates/budget, i think we might just have to stick out the long train trip.

I know Vueling fly every second day (and on Sat and Sun) during Summer on the Barcelona-Nice route and their flights are usually fairly cheap, and Iberia fly the same route with flights usually costing a little more that Vueling, so it's a shame you can't find one to suit as that really is a mighty long train ride during the day.

[herrbert]

You should check for flights that go to Marseille, these are cheaper, but it also means you need to train the remainder of the trip to Nice.

I think that Ryanair and Vueling (and also Iberia) makes these flights. From Barcelona you can check Clickair aswell.

I think that the time you have in Madrid is a bit short. Now that the cities of Toledo and Segovia are perfect daytrips from Madrid (both are 30 minutes by train.) I would swap one day from Barcelona to spend in Madrid (to use as a daytrip to Toledo) You will also visit Madrid in the middle of summer, so please be prepared that it will be hot here.

If you use Vienna only to make a stop (which is a shame as it is a beautiful city). I would make the trip Athens - Milan, and train from there to Switzerland. (That is if these tickets are not already booked of course - if they are I would try to find some time to spend in Vienna.)

For Salzburg I would also try to make some time, and if possible make the daytrip to Werfen to see the Ice caves (www.eisriesenwelt.com)

[pp09]

hi herrbert, thanks heaps for the advice! we're gonna do an extra day in Salzberg so we can make a trip to the ice caves, they look amazing

[herrbert]

They are amazing, don't forget to bring your coat and some good boots, as it will be around zero in these caves, also in summer, and there are a lot of stairs to climb inside the caves.