First Time Traveling- 3 months

[takinghits]

Hi, I am first time travel to europe traveling with my girlfriend. This is our first draft for a 3 month trip to europe looking for tips/advice on proposed trip. We are probably starting in mid May...

Ireland, England ( Dublin/London) - 10 days
France( Paris) - 4 days
Benelux (Brussels, Amsterdam) - 1 week
Germany (Berlin)- 1 week
Denmark (Copenhagen) - 2 days
Scandinavian (Oslo, Stockholm) - 10 days
Germany(Dresden) - 1 day
Czech( Prague) - 3 days
Poland(Krakow) - 3 days
Austria( Vienna) - 4 days
Greece( Athens + islands) - 1 week
Egypt( Cairo) - 5 days
Italy( Rome) - 1 week
Southern France ( Nice) - 3 days
Spain( Barcelona/Madrid) - 1 week

Now i think this is too many places and would like to just cut out the Scandinavian countries and add a day or two in Greece and also go see Zurich instead. Any tips....Thanks

[madamtrashheap]

takinghits, welcome to GFE!

if you haven't already, make sure you look through the other Posts in the Itinerary section of these Boards for further inspiration and information as you are facing what most travellers face - what to see in 3 months and what to skip.

A few points for your consideration:

Ireland, England - 10 days for Dublin and London is a lot, are you planning to visit any other places in either the UK or Ireland during this time?

France - Paris for 4 full days is a good start, but you won't have time for any day trips (save half a day in Versailles perhaps).

Benelux (Brussels, Amsterdam) - 1 week is a good amount of time for both if you intend to do day trips. And depending on your interests, you might like to add Brugge to Belgium and spend more days there than Brussels. I like Brussels, but you should also see Brugge (and Ghent, and Antwerp, and the WWI Battlefields...!).

Germany (Berlin) - Berlin is a great place, but I don't think you need 7 days. 5 would be great, but if you're looking to find some days somewhere in your itinerary, then 4 full days would also do.

Denmark (Copenhagen) - 2 days might not be enough here, but again it depends on your interests.
Scandinavian (Oslo, Stockholm) - 5 days in each city might be too much, unless you're planning day trips/overnights somewhere else.

Germany(Dresden) - 1 day is a good amount of time here

Czech( Prague) - 3 days is a good amount of time to explore the city and enjoy it, but not really enough time for any day trips.

Poland(Krakow) - 3 days are fine. Were you considering anywhere else in Poland?

Austria( Vienna) - 4 days are also fine here. Consider also Innsbruck and/or Salzburg, depending on your route.

Greece( Athens + islands) - 1 week will really only allow for say 2 full days in Athens then perhaps 4-5 on one island. Again, this depends on how you plan to travel to the island, which island(s) you'd considered and what you what to see/do in each place. Ideally, I'd recommend 2 full days in Athens, then consider 3 days each on 2 other islands, but look at flying between Athens and the furtherest island you choose (eg Santorini) to save time).

Egypt( Cairo) - 5 days in Cairo alone is a lot, and I love the place! Are you considering visiting anywhere else in Egypt or doing anything else?

Italy( Rome) - 7 full days in Rome will be a luxury, and considering you haven't listed anywhere else in Italy you could spend the time to either do a (long) day trip to Pompeii or base yourselves in Sorrento and visit Capri and Pompei. Depending on your final itinerary and how you order things, you could even stay in Cinque Terre on your way around to Nice (by train). Florence and Venice are well worth visiting, but again it depends on your interests.

Southern France ( Nice) - 3 days is plenty of time in Nice and it warms up there at the end of May so depending on where it ends up in your itinerary. Plus you can do day trips to Monaco (or an evening trip), Cannes, St Paul de Vence....

Spain( Barcelona/Madrid) - are you only planning on seeing just these two cities? If so, a week will be fine (3 days Barca, 4 days Madrid).

Zurich - I wouldn't suggest visiting only here in Switzerland, but perhaps look at going to the Berner Oberland (Gimmelwald, Lauterbrunnen, etc) to really get into the mountains. You'll need to reconsider your itinerary to fit, say, 3 days in one of the mountain villages. 1 day in Zurich would be plenty.

I'm assuming this isn't the exact order of your itinerary? Also work out how you're planning to travel between each place (I'd suggest a combo of rail and flights depending on the final itinerary). I'd also suggest for ease of planning, allocate days to each city, rather than each region, and then you can play around with times, cities, etc and adjust the days as required. Don't forget to look at day trips between/around cities.

Have a look at other Posts, grab a map (again!) and let us know when you've rejigged your itinerary in terms of order, individual cities and even a wish list. Happy planning!

[herrbert]

You are all over the place. I think that in three months there can be time to visit Scandinavia, but to me Copenhagen was only worth one day, and I think for most people two is more than enough. I personaly would skip it and see if I could make it all the way to Helsinki instead. From there you could go to Tallin as well.

If you start in Mid May, I would suggest to start the trip in Spain, as it would become really hot in July and August. If this is the order in which you want to travel you would be in Madrid at the hottest time of year. For most people the weather in May is pretty good. For the same reason I would suggest to cut Egypt from this trip, and save if for a future trip and then visit in January, February (maybe on the same trip visit Jordan.)

This would allow some more time in Italy and Spain. In Italy think about Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre or the Amalfi coast as extra options next to Rome, and in Spain, think about Sevilla, Granada and Cadiz (in Andalusía) and Valencia, and don't forget Toledo and Segovia as daytrips from Madrid.