backpacking after studying abroad

[swojo88]

Hey. This is my first time on the site and everyone seems eager to offer their advice, so I thought I'd ask your opinions.

My boyfriend and I are studying abroad in Alcala, Spain for 2 months, June and July. Afterward, we want to try and check out a bit more of Europe. We only have 2 weeks to backpack so I was looking for suggestions on where to go.

We're flying out of Madrid to meet up with some friends in London and to stay with my boyfriend's cousin. After that, we wanted to hit Amsterdam, Paris, Venice, Pisa (just part of a day for the tower), Florence and Rome. Is that too much? How much time should we spend in each city?

[Eagle]

swojo88, Welcome to the boards! I'll start the discussion with some comments and questions.

With only two weeks to spend on other parts of Europe, it would be virtually impossible to visit the six other locations you mentioned within that short time frame. It would help to know whether the two weeks includes the time you will be spending in London? Also, which city will you be flying home from? Those details will be essential in planning any travel routes to other cities.

One other thing to keep in mind is that it appears that your two week trip will be taking place in August. That is perhaps the busiest time for tourism in Europe, so it's going to be hot and crowded! You may want to pre-book Hostels in whichever cities you decide on.

My first suggestion would be to drop Pisa from the list. With only two weeks, there won't be time to fit that into the trip, even for part of a day.

Finally, it would also help to have a bit of information on which of the cities in your list are most important to see on this trip?

I'll wait for further information before commenting further.

Cheers!

[herrbert]

I agree with Eagle. I think it would be best to concentrate the two weeks for a trip to Italy, where you will have enough time to visit Venice, Florence (maybe a daytrip to Pisa, if you want) and Rome, within these 14 days.

Use your weekends to make trips from Madrid. I don't believe you will have any bank holidays in the period that you will be here, but you might be able to leave on a friday afternoon, and return on a sundayevening. Cheap flights are available on companies like: Vueling, Spanair, Ryanair, Easyjet, Clickair, Iberia. (if you would decide on a trip to Paris, check Vueling, in favour of Ryanair, as the last one flies to Beauvais airport!)

Also don't forget the trips you can make in Spain. Daytrips to Toledo, Segovia and Cuenca are possible. and as you would have more time than normal you could add Avila, Aranjuez and Chinchon to this list as well.

Other destinations, you could do in a weekend, are Sevilla, Granada, Salamanca, Barcelona (of course), Valencia, Cordoba, Cadiz. In summer a trip to the north would be nice as it will be a little bit les hot there. (check Santiago, San Sebastian, Bilboa.)

[joschmoo]

Hi, I'm the boyfriend that swojo88 was referring to. We leave our Spain program on July 31 (fly Madrid to London), and we're planning on flying back to the states on August 18 from London. We have kind of narrowed things down a bit, we cut out Amsterdam for time and rail pass cost reasons.

We're going to travel back to London on the 17th from wherever we end up. So we basically have 16 days for travelling including seeing London. We definitely want to see London, Paris, Rome, Venice, and Florence.

We are definitely planning on booking way in advance and calling ahead while in Spain to confirm our reservations. That's why we're planning so early (hopefully we can have everything booked by the end of March).

Thanks for the suggestions herrbert, we definitely want to travel while we're in Spain, especially since I'm pretty sure our study abroad program gives us rail passes for traveling within Spain while we're there. Is seeing la Fiesta de San Fermin worth seeing? We know that that goes on while we're there.

Thanks!

[herrbert]

If your study gives you passes, then be sure to also study a little while travelling ; )

I have never been to the San Fermin festivities, and I probably never will (as I am opposed to bull-fighting, and this is part of it.) So I can't tell out of first hand, but there seems to be lot going on for that entire week, but maybe someone else can comment on that.

16 days is a bit tight for London, Paris, Rome, Florence and Venice. I would suggest to spread the time in London, Paris, Rome and Florence, and try to do Venice, with a cheap flight from Madrid on a weekend. (2 days is enough for most people.) That saves you just enough time to at least have a good amount of time for the other cities. As you are low on time, take a good look at either flights, or nighttrains, to minimize the time you are travelling during the day.

Why do you need to fly to London from Madrid? (it seems more logical to fly to Rome, and then work your way back to London. Is it mandatory for the course?)

[joschmoo]

We're flying Madrid to London because, due to the need to actually study/do homework while in Spain, we have to take our laptops with us, and since my cousin lives in London, we wanted to drop off those and any other superfluous items that we'd need for 2 months in Spain (books, extra clothes, etc) but not 2 weeks backpacking.