Spending Money for Europe Trip for Feb-Apr 2010

[exleperalms]

Hello all, I would like to start my first post off by thanking everyone involved for running/maintaining an amazing site. Quite impressive, I must say. Anyways, here are the proposed details of this trip. I know this is ultra-subjective, and literally impossible to project with much accuracy, but if I can get even a few educated guesses I'd feel good. Anyways:

-54 nights (52 in Europe, 2 for traveling from the States) (Feb 21-Apr 15, 2010)
-There will be 2 people on the trip, my girlfriend and I
-Room+board and travel(mostly), are already covered
-We're looking to spend somewhere close to an average (for a tourist) amount ... aka we're not looking to super-budget like most that post these-type questions
-Itinerary as follows:
City--#Nights--Hrs. travel
Lisbon*--4--22
Madrid--3--10
Barcelona*--5--3.5
Florence--4--17.5
Rome--5--1.5
Venice*--4--4.5
Vienna--3--11.5
Prague--4--4.5
Munich--3--6
Lucerne--3--6.5
Paris--5--4.5
Luxembourg--2--2.5
Brussels--2--3
Amsterdam--5--3

*= spending final night in city on overnight train

Hours of travel included to give an idea of how often I will be on the train, thus spending less. A typical day would consist of the following:
-3 meals per day(with about 10 total 'nice' restaurants for dinner)
-routine tour/sightseeing expenses
-an average of about 2 alcoholic drinks per person per day
(beer/wine)
-1 or 2 random mementos per city (nothing too expensive)


Alright, for those still reading this cluster-screw of a post, a few more thoughts:

- Euros or dollars are fine for the estimates (actually Euros preferred)
- Any other feedback about my itinerary is more than welcome
- The 'Lucerne' portion of the trip represents any Swiss city where we can find dog sledding, not necc. Lucerne (any tips?)
- I already know the 'Amsterdam' portion of the trip is a day or two too long, but it is SET in stone. (Sorry, I'm a stoner )
-The 'Munich' portion will coincide with a major beer festival


Again, thanks a million in advance for anyone willing to take a stab at this.

Muchas Gracias,
Joe

[madamtrashheap]

Hola joe/exleperalms and welcome to GFE!

Glad Kim's little site has been of service to you! No doubt you've noticed in other Posts that for some of the longer journeys we often suggest flying rather that overnight trains, but of course this is subject to your preferences (some like night trains, some do not). I mention this in reference to the Barcelona-Florence sector of your itinerary. I'd suggest flying Barcelona-Rome (there are cheap flights to be had, check Iberia and Vueling), then continuing on by train Rome-Florence-Venice- (night or day train is fine, scenery is good!) Vienna - Prague - Munich then train to Luzern (6 hours or so). From there you have a few choices - you could take the train to Paris (use combo of IC and TGV which will only take around 4hrs45 in total) or fly from Zurich to Amsterdam and end in Paris, but this depends: are you flying in to Lisbon and out of Amsterdam on an open-jaw ticket already?

A few other points:

Madrid - 3 nights isn't much time to explore the city and doesn't leave time for some day trips worth doing from here.

Venice - 4 days is a lot of time to wander the canals, did you have any day trips planned?

Munich - the beer festival you mention, is that the Starkbierzeit? If so, you'll enjoy it! If you plan to do any day trips (Neuschwanstein, Dachau, Andechs, etc) then you might need an extra day if you're spending one or more of those allocated days on the festival.

Luzern/Lucerne doesn't have dog sledding as such, but there are dogs and sleds on the Jungfrau, which is reached by cog rail from Lauterbrunnen, a gorgeous village about 1hr30mins by train from Luzern (and worth at least an overnight stay IMO). You might want to add a night here (Switzerland) so you can spend time in the mountains as well as in a city. Luzern is surrounded by mountains and is a gorgeous place, but there's nothing like actually being in the mountains for a day or two.

As far as budgetting, the average comfortable recommendation is for Euro75 pp per day, but if you can afford more then great as you'll be able to have those "special" dinners and splurge on purchases, sightseeing, etc if the opportunity comes up (and it will!).

Have you considered any day trips/side stops between cities for a few hours in your timings? I ask as there is the opportunity for a few on your route.

You're planning well ahead of time so you have the chance to tweak things to best suit you and your girlfriend. You will notice that travel dates for trains and flights won't yet show for 2010, so as a guide just use the same dates for this year and recheck again at the end of this year to make sure there are no changes that might catch you out.

Happy further planning!

[herrbert]

I'll take a stab at Luxembourg. There is nothing interesting about this town. If you feel that you want to visit the country, I would suggest Vianden, but also not more then one day.

I would skip it, and add the days you save, in Madrid (time for a daytrip to Toledo), and the second day in Vienna. I love Vienna and think that even 4 days are short, but in case you get bored there, you have an escape, in making a daytrip to Bratislava.

Unless you want to be a stoned stoner, 5 days is indeed a bit long in A'dam, but again there are enough daytrips. I would swap Brussels in favour of Brugge.