Western Europe Trip - 16 Days

[stompy]

Hi All,

My girlfriend and I plan on touring some of western europe this summer during the month of July. This is the preliminary itinerary that I've made:

Amsterdam: 2 nights
Paris: 3 nights
Swiss alps: 3 nights
Cinque Terre: 3 nights
Milan: 1 night (mainly for airport to...)
Greek Islands: 4 nights

I plan to be using the eurorail pass (5 country select) for travel. I was wondering what you all thought about this itinerary. I realize I'm essentially traveling 5 countries in 16 days but I really don't know what to drop as I want to see it all.

My trip budget, after transportation costs (airlines, rail pass, and misc) is $1500.

Is this itinerary doable? Any suggestions?

Also, since I'm already posting a thread. I've researched a bunch of sites and found that generally it costs around $1100-1200 to fly from California to almost anywhere in western europe. Is this the cheapest alternative?

Thanks in advance for all the help.

-Eric

[herrbert]

Wait before you buy railpasses, as you don't travel that much, I think it would be a waste of money.

To go to Greece for 4 nights = 3 days is maybe not so wise. You will be able to visit 1 island during this time. There are some charter flights to the island during the summer months, but when you say you go to Milan to catch a flight, I think you are thinking about the Easyjet flight to Athens, which means you need to go ahead from there. Traveling in Greece between the islands needs time. so mainly you use 2 days to travel to the island, and another one to get back to Athens again.

I would concentrate on places that are shorter together, and with 16 days you are more or less limited to 4, maybe 5 cities/towns.

I think you have the choice to spend some time in Western Europe, seeing Amsterdam (3 nights), Paris (4 nights), and then heading to the Alps, and ending in CT. The question then would be where you need to fly home from (Milan/Rome?)

Or go for the Greek experience, and spend most of the time there. 3 days in Athens, and after that go Island hopping, but in a relaxed way. You can go and see 2-3 islands during this time, and head back to Athens again. (or maybe Head back to Athens earlier, and see to where you can take a budgetflight to see maybe one more city.

But in all these cases an Open jaw ticket would be best, in order to avoid needing to go back to your starting point.

[stompy]

do you not recommend seeing CT and the Greek Islands in one vacation? (since they both seem to have that tropical/coastal ambiance)

[Eagle]

stompy,

I agree with the great suggestions that herrbert mentioned! For such a short trip, it would be a really good idea to drop the Greek islands, as they're somewhat further from your other destinations and you'll need to allow some travel time to and from Greece. With a trip of only 16 days, that would be a bit difficult.

The other places you mentioned are all within a reasonably "close" geographical area, so probably best to focus on those. I'd definitely include the Cinque Terre, as it's fairly easy to get there from Switzerland. One thing to keep in mind is that July is in the PEAK travel season in Europe, so it's going to be very busy and very crowded. Pre-booking accommodations would be a really good idea!

If you decide to drop the Greek Islands on this trip, you'll have to find another city to fill that time. Your choice of which city to choose will probably be influenced to some extent by the availability of flights (don't limit your choice to Milan). I assume you're using open-jaw flights, into Amsterdam and home from another city? I don't have any information on what flights are available from California, but there are usually lots from the large "hub" airports such as Frankfurt or Paris. In the summer months, there may be some from Munich also.

As herrbert mentioned, don't purchase a Rail Pass until you compare the cost with that of P-P tickets. Once you've arrived at a fairly definite Itinerary, type the information into www.railsaver.com to see which combination of Pass and tickets the web site suggests. It's not perfect, but it provides a good approximation. One thing to keep in mind is that even with a Rail Pass, you'll still have to pay reservation fees separately on those trains where these are compulsory (usually the fast trains such as the TGV in France). If you're caught without a valid reservation, you'll be fined on the spot (I've experienced that in Italy, even though my situation was due to a "mistake").

Your budget of US$1500 for 16 days is a bit "limited", especially for travel at that time of the year ("high season"). At current exchange rates, that's about €1128 (or €70/day). That's really "pushing the limit"! I'd suggest also taking a Credit Card, for "emergencies".

Finally, if you have the opportunity you might want to have a look at the Guidebook Europe Through The Back Door, as it's and essential "pre-read" for those travelling to Europe (especially for the first time).

Good luck and happy travels!

[herrbert]

Mar 28, 2009 17:02:47 GMT -5 stompy said:

do you not recommend seeing CT and the Greek Islands in one vacation? (since they both seem to have that tropical/coastal ambiance)

I fear that combining the two, will result in losing quite some time in the journeys from one to the other. In most cases you need to get back from the Islands to Athens, and from there to Milan, and from there to CT again. After that you also need to check which airports are available from the company you fly with, so from CT you need to get to one of the bigger airports.

It would mean getting to Athens (which would be a shame not to visit for a few days), Milan (if you are interested in the last supper, or seeing the city, at least worth to stay the day), and then to a bigger airport (depending what's available ... but it's likely it's near a city that is also worth seeing.) So you still end up with 5 places to go to, in this very limited time frame.

Besides that if you want to visit the islands you need to give it some time.

I am not sure if Tropical is the way to describe CT, it's not like you're in Sri Lanka but in July it can be hot.

[stompy]

Hey guys - thanks for the replies. I've thought about this for a while now and this is my edited itinerary:

Visiting the Greek Islands is definitely pretty high on my list. I've decided to just cut Amsterdam and Paris from the whole picture. I'm sure both are awesome but I've already been to Paris once.

So the new trip plan is now:
- Fly into Geneva stay there 1 night.
- Gimmelwald (3 nights)
- Take a P-P train to CT (3 nights)
- Tuscany (3 nights)
- Venice (1 night)
- Ferry or fly to Athens (2 nights)
- Ferry to Santorini (2-3 nights)
- Visit surrounding island(s) (2-3 nights)

There's actually a return flight to home from the Santorini so I plan to take that home. (stops by Athens) The whole point of even going to Venice is so that I can ferry to Athens. (side note: Is this the cheapest alternative of getting from Italy to Athens?)

Is this plan better? Any suggestions?