3 Month Europe Itinerary

[anonanimal]

Hello,
This is my first time posting here. I am travelling to Europe for 3 months, arriving 21st August in London and departing 17 November from Athens.

I will be travelling by myself. I have purchased a 3 Month global eurail pass, and hope to avoid flying as much as possible.

I'd appreciate any advice you guys have. I'm really looking to see cultural/heritage sites, historical towns, and the occasional social scene.

London, United Kingdom for 4 days
Paris, France for 4 days
Madrid, Spain for 2 days
Segovia, Spain for 0 days (day trip from Madrid as base city)
Toledo, Spain for 1 days (possibly staying the night here)
Lisbon, Portugal for 2 days
Sintra, Portugal for 2 days
Lagos, Portugal for 2 days
Seville, Spain for 1 days
Córdoba, Spain for 0 days (day trip from Seville, possibly)
Granada, Spain for 1 days
Barcelona, Spain for 3 days
Carcassonne, France for 2 days
Avignon, France for 1 days
Lyon, France for 2 days
Geneva, Switzerland for 0 days
Gimmelwald, Switzerland for 1 days
Grindelwald, Switzerland for 2 days
Interlaken, Switzerland for 2 days
Berne, Switzerland for 1 days
Basel, Switzerland for 0 days (connecting city - trains)
Strasbourg, France for 1 days
Luxembourg, Luxembourg for 2 days
Brussels, Belgium for 1 days
Antwerp, Belgium for 2 days
Bruges, Belgium for 2 days
Amsterdam, Netherlands for 2 days
Berlin, Germany for 3 days
Prague, Czech Republic for 3 days
Èeský Krumlov, Czech Republic for 3 days
Linz, Austria for 1 days
Salzburg, Austria for 4 days
Hallstatt, Austria for 0 days (day trip from Salzburg)
Munich, Germany for 3 days
Füssen, Germany for 0 days (Hoping to go on a day tour to Neuschwanstein etc)
Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany for 1 days (Hopefully stop over here- has anyone done the Romantic Road themselves i.e. by train and not on Europabus - if so what are some nice towns nearby?)
Munich, Germany for 0 days
Innsbruck, Austria for 2 days
Trento, Italy for 0 days (possible stop over)
Verona, Italy for 2 days (Planning on using Verona as a base city for Venice as it looks ridiculously expensive to stay the night there - possibly Padua/Mantua)
Venice, Italy for 0 days
Bologna, Italy for 2 days
Ferrara, Italy for 0 days (day trip)
Genoa, Italy for 0 days
La Spezia, Italy for 2 days (Cinque Terre)
Florence, Italy for 4 days
San Gimignano, Italy for 1 days
Siena, Italy for 2 days
Perugia, Italy for 2 days
Rome, Italy for 3 days
Vatican, Vatican for 1 days
Naples, Italy for 1 days (for Pompeii)
Positano, Italy for 0 days (I'd like to catch either Positano or Sorrento before Greece)
Brindisi, Italy for 0 days (to catch the ferry over to Athens)
Athens, Greece for 2 days
Corfu, Greece for 1 days
Thíra, Greece for 1 days
Athens, Greece for 0 days (fly home)



Cheers!

[herrbert]

Wow, that´s a lot of places ... but I see that you also list a couple of places that you will have a stopover, and you will spend only a few hours at the max.

A couple of points (I will not make suggestions to every portion of the trip, because I know that other people have spend much more time in other places.)

For Spain.
Do Segovia and Toledo as daytrips. If you want to go to Lisbon from Toledo, you need to return to Madrid anyway. Check what you want to do at this point, as it is a pretty long trip to Portugal, and flights can be pretty cheap (check Vueling.) If you go by train a stop in Caceres could be worthwhile. (the old city is beautiful, and from the trainstation it´s about a 20 minute walk.). If you leave Madrid early, you can have the afternoon in Caceres, and get to Lisbon in the evening.

I would do Sintra as a daytrip from Lisbon. (for me it would be too much of a hassle to change quarters.)

Sevilla for 1 day is short. There is a lot to see and do. 2 days would be my minimum here. You are right that you can do Cordoba as a daytrip, but check how you want to get there. If you want to go by AVE, check if you need to pay a surplus. (and if you need a reservation.) The 1 day in Granada would be enough to spend half a day at the Alhambra, and spend the rest of the day, wandering in the old part of the city.

For Granada - Barcelona, check a flight. by train this takes a very long time.


If you want to go to Gimmelwald, take a little bit more time there, and enjoy the scenery, go for a walk in the mountains.

If there is one place where there is nothing to see, than that´s Luxemburg. I would skip it completely, and add the days to other towns. I would also choose one base in Belgium, and make daytrips from there. If you would stay in Antwerp, you can get to Brussels, Brugge and Gent easily and fast.

Two days in A´dam can be ok, depending on what your plans are. Berlin is big, and sights are spread out over the entire city. I would rather suggest to spend a day more here.

4 days for Salzburg is a lot. Apart from the trip to Hallstatt you can check a trip to Eisriesenwelt in Werfen, if they are still opened by the time you get there .

[Eagle]

anonanimal,

Welcome to the Boards! Wow, that's an ambitious Itinerary! Will you be travelling this August?

Given the number of places you've listed, I'd need some time to study your list. One thing that stands out though, is the fact that you have a number of one night stops but more importantly I don't see much mention of travel times between cities. Travel to Spain and Greece especially is going to be a bit time consuming, especially if you "hope to avoid flying as much as possible".

A few initial thoughts.....

- Switzerland: my suggestion would be to stay in Gimmelwald for two days and make a day trip to Grindelwald. Grindelwald is somewhat touristy and you might be better to spend your time in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and visit Murren and other places instead. Interlaken is also somewhat expensive.

- Luxembourg: I have to agree with herrbert, you might want to drop this and use the time for travel or other places.

- Munich / Fussen: You can easily take day trips to see the Castles. I'd suggest a day tour with www.radiustours.com/. They take care of all the arrangements including tickets for the Castle tour and transportation so it's a very easy trip.

- Hallstatt: If you want to take a day tour from Salzburg, have a look at www.bobstours.com/.

- Rothenburg: I'd recommend at least one night there. Be sure to take the Night Watchman's Tour, as it's very entertaining.

- Genoa: I'd suggest dropping that and adding the time to the Cinque Terre.

- Rome: only three days??? I'd recommend adding at least one and possibly two days to Rome.

I'll try and offer further suggestions after I've had a closer look at your route.

Happy travels!

[anonanimal]

thanks guys!! genoa was initially my plan to visit the cinque terre but i've since cut it out (perhaps something i'll have to go back and see in a couple of years). I'm going to trust your advice on cutting out Luxembourg, as well. I will probably add those days to Greece. I've been trying to contact the greek ferry company - slightly freaking out as there doesn't seem to be any departure dates for ferries (Italy-Greece, ideally Brindisi to Corfu) after October.
Hopefully, the ferries will still be running but irregularly *fingers crossed*

Thanks for the advice on tours, esp. the Romantic road and Austria and Germany as I don't know how i would otherwise navigate them!

[madamtrashheap]

anonanimal, the reason you might not be able to find ferry timetables after October is that things tend to quieten down after September in Greece and they might not have publicised the timetables yet. That's not to say that there will be no ferries, but certainly fewer than during the "peak" period from May to September. The Brindisi-Corfu route should still operate, but again with much less frequency. Try this site: www.ferries.gr/hml/italy-greece.htm From Corfu I'd suggest flying to Athens rather than ferry.

The thing about going to Thira/Santorini after September is that not much will be open and again the ferries have all but stopped (there's usually only one or two a week, rather than daily). Plus you've allocated only one day, which I trust will change with the removal of the other cities. If you do still decide to go, I'd look at flying from Athens with Aegean Air as you should still be able to get cheap tickets.

After all of that, I'd be inclinded to try to change your final destination to allow time to visit the islands during season, so you cpuld go from Switzerland to Athens, then return to Brussels to continue your itinerary, that will give you time in Greece during season, plus disrupt the rest of your itinerary the least.