Any Ideas?

[bridgeb]

Hi All!

my boyfriend and i are planning a trip for mid next year,

we have nearly 5 weeks to play around with and i was wondering if anyone has some ideas for must sea locations and how long to spend in different areas!

some of the places that we would love to see are;

Greek islands ( which ones are best?)
Spain (was thinking maybe Seville)
France (will already be going to south of france near monte carlo with family.. anywhere else thats a must see?)
same goes for Italy, Austria, Hungry and Germany.. what are the best things to see?
Prague
Amsterdam
maybe Ireland?

we will be starting in greece in mid june and need to be in london by the end of july.. any ideas?

[madamtrashheap]

bridgeb, welcome to GFE.

without knowing your interests, I can only suggest cities based on a general notion of places that interest most travellers, with number of recommended full days in brackets:

Greece- depending on your interests, I'd consider spending a day or 2 in Athens, then flying (or fast ferry) to either Santorini (3 days), Mykonos (2-3 days) or Paros (2 days). Again, would need to know if you prefer scenery, relaxing, partying in order to give suggestions on which island, plus you only have 5 weeks so you might not have time to visit more than 1 or 2 islands for 3 days each.

Spain- so much to see but as you only have a limited time, I'd suggest Seville with either Barcelona (2-3 days) or Madrid (3-4 days), as both offer day trips to interesting places.

France - as you'll already be on the Cote d'Azur (do you know where exactly?), then Paris (4-5 days) is another to add to your list. There are many other areas to visit, but without knowing your interests I can only suggest Paris and perhaps some day trips from your base in the south (Aix-en-Provence, St Paul de Vence, Grasse, St Tropez, Nice, Cannes).

Italy - you can always do just the "big three" of Venice (2 days), Florence2-3 days), Rome4-5 days) this time around as you could easily spend 3 weeks alone in Italy.

Austria - Vienna (3 days), Innsbruck (1 day) (and/or villages in the Tirol for hiking, biking, etc), Salzburg (1 day). Again, not knowing your interests makes it difficult to suggest precisely.

Hungary - Budapest (2 days) is a favourite and a good start to the country.

Germany - Berlin (3 days) & Munich (2-3 days) are good starts, other places include Dresden, Hamburg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Trier...

Czech Rep- Prague needs 3 full days, and that's without day trips. It fits neatly into a trip that encompasses Berlin and Dresden, then on to or in reverse from Vienna.

Netherlands - Amsterdam is worth 2 full days, then there are always day trips to places like Den Haag, Groningen, etc, but if you a limited with time, Amsterdam alone is still good.

Ireland - again, you could happily spend 2 weeks exploring Ireland, so perhaps save it for next time. You haven't listed the UK, which again needs time to explore, so unless you would like to visit places like London (4) or Edinburgh (2 without day trips or trip to Highlands), I'd save them for the next trip.

As you only have 5 weeks, you may find that some cities need to be left out of your final itinerary - there's always next time. I know the temepation is to try to cram as much into your trip as possible, but this usually ends up meaning more time travelling and less time seeing, which is not why you're going there in the first place. You are, as I'm sure you're aware, travelling in the peak period in Europe, so the sooner you have your itinerary sorted the better as you'll need to book ahead for accommodation and travel.

A few things/questions:
Depending on where you're flying from (ie "home") consider "open jaw" tickets which let you fly into one starting point and fly out of the final city, and not have to backtrack to get to your original starting city.
Do you have a set budget?
What type of accommodation are you considering?
Consider different travel methods depending on the route - that is, train or budget flights.
What are your own "must see" things? It's all well and good for us to tell you what we like, but if you could provide an idea of the cities and/or sights which are top of your list that will help form your itinerary and also allow us to recommend places which you may not know of.

Once you've had a chance to consider all of this information, let us know what you've come up with and I'm sure others on the Boards will also be able to make some suggestions.