9 Weeks in Western Europe

[paddlebum]

My brother and I are planning a trip to western europe for 9 weeks April 20- June 23. We are flying into London and out of Dublin because those were the cheapest fares we could find, we a have a rough itenerary of we we want to to go but was curious on your input.

Fly out of SFO arrive in London 4/21
London 3 days 2 nights (we have two free nights at a hostel but dont want to stay too long b/c the UK is very expensive)
Fly from London to Madrid (3-4 days)
Day trip to Toledo possibly
Train or Bus to Sevilla (3-4)
Train or bus to Granada (2-3)
Barcelona (3-5)

From Barcelona we want to go into S France but we are on a strict budget and do not want to spend more than about 4 days getting from Barcelona to Florence...also would you recommend bus, train or plane?

would like to hit cinque de terre just to see it
Florcence 4 days
Viterbo (3 days have a friend there)
Rome 4 days
Naples 3 days possibly?

any other recommended must see's?

from there we plan to go to Gimmelwald/Interlaken, Switzerland for 3-5 days depending on how expensive it is and i hear it is not cheap.

from there to Munich 4-5 days
Nuremburg 2 days

train or bus? to Prague 5 days

to Berlin 3-4 days
we would like to spend some time in the black forest any idea how we can fit this in hear, we love the outdoors beer, wine, and nice people (who doesnt haha) so any country local areas would be of great interest

Amsterdam 2 days
Brussels day trip on way to Paris maybe
Paris 2-3 days anywhere else in France that is off the path?

Then fly to Dublin for the remainder of our trip

Any info on places to see or not see would be great...we are two 21 year old guys looking to see a lot of amazing sites but would also like to see the real europe not just the big cities...also with the amount of traveling and time constraints do you even see this as being possible?...one final question would you recommend a rail pass if not what type of transportation do you recommend?

with this itinerary we have ~10 days to play with for travel and adjustment

thanks for reading

[Eagle]

paddlebum,

Wow, that's a lot of information to digest! I'll try to offer a few suggestions on your proposed Itinerary.

I don't have any comments on the Spain portion of your trip. Hopefully herrbert will spot this post as he's our resident expert on all things related to Spain.

As you have four days to get from Barcelona to Italy, stopping for a night in southern France (perhaps Nice?) would "break up" the trip (that's a long trip by train).

If possible you should spend at least a night or two in the Cinque Terre, rather than just "hitting it" to see it.

You might be able to fit the Black Forest area in between Gimmelwald and Munich, as it's in southwestern Germany as I recall. While Switzerland can be expensive, your stay in Gimmelwald won't necessarily be expensive. That will depend on some extent on what you want to do while there. The Gondola to the Schilthorn is a bit "pricey" however I believe the first run in the morning is discounted and there may be a discount for holders of a Railpass that includes Switzerland. The rates at the famous Mountain Hostel are quite reasonable (IMO).

Good luck with your planning and happy travels!

[herrbert]

The Spain part looks good. If you take one day more you can also do the daytrip to Segovia from Madrid. If you have the possibility to book ahead, you can have a good deal on the AVE (fast train) from Madrid to Sevilla. The same train makes a stop in Cordoba, which is a place you could visit as well. A timesaver, would be leave Madrid early, get to Cordoba 1,45 hrs later, visit the main sights, and head to Sevilla late in the afternoon, early evening. By AVE its another 45 minutes. But you need seperate tickets to do so.

If you can´t find flights directly from Barcelona to Florence, You can also search flights from Girona to Pisa.

If you don´t want to spend more than 4 days between Barcelona and Florence, and don´t feel a need to visit some of the places in between. You can take a few of these days, and visit Cadiz, or somewhere else in the south. In that time of the year, the weather will also be better there, than in let´s say, Nice.