College grads' first trip to Europe

[dgamble]

Hey all,

This site has been great so far and it is getting me really excited for my trip. My buddy and I are planning on spending a month around Europe but having just graduated from university will be on a pretty tight budget. For the amount of traveling we want to do and the number of places we want to see, I think hopping a train will work best even though I've read that planes can be the cheaper option. We haven't settled on cities yet but we'll be starting in Manchester as I am a big United fan and have always wanted to see a game at Old Trafford. From there we'll head south to London then after a quick ride across the channel we want to see Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and maybe the Czech Republic. We will be doing some sightseeing and want to meet people and have a good time but we also want to experience the nightlife. Any suggestions would be great and I'd love to hear about your experiences!

Dan

[jdposey]

What a great way to celebrate graduation! It would really help us to help you with suggestions/advice if you could tell us approximately what your budget will be and how much time you have to travel as well as what your travel interests are (partying, churches, castles, capital cities, etc )

[dgamble]

Well we had hoped to spend about a month barring the complete collapse of our bank accounts. As for how much we are willing to spend, we have a bit of wiggle room but want to keep it to a minimum. I understand that about $70 per day (not including hostels/airfare/rail) is not unreasonable? We will definitely see some sights and get our history fix but want to do some serious partying in the evenings to celebrate. Thanks again!

[madamtrashheap]

dgamble, your budget target of $70 a day without accommodation or transport will make for a comfortable trip. In terms of getting to a game at Old Trafford, what time of year are you planning to travel? I ask as no doubt you're aware there are no games during Summer, so that might mean just a trip to the ground rather than seeing a game. I hope you do get to see a game - I'm a Liverpool fan (!), but I've been to games at Anfield and can highly recommend the experience of seeing your team in action!

In terms of transport, route, etc, are you planning to fly in to Manchester and then continue to London, or can you only get flights from your home destination to London? If you can fly to Manchester first, then a quick train ride to London is next. Stay there for 3-4 days (depending on plans for day trips, sightseeing, etc) and then consider flying to Prague and working your way to the other cities from there. If you can only get flights to London, then perhaps investigate staying there first, training (or bussing for cheaper tickets) to Manchester and then flying from Manchester to your next destination (flights from Manchester are possible to a number of other European cities). Try to avoid flying with Ryanair if you can. Apart from having ridiculous checked bag weights, the experience isn't pleasant.

A month will give you time to see a good number of places without rushing. If you could list the cities you're considering in the countries you've mentioned, that will help with suggestions.

[dgamble]

madamtrashheap, when we leave will be based on when I can get to a match at Old Trafford. The 2010/2011 Premier League schedule is released on June 17 that will be when we set a definative date. I was hoping around the beginning of April (hopefully they'll still be in the hunt for a 19th league win... silly me of course they will, we're not talking about Liverpool ). Who knows maybe I'll get lucky and I'll get to see a northwest derby!!! I have been to Manchester twice before and both times we flew direct from Edmonton so that shouldn't be a problem. I was checking and found a few 11 GBP train rides to London and then from there we will either take a cheap flight or the Chunnel to Paris or Calais. We aren't all that keen on seeing France so maybe after a couple days in Paris we'll go by train to Germany. Again, these places are nowhere near definite, but I really want to include Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and Rome (with probably two or three other cities on route). I'm a little bit concerned about trying to see too many places and the distances between the likes of Paris and Berlin and Milan and Rome are slightly disconcerting. Do you think that it would be worth it to omit these long trips in favor of seeing different cities? Thanks for your help!

[madamtrashheap]

Apr 13, 2010 21:18:48 GMT -5 dgamble said:

hopefully they'll still be in the hunt for a 19th league win... silly me of course they will, we're not talking about Liverpool

Cheeky monkey! I have two words for you: Chel-Sea!

Team allegiances aside, I hope you do get to see a match, the derby would be even better.

If you don't want to visit France, then there are plenty of flights to be had from London (avoid Ryanair and don't forget to check BMI and British Airways as they often have good deals to certain cities) so your other destinations, so you don't have to go to Paris if you're not interested. If, however, that's the only French city you want to visit, then I would suggest the Eurostar as it's a great ride and quicker than flying to Paris, just book well ahead for good deals.

After that, you can certainly include the other cities you've mentioned by flying between them rather than taking long/overnight train trips. As an aside, the Rome-Milan trip takes only 4ish hours on the Eurostar (Italia) and would be a better option between these two cities than flying as the Milan airports (there are 4!) are a fair way from the city itself. On Milan, I'm not sure I'd be including it in an itinerary as it's the least "Italian" of major Italian cities. Of course, if it's all about the football, then by all means visit! ;D

As a suggestion, and based on the cities listed, you could consider the following:
(from London or Paris, fly to Berlin and begin from there. Check Air Berlin for flights)
Berlin - 3 full days in the city.
train to Prague via Dresden for a few hours/lunch stop. Dresden is a compact and interesting city, so it's a good side trip to take between the two.
Prague - 3 full days; this will allow two days of sightseeing and wandering and pubbing and a day to do a day trip to Kutna Hora (aka the "Bone Town"). If you want to do a little more sightseeing of Czech Republic, then you could travel from Prague to Cesky Krumlov and stay the night before continuing on to Vienna. It's a little bit of backtracking by train to get from there to Vienna, but it's a pretty city (World Heritage Listed) and worth a stop if you can include it in your itinerary. The train ride from Prague to CK is around 4hrs and then from CK to Vienna is 5hr30mins. Whereas direct Prague-Vienna is 4hrs30. Up to you, but do a little research to see if Cesky Krumlov is of interest.
Vienna - 2 full days would be good hear, depending on your interests.
I note Munich isn't on your list, but I think you may enjoy it as it's a great town with day trips to be had in the region (half day to Dachau, full day to the castles like Neuschwanstein). If you do include it, allow 2 full days depending on the day trips you want to make. Train from Vienna will take around 4hrs30.
Salzburg 1 full day is fine for Salzburg, unless you plan to do a day trip to the Salt Mines (Salzkammergut), Berchtesgaden or even a Sound of Music tour (!), then you'll need an extra day. A train from Munich is only around 2ish hours.
Another city you could include is Venice. Depending on your interests, 1-2 full days would be good. The train Salzburg to Venice isn't short (around 6hrs) but the scenery is spectacular. Failing that, you could always go Vienna-Salzburg-Munich then fly Munich to Venice instead (Lufthansa sometimes has good prices on this route if you book well in advance).
Train from Venice to Rome is 4hrs on Eurostar (Italia), but you could always take the train to Florence, spend 2-3 full days there and finish in Rome to fly home from there. Florence, if you haven't been, is a great city for sightseeing as well as eating. OK, I'm biased, but if you can fit it in then go for it. You could always to a half-day trip to Pisa to look at some leaning thing too. Otherwise, there are places like Cinque Terre, Siena, Assisi, depending on the time of year and your interests.
Rome - 3 full days would be a minimum for Rome, and if you're planning a (long) day trip to Pompei then add one more. As mentioned, look for open-jaw tickets to allow you to fly in to Manchester but out of Rome so you don't have to back track.

That should give you a basis for your itinerary and you can tweak it with time/cities according to your interests and budget. All of the cities mentioned have good nightlife, just in different forms to what you may be used to, so once you've got more of an idea on your itinerary, we'll be able to fill in those gaps.