30 day Europe itinerary help- Suggestions welcome!
Replies: 19 - Last Post: Oct 18, 2012 9:21 AM Last Post By: rodway
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30 day Europe itinerary help- Suggestions welcome!
Hello all!,My husband and I are 23 and planning our first trip to Europe together and would like some feedback on our very tentative itinerary! We've got a month and are trying to experience as much as we can.
D1: Travel from US to Iceland
D2-3: Iceland
D4: Iceland to London
D5-8: London
D9: London to Amsterdam
D10-11: Amsterdam
D12: Amsterdam to Berlin
D13-15: Berlin
D16: Berlin to Frankfurt
D17: Frankfurt
D18: Frankfurt to Zurich
D19-20: Zurich
D21: Zurich to Monaco
D22-24: Monaco
D25: Monaco to London
D26: London to Ireland
D27-29: Ireland
D30: Ireland to US
Thanks for any and all tips in advance. Cheers!
1
OKIceland: pass, never been.
London for 3 days - OK, could be 4 or 5 without getting bored.
Amsterdam ideally needs more than 2 days, more like 3.
Berlin: Fine.
Frankfurt: Seriously, completely skip it unless visiting close friends.
Zurich: ditto
Monaco is eye wateringly expensive; you could do it in one day as a day trip from Nice.
Monaco to Ireland: No need to go via London. Trundle along the coast to Nice and fly direct with Aer Lingus.
3 days in Ireland is very short: you could see Dublin in that time, but not much more because once you get about 30 miles from Dublin, infrastructure gets poor and seriously slows you down.
Personally I'd bin Frankfurt and Zurich (2 days saved), instead flying from Berlin to Nice and enjoying the Med for 2 or 3 days, 1 of them in Monaco (another 2 days saved).
With the four days saved there, I'd allocate them somewhere along:-
London needs 4-5 days
Amsterdam needs 2-3
Berlin is fine
Zurich I'd skip. It's OK, but the mountains in the centre of Switzerland are a damn sight nicer
Ireland could occupy you for your entire trip. For example, you could grab all four saved days and do a whistle stop tour of the Ring of Kerry.
2
If you want to experience as much as you can, don't visit only capitals and other big cities. There are tons of places in Germany that are more interesting than Frankfurt, and you won't find in Zurich what sets Switzerland apart (it's mountain scenery).I've yet to meet anyone who spent more than 3 hours in Monaco and was impressed by the place.
And please read this too: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2153476
3
Depends what you are trying to achieve on this visit. You aren't going to get to grips with any of the 6 cultures, 5 languages or 3 currencies by just visiting a capital city in a few different countries. So why are you coming? - is it just to take a few photos or are you hoping for something a bit "deeper" than that, and if so what? The difference between (for example) Berlin and south of France is much greater than between (for example) Boston and LA (I've assumed you're from US - apologies if that's wrong, but it would explain you flying via Iceland and Ireland). And when are you planning to visit?5
So imagine you were holidaying in the US and you had an itinerary like this:Day 2-5 Los Angeles
Day 6-7 Portland, OR
Day 8-10 Seattle
etc
This is like what you are doing, though with the added complication of multiple currencies, immigration, etc, and the fact that it is mostly rather expensive here in NW Europe, especially in the capitals. Perhaps if you were in the US, you might realise that while you were in LA you might like to see a bit of the rest of California too, and that even in a fortnight you would see only a little of California.
6
Yet another vote here for avoiding Frankfurt. It feels strangely un-German. However, Heidelberg is about an hour away from there by train and is very pretty indeed.How are you planning on getting from London to Amsterdam? There's a night ferry that runs across the Channel called the Dutch Flyer. It costs about £70 for a single - so is slightly more then a flight, but includes a private cabin for the night so saves on hotel fare. Saves you a day of travel too : as most of it'll happen while you're asleep.
What do you mean by "Ireland" ? It's not that big a place, but there's still more then just Dublin.
Monaco is more of a day trip kind of place : maybe find somewhere which looks good between Zurich and Monaco and stop off there on your way down?
9
The assumption must be that the OPs have a fascination with airport arrival and departure lounges with possibly a few railway stations in between.Now if I am correct I would want to add Barra in the Outer Hebrides to my list.
R
11
No, Rodway, we aren't particularly fascinated with the airport lounges. We are, however, eager to travel and having never been to Europe, I was hoping to get advice from the Lonely Planet family who can teach me things I never would have thought of otherwise.That being said, thanks for the suggestions everyone! We're definitely gonna rework some things and post an updated travel plan.
12
I think what you need to think is what is it that you really want to experience within Europe.History, Architecture and Art are some obvious ones, especially for visitors from places such as North America and Antipodeans.
For example what was it that attracted you to Frankfurt, Zurich and Monaco?
With the time you have it makes sense to concentrate on smaller area, maybe after Berlin go to Prague then on to Bavaria where you can see smaller towns and cities as well as fairytale castles, before flying to Dublin from Munich. This trip would give you a good overview of Northern Europe.
13
*11... .An actual plan would be good.Here on T.T. it's a regular question to ask along the lines of....
I want to go to Paris, how much money do I need and what should I see? etc.
It's always better to state your budget, dislikes, mode(s) of transport and room preferences.
You'll get much more positive input back.
14
I was hoping to get advice from the Lonely Planet family who can teach me things I never would have thought of otherwiseI believe that's what you got. It may not have been exactly what you were hoping for, but with all due respect, you didn't give us much information to work with. The "Lonely Planet family" is always happy to help you out, but one of the basic principles is that posters should first do their homework and provide sufficient information about themselves when asking a question. That makes life much easier for all of us.
Have you read the link I gave in post #2?
