Need help on my itinerary..
Replies: 7 - Last Post: Mar 7, 2013 1:36 AM Last Post By: bigfoot1972
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Need help on my itinerary..
Good day, I'm 22nd this year and i have just graduated from university. I'm planning a backpacking trip to Europe before settling down for work as I know there wont be much chances after that. I know thousands had posted here asking for the same help on their itinerary but I really hope u guys can give me some opinions on it, Cheers..This is what's on my mind at the moment, will be travelling in September/October 2013 for 8 weeks. I would like to cover Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Zurich, Milan, Rome, Florence, Venice.
Questions:
1) Do you guys think this is doable or am I rushing my trip rather than enjoying it.
2) Do I still have time for Germany ? Should i go to the Octoberfest in Munich since im already in Europe. Im budgeting on 70-80EUR per day.
3) Saw some posts people saying about leaving options opened rather than binding yourself to the itinerary, if it is so, how do they cope with extremely expensive train tickets? How about hotel bookings ?
4) Gonna get a open-jaw tickets as I wouldn't want to trackback, fly in to Amsterdam from KL but Im not sure where should I fly off, Rome, Madrid ?
That is all for now i supposed, Thank you in advance for the help.
1
Why Zurich? It's really out of the way of the rest of your trip. And it's not an exciting place anyway.There are other beer festivals around, and you can get very good beer in Belgium too. Going to Oktoberfest has to be planned and booked in advance and will eat up a good part of your budget.
You can get a cheap flight between Italy and Spain if you want to go to both and decide where to book your return flight from.
2
the usual, the usual.please read this:
Itinerary or budget question? Please read this first before posting
3
For your information, the world's second largest beer festival and at the same time largest fun festival is in Stuttgart ( http://www.stuttgart-tourist.de ), the Cannstatter Volksfest ( http://www.cannstatter-volksfest.de ), over two weeks in late September-early October. Unlike Munich, only a few hotels very near the fairgrounds double and triple their prices, most just a few percent.4
"I know there wont be much chances after that."I always find it amusing when a 22 (or whatever other age) year old knows what the rest of his/her life is going to allow or not allow.
Is 10 cities in 8 weeks doable, of course it is. Whether it is the best itinerary ever is debateable. You say nothing at all about your interests. How could anyone comment on whether these are a good choice for you without knowing what you like?
Regarding pre-booking vs. playing it by ear. Cost is ONE criteria, it is not the only criteria and only YOU can decide if it is YOUR primary criteria. Personally, I prefer to play it by ear. If it costs me a few more Euro to get that flexibility and freedom to decide each morning, 'what will I do today?', then I am willing to pay for that freedom. Give some thought to why the first thing people do when planning a trip is to throw away that freedom to choose, by fixing an itinerary.
5
As others have noted, the trip is doable, but...- It's all very much big cities. Couldn't you plan in some smaller places, if only to have the chance to enjoy the countryside?
- Why not Gent in Belgium instead of Brussels? Much nicer.
- Like #1 I would advise you to fly from Spain to Italy. Logistically the most practical way would be from Madrid to Rome, from where you can work northwards.
- After Italy try to work in something in Central Europe to appreciate the diversity of Europe. Vienna is a most interesting city, but the same is true for Prague. It's a pity that Munich is too expensive during the Oktoberfest, but there are good cities in the northern part of Bavaria (known as Franken) along the Danube (locally known as the Donau).
- From there it's not too far away from Berlin, from where you can have a flight back home.
