Critique my itinerary anyone?

wow that post is even more immense than i thought, my apologies

Hi eljay,
i'm trying to do something like your trip in august- mind if i ask what your budget is? there's not a ton of info. out there about how much -- truly -- to budget for a long trip.

thanks!

hey there, minimum I will have is about 7200 Euro's, but I hope to get that up to 9k..that's for the whole 3 month trip though, not just europe..I assume that will be sufficient, but I'm just guessing really.

that post is even more immense than i thought

agree with that

however, your itinerary seems rather thought-out to me, so for starters I'll just add some minor comments to it:

-I doubt there'll be an impressive party scene around the Greek islands in mid-April, if it's that what you're looking for. It's still rather low-season, further, spring term holidays at universities throughout Europe end at the end of March, cutting the number of prospective party-goers. Still, the touristic infrastructure will be running - and you don't need an excuse to visit the Cyclades.

-for Croatia/Slovenia etc., consider crossposting your questions on the Eastern Europe branch for more feedback, I often get the impression that this is actually a 'Western Europe on a shoestring' branch

-for low-cost airtravel, check pages like whichbudget or harefares (if you haven't done already) to find out which airlines cover which routes (e.g. there are a number of low-cost flights from Faro to Germany, so you wouldn't necessarily need backtracking to Lisbon)

-being close to Amsterdam AND being interested in architecture should result into a detour to Rotterdam with its NAI , here's another site for more on contemporary Dutch architecture.

-personally, I would prefer Paris to Berlin any day, yet I agree that Berlin might be 'more of your scene'. On the topic of architecture: Paris has its brand new Cité de l'architecture (claims to be world's largest museum on architecture), Berlin a (branched) gallery with worthwile exhibitions ( Aedes ).

-a rather obvious daytrip from Berlin could lead to the Bauhaus in Dessau, yet note that there's a comprehensive collection of Bauhaus works in Berlin itself, so you should consider doing this only in case you've time to spare

That's all I can think of right now...

"I’ve tried to be realistic with the time frame to avoid the traditional “spend more time in less places” responses"

Well, you didn't make it.

To determine how many places you can reasonably visit in a given time, use this general rule. Never spend less than 4 nights/3 full days in a place unless it is only an overnight stop on the way from A to B. Using that rule your 79 days would allow you to visit a maximum of 20 places. Given your interest in art & architecture I would first make a list of the places where that is going to be a major factor and allow even more time in those places. Rome, Paris, Barcelona, Venice for example could all use more than 3 full days. So your final list will probably end up around 15 or 16. That's plenty. Remember, every time you move it cost you a day. Some itineraries posted here have 30% plus of their time being used to move from A to B. Does that make sense to you?

I would reverse the order of your trip to start in Amsterdam and then Germany or France before moving on to Portugal, Spain and Italy. I would drop Croatia and Slovenia, opting instead for more time in Greece before flying to Helsinki for your flight to Tokyo. Doing it this way has several benefits. First, you don't need the best weather in the North to see and do what you want to do there. It isn't beach country after all. It will still be spring weather and not that bad. This route will bring you into Greece last where you can enjoy the sun and beaches as well as the night life. To get from Greece to Helsinki is easy since there are tons of Norwegian tourists on many of the Greek islands from May onwards and thus, cheap flights back to Helsinki.

Greece and the islands is a perfect example of the 4 nights/3 days rule. Many visitors try to pack in too many islands in too little time and end up spending half their time or more on ferries; checking-in/out; finding a place to stay, etc.. I'd aim to end up on Rhodes since that is a popular destination for Norwegians and I know you will be able to pick up a flight easily and cheaply to Helsinki. A week there to relax on the beach, rent a car to visit the ancient sites and hit some of the bars/nightclubs will be a good break.

Hey Nautiker and BpGuruagain, thanks a lot for your responses..
Naut, kind of what i was hoping not to hear with regards to greece, but oh well, the flights are booked and i will be going there then and im sure it will be fun regardless.. those links you gave me are very helpful, I havnt seen either of those cheap flight sites before. and maybe i will choose paris over berlin..oh and the NAI in rotterdam does look pretty sweet.

"Does that make sense to you?" Bp, not trying to sound confrontational, (because you did make the effort to write a very good reply) but give me some credit. I think I already have less than 20 places on my list, and also said that i'd probably end up dropping a country. When i stated "15 days in Spain" for example, I was obviously taking into account a day travel between each city, leaving 4 full days each, same deal with Ialty..but didn't want to extend the post anymore by spelling that out.

In hindsight, reversing the order of the trip like you suggest may have been the better option, but the flights have already been paid for, as has the flight to helsinki which is a stop-over because I am flying finnair..I planned the trip according to the idea of following the weather north as it gets warmer, but as you said that probably isnt as critical in places like amsterdam etc, bugger...maybe i'll be able to switch some flights around, i'm not sure.

anyways, back to planning..thanks again guys!

"Catch train to Skopje Via Thessaloniki, Hope for a bus or something to Dubrovnik."
I don't think there are buses all year round from Skopje to Dubrovnik (or even to the coast of Montenegro, from where it would be easy to reach Dubrovnik). I guess it will still be April at that point, so quite likely there won't be any; even if there are they may only run a few days a week. Of course you can still get to Dubrovnik, either by taking a series of buses through Kosovo and Montenegro, or by train/bus to Nis in Serbia, then train/bus to Montenegro, then bus to Dubrovnik. Either way it's quite a lot of travelling, which would be more enjoyable if you could stop somewhere along the way. The coast of Montenegro, for example, is every bit as spectacular as Croatia, so it would be a shame to only see it through a bus window. But of course, if you add some time there, you'd have to drop somewhere else from your route.

Some people prefer to get from Greece to Croatia by taking two overnight ferries (Patras-Bari and Bari-Dubrovnik). But you would need to check which days the latter ferry runs at that time of year.

Anyway, my main point is, if you decide to travel from Greece to Croatia you need to make sure you have built in enough travel time to your itinerary.

Have you thought of visiting Italy after Greece (get there by ferry), then Slovenia and then Croatia? I believe Clickair fly from Croatia to Barcelona.

"Are there any places near where I’m going that are awesome but not well known or obvious? "
As I mentioned above, Montenegro is indeed awesome (although becoming quite well known). Albania is another example, if you decided on a slightly different route north from Greece. In Slovenia, some people (like me) find Lake Bohinj even nicer than Lake Bled; and the Soca Valley is one of the most interesting parts of the country - well known to locals but not so much to English speaking tourists. In Greece, a slight detour between Athens and Thessaloniki would take you to the monasteries of Meteora - well-known but very impressive due to their unique location. Again, to see any of these properly you'd have to drop somewhere else.

By the way I think you may have miscounted if you believe you have less than 20 places on the list.

Hi Alan, I had originally planned to get to dubrovnik via a ferry trip to bari, but I havn't been able find any ferries that run across to Croatia at that time of year, hence the overland idea. But anyway, since looking at the link Nautiker gave me, I've been thinking about flying from Athens up to Venice and then heading across to Slovenia (and maybe checking out Lake Bohinj) and then back to Venice and down through Italy and continuing with the rest of my plans.
But no, I didn't realise that i could fly from Dubrovnik to Barcelona (quite cheaply as well). So going up through Italy, then Slovenia and Croatia might work out well. On the other hand, being able to keep all those places on the list will definately be pushing the limits of my time so I may have to leave some others out..hmmmm I think the only solution is to push my return flight back about a month, and save a few thousands more $$, hah i wish.

Cheers!

"I havn't been able find any ferries that run across to Croatia at that time of year"
This may be irrelevant now as it sounds like you are leaning towards a different plan. But for the record, the schedule at www.jadrolinija.hr shows sailings from Bari to Dubrovnik on Wednesday and Saturday nights in April/May.