[EUROPE] Going for 39 days ... your advice

[simms]

Need your opinions AGAIN on another topic. I'm about to book my flight tomorrow (non refundable, so I'm taking the plunge!) and I realized that I can stay for another week without the flight being more expensive (just need to pay for room+board for 7 more days). The way the trip is planned we can't make stops after Paris or before Amsterdam (1 month Eurail, overnighter from Paris, expiring right as we enter Amsterdam), see original post. The extra 7 days could be spent in Paris, London or Amsterdam. Should I stay an extra 7 days if the flight is not more expensive? How should I divide it up among the 3 cities?


Or should I fly out to Greece or Prague (the latter not covered by Eurail?)

 

[simms]

^

 

[LS20]

you dont have another 5000$ for scandinavia (norway sweden denmark)

 

[Uppsala9496]

Stay the extra week if you can afford it and hit Denmark and Sweden.
Copenhagen is a fun city (be sure to go on the Carlsburg brewery tour) as is Stockholm (lived about an hour north of Stockholm for a couple of years).

Hallstatt in Austria is nice, however there isn't much around it. I was just there in October and it was a nice day trip (was in Linz for a week). Salzburg and Vienna are worth seeing.

EDIT - if you want some ideas on what to see in Sweden, let me know.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: simms
Going to Europe for 39 days before I start full time work in July. I've attached a schedule of my travels, anywhere you guys would recommend? I have based my travel and such based on Rick Steve's site..

Flight is around 370CDN round trip, One month Eurail pass is 750, 25/day for food, 25-75/day for room means about $3,600-4,500 for this trip... advice?

May 2007 - http://img454.imageshack.us/img454/1871/maymx4.jpg
June 2007 - http://img454.imageshack.us/img454/4583/junejn1.jpg

London
Paris
Madrid/Toledo
Barcelona
Nice
Cinque Terre
Rome
Florence
Siena
Venice
Vienna or Munich
Salzburg/Hallstatt
Swiss Alps
Rothenburg/Bavaria
Rhine
Amsterdam
Brussels
London

I am missing out on Berlin and northern Europe (Norway/Sweden/Copanhagen) .. any regrets?

I think I would regret trying to squeeze that much into a 39-day trip. I've visited many place in Europe and at least for a few cities, I've wanted to spend at least a week...

My recommendation would be to not spread yourself too thin.

 

[maziwanka]

Originally posted by: Biggerhammer
I'd suggest taking more time and fewer destinations... you'll get a lot more out of it if you spend a week at each site thna your current whirlwind
Nonetheless, you should have an awesome trip- enjoy it!

YES. that is my only advice too (when i went to japan like 2 years ago, that was my regret - too busy hopping around).

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: Uppsala9496
Stay the extra week if you can afford it and hit Denmark and Sweden.
Copenhagen is a fun city (be sure to go on the Carlsburg brewery tour) as is Stockholm (lived about an hour north of Stockholm for a couple of years).

Hallstatt in Austria is nice, however there isn't much around it. I was just there in October and it was a nice day trip (was in Linz for a week). Salzburg and Vienna are worth seeing.

EDIT - if you want some ideas on what to see in Sweden, let me know.

The problem with extending it and going there is that I would have to buy more railpass. The one month is $600, the two months is $1000. To spend an extra $400 on travel alone makes visiting other countries unappealing... but I would definitely want to go there if I was going longer.

 

[Sheep]

Originally posted by: simms
Need your opinions AGAIN on another topic. I'm about to book my flight tomorrow (non refundable, so I'm taking the plunge!) and I realized that I can stay for another week without the flight being more expensive (just need to pay for room+board for 7 more days). The way the trip is planned we can't make stops after Paris or before Amsterdam (1 month Eurail, overnighter from Paris, expiring right as we enter Amsterdam), see original post. The extra 7 days could be spent in Paris, London or Amsterdam. Should I stay an extra 7 days if the flight is not more expensive? How should I divide it up among the 3 cities?

Or should I fly out to Greece or Prague (the latter not covered by Eurail?)

You COULD decide on this while you're there, but as people have pointed out, the earlier you book on EasyJet/RyanAir, the cheaper it will be.

As for the three cities you mentioned, I enjoyed all of them but if I had to pick from those three, I would take Paris, London and Amsterdam in that order. Amsterdam is a bit cheaper than Paris; both were WAY cheaper than London which is the most expensive place I've ever been. If you're even remotely interested in art and history (like me--interested, but not a buff or anything), you could spend a week just going through the Louvre--no joke.

I have nothing to say about Greece as I've never been there, but Prague is worth the visit. And beer is consistently cheaper than water or soda there.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Did you check out my thread here?

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=38&threadid=2022896

Your post prompted me to post it.

 

[Atheus]

Go clubbing in London then regain your strength with steak in Paris.