so it looks like there’s a big chance my Europe trip in May will happen.
I have 3 questions for you guys:
1. What are the advantages/disadvantages of travelling with a friend and without?
2. I noticed that the Eurail pass doesn’t include travel in Czech Republic. About how much would it cost to go from Vienna to Prague, and also Prague to Berlin? Is it better to go by bus or rail? and should I buy the rail tickets here or when I get there? (I’m from Canada.)
3. This is my preliminary itinerary:
London – Rome – Venice – Vienna – Bratislava – Prague – Berlin – Amsterdam – The Hague – Brussels – Luxembourg – Paris…. all in (don’t laugh)3 weeks. Am I crazy? Any suggestions?
4. What kind of weather would I be getting in the said cities in May? ie do I need to bring a jacket or something?
Any help will be appreciated. =)
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EDIT: Thanks for all your great advice! I’ve trimmed my itinerary down to Paris-Amsterdam-Berlin-Vienna/Bratislava-Venice(or Florence?)-Rome then back to Paris. This should be more feasible. I’m figuring 3 days in each city. Like I said somewhere down this thread, Bratislava would be a day trip from Vienna since I have a friend to visit there.
I’m thinking of getting the 6-travel day Selectpass since all the countries are connected. Advisable?
that itinerary is possible, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Hell, 3 weeks isn’t enough for some of those cities!
You’re gonna get sick of trains and moving. Eventually, you’re going to want to slow your pace down a little bit. I would suggest at least cutting out Rome and London, not because they’re not interesting, but because they’re out of the way. There are, of course, other alterations you could make, that could make a second trip much easier. That was only one option.
If you haven’t been to Europe before, you’re going to want to go again, and you will, so don’t treat this trip like it’s the only time you’re going to Europe. Expect to go with every intention of returning in the near future. I’ve been to Europe five times, and it’s really easy if you find cheap airfare and cheap places to stay.
In regards to your other questions
1) I’ve never travelled by myself, but I will be in Spain for a few weeks this summer by myself and am looking forward to it. I was in Paris for a week with a friend of mine last summer and, despite us being really good friends, we were about about to kill each other by the end of the trip. You don’t need to go with your best friend, just someone you know well and are willing to make some sort of compromise with. Expect to want to do different things on different days.
2) I got to Prague from Berlin by bike, but I know Czech rail is relatively cheap and German rail is moderate.
4) May in Europe, to my knowledge, is nice. It probably won’t get below 40F or above 80F. Rain-wise, I don’t think it gets bad. This is only by word of mouth, though, as I’ve never actually been to Europe in May.
that’s quite a lot to do in three weeks. dont go to bratislava, it sucks. venice takes about 6 hours but you cant be in italy and NOT go to florence.
i always travel alone and meet people a long the way, i love the utmost flexibility of depending on no one but yourself, yet you have the option to travel with people thatyou meet (in hostels orjust wherever).
don’t use eurail pass. use buses (www.eurolines.com) or just trains, or sometimes flying is cheaper for flights check out whichbudget.com
weather- depends on where you are check out other websites for specific temps in may, or just get lonely planet (or go to a store and just look at them !!) and it’ll give you a rough average.
in 2003 i was in london late may (that wkend when there is a bank holiday, like may 22-26 i dont remember when) and it was cold, probably about 10°c (about 50°f) and rainy rainy rainy. when DOESN”T it rain in london?
I can’t cut out Bratislava b/c I’m going to visit a friend there. Perhaps I’ll do a day trip from Vienna if possible.
and what’s there to do in Florence? I haven’t looked into it.
florence? art, culture, life, fun, gorgeous, food, amazing. most likely my favorite city in italy, if not one of my favorite ever!!!
david (by michelangelo) is there, and sooo much other AMAZING world-famous art is all over florence. the markets are amazing, beautiful place, friendly people, delicious food. wow just BREAHTAKING!!!
no kidding…rome sucks. do firenze instead (as well, it’s not as far south in italy as roma)
what was bad about Rome?
personally, i just didn’t have a good time there (it was at the end of the 3 week long family vacation of italy and by that point, i was just burned out. but talking to some friends later, they kind of felt the same and they visited under different circomstances, so i like to blame the city:-))
also, just compared to the rest fo italy (mainly venice and florence) rome is just another city. yeah, it’s got some old stuff there (the colosieum was cool) but otherwise, it’s just another huge city with rude people.
There’s a direct train from Prague to Dresden, which is maybe an hour away from Berlin, and that’s about 300 Czech crowns (15 CDN). If you’re more than one person travelling, you can get either the Saxon pass or the weekend pass (depending what day it is) for 30 euros and take the region (slow) trains from Dresden to Berlin. You could probably get on the faster train, but it’s typically much more expensive.
Berlin, you could stay for about a week and not see everything. My friend and I covered all the main sights in Paris in 2 days. Amsterdam is probably a 2 day kind of city too, in my opinion. Prague is probably a 2-3 day trip (so pretty and cheap!), but I hear Bratislava is a tad boring.
no offense, but i think the fact that you find amsterdame/prague to be 2-3 day trips is highly disturbing
My friend and I were kind of bored in Amsterdam; we didn’t find that there was much to do and we were there for 2 days.
I would have stayed longer in Prague if I had the chance, but 3 days minimum should cover it – we did everything in that time frame…
i’ve to admit i didn’t make it to prague (though at one point i thought i would end up there, entirely broke, by way of a train mix up). however, i think it might be a bit arrogant to say that you’ve done everything to do in such colorful foreign cities in only two days! i think that was my point. while staying in gemany, i went to amsterdam a couple of times (for a combined total of about two weeks) and have to say that it wasn’t enough. everyday, there were new parts of the city that opened up to me.
i guess if you’re just there to ‘see the sights’ and take in some ‘entertainment’, two days IS enough. but, if you’re trying to really get a feel for a city, sometimes 2 years isn’t enough!
The weather in May was mostly nice when I was there last year. The closer the place is to the equator, the hotter it got (thus Rome was quite hot but Paris was nice and cool)
I’ll be travelling to Europe in May, and was considering the Eurail. But it came up to be rather expensive and in the end, we spent about $100 less and we’re travelling by plane most of the way, whenever we can. That said, our itinery is fixed since we have booked the flights already. So maybe Eurail might give you more flexibility if that’s what you’re looking for.
3. This is my preliminary itinerary: London – Rome – Venice – Vienna – Bratislava – Prague – Berlin – Amsterdam – The Hague – Brussels – Luxembourg – Paris…. all in (don’t laugh) 3 weeks.
Am I crazy? Any suggestions?
Yes, that’s crazy and I would not recommend it if you really want to see or experience anything. It’s the North American way of rushed travel that never makes them understand anything about the differences and diversity of these these countries. It’s so different from travelling in North America where everything is more or less the same, culturewise. Each country is *very* unique and rushing through, there’s just no way to truly appreciate anything. Where to go obviously is a matter of taste and personal interests but ask yourself what you really want from the trip.
Generally, I would say that out of the above cities, I would fly into Amsterdam, forget about London for the 1st trip, definitely cut out Bratislava, The Hague and Luxembourg and rather spend more time in Berlin and Italy, maybe make a stop in Cologne/Germany which is really nice and close to both, Amsterdam and Brussles. Instead of Rome, I’d suggest Venice and maybe Siena in Tuscany but if you want to do Rome, look into some of the cheap city hopper airlines such as Ryanair, Air Berlin etc. or maybe a combination of 1 way ticket air and rail.
4. What kind of weather would I be getting in the said cities in May? ie do I need to bring a jacket or something?
To look up current weather and averages etc by month, you can check each city here: weather.yahoo.com/climo/GMXX1273_f.html
This might give you some additional pointers: virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/TravelGuide-Europe.html
yes, bring a coat or warm packable fleece/sweater with windbreaker. at least ONE warm outfit will make sure you enjoy the colder, windier, rainier days.
since the other questions have been addressed I will go for the friends or alone portion. I went alone and loved it. I was able to meet people where ever I went and buddy up with them, but then when I wanted to just go by myself I didnt have to offend anyone. I got to do exactly what I wanted when I wanted which is not something that is an option when you are with someone. The other thing I noticed with the people that were travelling with friends is that they were fighting quite a bit. After being with someone for a couple of days, you find that they have little things that irritate the shit out of you…so be sure that you take this into consideration. :)
Please don’t visit all of those places in such a short time. Depending on the purposes of your trip, you should decide if you’d like to cut any of your proposed destinations. In my experience, it is better to spend a four days in a country trying to see all there is to see, then rushing through frantically in two days.
I’ve been to London and Rome. You should go to London. The reason to go to Rome is so you can go to Vatican City. There is absolutely nothing like seeing the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Basilica, and St. Peter’s Square. Rome is a true gem. I haven’t been to Venice, but I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about the city.
Try to visit Berlin if you can, especially if you are interested in German history and culture. There is so much to see here. I still haven’t seen everything I visited four times before moving here in December.
Go to Amsterdam and Paris.
The rest…save for your next trip.