Help in trip around Europe

[m-jeri]

Hi All.

So its time. 2016 it is. I wanted to do this years back. Either didnt had money or time. Some people thought its a pipe dream.. .

Anyway, by next year, I wont single anymore. So its now or never. These are the cities I want to go. I will start from US. Most prolly from Chicago. I will have a 20~22 days holiday. What I want to do is go to London and start from there. and travel from London back to US.

My budget is 3000USD. For Air travel from US to LON, Travel around EU and hotel charges. I want to stay at normal or decent enough place. Nothing too luxurious.

My intend is to see the most touristy things. Nothing fancy or special. Not a museum or Play fan. But still love to see Louvre. But heard the wait times are like...eeek. What I like to cityscape, landscape, food, places of history etc. And I dont ski either.

These are the cities I want to see.

London
Paris
Rome
Bern
Venice
Vatican City
Berlin
Amsterdam
Brussels
Madrid
Barcelona
Zurich
Florence
Nice
Monte Carlo

Any help is appreciated. Total Noobie here. Yes, also, I been to Denmark and Sweden before.

Thanks.

 

[Phenomenal]

"by next year, I wont single anymore. So its now or never." -> Dangerous line..i promise myself that i will live my life to the fullest from now on more than ever before!
In the U.S.A. do visit Vegas,Los Angeles (single ho na...last int'l bachelor party samajh lo )
All 3 : cityscape, landscape, food, places of history are available in the above cities!
Also suggesting Hawaii !!
While booking tickets online use incognito mode.
Get a good cheap sim card to make calls.
Look up Airbnb for staying at good locations for free or cheap accommodation.

 

[m-jeri]

Err. I am in US for 3 years now. Went to all the places I wanted to. One Cruise left for me, so that I can visit Skagway Alaska. If at all islands, I prefer Bahamas to HI. But yea, the pearl harbour is screaming history. .. But no money to go everywhere.

So the next one is just my trip around Europe. Never got around doing it. This time.. Yes. Hope that was clear in the OP.

 

[mh09ad5578]

I'm going to Italy this September. shall be glued to this thread for pointers. by the way isn't that budget a bit low? coz my 15 days Italy itenary is coming to approximately INR 1,75,000/- including return airfare (basic Oman air-cheapest group booking). thought im an architect and chiefly this is going to be architectural tour. Also i was told i would need around a 1000 euros minimum , to cover ancillary expenses! and im to very tight on the budget. This is going to be my first international tour. But didn't want to miss out as the group is of all architects and like everyone know there's nothing like Italian design.

 

[m-jeri]

3000 USD is just for the europe part. My return ticket from US is over and above this. And I am putting +/-1000 to the 3000 USD.

Honestly, for me also I will be hitting the architectural sites.

My current plan is to go to London. Spend 2 nights in London. Then get the English channel train to Paris. From there Train trips to all the places. Circle back to London and then back to US. Atleast thats the general outline.
I will be just doing the touristy things. Not going to spend like "exploring" the city. This is a strike the bucket list item for me. .

My initial plans for stay was Airbnb or couchsurfers. But now, I will be going with the cheapest or decent enough stay options.

I even thought of using a Groupon to go. For 1399 or 1699(double occupancy), there are like 3 or 4 country packages. 14 Days. INCLUDING the round trip tickets. But I dont know how the groupon works.. So..

And. This is the current POI.

London - London Eye, Tower of London, See London Shard(Maybe the observation deck) & bullet, Tower bridge and Big Ben, Buckingham palace, St Pauls Cathedral. Pubs ofcourse!!!..
Paris - Eiffel Tower (If possible climb), See Notre Dame, Arc De Triumph, Musee d Orsay, St Chapel, See Louvre from outside. . See Pont Alexandre, River Seine boat tour. A authentic french restaurant experience. A baget, cheese and Wine smapling perhaps??
Rome & Vatican City- Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, St Peters Basilica, Vatican Mesusem, Sistine Chapel
Venice - St Marks Basilicca & Square, Grand Canal, Piazza San Marco, Campanile San Marco
Berlin - Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, Resichstag, Museum Island, Cathedral, Classic Remise
Amsterdam - No idea yet
Brussels - Cathedral of St Michael, Autoworld, Grand Palace, Notre Dame
Madrid - Palace, Plaza Mayor, Satiago Benabeu!!!!!.
Barcelona - Sagrada Familia!!!!, Casa Mila, Park Guell, Casa BAtlo, Jew Mountain, Magic Fountain, National Palace

I am not sure what I will do in these cities, but want to go there.

Zurich
Florence
Nice
Monte Carlo

 

[su30mki117]

Include Prague and Budapest in your itinerary somehow

 

[m-jeri]

Thanks. But already people are yelling at me this is a blitzkrieg. . Anyways, Those cities never hold any interest for me. These are the places i read about as a kid. Too much time passed already. Its now or never.

These are the day per city for me as of now, Got this from people before:

London - 3 Days
Paris - 3 Days
Rome & Vatican City- 3 Days
Venice - 2 Days
Berlin - 2 Day
Amsterdam - 2 Days
Barcelona - 2 Days

Already 2 weeks passed!!!! 6 more cities!!!!

Brussels -
Madrid -
Zurich - I do want to see this place.
Florence -
Nice & Monte Carlo is just 30 minutes apart as well. Monte Carlo, NOTHING DOING THERE. Ridiculous expensive. But would love to see the bay and the roads in which the F1 cars roll.

This sounds more doable for me:

London - 3 Days
Paris - 3 Days
Amsterdam - 2 Days
Berlin - 2 Day
Venice - 2 Days
Rome & Vatican City- 3 Days
Monte Carlo & then to Nice - 2 Days
Barcelona - 2 Days

 

[edge111hussain]

Ok, i have seen everything u mentioned above so ill give you my honest opinion abt the places mentioned. I am assuming you like to party too so my feedback will be based on that.
Will add more after i read your replies on this thread.

I would like to add that i just visit places for the sight seeing but also to enjoy the culture, local delicacies, enjoy the surroundings and basically soak up the local atmosphere. Saying that i also see all the attractions. My day typically starts at 8 and im out till 1-3 am.

London 3 days is not enough.

Paris - 3 days with Disneyland else you can do it in 2. If you plan it properly, you can do 5-6 things in 1 day cause everything connects really well. Make sure you buy the PARIS CITY PASS and travel using the metros. walk as much as you can in paris. its brilliant.
do eiffel at sunset. Once done do the Siene cruise at night to enjoy the amazing night views. Go on top of arc de trompe (its more satisfying than at the top of eiffel), the opera at the 9th ARR is mind blowing, catch the last show of moulin rougue... Pre book everything

Rome and vatican - vatican will take a minimum 2, so so

Venice - skip cause ur doing Amsterdam and frankly its highly overrated

Berlin - its a very different place. amazing party place. Gr8 sight seeing. 2 days is good to go.

Barcelone - minimum 3. Stay at "la rambla" only. I stayed at hotel Curious and i highly recommend it. Its a really small hotel but its brilliant. I stayed for 4 days. They ran out in no time. Next time i go, im staying a week.
Pre book everything here. They have a time slot system everywhere. If ur late and miss ur slot, they wont allow you in, you will have to take another alot and it might not be the next slot if its already full.
Sagrada famillia, casa casa all of them, park guell. the beaches. the food, the food, the food, the cool culture, culture, friendly people, amazing people, and to top it LA Rambla and everything around it.
Again, stay at la rambla only even if its a little expensive. I love Barcelona

A suggestion here. 2 hrs from Barcelona is a place called Montserrat. Its got a monestary there which holds the black Madonna. Its got one of the oldest music schools in the world. Look it up, its a wow place. If you like it, ill give you more details abt the place

Madrid - its crap, skip

IBIZA - damn, love the place. Go on the opening party weekend. The schedule will come around april/may

Amsterdam - I almost decided to shift here. You can walk around the entire city. Everything touristy is centrally located. stay at dam square or around. I stay at hotel Iron horse which is a b&B, nothing fancy, nice and clean. This was near the museum which has the iam amsterdam sign.
You can do it in 2 days or even a week will be less. Make it your last destination. amazing culture, people, atmosphere, parties, best food in europe

Florence - amazing place, stayed only a day unfortunately

Zurich - skip man, do swiss for your honeymoon. We did swiss in 6 days which covers the main stuff.

French riviera - rent a car and do it all, nice, monaco, monte carlo.

I dont think you can do all of europe properly in 20 days. You should do a place properly and enjoy everything abt it, not just the sight seeing. Narrow down your list and choose wisely.

I would definitely do:
Prague
Budapest
Brussels
Vienna
Valencia / mallorca

Excuse my spelling errors. I kinda typed in a real hurry. It is past 2 am here...

 

[m-jeri]

Appreciate the LONG post.

Points noted.

I dont like to partay. I like pubs and restaurants. Not clubs. with the music and dancing. So.. I dont know if that will make u change the opinions.


Anyways some follow up questions, please do reply if possible:

I am willing to loose some cities. No issues. If luck is there, I may go again. Didnt think this will be happening. .

London, even with the small number of places I want to see 3 is not enough?

Paris, I wont be going to disneyland. Did the on in Orlando. One is enough. . So 2 is enough? or 1 night? Not a fan of opera or Moulin Rouge type things. Tried to attend a broadway show in NY and the cirqu de solie. Not my thing. Its good and all, again just not my thing.

Berlin - Ok.

Rome and Vatican - 3 days is fine? with the places I gave?

Venice - Really??? but again Amsterdam is also like a canal like thingy.

Barcelona - Ok

Madrid - Ok. Will skip. The stadium alone was my pull.

Ibiza - If its just party, then... Heard its expensive as well. So I dont think I will be up for that.

Amsterdam - ok 2 days.

Florence - Really? What is there to do?

Zurich - Ok.

French Riviera - Yes, thats exactly what I had in mind. Can I do it in the days I gave?



Like London, Paris, Berlin, Rome & Vatican, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Florence & French Riviera?

 

[thirumalkumaran]

If you are Ok with package tours..
I was in the UK for 2 years and got good VFM Packages with indian food...
Check those options...

it covers all the cities you are after...
and you can combine packages like London and Europe or Europe and scotland.... to cover most of them..

 

[m-jeri]

Can you please give me some link or source or anything?

I am interested in those..however can I ask. Is there any requirement that I need to be in a group or something. I dont spend that much time in places.. I just like to move around fast.

 

[blr_p]

Any help is appreciated. Total Noobie here. Yes, also, I been to Denmark and Sweden before.

https://www.ricksteves.com/

had family travel italy austria and some other places. And the husband my cousin wouldn't be able to find the places they visited on a map (!) Wondered how it was possible for him to even contemplate a vist to these places all by themselves. That's the site they used to plan it all out and found it dependable for hotels and things to see.

No package tours. No cattle class.

 

[deepakvrao]

If you really want to see and experience a place you need to spend time.

We go to Europe twice a year. One visit is 4 weeks, and one is 2-3 weeks. We always spend 1 week at least at one spot. That's the way to enjoy the trip. You have the rest of your life to see more places. Don't cram in too much. Yes, you can holiday with your wife too ;-)

Oh, also, learn a bit of the language. Goes a long way in adding to your experience.

 

[m-jeri]

^^

I dont want to "really" see. Just see. And I am not rich enough to go twice every year. . I know noob level conversational German, Spanish and French. Like, asking for direction or help or questions etc. If someone say a long sentence, I will just smile back. Did that for some work related activity.

 

[edge111hussain]

Skip berlin, do prague. Do Germany sometime later
London - if sight seeing is all u intend then 3 days in london should be more than enough
Paris - If you dont intend to visit all the museums (i did lourve and 2 more) than 2 days 2 nights should do it. This is provided u sacrifice on going to the gothic side of paris which is typically the 6th arr which is Paris St germain and the area around Notre dam at night.
I forgot to mention Versailles which if you catch a metro at 9am you can finish off by 3 pm. In that case plan it in such a way that you get 3 days and 2 nights.
Also if you ever intend to do switzerland, you can skip paris now and do the TGV between paris and swiss. Paris is all abt the Romance, do it with your wife. Its not a bachelors destination.

Rome + vatican - i took 5, i love history, i did it at my pace. Its beautiful. I did everything there so if u intend to hop skip then i guess u can literally do it in 2 days 2. But not worth it if u wanna do it in a hurry.

Do the Nou camp @ barcelona. It takes time there, i took 4 hrs cause i went through everything. I got my own shirt made there. Check the DP. Its an official kit with my name on the back. My prized possession

Ibiza is expensive if you stay at a 5 star. Else its the cheapest of all the places u mentioned. I love the beaches there. Cala conte and compe were my favourite tourist beaches. I booked a private one too for a night. Was worth the moolah spent. The old fort area is outstanding. Best food in spain. The Sangria's there are unlike anything i have ever had. The Palia and Tapas are the best there(spanish dishes).

Barcelona - Food bro. And the culture. People are super friendly. I partied with a lot of locals. Best local made ice creams too

Amsterdam - Not sure abt 2 days. See if u go in April may, thats the tulip season. If you see all that, that will take away a day. From amsterdam u can do a day tour of Rotterdam, bruges and brussels.
See Amsterdam is a bit tricky. Its got amazing bars and cafes. Its got amazing world cuisines too. Its got the most no of likeable museums too. It ranges from the normal stuff to sex museums( was a lot of fun ), beer museums, cheese, chocolate, nutella, Heinekken and so on. Red light district at night. Night out at dam square at night. I did the cycle tour too. Im sure ur aware its got it own dedicated cycle lane, and doing it is a lot of fun.
Pls do visit anne frank museum. Dont miss it. Besides it is a church where at 12 a local fella plays live in a boat in a canal and at the church top is another fella who plays the church bells. Such live experiences are all over Amsterdam.
One evening on a casual street a few teenage girls stopped and started singing.The same type we see in pitch perfect. so the place surprises you. I love the place.

Just a tip. Most american flights halt at amsterdam. So book your tics in a way that u get the max connecting flights.
The cost of euro rail or local flights is more or less the same. There are plenty of local trains that move and connect place day and night apart from euro rail but their charts only come out seasonally. So i had to wait till april for the may schedule to come.

Its easier and safer to travel around europe than India. My very very honest opinion.It is such a breeze. Google maps too will throw a 1000 options from intercity options to within the city. Use it all the time.

If i were doing what u intend to do, it would take me more than a month.

Dont take a tour man. Explore..... its a lot more fun that way

Appreciate the LONG post.

Points noted.

I dont like to partay. I like pubs and restaurants. Not clubs. with the music and dancing. So.. I dont know if that will make u change the opinions.


Anyways some follow up questions, please do reply if possible:

I am willing to loose some cities. No issues. If luck is there, I may go again. Didnt think this will be happening. .

London, even with the small number of places I want to see 3 is not enough?

Paris, I wont be going to disneyland. Did the on in Orlando. One is enough. . So 2 is enough? or 1 night? Not a fan of opera or Moulin Rouge type things. Tried to attend a broadway show in NY and the cirqu de solie. Not my thing. Its good and all, again just not my thing.

Berlin - Ok.

Rome and Vatican - 3 days is fine? with the places I gave?

Venice - Really??? but again Amsterdam is also like a canal like thingy.

Barcelona - Ok

Madrid - Ok. Will skip. The stadium alone was my pull.

Ibiza - If its just party, then... Heard its expensive as well. So I dont think I will be up for that.

Amsterdam - ok 2 days.

Florence - Really? What is there to do?

Zurich - Ok.

French Riviera - Yes, thats exactly what I had in mind. Can I do it in the days I gave?



Like London, Paris, Berlin, Rome & Vatican, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Florence & French Riviera?

 

[m-jeri]

Going by all you.. I guess, I need to split the tour into 2. One next year and another...sometime else...... . I dont know. Let me think.

I will try to split the places into 2 list. One alone... and one with... .. someone else.

 

[edge111hussain]

Going by all you.. I guess, I need to split the tour into 2. One next year and another...sometime else...... . I dont know. Let me think.

I will try to split the places into 2 list. One alone... and one with... .. someone else.

Prepare a rough itienary. Choose ur mode of transport and the time it will take between point A-b and the time u intend to travel.
For eg-if u intend to travel in april, most beaches will be closed or too cold. So u can start eliminating those places. But then around april Europe aint too crowded. Start may and things get all packed up, hotel rates drastically start changing and so on.
So start preparing these things from now. For eg - Amsterdam - april - 4 star - Rs 16500 for 4 nights. The same place in June is 14000 a night. Rates change drastically.

And since ur a stag, go the hostel route rather than Hotel. You end up meeting some amazing people, travel partners and friends for life. and its much cheaper too

 

[raj_pol]

Me too planning a 18 days trip in Europe. Have a different question - what kind of bank balances do I need to show to get a schengen visa?
Can you help me on the same?

 

[edge111hussain]

Me too planning a 18 days trip in Europe. Have a different question - what kind of bank balances do I need to show to get a schengen visa?
Can you help me on the same?

Its your itr + bank balance. Also you need to pre book everything for a schengen (assuming ur applying from India).
For 18 days your paper work will have to be quiet solid mate.

 

[bond_bhai]

We had been to Europe for 2.5 weeks. We visited France, Switzerland and Italy. We got our Schengan Visa from the French Embassy in Bangalore coz the others needed us to send our passports to Mumbai (or Delhi don't remember exactly). We had attached our ITR for 3 years, Bank Account statements for past 6 months (we had a balance of about 3L - both me and wifey combined), Hotel bookings (from booking.com), Flight tickets and a letter from the company saying i am still employed with the company along with the usual forms. We had a short 2-3min interview, all they asked was where we worked and why we are going. We got our passports with Schengan visa the next day.
The hotel bookings need not be the "actual" one, you can choose hotels which give you an option to cancel. You can change the plan later.