jch016
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 11 years ago
Hi everybody. I have been planning my EuroTrip all night and ask for a few suggestions on my planned route. My main questions are
1. How long do you think this trip will take me? I'm trying to make it last about 35 days.
2. How much do you think the rest of the costs will be minus airfare and EuRail ticket? (which will be about $2000)
3. Should I go through Brno and Frankfurt instead of Jihlava and Hamburg?
4. Is Frankfurt better than Hamburg to you?
5. Is Brno worth stopping to see on my way to Prague?
6. Are there any other stops that I should make in the cities that I will travel through?
7. Thanks for reading all of this if you decide to help me out.
I looked at EuRail map and came up with the different stops that it makes along the various paths. The cities that are [b]Bhttps://rail.cc/en/night-train/sweden/se [/b]are the cities I plan on stopping at. The rest I will just pass through... that is, unless you suggest that I MUST stop somewhere! My trip starts in Venice as that was one of the cheaper flights I could find on the western side of Europe (well, almost as far west as I wanna go). I have a few different routes I haven't made up my mind on. One involves traveling from Vienna -> Breclav -> Brno -> Kolin on my way to Prague and the other Vienna to Prague route I have is Vienna -> Znojmo -> Jihlava. Which route do you think is better? One is only 20 miles longer than the other. I am currently leaning towards Vienna -> Brno -> Prague.
Another conflict I have is whether I want to go from Berlin to Frankfurt or Berlin to Hamburg. After both cities I would head to Amsterdam. If anyone has any suggestions I am open. Currently leaning towards Frankfurt. The Frankfurt route is 30 miles longer and consists of the following stops:
[b]Berlin [/b]-> Halle -> Naumburg -> Weimar -> Erfurt -> Fulda -> [b]Frankfurt[/b]
[b]Frankfurt [/b](HSR) -> Koln -> Dusseldorf -> Duisburg -> Emmerich -> Arnhem -> Utrecht -> [b]Amsterdam[/b]
The final conflict I have is whether or not I want to go to Brugge and London. I could do both but would miss Oostende. Is Oostende worth spending a night at or should I just go from Brussels to Brugge and after that head to Calais and London?
Here is the route I would be taking if I simply go through Breclav and Hamburg:
[b]Venice [/b]-> [b]Trieste [/b]-> Sezana -> Divica -> [b]Ljubljana [/b]= 132.23 miles traveled.
[b]Ljubljana [/b]-> Krsko -> Maribor -> Spielfeld -> Graz -> Bruck a/d Mur -> Wiener Neustadt -> Baden bei Wien -> [b]Vienna [/b]= 366.84 miles traveled.
[b]Vienna [/b]-> Znojmo -> Jihlava - > Tabor -> [b]Prague [/b]= 546.83 miles traveled.
[b]Prague [/b]-> Usti Nad Labem -> Dresden (start of high speed) -> Elsterwerda -> [b]Berlin [/b]= 730.28 miles traveled.
[b]Berlin [/b]-> Wittenberge -> Ludwigslust -> [b]Hamburg [/b]= 921.97 miles traveled.
[b]Hamburg [/b]-> Bremen -> Osnabruck -> Rheine -> Hengelo -> Amersfoort -> [b]Amsterdam [/b]= 1192.53 miles traveled.
[b]Amsterdam [/b]-> Rotterdam -> Breda -> Antwerp -> Gent -> Brugge -> [b]Oostende [/b]-> [b]Brugge [/b]-> Gent -> [b]Brussels [/b]= 1426.48 miles traveled.
[b]OR[/b]
[b]Amsterdam [/b]-> Rotterdam -> Breda -> Antwerp -> [b]Brussels [/b]= 1310.91 miles traveled.
[b]OR[/b]
[b]Amsterdam [/b]-> Rotterdam -> Breda -> Antwerp -> [b]Brussels [/b]-> Gent -> [b]Brugge [/b]-> Gent -> Tourcoing -> Lille -> Calais -> Folkestone -> Ashford -> [b]London [/b]= 1586.59 miles traveled.
[b]London [/b]-> Ashford -> Folkestone -> [b]Calais [/b]-> Lille -> [b]Paris [/b]= 1865.26 miles traveled.
[b]Paris [/b]-> Le Creusot -> Macon -> [b]Lyon [/b]= 2117.53 miles traveled.
[b]Lyon [/b]-> [b]Marseilles [/b](HSR) = 2290.40 miles traveled.
[b]Marseilles [/b]-> [b]Arles [/b]-> Avignon -> Nimes -> Montpellier -> Sete -> Agde -> Beziers -> Narbonne -> Perpignan -> [b]Barcelona [/b](HSR) = 2610.22 miles traveled.
Total Stops:
1. Venice (Probably stay 2 nights).
2. Trieste (Likely just 1 day if at all).
3. Ljubljana (Want to stay at least 2 nights).
4. Vienna (Want to stay for at least 2 nights).
5. Possibly Brno (Likely just 1 day).
6. Prague (Want to stay for at least 1 night).
7. Berlin (Want to stay for at least 2 nights).
8. Hamburg OR Frankfurt (Want to stay for at least 1 night).
9. Amsterdam (Want to stay for 3 days and 2 nights)
10. Possibly Oostende
11. Bruge (At least 1 day and 1 night).
12. Brussels (At least 1 day and 1 night).
13. London (Want to stay for 3 days and 2 nights).
14. Calais (Likely just 1 day).
15. Paris (Want to stay for 3 days and 2 nights).
16. Lyon (At least 1 night).
17. Marseilles (Want to stay for 3 days and 2 nights).
18. Arles (small day stop)
19. Barcelona (final stop until flight back to the USA).
jch016
Traveller
1 comments
As I look at this again, I feel like I need to cut a few things out to make 35 days doable. I think I'd be able to do it all in 40 days, but cash will be very low by the end...
Getting rid of Oostende for sure. May just say do London some other time... Let me know what places you all think I should cut out!!
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi jch016...
Do you have already your Eurail pass, if yes, just let me know your order PNR (the one beginning with AA) so I can set you PLUS for a detailed reply. Thank you. :)
Peter :)
cold__
Traveller
49 comments
Just a quick bit, I do recommend to see Bruges and Gent (Gent especially during the night as far as I've been told it's the most lighted city in Europe [?]).
I wouldn't cut London btw (I live here and really love it!)
I would cut Marsille definitely.
Consider to go to Italy and see Cinque Terre (and maybe Florance) -- but this way you have to a little bit re-manage your trip.
Brugge and Gent you can do in 1 day (staying over the night in Gent as it's worth at night).
Brussels I think it's really not necessery to stay over the night as well.
Probably I would increase Prague by decreasing 2 nights in Vienna.
I don't know how long you're gonna stay in Barcelona, but I would give 4 days/4 nights at least :) Also -- if you could do Portugal , I mean Lisbon, trust me -- go for it!!! :)
You can take route Barcelona->fast train to Madrid (spend 1 day there)->overnight train to Lisbon.
Apart from lots of attractions like things going on, parties, clubbing, beach in the city, nice panorama views, huge amount of people all the time, most beautiful women in Europe :D in Barcelona - Lisbon is my favourite city. Obviously you have same things in Lisbon as well, but not that much as in Barcelona. And Lisbon is so climatic and beautiful! Lisbon is a bit different level of impression, for me , where Barcelona was like a Spanish metropolis (with many attractions and also good architecture etc), Lisbon was like a big small city in Spain with small streets etc--more local, atmospheric etc..
I don't know also if it's possible to go to Zurich for you, but if you can go for 1 day there, I would recommend, but remember then to take the touristic train through Alps (this. is. truly. astonishing!)
Just a few words from me :)
Good luck! Have fun in Europe!
engineer_tom
Traveller
25 comments
With travelling to the UK I always wonder why people go via Calais-Dover as it is the busiest most expensive route, yes it is the quickest route as they have the Eurostar, but there are quicker ferries than from Calais such as the fast cats into Portsmouth from Normandy, when travelling from outside France I would suggest taking a ferry from further north/south across to the UK, you will could come into Harwich (North) from The Hague which is approx. the same distance from London or Portsmouth (South) which is only an hour from London and is also home to a lot of history itself both in the maritime sector ie one of if not the oldest dockyard in the world, oldest commissioned warship, etc etc, also there is the home of Charles Dickens, all between the ferry port and the train station less than a 15 min walk away, yes I am extremely biased as i live in Portsmouth, but everyone's fascination with London seems a bit biased in itself.
Right a little bit off topic towards the end but my point is with the UK think of alternatives rather than entering and leaving the UK through Dover. and also try to get out of london if just for a day trip into the country if the weather is nice and you find a nice spot it can be lovely. (somewhere north of london there is a very nice pub that hires out rowing boats on a river at the bottom of the beer garden, i know this isn't helpful as there are 50,000 pubs in the Uk but it is just an example0