Anyone?

Well,

I think your itinerary is too rigid. It’s good that you have some open, undedicated days, but I think that it’s a bit rigid the way it is: planning exactly which dates you’ll be in each destination. Instead, you should plan on spending a range of days in most places (like London, 3-4 days), and also try to organize some of these sights into a base city / hub system. For example, there’s plenty possible daytrips from Florence (like siena), Madrid (Toledo, for example), or Munich (Salzburg or Augsburg, among others). This is a great and less tiresome way of seeing more of a country without moving from hostel to hostel too much, particularly in a part of the country that may be more saturated with points of interest. Additionally, some of the places you have picked are probably not the best choices for what you’re looking for.

I think the France leg of your trip can be better. It seems you picked well-known destinations, rather than interesting destinations. Monaco is great, but don’t make it a destination by itself. You can spend about 3-5 days on the Côte d’Azur, maybe base yourself in Antibes, and take daytrips from there to Monaco, Cannes, Nice, Menton, Eze, or Roquebrune. The old town of Monaco Ville is cool, but you might find, say, Roquebrune or Eze more spectacular, Menton more quaint, and Antibes more fun.

Lyon is very nice, but again, there’s alternatives, unless you have your heart set on Lyon for whatever reason. You can maybe divert this time to other points of interest in France, such as the Loire valley, which can be a 2-day trip from Paris, or make Saint Malo and Mont-Saint-Michel a 3-day trip from Paris, or you can spend more time in Provence and Languedoc, and check out the cities of Arles, Nîmes, Aix-en-Provence. A great alternative nearer to Lyon is Dijon and the Bourgogne region for a day or two. And an alternative to Lourdes that I suggest is Carcassonne, unless you are going to Lourdes for a religious pilgrimage.

One thing you can do to make your itinerary flow easier, is that you can just take a ferry from Ireland to France (to Roscoff in Brittany, or Cherbourg in Normandy), explore northern France (which would inlclude Mon-Saint-Michel and Paris), head to Amsterdam from there, then northern Germany, Poland, Czech, southern Germany, Switzerland, Italy, then southern France, then Spain.

Any particular reason for visiting Geneva?

I think that’s a whole lot of time you’re spending in Rome. You have enough time to visit the Campania region to explore the Amalfi Coast, Capri, and Pompeii/Herculaneum, or even head down to Puglia region for some great “off the beaten track” towns and beaches. Or you can divert some of those days to Tuscany, maybe add a day or two to Florence, and take those daytrips as I suggested above (San Gimignano, Siena, etc), or you can divert these days to elsewhere in the itinerary, maybe the Rhine valley and Cologne?, or spend more time in Bavaria with a sidetrip to Salzburg in Austria? Or how about Belgium, which you’ll be skipping over completely?

If you’re headed for the Senfermines festival in Pamplona, you’ll be there a day too late. It runs from July 7th to the 14th. Either get there during that time, or divert that time to elswhere in Spain.

How much time will you dedicate to this additional destination?

Well we only use those dates to have a rough idea.

We’re doing Amsterdam first because 2 guys in the group want to see it sooner rather than later as their money will most likely run out. We’re trying to do it in a counterclockwise fashion so we spend the warmer summer months in the northern end of things.

Geneva, only because a friend wants to see the sites (hes a history major).

I agree about the France issue, just not sure where to go. We figure Cannes & Monacco will wind up being expensive. Any suggestions/input on those?

Kifler,

I edited my post above, so re-read it, and I’ll check back later to answer your additional questions.

I second everything luv_the_beach said about France. Really good recommendations.

So how are they going to carry on with the rest of the trip, if their money runs out before the trip is over?

I’m not a Switzerland expert, but I can’t think of anything notable in Geneva’s history that makes the city stand out. The city played quite the role in the Protestant Reformation (with John Calvin being based there), but that’s pretty much it.

I’ve heard that Cannes is “expensive” before, but I don’t remember the city being prohibitively expensive, or standing out. Cannes is an easy daytrip from nearby Antibes, a great place to stay. And there’s other great places to visit in the Côte d’Azur as I mentioned above.

too rigid and luv the beach is right about france, which can be said about your whole trip to europe. Your going to some major places, like in Italy. But avoiding the best part of the area: the little villages of Florence.

My general criticism is that in 81 days you are trying to cover most of the continent. Cover half the continent or about 5-6 countries and you’ll have a much more enjoyable time.

It might also help to know what you guys like to do.

Are you all like your friend and want to see historical sites? Do you want to party and drink beer? Do you only want to stick to just major cities? Do you want to see off the beaten path cities, and local sites? Do you want to visit museums, monuments, or parks? What are the half dozen places that you for sure want to go?

We have quite the mix of people going.
2 guys are planning to stay for 2 months at the most, they’re not too interested in where we go. The other 3 of us are planning to stay until the money runs out.

Everyone wants to party in the bigger cities but take the time to enjoy the smaller cities in between. We’d like to get a mix of seeing the historical sites like castles, memorials, structures but not necessarily the museums. If there are adventure tours, we’d probably consider them.

So, how are you planning your flights to/from Europe, if you’re going to be there indefinitely?

Your itinerary looks like a road race.

The goal of travelling is to have fun, not live in a train. You have 32 destinations so that’s 32 times you’ll have to get on a train. That’s a lot of lost time. I’d give myself a little more hangout time at some of the places.

Use London for example.

You arrive on the 1st and leave on the 3rd. What time does your plane land? You’ll have to get your luggage and then catch the train to London. You probably don’t know your way around so you’ll have to fiddle with trying to find your hostel. Next, you’ll have to check in and get settled. Get the point? You burn a lot of time with each movement. This really leaves about two days to see the city. The Tower of London, Museums (Loved the Rosetta Stone), Westminster Abbey and then all the day trips, etc.

Some of the day trips are to Windsor Castle and Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon (Home of Shakespeare), Canterbury, Cambridge, Oxford, etc. You’re shorting your self here.
Do a google search for: | daytrips London Top 10 | for a list of things to do out of London. Do this for all the major cities you’re going to see. Give yourself more time in the larger cities and allow yourself the option of a daytrip or just meeting people.

Have fun.