Athens is possible, but really experiencing even a bit of what is truly Greece is not unless you limit this 3 weeks to Greece and Itlay. I would not spend the time and money to get to Greece if you’re only going to end up with a day or 2 in Athens.

$3,000 is doable for budget assuming you don’t end up spending a bunch for city to city transportation, hang out in expensive clubs or try to eat in nice Restaurants. I would figure $500 for city to city transportation. That leaves more then $100 per day which should easily co er a backpacker travel style.

I would do Greece/Italy or Germany/France.

Or you could do a southern France-into-Spain trip. Or perhaps Cote d’Azur up into Italy, but the Riviera will be hot and crowded right now, northern Spain would be very nice.

If you’re set on Amsterdam, try to find cheap roundtrip flights out of Schiphol or Eindhoven so that you can visit Spain or some other country.

If you decide on a beginning itinerary, check back with us and maybe we can help you figure out something.

From Newark NJ, the cheapest flights I found were to London, Amsterdam or Frankfurt. I really am partial to going to Amsterdam because I have heard from many friends that it is out of this world. I think this is were I’m most likely going to fly into.

I have been to Italy with family before, I’m thinking about skipping on Italy/Greece to keep the travel down. Add in Prague and Munich and try to make a solid loop around.

As for Spain, I would love to go. Thanks for the tips on Northern Spain, where exactly were you referring to?

As for food and clubs, I’m not a big spender. Clubs can go down the drain for me. I am more of a local pub/food truck/street/local food guy. Not only is it cheaper, I feel like it’s a better experience.

Look at Iceland Express from Newark to Europe. I’m seeing Copenhagen at $608 total around your dates, for example. You can mix/match arrival and return airports to save backtrack time and expenses. (Finnair to CPH with similar price around these dates; Oslo and London coming up fairly cheap too).

Never been, but I would think Copenhagen would still be lovely in three weeks time.

I’ve been to Amsterdam in September and it was very nice.

For northern Spain, I was thinking the northeastern region of Galicia in general, such towns as Santiago de Compestela. Perhaps the middle area of Asturias in particular. You get dramatic coastline as well as historic towns.Galicia

Vueling flies out of Amsterdam to several locations in northern Spain. My kid used this airline a couple years ago and everything was fine.

Ok so I have some more details.

I will be flying in and out of Amsterdam leaving EWR (Newark NJ) at September 15th and leaving October 9th.

I will be spending 4 days in Amsterdam then will be moving via rail to Berlin for 3 days. After Berlin is Prague for 3 days, then Munich for 2, Milan for 3.

This is where I need your help. I want to spend 2 days in Paris and 2 more days in Amsterdam before I leave. This leaves me 6 days.

Where should I stop in between Milan and Paris and where to stop between Paris and Amsterdam?
3 days a piece sound good.

Any where in the in between is OK with me! Bring on the suggestions!

Most importantly, THANK YOU!

Why three days in Milan? If there’s nothing specific you want to see there I’d skip it altogether. Paris deserves more than two days, unless you’ve been before.

I was just winging it based on word of mouth. I have been to Italy before but never Milan so I figured I’d give it a shot. If I do skip Milan, what else do you recommend? As you can tell I’m going with very little planning, which doesn’t bother me. I am open to any and all opinions. You’re right I will most likely stay more days in Paris/France.

Pluses for Milan:
It’s transportation hub, so often fits well into an itinerary. That also makes some reasonable day trips easy.
There’s maybe a day’s worth of fairly interesting stuff there — although the most famous sight, DaVinci’s Last Supper, is almost impossible to see without more planning than seems to fit your style.

I would probably skip Italy altogether in your itinerary. Try for a few days in Southern France, maybe basing near Nice, instead. Venice, if you haven’t been there, would be another option for 2 days. It’s far more interesting than Milan and has reasonable transportation connections — particularly by overnight train or plane from major cities outside Italy.

Yes I have been to Venice. Nice, France looks beautiful. Maybe I will see if I can work this into my schedule. It is a little more south then the “circle” I am traveling in.

I still need a nice place to stay between Paris and Amsterdam if anyone has any nice cities.

Here is my current layout

http://oi56.tinypic….