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First Euro Trip!
cgencarelli
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Hello! I just finished planning my itinerary for a summer Euro Trip. The link is as follows: http://www.eurotrip….

I’d appreciate any suggestions/advice on travel, accommodations, must-sees, etc.

Thanks!!!

Chris

I am leaving from Toronto with $5000 for 44 days
London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Split, Bled, Interlaken, Gimmelwald, Venice, Ferrara, Modena, Rome, Nice, Barcelona, Ibiza
Requesting help with Transport, Hostels, Budget, Itinerary, Nightlife, Food, Sights
luv_the_beach
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I think it’s quite good, if a bit rushed in Italy.

My advice, at least on the Southern Europe portion:

Modena and Ferrara could be a daytrip from each other. They’re worth seeing, but unless you have a specific reason to spend more time in these towns, I would suggest 2-3 days in these tows combined. And stay in one, visit the other. No need to move so much from hostel to hostel. A better option, IMO, is to stay for 2-3 days in Bologna, and just visit Ferrara and/or Modena as daytrips from Bologna.

I would reallocate that extra day or two that you’ve gained to Nice, and make it 3-4 days total, instead of just 2. Enjoy your time in Nice, think of it as Ibiza lite, and definitely take daytrips to two or three nearby towns like my favorites that I love to recommend: Eze and/or Roquebrune. There’s also Antibes, Cannes, Grasse, Menton, and others.

3 days in Rome: Rome can definitely justify 3 full days. Or, you may want to consider a daytrip to Florence on the middle day out of your 3 full days. With high-speed rail, Florence is just 90 minutes away. Even though it’s slightly backtracking, it’s only a 90-minute trip (each way), and it minimizes the number of times you have to move between hostels (or hotels, or whatever your preferred accommodation)

Also, for your itinerary overall, take commuting days into consideration. Some commutes [like Nice to Barcelona] will be long. So, whatever the total of days all this adds up to, you’ll want to plan for extra cushion days.

P.S.

To fully enjoy Ibiza and the Côte d’Azur, I’m assuming you’ll be traveling during the warmer months.


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cgencarelli
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Thanks for the advice! Yes, I’ll be traveling in July/August.

The stop in Modena is to visit family, so I’ll use Modena as a home-base and take day trips from there. I’m quite familiar with Italy for the most part, just unfamiliar with the rest of Europe!

Thanks for the travel advice. I’m really not sure how long it takes to get from place to place via train. Is train the best way to get around?

Feel free to offer any more suggestions!

Chris

I am leaving from Toronto with $5000 for 44 days
London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Split, Bled, Interlaken, Gimmelwald, Venice, Ferrara, Modena, Rome, Nice, Barcelona, Ibiza
Requesting help with Transport, Hostels, Budget, Itinerary, Nightlife, Food, Sights
luv_the_beach
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cgencarelli wrote:
Is train the best way to get around?

This comes up quite often, and the general answer is: if you’re traveling relatively-short overland (as opposed to over-water) distances, then train is your best option. Most backpacker itineraries (like yours for the most part) are made up of a string of destinations, each successive one not too far from the previous one. So, the train works very well for these types of itineraries.

But not all routes are created equal.

  1. A city-pair that you’ve chosen may not have a direct train service between the two cities. Nice-Barcelona, for example, will require at least one transfer (Marseille, and maybe also Montpelier). There may also be time spent on the Spain-France border, as the train switches track. Railroad tracks in Spain and Portugal (with the exception of the AVE trains) are wider than in the rest of Europe.
  2. Some routes, like Florence-Rome, are served by high-speed rail. Others are slow, conventional rail. Some of these trains run overnight, so that you can at least save some time that way. I personally like to sleep in a comfy bed, and although train gassings are a silly urban legend, there’s always the slight risk of having something stolen from you if you’re sound asleep in a mostly-empty train. It’s not a big problem, but it can happen.
  3. Some routes may have to go around mountain ranges that you won’t see on a non-topographic map, making the route longer than it appears on a political map, like the unhelpful maps that eurail provides. The Alps, for example, limit the number of passages across the French-Italian border. Another good example is the Massif Central mountains smack in the middle of Southern France, to the west of towns like Lyon and Avignon. This mountain range is the reason there’s a noticeable hole in France’s rail network in the south-central part of the country (if you ever look at a system map). It won’t affect you, though.

Here’s a great German website where you can check train schedules across Europe, and see how long different routes will take, and if any of them will require transfers. This website is a great planning tool that many of us use.


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cgencarelli
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Thanks so much! This is a huge help. Really appreciate it!

Chris

I am leaving from Toronto with $5000 for 44 days
London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Split, Bled, Interlaken, Gimmelwald, Venice, Ferrara, Modena, Rome, Nice, Barcelona, Ibiza
Requesting help with Transport, Hostels, Budget, Itinerary, Nightlife, Food, Sights
mandisclark
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Hii.. I am visiting Euro first time and really this post help me a lot to plan the trip.. Thanks to all and appreciate your all effort.. Now i am dam sure this vacations will be the best vacations of my life..
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