Also, we were super interested in Gierthoon, the small town in the Netherlands with no roads, only water. I was devastated to see it was not only super far from Amsterdam, but every other city we plan on visiting. Does anyone know of quick/cheap transportation between the two cities? If not, it’s no big deal.

No place in the Netherlands can be “so far” from Amsterdam…
Amsterdam to Gierthoorn: train to Steenwijk (1 hour 45 minutes, 2 trains per hour to choose from) bus 249 (?? Check #) to Gierthoorn (about 15 minutes, but I don’t know how long between buses). I’d think you could bike from Steenwijk in 1/2 hour???

With only two days in Amsterdam though, is a day trip to Gierthoon worth it? I might save it for my next trip to Europe.

There are certainly 2 full days worth of things to see and do in Amsterdam without a side trip that’s going to shoot an entire day. However, with the exception of Nice and Florence, which are big cities, your entire trip is megacities. You’ll have to decide based on what seeing a couple of tourist attractions and experiencing a little more of Amsterdam is worth compared to the interesting experience of this side trip and seeing something that’s not another city. Your train ticket to Steenwijk would include a discount on a bike rental or a shared taxi to Gierthoorn which makes getting there a fairly interesting adventure in itself. You’ve got tons of time in several megacities. I’d cut some days there if you want to do this.

how do you plan to transport once you get to Rome?

No, with only two days in Amsterdam I would not take any day trips. You say the main interest about Gierthoon is that it’s built on water. So is Amsterdam. It’s full of canals.
I like that your itinerary is not rushed, but I would cut a few days in Paris and London and add them to Rome and Florence.

What I dislike about it:

• Long train journeys
  Florence to Nice = 10 hours
  Nice to Barcelona = 12 hours
  Madrid to Paris = 14 hours
  I would drop Nice, since it’s a bit off the way, and take a budget flight to Barcelona.

• It’s too heavy on cities.
  Wouldn’t you be interested in experiencing the European countryside? If so you have several options (the Swiss Alps, Tuscany…)

Perhaps the following itinerary might be of interest to you?

1. London 5 days
2. Amsterdam 3 days
3. Bruges 2 days
4. Paris 5 days
5. Gimmelwald -Swiss Alps 3 days
6. Florence 4 days (with a day trip to a Tuscan hill town)
7. Rome 5 days
   budget flight to Barcelona
8. Barcelona 4 days
9. Madrid 4 days (with a day trip to Toledo)
   Fly to New York

Total 35 days

I agree with Wanderer, 7 days in London is way too much, 4-5 days is good enough, I suggest at least one day trip into the English countryside (I personally recommend Bath). Also, to save time and a few bucks, get the London Pass www.londonpass.com/

Thank you for the suggestions. It’s hard to plan this trip because all of us want something different. I’d like to visit family in Nice and re-visit Spain, another wants a majority of the time in France, a third is determined for Italy, and the fourth wants to spend a full week in London. We can probably scrape a couple of days off of London and add it to Amsterdam or just another city.

Transportation is a huge issue too, is there an easier + quicker way to travel through all these cities?

Much of this will be fastest by train…

Within Italy, take the train
Italy to Nice, probably train, but check for cheap flight
Nice to Spain, probably fly, but you can do it by train
Spain to Paris, fly or take overnight train
Train for the rest unless you can’t find a reasonable fare on Eurostar, the channel train. Fly Amsterdam to London if it’s significantly cheaper.

I would limit flights and overnight trains to an average of 1 a week and no more than 2 in any 5 day period.

Your group of friends may need to split up. Plan 5 days in big cities and if you can’t fit in everything everyone wants to do, then split up for a day or so.

whats the average cost of an over night train? and what do you consider a
“cheap” flight Price wise?

Anything under 60 euros is good for me, I guess. I’ve seen Madrid to Barcelona for 40 euros but I’m unsure what Madrid to Paris or Florence to Nice would be. I’ve heard the train ride from Florence to Nice is very scenic though.