Yes, you probably could see most of the major tourist sights on this trip, but I like to say that there is more to traveling europe than looking at old buildings and taking pictures of churches. You can draw out a walking tour that will take you by most of the popular sights, but couldn’t you just look at online pictures and videos for that? Its great to see and take pictures of things, but there are a lot of cultural attractions and experiences that you can’t get on a walking tour. Also, most people agree that its the unexpected things that happen while traveling that make the most memorable experiences, which the intensive planning has left little chance of.
Well, enough of appeasing the travel gods, onto to the physical aspects.

I have to at least suggest that you remove some of the cities from your itinerary. Maybe remove berlin, brussels and amsterdam, and spend those extra days in venice and florence.

Also, my impression of Switzerland is that it wouldn’t be a good destination for winter (unless you plan to ski), maybe someone else could confirm or suggest otherwise.

You didn’t pick very good destinations for a tight budget. All of these places are very expensive in terms of budget travel. If you do change your itinerary, you might consider adding Prague on your list. The price of accomodation, food, and beer (really really good beer!) would cost you about 1/2 of what you would pay in any of those other cities. It also has some excellent sight seeing in a compact city center, so its possible to see it in only 1-2 days (though i would suggest more).

If you do keep this itinerary, go to amsterdam before brussels (eliminate back-tracking), do something different with venice(that just isn’t going to work) and be prepared to sacrafice a few cities, because you most likely will not get to see all of them in that amount of time. Good luck and happy travels!

Rob co2, have to agree with you on the walking tours, I lived and worked in the hospitality industry in London for 13 years, and I used to get a freebie walk or bus tour every year, and the things if picked up from them, you don’t get from a tour book.
Back to your iternary Aleckii, I assume you have already booked flights into berlin, so that stays, omit Brussels, Milan and Venice, an afternoon in Venice will not do it justice

Thanks for your replies, I will take your suggestions into consideration. About Milan, I actually plan to visit the duomo cathedral there, which I heard was really spectacular. Plus a visit to the Santa Maria de Grazie gallery which houses the Last Supper Painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Then after a walk along the streets, I estimated by 1pm we would be done and on our way to Florence.

Concerning Venice, I am aware of the fact too. In fact the Italy I come to know of seems to be of Venice, with endless sights of canals, pavements of cobblestones and just literally great fun all around. But my roommate, who was in Italy last year, and his tour mates all did comment that Venice would be sufficient to explore in a day. They commented that it’s quite expensive (accomodation wise, food, etc). So what I had in mind was take a gondola to travel along the canals for all the sights. Then on foot, just cover some of the more important places that we really need to. Like the piazza and Basilica of San Marco and so forth. We’ll be there till late evening, so I will have enough time to snap some picturesque pictures (Suggest some places, please!- I saw some pictures taken from Venice, where the sun was setting in the background and you could see in the picture- one bridge after another casting an enchanting silhouette).

Thanks, anyways, for your replies, they were appreciated!

quote: Plus a visit to the Santa Maria de Grazie gallery which houses the Last Supper Painting by Leonardo da Vinci.

In my experience that’s almost impossible to visit without advanced reservations. It’s closed for two or three hours in the middle of the day which makes it tough to get there on a fast trip.

quote: So what I had in mind was take a gondola to travel along the canals for all the sights. Then on foot, just cover some of the more important places that we really need to.

A gondola ride is very, very expensive and probably too slow for what you want to do. The best fast trip through Venice is to take the vaporetto (water bus) from the train station to San Marco — considering that your canal tour, walking around San Marco and then following the signs to walk back to the train station.

Yup, thank you. I know about the prior booking too, a native Italian living in Milan directed me to a website which allows you to book months in advance, I plan to put down my payment as soon as possible, after we confirm our plans. Apparently, the booking is open throughout the day (only for 20 people per 15 minutes). Well, one of the reasons I haven’t put down the payment was because I was having second thoughts about visiting Milan just for the sake of the Last Supper painting. Wether it is worth detouring from the trip just to visit a painting… or should I have spent that half a day, say walking on the streets of Florence? (I was at Louvre last year, visited a few of Leonardo’s painting’s like Madonna of the Rocks, and Mona Lisa).

Concerning the Gondola ride, I will arrive in the train station in Venice (Santa Lucia), after which we will take the Gondola ride (which my roommate said was 20 euro, for a half an hour ride). I read it is the best way to see all the sights of Venice in the shortest time. After the ride, we may walk on foot to see the San Marco Basilica, then try to reach the train station by 8.44pm. Do you think the trip sounds reasonable?

quote: Concerning the Gondola ride, I will arrive in the train station in Venice (Santa Lucia), after which we will take the Gondola ride (which my roommate said was 20 euro, for a half an hour ride).

I don’t agree. I’d take the vaporetto to San Marco and then decide if you still want to take a gondola. You will see a lot of sights of Venice from the vaporetto which you can identify if you have a guidebook with you. Check this link about gondolas:
http://europeforvisi…
The "going rate" for gondolas sometimes jumps to 100 euros an hour. The advice from this link about making sure you understand what the price REALLY is before you agree applies to everything in Venice.

Hmm… I didn’t know that. But my roommate did pay 20 euro for his half an hour ride. Perhaps he found a good deal? And apparently, the Gondolier sang some tunes (even in Russian) for no extra charge. I have made some slight adjustments after input from various sources, so I will arive in Rome straight from Geneva (skipping Milan), after 3 days, a train to Florence, after another night, a train to Venice, arriving early morning (around 9.30 am), giving us a whole day to explore Venice before our night train that night (10pm).

quote: a train to Venice, arriving early morning (around 9.30 am), giving us a whole day to explore Venice before our night train that night (10pm).

While I think you’ll find it tiring, this will definitely work. I would buy a Venice guidebook at tourist information in the train station — there are several that are geared to a one-day visit. Also get a map and information on the transportation system (should be free). I’d plan on spending the majority of the day in the San Marco area (cathedral, campenile, Doges’palace and related mueseums) then allow 2 to 3 hours for a leisurely walk back to the train station, stopping to see things that interest you along the way. You could probably walk it in less than an hour if you hurried and knew your way. If you’re interested in art there are hundreds of tiny museums and churches in Venice that each house one important (like there was a picture of it in your art history text) work of art.

Venice is a maze of canals, streets and bridges. It is very easy to get lost, particularly after dark. I don’t think it’s overly dangerous, but I’d stick together and be alert. The route to the train station is well signed, but you’ll still probably get lost at least once. If you decide to try to get to the train station before dark, there’s a cafeteria with decent food at decent prices in the station.

I never took a gondola ride when I was in Venice, but I’ve never heard of a 20-Euro ride. The cheapest I’ve ever read was 80 Euros for about 30 minutes, and that was some time ago.

I think you can book some sort of shared gondola ride with a group of six that is more reasonable (maybe through American Express?), but even then it was more than 20 Euros.

Maybe Aleckii’s friend was able to get a special deal, but I wouldn’t count on it.

We paid 75 euro for about a half hour ride in ’01.
You know what? It was worth it.
However, the best way to see Venice is to walk around.
I agree with Rob that for budget travel,diversifying the destinations a bit might be advisable.

I finally got my roommate to clear the matter up, he said 20 euro per person, since there were 6 person on the gondola at that time, it was 120 euro. But I’m going in a group too, so I suppose that’s ok, right? We can just divide the cost among ourselves?

Concerning the budget, my estimation was less than 1000 euro in 17 days, 6 countries. 1 eurailpass connecting all destinations and 4 out of 15 of the travelling days we spend on trains. So far I have done extensive research on the matter, accomodations, food, transport in the city, etc. Hostels (even in Switzerland) per night is >20 euro, food (we plan to have macdonalds take out in some places), maybe 10 to 20 per day. Plus museum passes (we won’t be going to ALL museums, at 21, our priority isn’t art), visits into some places, maybe 30 euro per day… Plus some places we might actually utilize the kitchen provided in the hostels. We don’t smoke, we don’t drink, I think we should be able to get by just ok right?

Concerning the trip, I have done some changes to it after feedback from various sources, it now stands:

25 Jan Berlin
26 Jan Berlin – Brussels (Night Train)
27 Jan Brussels – Amsterdam (Afternoon Train)
28 Jan Amsterdam – Luzerne(Night Train)
29 Jan Luzerne
30 Jan Luzerne – Interlaken (Early Morning Train)
31 Jan Interlaken (Morning Train) – Geneva – Rome (Night Train)
1 Feb Rome
2 Feb Rome
3 Feb Rome
4 Feb Rome – Florence (Early Morning Train)
5 Feb Florence(Early Morning Train) – Venice – Salzburg (Night Train)
6 Feb Salzburg
7 Feb Salzburg – Vienna (Evening Train)
8 Feb Vienna – Frankfurt (Night Train)
9 Feb Frankfurt – Stuttgart
10 Feb Stuttgart flight back to Moscow

p/s: I’m not a Russian, just a Malaysian student studying here, ergo my aversion towards alcohol!

Oh, another question please? I know that eurailpass entitle us free boat/ferry rides across some lakes, like Thun and Geneva lake in Switzerland. Does it entitle us to discounts on rides to mountains though? Like I heard Swiss Rail entitle us to discount (only 40.90 euro) up Jungfrauch, while in Spiez, discount till 20 euro up Mount Pilatus. Does it hold true for EurailPass?

Brussels is further south than amsterdam, you should do Amsterdam first and Brussels second.
Salzburg is pretty small, one day is enough.
There is no reason to go to Frankfurt unless you have to, there isn’t much to see there. Munich would be a better city to visit.

Oh, I thought I explained the reason I’m going to Brussels first? It’s because Berlin-Brussel is offered on a night train. It both saves us travel time and cost to travel during the night, to wake up the next day in a town (I already have Brussels planned out for an afternoon, where to go, what to visit, where to eat), then a 3 hours train to Amsterdam. About Salzburg, I will need an afternoon just visiting the Mirabelle garden, the old city… would it be enough, just a day? I will put some thought into it…

sorry, I must have missed that part.

Salzburg doesn’t have much of an old town, the fortress is the main attraction. To see all of it properly it would take about 3 hours, maybe 4. I’m not a fan of tours, but the guided audio tour of the fortress is well worth it. If Feb, the tour should start about every 2 hours, so inquire about it first to save time.

When you’re in Brussels, you should definitely check out Delirium. It’s a bar that offers 2,004 beers. Pretty neat