Where do you fly in and out of?

I’ve been to every place on your list except for Como…How do you count travel days? For example, in your first option, all travel is during the day. Prague is 5 hours away from Vienna + time to settle in — that easily takes 1/2 day.

You seem to be set on Prague – Vienna – Salzburg part. Given aggressive itinerary, # of full days in each place is OK. No need for 2 days in Fussen-Neuschwanstein. Stay overnight there and continue to Switzerland. Also, no need for 2 days in Zurich. Frankly, skip Zurich altogether. There are better places to visit. Just go there if you must fly out of Zurich.

For me, Gimmelwald and Cinque Terre are some of the highlights in Europe, and I would not miss them. The rest are some tough choices to pick from.

I agree, that’s a toughie. Skip Zurich definetely, there are far more worthwhile places to see in Switzerland. Milan itself is really not worthwhile either, although Como definetely is.

Since you seem set on certian places: Prague, Vienna, Salzberg, the rest is really a toss up, all worthwhile. If you really like castles, then either Fussen-Neuschwanstein and Bavaria are a good choice. The only thing that I can think of that might make things difficult is going all the way down to Cinque Terre from Milan. It’s quite a trip. If you want to spend more time seeing and less time traveling, I might skip Cinque Terre for next time and maybe go to Fussen-Neuschwanstein instead.

Thanks for the good info.
I guess I’m sort of set on Prague, but just wasn’t sure once there, where to go next . I though abot Vienna and Salzburg because they appear to be good cities in the area.
Using Prague as a starting point, does anyone have a different itinerary that could be done in two weeks and would be relatively reasonable in cost.

Thanks

Here’s something you might want to think about, going east is always cheaper than going west.

While Vienna and Salzberg are both beautiful cities, Austria will break the bank as will Switzerland, whereas Prague and Budapest will not. If you choose to go east from Prague you will definetely be able to save on costs.

Adeelie,
Budapest sounds great, and cost savings help a lot. But where would I go from there? North into Poland or Southwest to Slovenia? Are these places easy and safe to travel in? I suppose from there we could go into Venice, Dolomites, and leave from Milan.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this itinerary?

Thanks everyone!

Back a few years ago I did a loop Berlin – Krakow – Budapest – Vienna – Prague in two weeks. First two are overnight trains. The last two are 3 and 5 hour journeys. You can do this loop starting at any place clockwise or counter. That was a pretty cool trip, I remember. A good mix of East and West. Just an idea.

What do you think of these two plans?
More Agressive:
1. Prague – Czech Rebublic
2. Warsaw – Poland
3. Minsk – Belarus
4. Riga – Latvia
5. Tallinn – Estonia
6. Helsinki – Finland
Can this itinerary be done in 16 days. I’m not sure about the train connections. Also are these moderate priced cities?

Less Agressive:
1. Prague – Czech Republic
2. Vienna – Austria
3. Budapest – Hungary
4. Ljubljana – Slovenia
5. Venice – Italy
6. Milan – Italy

Thanks everyone.

Imho both can be done in 16 days and don’t see problems with transport and costs for the 1st option (you’ll need a ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki but they are frequent). The only thing – you’ll need to get a visa to Belarus in advance: cost and hassle might result that it will be easier to fly from Poland to Latvia or get a transit visa (not a tourist one) for Belarus which should be easier but won’t allow you to stay in Minsk, just train travel through the country

Belarus? Is this a tourist destination? I’ve never been there, but I hear things are pretty grim politically and economically from those who have.

frihed89,
I teach at a community college and I have a student from Belarus. She indicated no problems and that I might enjoy her home country. I’ll ask her specifically about the political situation. Economically I can’t think it would be a lot different from Lenningrad. I was there a few years ago and except for the tourist places things seemed pretty grim, but very a interesting place to visit. I was actually hoping it would be similar to Tallinn. When I was there things were very nice.

Does anyone know where I could get good up to date info on Eastern Europe?

Belarus should be quite interesting from Western point of view: not many tourist sights but pretty much different life. You won’t feel any political pressure and yes economy is far from prospering but this just makes things cheaper for a Western traveller. Just contact the consulate to check how much time and what papers are required for visa (very likely that you’ll need an invitation letter, may be your student can arrange it)

Just back from Slovenia and Croatia, and I highly recommend both, although I personally prefered Slovenia (mountains) to Croatia (sea coast). Ljubljana is a great small city — about 300,000 people with a 54,000 student university — definitely a fun place to kick back and enjoy the coffee and beer. Lots of great day trips and an overnight trip to Bled and Bohinj is defintely worth it. The road system is wonderful and it’s easy to navigate — we rented a car and had a great time exploring. Many signs are in English and everybody who gets near a tourist speaks excellent English (if that’s an issue for you).