Well, if you want to limit your traveling time, maybe you could consider cutting out one or more of your cities? You are covering an awful lot of ground.
I love Berlin, but that particular leg of your journey just sort of feels like a stretch.
Still, it’s doable.
I would give more time to Rome.
Possibilities for places in southern France on the way to Barcelona:
Nice
Toulouse
Aix-en-Provence
Arles
Collioure
Maybe someone else will chime in with more concrete ideas for your itin.

Yeah i was thinking about cutting Bruges out, unless its a definate “must see”. Do you think it would help to stay 5 days in Paris, maybe taking a couple day trips, and then go straight to Barcelona?

Thanks for the tip. I’ll take a look at those cities!

Yeah i was thinking about cutting Bruges out, unless its a definate “must see”. Do you think it would help to stay 5 days in Paris, maybe taking a couple day trips, and then go straight to Barcelona?

Thanks for the tip. I’ll take a look at those cities!

Bruges was a major trading center in the 15th and 16th centuries. The harbor silted in so trading ships could no longer get there. Thus, pretty much nothing happened or changed in Bruges between about 1600 and when Rick Steves “discovered” it in the 1990’s. It’s quaint, medieval and has great beer. It’s also over-run with folks carrying Through the Back Door guides.

Ha ha. The masses of people visiting “undiscovered” Europe. Don’t tell anyone, but there’s this unspoiled area in Italy called Cinque Terre

haha the secrets out. Maybe I’ll just wing it and “discover” a new place

Honestly, I watched the Colin Ferrell movie, In Bruges. That was my shallow reason behind wanting to see the place. Haha, definitely a good movie though, I’d recommend it.

I’ve heard nothing but great things about munich, haven’t been (i’ll be there in a month though!) but it’s sort of on your way to amsterdam

If you don’t mind night trains, you could try something like Venice to Berlin and then Berlin to Paris during the night, then go to Brugge and Amsterdam for a couple days each, then take a night train from Amsterdam down to Barcelona (technically you catch the train in Paris, but you would be starting in Amsterdam, and it would be evening/night, soo… )

Hey there,

I’m assuming you’re off for a special seminar during the summer, so I took a look around July 15th for ideas – you can clarify when you’re really going.

You can fly from Venice to Berlin for around 50 Euro (as low as 20 at times) on AirBerlin near that date. Or from Treviso (near Venice) to Bremen (northern Germany) for around 20 Euro on Ryanair.

As long as you’ve got a carry-on/backpack, then that’s all it should cost. Then you can save nearly a full day of train rides – and possibly for half the price, too!

From a different angle, if you’d like to explore elsewhere and spend less cash, take the train to Trieste and venture into Slovenia. From what I understand, you could jump on a bus to Koper and then a train to Ljubljana. Take a day trip to Lake Bled – it’s stunningly beautiful. Perhaps travel up into Austria for a while and fly into Amsterdam or Barcelona from there.

Either way, enjoy!