Europe 2012 - 3 Months

Let me know if you guys think Getting all these places done is reasonable given the time I am gone for. I am willing to give up the UK.

Your pace is very reasonable. I normally recommend an average of 3 days per city,

I would cut two days from Brussels and at least two from Vienna (stay in Bratislava and visit Vienna as a day trip) although there are numerous interesting day trips you can take from both places.

What is your reason for cutting 2 days from brussels? Started looking at Bratislava and day trips might work that in. Are there certain places you think I should spend more time in then others? I know that depends on myself and what I want to see, just curious if some places are worth staying longer then others.

If anyone else has opinions or information feel free to post!

Brussels is a great city, but I don’t think it’s a great tourist visit. I love the multicultural vibe and food (Caribbean on one corner, African on the next, Indonesian on the next) but there aren’t a lot of traditional “sights” other than the Medieval Square (1/2 day and an evening if you want to see it lighted) and if you’re into huge, modern and relatively ugly, the EU headquarters. Bruges is more interesting, but 4 days of quaint would be more than enough for me. A total of 5 or 6 days in the two would give you time to see everything at a leisurely pace plus take a couple of day trips.

Unless you’re into classical music, Vienna gets dull pretty quickly too. Bratislava is an hour away and cheaper, friendlier and IMO, more interesting, although compact enough that a day or two is adequate. Munich is a better base for day trips into the Austrian Alps (Salzburg, Innsbruk) than Vienna.

Have you thought about some more rural areas instead of only big cities?

Haven’t looked too much into rural areas as this is my first time doing something like this. I figured big cities would be the best way to go. I am going to be playing it by feel as I go whether I should stay a bit longer or take a day off a place as I’m there. Hopefully that will allow me to see certain areas I didn’t look into originally that I found out about upon arrival.

Any rural areas you feel are a must? Also if I were to take some days off of belgium I am a bit worried I might not be in a panic and not be able to adjust as fast since this is the beginning of my trip. I know I am probaly over thinking everything. That is why I have posted here.

I appreciate your help!

I’d spend time in the Julian Alps in Slovenia — the area around Lake Bled is gorgeous and very easy to get around in “English only.” You could cut a couple of days from Zagreb (pretty, but basically another capital city) and one each from Dubrovnik and Sarajevo to accomplish time in Ljubljana and rural Slovenia. I’d also look at the High Tatras in Slovakia, Tuscany and Umbria in Italy and Provence/Riviera in France.

Time outside Dublin is a must in Ireland. Particularly by the end of your trip, Dublin will be “just another city.” Inverness and elsewhere in the highlands would be a good addition to Scotland. Cut 2 days from Glasgow and one from Edinburgh (reverse that if you’re into partying more than sights) to go hiking in the highlands.

Thanks for the information. I have been adjusting my itinerary. Question regarding rail passes. What would see as the right pass to get with this itinerary along with adding slovenia/slovakia as you mentioned? I used the railsaver tool and it gave me a different selection then eurotrip planner tool. As well just to clarify about the passes, select pass mean i get unlimited travel in specified countries or just say 6 days unlimited travel within the countries? Then I would pay for the rest of the traveling out of pocket?

A select pass is good in 3 to 5 countries — the price varies with the number of countries and some 2 or 3 country combos (most notably Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg = Benelux) count as one country. You buy it for a specific number of “rail days” you can use on dates you select during a two month period. A rail day is mid-night to mid-night and you can take as many trains as you can fit in during that 24 hour period and it still counts as one day. A special provision called the “7 PM rule” means that most overnight trains only count as one day (arrival day) on the rail pass.

Not sure why the trip planner and rail saver are different, since the trip planner uses railsaver logic — although it does sometimes recommend a more expensive pass if $10 or so gives you a lot more flexibility. What are the recommendations?

I put it this Itinerary in both of them

Brussels
Bruges
Paris
Munich
Ljubljana
Zagreb
Dubrovnik
Sarajevo
Budapest
Bratislava
Prague
Berlin
Amsterdam

It then gave me these 2 options

• Eurail 4 Country Austria/Benelux/France/Germany 6 Day 2nd Class Youth Select pass
• In addition, expect to pay about $105.75 per person in city-to-city tickets.

-Eurail 5 Country Austria/Benelux/France/Germany/Croatia-Slovenia 8 Day 2nd Class Youth Select pass US$undefined
-European East 6 Day 2nd Class Adult FlexiPass US$239.00
-Ticket(s) US$8.25 n/a

Now when it says city-to-city tickets thats approx. how much I would spend going to the rest of my itinerary outside of my eurail pass? Seems too little. Im sure I am just doing something wrong.

You really should post these type of questions in the transportation forum so more of us will see them and provide information and so others can benefit from the information….

If cost is the only criteria, I would probably go for the 4 country option. Rail tickets are cheap in Slovenia and Croatia and the price of adding a 5th country is based on more expensive travel in Western Europe. I generally don’t think a European East pass is worth it since the price of that is based on a route which is heavily in Austria, Hungary and Poland which are somewhat more expensive than Czech Rep, Slovakia and the Balkans, although in your case it might be worth it since you’re covering a lot of territory in Eastern Europe. Also, there are no trains South of Split on the Croatian coast, so you will be taking the bus at least part of the way to Dubrovnik in any case and bus is sometimes a better option than rail in the Balkans. However if the extra countries and 2 extra days don’t add a lot to the cost, then the extra flexibility and extra days might be worth the extra cost.

Are you sure your prices are right? A 5 country 8 day youth select pass is $442 US. A 4 country 6 day is $ 350.

I don’t understand your question. The combination of the recommended railpasses and point to point tickets should cover all your city to city transportation except Split to Dubrovnik and perhaps part of the route to Sarajevo. I’d guess $50 or less would cover that. The only other issue would be day trips and those trips that might be partially covered by the railpass. For example, the portions from Austrian border to Ljubljana and Prague to German Border would not be covered in some options, but should be in the $20 to $25 US range. Most would be short distances, so cheap tickets although day trips in France, Benelux and Germany can sometimes get pricy if you end up on premier trains — thus a couple of extra days might help.

End result of all this is that you probably can’t know for sure in advance which railpass and combination of point to point tickets is best.

I was referring to how the railsaver says expect to pay X amount in city-to-city tickets. So the eurail pass would be used in the 4 countries and the X amount would be toward the of my transportation. I will start posting in the forums and copy paste this for everyone to read.