Help With Europe Itinerary

fivespice on 29/01/2018 - 22:56

Hi all,

Trying to put together an itinerary for a Europe trip with my girlfriend and would appreciate any input.

For background, my girlfriend and I are pretty casual/easygoing travellers and not crazy about sightseeing/architecture. We mostly enjoy just visiting a new part of the world, enjoying some new scenery and really love food.

So this is what I have so far:

8 July 2018 - Land in Amsterdam, spend 4 nights.
12 July 2018 - Leave Amsterdam, fly to Belgrade (Serbia) and stay in Balkan region for a week to see family.
19 July 2018 - Leave Belgrade…
x
x
x
5 August 2018 - Head to Copenhagen for 3 nights.
8 August 2018 - Fly into Switzerland (unsure where at this point)
10 August 2018 - Leave Zurich and head back to Australia

In the in-between parts I have considered Italy (interested in Modena and countryside), Germany, France and Austria. I also know that the in/out aren't ideal but that can't be altered at this stage.

I know my query is quite vague but I would appreciate any suggestions for places to visit.

Travel

Comments

  • PissLUR on 29/01/2018 - 22:58

    Paris, France?

    • fivespice on 29/01/2018 - 23:06

      Would consider Paris and/or Nice and maybe Monaco, or even the French countryside.

  • derrko on 29/01/2018 - 23:07
    +1

    Belgrade is very underrated city in opinion. Fly to Tivat and go to Bay of kator and cheap bus ride to Dubrovnik.

    • fivespice on 29/01/2018 - 23:08

      Hi there, have been there in 2012 and had a great time and went to Montenegro and Dubrovnik also. Have lots of family around there.

  • Donaldhump on 29/01/2018 - 23:33
    +1

    Belgrade, Bosnia, Croatia boat to Italy then cruise over to Monaco and nice

  • Randxyz123 on 29/01/2018 - 23:35

    What's your budget?

    What I would do is try and fly to Bologna spend 2 days there(and maybe a half day to Maranello to see the Ferrari factory), train to Florence do 2-3 days there, then get a train down to Santa Margherita and walk around the Cinque Terre towns. Then finally get a train back and fly to Copenhagen.

    Could slot in Modena as well.

    The food in that part of Italy is nothing other than incredible. Weather will be perfect at that time of the year. Shouldn't be too pricey because everyone will be going back from their holidays.

    • [Deactivated] on 30/01/2018 - 01:16

      lol Bologna. Why not pick another industrial city in Europe. What about Slough or Sunderland?

      • Randxyz123 on 30/01/2018 - 09:27

        Bologna is meant to be really pretty.

        Only suggested it because the OP wants to do Modena as well. They also mentioned they love food.

        • [Deactivated] on 30/01/2018 - 11:42

          Well I’ve been there twice (on the way to Maranello both times) and it is a completely unremarkable city. Not as bad as Milan, but not a patch on Florence, Sienna, Rome etc. It’s certainly not a travel destination.

    • jjjaar on 30/01/2018 - 08:38

      Oh I love Bologna, but I would recommend to stay in Parma not Modena, with a visit to Modena.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/01/2018 - 01:04
    +1

    this was mine recently

    9-Dec Paris
    10-Dec Paris
    11-Dec Paris
    12-Dec Munich
    13-Dec Munich
    14-Dec Berlin
    15-Dec Berlin
    16-Dec Warsaw
    17-Dec Warsaw
    18-Dec Warsaw
    19-Dec Warsaw
    20-Dec Prague
    21-Dec Prague
    22-Dec Prague
    23-Dec Vienna
    24-Dec Vienna
    25-Dec Vienna
    26-Dec Budapest
    27-Dec Budapest
    28-Dec Budapest
    29-Dec Zurich
    30-Dec Zurich
    31-Dec Zurich
    1-Jan Zurich
    2-Jan Rome
    3-Jan Rome
    4-Jan Rome
    5-Jan Amsterdam
    6-Jan Amsterdam
    7-Jan Amsterdam
    8-Jan Reykjavík
    9-Jan Reykjavík
    10-Jan Reykjavík
    11-Jan London
    12-Jan London
    13-Jan London
    14-Jan London

  • jjjaar on 30/01/2018 - 08:37
    +1

    Stay around the Balkans. Beautiful region.

    A couple of years back I did a tour that was
    Dubrovnik
    Kotor (day)
    Budva
    Zadar
    Plitvice Lakes
    Ljubljana
    Budapest
    Belgrade
    Sarajevo
    Mostar (day)
    And back to dubrovnik

    Would recommend every single one of those places, with Sarajevo, Ljubljana and Plitvice as my top three.

    However I'd advise caution in Bosnia. Stick to major highways and big towns. There are still a lot of land mines all over the place and heavy rains in the region cause them to move around a lot.

  • dasher86 on 30/01/2018 - 08:38
    +1

    probably not what you wanted but a pretty decent trail.

    19 July 2018 - Leave Belgrade…
    Budapest 3 nights
    Bratislava 2 nights
    Vienna 4 nights
    Salzberg 2 nights
    Munich 3 nights
    Stuttgart
    5 August 2018 - Head to Copenhagen for 3 nights.
    *edited when i realized where Belgrade was.

  • try2bhelpful on 30/01/2018 - 10:42
    +1

    Scenery - IMHO you can't go past Switzerland but it is very expensive and the food is pretty ordinary. If you can find places with a kitchen - air BnB and some hotels, you can cook your own meals to make it cheaper. If you are considering Switzerland I can expand on what we did last time.

    Seriously consider buying a Eurail pass for getting around. You can get a time period or days of travel; we always get days of travel. Get first class if your budget can stretch to it; you get carriages with better windows for seeing the scenery and you aren't crowded in like sardines. For international travel you do have to book seats, but if you pick the time right then they aren't that expensive. If you are in Melbourne there is a great place you can talk to someone and get them to book the tickets for you. When travelling get online and check your trains, the sometimes get cancelled and you need to sort the alternatives.

    France
    Paris is wonderful.
    - Get a carte de musee which allows you to bypass the queues to buy tickets, still have to do security. Le Louvre, San Chappelle, Moyen Age Museum, Musee D'Orsay. Incredible.
    - Travel by rail, walk and catch the bateau boats.
    - Go to the top of the Eiffle Tower and the top of Notre Dame at dusk, watch the light come up over Paris - just magic.
    - Go up to Montmartre to buy your souvenier T shirts and climb on the roof of Sacre Coeur - if you can't be bothered walking up the steps we found there is a small glass Funicular near there that works with your rail pass. Watch out for the touts on the steps. Look down and keep walking.
    - Look into an Air BnB, you can eat quite well just from the Boulangers and the supermarkets. Look at lunch and fixe prix menus to save money.
    - Go to Versailles, spend the day - walk the grounds as well.

    Hire a car and look at
    Loire Valley (chateaus)
    Limosin. (Pretty villages)
    Dijon region
    Avignon

    Italy is great.
    Rome
    Vatican museums, Trevi fountain, Forum, St Peters, etc. Look at the hop on hop off buses, but be prepared to fight your way on, they are always crowded

    Florence - absolutely
    - The Uffizi and all the other museums.
    - Go to the top of the Duomo
    - Go the Michelangelos square - you can see across Florence - you probably need to take a bus.

    Also
    Sienna,
    Cinque Terra - If the trails are open -
    - Stay at Monterosso - first town
    - Walk the trail, stopping for lunch
    - take the boat to see the the towns on the way back.

    Vienna was also stunning

    If you want to travel to some of the smaller villages you might want to consider hiring a car. Try to travel by train outside the capitals to pick up the car to avoid the traffic. Try to avoid driving the car back to Charles De Gaulle airport - drop the car off and take the train back.

    We used a few airBnBs last time we travelled through Europe and they were all pretty good.

  • keepa on 30/01/2018 - 11:19
    +1

    You sound similar to me and my wife - both very easy going and enjoy exploring by food and finding food options more than architecture. I'm also from the Balkans :)

    How do you plan on travelling - rental car, train, bus, flying?

    If you wish to stay in the Balkan region, I would suggest going down to Dubrovnik, or Montenegro coast for a few days. From there I would either catch a ferry to Italy or continue up the coast towards Slovenia then Italy via Rijeka possibly. Italy is amazing, and would recommend spending a night in Venice which is a great city for food and exploring of foot.

    So you could do something like this:
    19/7 - Belgrade > Dubrovnik (2 nights)
    22/7 - Dubrovnik > Split (1 night)
    23/7 - Split > Ancona > Bologna (1 nights) + Ferry trip
    24/7 - Bologna > Florence (3 nights) + day trip to Pisa, wineries, etc.
    28/7 - Florence > Modena (2 nights)
    31/7 - Modena > Venice - (2 nights)
    2/8 - Venice to Austria

    Otherwise another option would be to move North / West from Belgrade and go to places like Budapest, Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, Poland, Germany etc.

    As a side note - In October we went to the Amalfi coast which was amazing, especially after spending a couple of weeks driving around Europe, family, etc. It was beautiful scenery and food was amazing. A little bit of a pain in the ass to get too but definitely worth it for us. We stayed at Hotel Pellegrino for reference.

  • fivespice on 06/02/2018 - 00:05

    Hey all, really appreciate all of your comments so much. Am currently going through everything and organising my itinerary and will reply to all comments shortly. Thanks so much again!

  • fivespice on 09/04/2018 - 17:49

    Hi all, am spending 5 nights in Italy and am proposing the following:

    19 July - Fly into Naples and spend 1 night.

    20 July - Head to Amalfi with a visit to Pompeii on the way. Stay in Amalfi.

    21 July - Stay in Amalfi and relax.

    22 July - Stay in Amalfi with maybe a day trip to Positano.

    23 July - Stay in Amalfi and check out next morning.

    Is this a good use of 5 nights in Italy? Any suggestions for better places to visit for a 5-night stretch? Thanks again for all your input truly appreciate it.

  • ascotno1 on 13/04/2018 - 19:06

    Try Prague……cool place to visit and not expensive.

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