Realistic Time Needed for These Countries

Hi All -

I am starting to just put together some idea of places to visit in Europe. I am hoping to start in Germany then travel to Austria, Slovenia, and possibly Croatia and then fly to Italy onto Paris, Belgium, London, then Ireland. I want to try and fit Italy into this scheme and I am flexible with locations and time spent in each place.

What is a realistic time period necessary for one to travel to at least most of these place (mainly Germany, Paris, London, and Ireland)? I know it depends a lot on what I wish to see and what cities I want to visit however any insight will be helpful! I have never traveled to Europe before and am looking into making a rough outline as an itinerary at the moment. Also, has anyone traveled to these places and would they be willing to share how much they spent for their entire trip and how long they were backpacking for? Again, anything shared is helpful.

Best wishes!

Brittany

Not what you asked but,

- how long have you got for this trip?
- there is no indication what citizenship/passport you hold. Are you aware of the Schengen agreement and how it may affect your duration in parts of Europe, if you do have a months available to you?
- Please start thinking in places and not countries (you have a mix) - you cannot 'see' (say) five countries in thirty days, including travel, but you could see five/six/seven cities or minor regions .

Several of the countries you mention are worth visiting, to me, for a month or more each.

'how much they spent for their entire trip' - not very relevant with inflation. And the location variety of cities - all will be expensive and of countries - Ireland most expensive.

Hi Brittany,

Here is my opinion based on my experience.

I hopped through Europe very quickly on a tour.

Paris- I had 3 days in Paris and it was enough to see the major sites at a medium pace if you pick your directions well. You will need longer if you want to shop and spend lots of time in cafe` or people watching.

Germany - 2 weeks will allow you to see 3 or 4 Cities depending on travel mode. Overnight trains can cut time and a quick sightseeing pace is needed in each city.

Austria - You could see Vienna in 3 days quite casually but if you want to head into the alps at all you will need to add another 3 days.

Italy - I did Florence, Rome, Pisa, Pompei and Venice in 9 days this was a rush and i missed a few things that would have been good to see would recommend 14 days to see the same at a medium pace.

London - Easily get done in a week to 10 days with walking tours this also includes day trips to a few castles, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Bath etc. Ireland would be a easy addition to this and depending on the Cities, a week or two would suffice.

Can’t comment on Croatia and Slovenia as I haven’t been but I would imagine 2 – 3 weeks for a bit of a rest by Croatia’s seaside or islands.

I took a 32 day coach tour which went London - Paris –Bordeaux - French Riviera - Monaco- Florence- Rome – Pisa- Pompei – Greek Islands (Corfu) – Venice – Vienna – Prague – Cesky Krumlov – Munich – Vaduz – Rhine Valley – Amsterdam – London

So you get dragged through but you also see a lot in a limited time frame so not a bad choice. If I had 2 months or more I would have probably made my own way and stayed as long as I could in places that I liked.

So I guess my advice is short time do a tour – longer tackle things yourself just don’t overload yourself with too much to see. What i have done for other trips is cut out individual country tours and cut them out into City's and then paste what i want onto a big piece of cardboad that way I can get an idea of how long my holiday is approx.

Hope this helps some.

I am hoping to be out there for at least 2 months. I understand that I need to pick cities/regions to better plan this however I am not going on this trip for at least another year, this is merely asking around and trying to figure out where I would like to go and how long I should stay - and I know this depends on my personal preference of what I want to see/do.

Thank you for you guys input! Thanks for pointing out the Visa aspect - I still need to do my research on that. Also, a tour is a good idea in order to see so much in a short amount of time.

[ Edit: Edited on 05-Jun-2013, at 10:17 by bmorehead ]