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Hey guys, so I've been planning a backpacking adventure across Europe for a while now and it's starting to grow near. What I'm wondering is if you guys may know through experience weather or not my itinerary seems plausible based on being able to get everywhere on time using the eurail system or if maybe I've planned too much in too short a time. Also I haven't bought my eurail global pass yet because I'm not sure if I'll actually save money in my case or if it would be better to just buy tickets when I get to the station.

Anyways here's my basic plans so far:

August 8th: Arrive in Rome and spend three nights.
August 11th: Leave Rome early and arrive in Florence, stay one night.
August 12th: Leave Florence early and arrive in Milan, stay one night.
August 13th: Leave Milan early and arrive in Bern, stay two nights.
August 15th: Leave Bern early and arrive in Munich, stay two nights.
August 17th: Leave Munich early and arrive in Prague, stay two nights.
August 19th: Leave Prague early and arrive in Berlin, Stay two nights.
August 21st: Leave Berline early and arrive in Amsterdam! Stay for three nights.
August 24th: Leave Amsterdam early and arrive in Brussels, stay one night.
August 25th: Leave Brussels early and arrive in Paris, stay four nights.
August 29th: Fly back home to Canada from Paris.

So I would be happy to hear anyone's opinion about these plans and am super open to suggestions about what might be good to change or look out for. Mainly hoping to find out If the train schedules will be likely able to fit my schedule, and if not how much time I should allow in case something comes up. Anyways thanks for any help, and if I've posted in the wrong place mods feel free to move this thread and let me know where it ends up.

Too many one nighters, and you will spend a lot of time on your ass in a train, slow down and enjoy your self you will go back

It's technically doable, but I'd cut the number of places as well to be able to experience more of a few. In particular, I'd give Florence more time and drop Milan.

I don't know how the Eurail thing works. In my dim and distant youth, I had an Interrail pass and used it on impulse – go somewhere, find somewhere cheap to stay, leave when I'd had enough. If that's possible with your sort of pass, I'd recommend it.

My advice, drop Milan and Brussels. Replace Bern with a trip into the Swiss alps.

More than one night in Florence for sure.

Sounds fun though. Pack light!

def. drop Brussels, And spend more time in the Netherland < Zandvoort (beach) 25 minpor so by train from Amsterdam( time minght be off),. Haarlem 10 min from Amstedam (frans hals museum is great) cs birdys is a must great deals on gear,

take Makro's advice and pack as light as possible

agreed with the above

(definitely drop Milan and Brussels spend more time in Amsterdam - you will be sorry if you don't)

slow down!! otherwise you will be spending a whole lot of time on the train - enjoy where you are. Get rid of the itinerary. Know where you are starting and where you are ending. Allow the middle to develop, leave room for spontaneity - Once at a destination, you will know how much time you will want to spend there, otherwise you will be the typical tourist, not really connecting with the place, but just checking it off on a list. That's just no way to travel.

BTW check the train schedules and the amount of time it takes to reach each destination. Also check the timing of the trains.

Enjoy!!
Pack REALLY lightly : >

Try this web site for train scheduling
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys.
Dropping milan for and extra day in florence is something I have for sure been thinking of, florence just seems like a nicer place to see with all the renaissance era stuff.
Another city I'm not entirely sure on is berlin, what do you guys think of the place for a backpacker? I know of some cool sights I'd want to see but it also seems like it might be a little too big and spread out like a typical big city to really enjoy as a backpacker.

And yeah those rough plans are just that, rough. I have an extra day in paris listed that I meant to label as. "Free day" in case I want to spend another day elsewhere (amsterdam or florence) or if I get held up somewhere. as for brussels, what's so bad about it? I've heard it can be pricey, and to be honest my main reason for wanting to go is to have some belgian waffles and beer haha so I'd like to visit somewhere in the country.

Defo need more time in Firenze if ye need smoke head to Santa Spirito

dont waste your time in germany

Sounds brilliant. I hope you get to do it. Its gonna be exausting though. A new place to get shit faced every night

Also, amsterdam will hook you in, youll not want to leave. A friend from oz just spent 2 months in europe travelling about and he ended up visiting amsterdam 3 times.

CHELSEA_SMOKERS_SOCIETY wrote:Also, amsterdam will hook you in, youll not want to leave. A friend from oz just spent 2 months in europe travelling about and he ended up visiting amsterdam 3 times.

STEVE!
Everything stated above is true! Especially what I've quoted here. "Amsterdam is like Disney World for adults!" Please review my my 15 day backpacking travelogues because most people do not get stoned and backpack like you and I. We had 15 days you have 21, so you can defiantly see more than we did, but only maybe 2-3 more stops TOPS.

1. Do you have have train passes? This was VERY help for us because once we know what train we wanted to get on, we just got on. We fumbled once (after landing) to get train tickets, and if someone hadn't helped us that first time it would have become quite the ordeal every time tickets were required. I highly suggest this if you are moving around by train!

2. The wife and I are quite romantic, and I must say Paris did not do it for us. The Louve, the eifel tower, and Notre Dam were all worth the visit.........but 3 nights was all that is required here. We found older places, and historic sites to be far more interesting. The city is very big, and so be ready to master public transport.........i personally will never get in taxi's......feel like i get taken for a ride...... literally..........we learned to master public transport as priority #1 when arriving to new cities.

3. Germany was great the few parts we got to see. Heidleburg was a very nice stop, would have loved to see castles up close........don't listen to the negative fellow telling you to avoid it....

4. We had dinner with a very nice (pretty) french girl while in Paris and she told us Brussels was great and we should visit on our next visit. I see you have it listed, but only 1 day.....do you have reservations for all these places, or playing by ear to stay flexible? We did not reserve, so that made finding a place when you arrive a bit hard, but the freedom of no reservations & my 15-day train ticket was always comforting.

redeyezman wrote:

CHELSEA_SMOKERS_SOCIETY wrote:Also, amsterdam will hook you in, youll not want to leave. A friend from oz just spent 2 months in europe travelling about and he ended up visiting amsterdam 3 times.

STEVE!
Everything stated above is true! Especially what I've quoted here. "Amsterdam is like Disney World for adults!" Please review my my 15 day backpacking travelogues because most people do not get stoned and backpack like you and I. We had 15 days you have 21, so you can defiantly see more than we did, but only maybe 2-3 more stops TOPS.

1. Do you have have train passes? This was VERY help for us because once we know what train we wanted to get on, we just got on. We fumbled once (after landing) to get train tickets, and if someone hadn't helped us that first time it would have become quite the ordeal every time tickets were required. I highly suggest this if you are moving around by train!

2. The wife and I are quite romantic, and I must say Paris did not do it for us. The Louve, the eifel tower, and Notre Dam were all worth the visit.........but 3 nights was all that is required here. We found older places, and historic sites to be far more interesting. The city is very big, and so be ready to master public transport.........i personally will never get in taxi's......feel like i get taken for a ride...... literally..........we learned to master public transport as priority #1 when arriving to new cities.

3. Germany was great the few parts we got to see. Heidleburg was a very nice stop, would have loved to see castles up close........don't listen to the negative fellow telling you to avoid it....

4. We had dinner with a very nice (pretty) french girl while in Paris and she told us Brussels was great and we should visit on our next visit. I see you have it listed, but only 1 day.....do you have reservations for all these places, or playing by ear to stay flexible? We did not reserve, so that made finding a place when you arrive a bit hard, but the freedom of no reservations & my 15-day train ticket was always comforting.

Got your pm, thanks for all the help!

I have a eurail global pass that's good for 10 days of travel within a 2 month period. I haven't booked any tickets yet (not sure I can from here) but when I arrive in Rome early Wednesday morning I'm planning to reserve a spot on train to florence on the 11th (shouldn't be a problem, the train leaves a few times per hour). I'm looking to book my travel in a similar manner the rest of the trip... Pretty much get to my new place, and reserve my spot on the train to the next stop before I leave the station. I know a few trains might require a little more advanced booking (Florence to Munich overnight for example, or the high speed from Amsterdam to Brussels/Paris) so I'll check with the eurail info center when I get to termini station in Rome.

As for current bookings, I have hostels booked for 3 nights in Rome, and 2 in Florence. So until the 13th I'm pretty set but after that can just do as I please. I'm a big beer guy, so Germany is high on my list but then again most of euopre is known for their brewing expertise to I'm pretty excited to try some authentic stuff from antwhere I go.

Here's an updated version of my plans as of now:

August 8th: arrive in Rome, spend 3 nights enjoying the city.
August 11th: catch a train to Florence and arrive there around noon. Spend 2 nights taking in the renaissance greatness.
August 13th: spend the day in Florence, then take an overnight train to Munich.
August 14th: arrive in Munich early, spend 2 nights, BEER!
August 16th: leave Munich in the morning for Prague, spend 3 nights.
August 19th: leave Prague and head to Berlin, spend two nights. More beer, and take in a more modern view of Europe then I'll be seeing the rest of the trip.
August 21st: leave berlin and head for the holy land, Amsterdam! Spend 3 nights.
August 25th: leave amsterdamage, head to Paris. Spend 4 nights.
August 29th: fly back home to Canada.

In case you didn't notice, there's an extra day in there between Amsterdam and Paris. Thats because I haven't decided what to do with it completely, it could be used for a one day/night stop in Belgium or luxembourge, and extra day at one of my earlier stops, or to make up for the fact that my travel plans may hit a snag somewhere with train seats not being available or something along those lines.

So I lowered the quantity of stops to hopefully increase to quality of each stay. Though I'll be keeping an open mind to other places as well. I do still want to go to Switzerland so if I can't book my spot on the Florence to Munich overnight than I'll probably break that trip in half with a stop in bern for a day, but yeah that's just one of many alternatives.

i would take 2 night off of Paris and add them to Amsterdam