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This is just something I cooked up on my own, using the ideas taken from here. I used May 8 as the date since that's the date the tour company has. May 8-23
May 8: Flying out of Dulles Airport (DC) to London - arriving May 9 in the AM
May 9, 10, 11 and 12 - spent in London
May 13 AM: Eurorail from London to Paris - approximately 2 hours ($132 total for 2 people)
May 13, 14, and 15 - spent in Paris
May 15 PM: Overnight train (Thello) from Paris to Venice ($192 for 2 people)
May 15, 16, and 17 - spent in Venice
May 18 AM: Italia Rail - Venice to Florence ($168 for 2 people)
May 18 and 19 in Florence
May 20 AM: Italia Rail - Florence to Rome ($168 for 2 people)
May 20, 21, and 22 in Rome
May 23: Fly from Rome to DC
It's roughly $600 in transportation costs, $2,364 in airfare, $2900 in hotel (I used the hotels that are on the itinerary, but I'm assuming this can be cut down) for a total of $5880, not including food or excursions. In the end, we are probably going to save about 3 or 4K when it's all set and done. The Grand Tour of Europe trip that they have is about $10K which includes airfare, hotel, taxes, breakfast, and 5 three course meals. Add in another 2K if we wanted to do all the excursions.
For my first trip to Europe, I went on a 28 day planned/guided tour throughout Italy with 3 other female family members. I enjoyed it very much and for the first time being to Europe, it was nice to have everything done for you. Yes, we did have to stop by some places that were trying to "sell" but it was easy to just say no or we didn't participate. One thing I did love was that we to several dinners/lunches where people welcomed us to their own homes. It was a glimpse into their lives and it was fascinating, educational and eye opening. The group of people we traveled with were much older, almost all married, but I didn't care, I had fun. I really enjoyed talking to them and bonded with many of them and some I still keep in touch with today.
However, when I got married, my spouse and I did our own thing and I don't think I would take another guided tour, especially that I am married. We like to do our own thing and are more comfortable being on our own in Europe. There are pros and cons to each. Good luck!
I wouldn't spend the money on a guided tour. In my opinion, it's much more enjoyable to travel based on your own interests rather than what some tour company deems is worth seeing on their schedule. I'm not terribly into art, so I've skipped a bunch of art museums that most tour guides would probably have on their agenda. However, there are some history museums I could spend an entire day in that tour groups might allocate 2-3 hours to. I know my interests best, and therefore prefer to plan the trip myself, even if it requires more work. We have taken city tours or more specific tours once we get to a location.
I highly recommend Rick Steve's books. I use them pretty much exclusively.
I find that generally Americans rush through Europe. Your schedule is a bit hectic. Almost everyone I've ever talked to says Venice is really overrated, and could be done in a day, so spending the same amount of time in Venice as Paris seems crazy. To give you an idea, I've spent a full 6 days in London, full 7 days in Paris, and full 7 days in Rome with no boredom. When I was planning my first trip, my itinerary looked like yours, and my husband, who used to live in Germany, talked me out of it. Best decision ever. Think less "we need to check things off our list."
Hm. Okay, I guess I'm going to give an alternative, seemingly unpopular view.
I have traveled Europe both ways. When I was your age (now I'd fit in age-wise with the tour group much better!). And this is what I found ... traveling for six weeks through Europe, we saw no more than we were able to in a 14-day tour of Europe. On the 6-week trip, we spent an awful lot of our time finding transportation, finding a place to stay (we had no reservations), finding a place to eat, etc.
On the tour, I appreciated having them pull up to a restaurant and say ... go in there and eat. I appreciated them pulling up to a hotel and saying here's your room key, have your bags outside your room by 6. I appreciated them dropping me off in front of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Colosseum, and usually, escorting us right in, rather than having to first, get yourself there, then stand in a line to buy tickets, and maybe another to get in. I also appreciated having someone tell me about what I was seeing.
Yes, we were among the youngest on the tour. That didn't bother me. I wasn't going there to make friends. It was pleasant to see people you knew. You don't get that traveling on your own. The company with which we traveled was based out of Britain. And that was great. Because on that first trip, there were only two other Americans. It was great to travel with English-speaking (some barely) from around the world, not just a bunch of people from the US. It was also a budget company, so we weren't staying in downtown, American-style colorless hotels. We stayed in smaller places, usually on the outskirts of the cities.
Bottom line, though ... if you want to see the most you can in the least amount of time, do the tour. If you want to travel around more leisurely, and see less, do it on your own.
May 20 AM: Italia Rail - Florence to Rome ($168 for 2 people)
I could be wrong but I swear I spent under $100 US for two fast train tickets from Florence to Rome...I think they have a two for one deal, likely for couples touring Europe...perhaps it was only for a limited time?
Anyways, I think you have a pretty good itinerary so far with about 3 days or partial days in each city. I would then pick maybe 2 "big things" you want to see each day (i.e. Colosseum and Roman Forum) that way you have plenty of time to look at the sights you're intending on but if you finish early you can explore off the beaten path, enjoy a bottle of wine, etc.
I wouldn't spend the money on a guided tour. In my opinion, it's much more enjoyable to travel based on your own interests rather than what some tour company deems is worth seeing on their schedule. I'm not terribly into art, so I've skipped a bunch of art museums that most tour guides would probably have on their agenda. However, there are some history museums I could spend an entire day in that tour groups might allocate 2-3 hours to. I know my interests best, and therefore prefer to plan the trip myself, even if it requires more work. We have taken city tours or more specific tours once we get to a location.
I highly recommend Rick Steve's books. I use them pretty much exclusively.
I find that generally Americans rush through Europe. Your schedule is a bit hectic. Almost everyone I've ever talked to says Venice is really overrated, and could be done in a day, so spending the same amount of time in Venice as Paris seems crazy. To give you an idea, I've spent a full 6 days in London, full 7 days in Paris, and full 7 days in Rome with no boredom. When I was planning my first trip, my itinerary looked like yours, and my husband, who used to live in Germany, talked me out of it. Best decision ever. Think less "we need to check things off our list."
There's another tour option that spends 3 nights in London, Paris, and Rome. I suggested to my girlfriend that maybe we can do this, but spend an extra 3-4 days to go to Florence and Venice
There's another tour option that spends 3 nights in London, Paris, and Rome. I suggested to my girlfriend that maybe we can do this, but spend an extra 3-4 days to go to Florence and Venice
Do this! Honestly I think I liked Florence the best (less crowded/chaotic compared to Rome), would definitely go there again in a heartbeat. And if you or your girlfriend likes gelatto, it would be sacrilegious to skip Firenze.
This is just something I cooked up on my own, using the ideas taken from here. I used May 8 as the date since that's the date the tour company has. May 8-23
May 8: Flying out of Dulles Airport (DC) to London - arriving May 9 in the AM
May 9, 10, 11 and 12 - spent in London
May 13 AM: Eurorail from London to Paris - approximately 2 hours ($132 total for 2 people)
May 13, 14, and 15 - spent in Paris
May 15 PM: Overnight train (Thello) from Paris to Venice ($192 for 2 people)
May 15, 16, and 17 - spent in Venice
May 18 AM: Italia Rail - Venice to Florence ($168 for 2 people)
May 18 and 19 in Florence
May 20 AM: Italia Rail - Florence to Rome ($168 for 2 people)
May 20, 21, and 22 in Rome
May 23: Fly from Rome to DC
It's roughly $600 in transportation costs, $2,364 in airfare, $2900 in hotel (I used the hotels that are on the itinerary, but I'm assuming this can be cut down) for a total of $5880, not including food or excursions. In the end, we are probably going to save about 3 or 4K when it's all set and done. The Grand Tour of Europe trip that they have is about $10K which includes airfare, hotel, taxes, breakfast, and 5 three course meals. Add in another 2K if we wanted to do all the excursions.
Unless you are wealthy and want too, you don't need to spend nearly that much to tour those countries. I recommend the following:
1. Obtain several Rick Steve's travel guides for Europe. You can also view videos online on Youtube of this if you want.
2. Go to www.europeandestinations.com and customize a "bare bones" trip to these places. The price will include airfare, hotel, and transfers to the airport. It may include rail fare in some situations.
3. Careful reading of the Rick Steve's guidebooks will largely eliminate your need for a guided tour in many places. Europe is far more "English friendly" than you think it is and language barriers have largely disappeared.
Do it my way and you can save a great deal of money. I have other tips if you want those too.
I think it's both, I think we want to visit as many countries as we can to say we've been, but at the same time, we also don't want to rush. We don't want to spend an hour in a museum, and then have to go b/c we have to get to the next city in 8 hours. It's too hectic. I personally want to go to Rome, see Vatican City, the Colosseum, I'd like to do the Eiffel Tower in Paris. We both understand we won't get to see everything in one trip, but we'd like to see something.
IMO, you cannot get what you want on the tours you are looking at. Even in your personalized itinerary, you have 5 cities in 15 days. What a nightmare! You are still going to be spending half your time traveling or preparing to travel.
I did 12 days in London/Paris 3 years ago. don't forget to discount the first/last day of the trip and most of the day traveling between. That left us about 5.5 days in London and 4.5 days in Paris and I felt like that was the minimum time that we would not feel rushed by. We are planning to do a similar length trip to Munich and Vienna in 2015.
Quality, not quantity.
ETA: in your personalized itinerary, you have yourself in Paris on 5/14/15, which is a national holiday/observance. Don't forget to look up national holiday schedules for the countries you're going to travel to to be prepared for some restrictions/closures of sights.
I've traveled a lot in Western Europe, usually with a friend or two, but sometimes even on my own. I've never done a guided tour, beyond purchasing tickets from an airline like British Airways, Air France, or Alitalia, which provided intercity transportation and transfers along with the airline tickets. I never felt any extra assistance was necessary and I don't speak any other languages beyond English and fumbling along in Spanish.
I would stress that I would rely on a guided tour if I were traveling in countries where the alphabet is not the same as ours. Luckily when I have been in Greece or Asia (I haven't been to Russia), I have been with a friend who speaks the native language. I often tell people, had I not been with a Greek speaker when I went to that country, I would still be in the Athens airport. You can't rely on a translation book or computer program when signs are written in characters you don't recognize. That said, I never had any problems getting by in the major cities of Western European nations. Even in Japan, enough people speak English (stop a teenager, they love to show off) that American tourists can get along without a guide
That said, when you plan to see places that are meaningful to you, I don't hesitate to sign up for the guided tour. Tour guides add so much to the experience of seeing a place. Some of my favorite experiences of Europe occurred on guided tours. I tend to vacation on off months when places aren't teeming with tourists and the guides are relaxed and can tailor the tour to the interests of the vistors. One of my favorite tours of all time was at Hampton Court Palace, which I visited on a rainy day in February. There were only four of us on the tour and our guide took us in every nook and cranny of that place, extending the tour far beyond the time and detail visitors usually get. I'm also a big fan of the tour buses that stop and go around a city allowing visitors to get off and on the bus according to their whims using a day pass. It's a cheap way to see a lot and the people who narrate the tour are usually very knowledgeable. When I go to a city I've never been, I do the bus drive-around the first day and then spend remaining days on foot or using other public transportation.
Reading your second post, DomRep, I would caution you to think about scaling down your itinerary. I have never known a tourist who said, "I wish I had gone to more cities on that trip." I have, however, known plenty who wished they had cut their itinerary down significantly. Nothing can ruin a fun time faster than inter-city train trips that are cancelled at the last minute, buses that break down, etc. While public transportation is much more prevalent in Europe than it is here, all the problems that can beset the experience are just as likely to happen there as here. Bad weather, traffic accidents, sudden re-routes, etc. Spending the night in a crummy train station in a suburb of Frankfurt, when I had pre-paid for a warm bed in a lovely B&B in the city, is not my favorite memory of a trip to Germany. Have two or three of those debacles on a 16-day journey and you'll like Europe a lot less than had you flown directly to Paris and stayed there for 6 days then flown to Rome for another 6 days.
One final thought about the age of your fellow travelers. I have good friends who are exceptionally well-traveled. They've lived abroad and been on every continent. They say their worst trip ever was a cruise of Scandinavia. They thought flying there and then boarding a boat that would take them from place to place would be a cost-effective and organized way to travel that part of the world. Even though they themselves were in their forties, apparently everyone else on the boat was a 65+++ rich person. They hated it. If you are going to hang with a group for that long, try to stick with your own age and within your own economic status.
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