BootsnAll Travel Community

Thinking of doing this seven country tour this summer in two weeks. Can it be done?

My planned itinerary:

Start in Copenhagen, Denmark, then train to
Berlin, Germany,
Amsterdam, Netherlands,
Brussel, Belgium
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg,
then somewhere in the south of Germany by lot of lakes (forgot the name,
Vaduz, Liechtenstein,
Zurich, Switzerland

So, does this seem doable? It's eight cities total. And two of those countries are so small, I can't imagine spending more than a day there.

I'd really appreciate any feedback. How much would a rail pass cost me for this trip? If I were to see one major city in each of those countries, which would you choose? Are the cities I listed all pretty cool? Does anyone know the name of a nice relaxing city in the southern German lake district? Any advice for me?

It can be done, but I don't think it would be very enjoyable.

That looks exhausting!

Why start in Copenhagen if you don't really want to spend time there? I'd opt either for 3 days or so in Copenhagen, then on to Berlin and surrounding areas, Benelux or South Germany and Switzerland.

quote:

Originally posted by seraphim:
It can be done, but I don't think it would be very enjoyable.

Can you explain that?

quote:

Originally posted by whalewatcher:
That looks exhausting!

Why start in Copenhagen if you don't really want to spend time there? I'd opt either for 3 days or so in Copenhagen, then on to Berlin and surrounding areas, Benelux or South Germany and Switzerland.

What makes you think I don;t want to spend time in Copenhagen? :/

quote:

Originally posted by MercutioMike:

quote:

Originally posted by seraphim:
It can be done, but I don't think it would be very enjoyable.

Can you explain that?

My guess is because you are going to spend a good 25%-33% of your two weeks in transit. Seriously, it looks like a somewhat aggressive itinerary time-wise.

I would consider cutting one or two cities on your list. As others have said, you'll be on the move all the time and won't really have time to take everything in if you're worrying about trains to catch.

FYI, you can save a few hours by going south on Zealand Island from Copenhagen (by bus perhaps), taking the ferry over, and connecting with a train on the other side to take you to Berlin. The alternate route in going by train the whole way, by way of Hamburg - 11 hours.

I studied abroad in Copenhagen last year and it really is an amazing city - I hope you enjoy it! Europe's best kept secret in my opinion

What Stoo (and everyone else) said. You won't have more than a day and a half to spend in each city. If you extract time for looking for a place to stay, settling in buying train tickets, etc., that's only a day max. Even on a short trip like this, that's likely to burn you out. My rule of thumb is not to go to more than one country a week on average. Liechtenstein doesn't really count and you can count Belgium and Luxemburg as one country, but still you have way too many places. And btw, if you go to only one place in Belgium, don't let it be Brussels.

And as to not being able to spend more than a day in Luxemburg, Luxemburg city itself is easily worth two days, and so is Echternach.

You could easily spend the whole trip in Berlin and not get bored.

So, Michael, I'm thinking if you cut out Berlin (which I love, but it sticks out as a travel time consuming stop) and make Vaduz a day trip from Zürich, then things will be more reasonable. I'd even strongly consider dropping another stop.

Have you actually mapped out trains for this trip? They are not likely to be as convenient as you might expect.

If checking country/city boxes is an important goal, and you have the fortitude to do so, you could aim for overnight trains so as to overlap your sleeping and travel times. But that would cost more and your back might hate you for weeks if not months. Consider more of a zig-zag pattern then to maximize sleep time. But, honestly, this is only for the masochistic of boots.

I'll even buy you a beer or three if you submit to my suggestions.

To me it seems like a waste of a trip to Europe. You're going to go a lot of places but you aren't really going to see anything beside the inside of a train compartment and the bed in your hostel. Most of those countries could easily take up 2 weeks on their own and you'd barely scratch the surface.

Personally I'd pick one, maybe 2 countries and leave it at that so you can actually experience something instead of rushing from point A to point B.

Also, I wouldn't have Zurich be the only city you visit in Switzerland. I like it, but I think there are better places to go for an only stop.

On my first trip within Europe, I tried to cram in as much stuff as possible into as short a time as possible. I ended up spending the entire time running and seeing lots of things but not really enjoying or experiencing much. After that I swore that for each trip I took I'd pick 1-2 must see things and after that just play it by ear and enjoy the location. I enjoyed the latter trips much much much more than my first chicken minus head experience.

Whatever you decide, hope you enjoy it.

quote:

What makes you think I don;t want to spend time in Copenhagen? :/

Oh, I'm not suggesting that! As Kirk said, it's rather an amazing city, but you should spend some time there (note however that Denmark tends to be expensive), then focus on that general region, maybe taking in the north of Germany and travel up to Berlin (which is worth the trip in itself). Or pick one of the other two suggestions (Benelux or South Germany/Switzerland).

As everybody said, you'd enjoy the trip a lot more when you take things more slowly (and even then it's a lot to pack in!). Those regions are very different from each other, so I can see that you may be spoilt for choice, but I hope it won't be your only trip to mainland Europe

Thanks for all your replies. I will definitely cut down the countries I am going to. I've decided I just going to hit up Germany - Maybe Berlin for about 5 days in May. I'll do the other countries in September.