European Tours Thread 4

[^Vain_Chiq^]

Will be heading to Prague, Tatra Mountains and Vienna next month .

[MissChievous]

Will be living in Limerick, Ireland for 3 months! Will be visitng Dublin. Any suggestions for the IT?

[mama squeak!]

^Lucky you!  We have a UK and Ireland thread that you can back read on and post your questions there.

[jeune]

Heading to Dubrovnik, Croatia and doing day trips to Sarajevo & Montenegro in April.

Hotel & flights are booked, can't wait! 

[glacy_rein]

Sis you didn't mention ilang cities per country balak nyo puntahan in your 4 weeks. But if you plan to visit yung mga 1-2 top cities/tourist attractions per country doable sya. Yun lang ubusan pera kasi yung pamasahe na lang hopping from one country to the other medyo mapapamahal kayo. But it's still your trip and if you can afford it why not?

You mentioned you plan to go back in 2015? Why not defer the rest of the countries you want to visit for that time? Maybe do the UK (2 weeks), France and Spain (3 weeks) this year. Italy, the Netherlands and Greece in 2015. Or your preferred combination.

Ideally try to allot 4-5 whole days for the big cities like Paris. Of course the longer the better since there are a lot of things to see here. I'm being a bit biased here since I keep coming back to Paris every time I'm in Europe. My recent trip last October my sisters and I spent two weeks in Paris and yet feel ko hindi ko pa rin naiikot talaga ng husto.

For Italy depends where you want to go. Right now my tentative IT here for March is one week just for our Tuscany tour (Siena, Chianti, San Gimignano, Volterra, Pisa, Lucca), 3 full days in Florence, 2 full days in Venice. Dito pa lang kulang-kulang 2 weeks na kami. So it really depends kung anong gusto nyong puntahan ng sister mo.

Suggest ko usap kayo ulit ni sister kung ano yung mga cities/towns na priority ninyong puntahan. As much as possible try to group the places na malalapit para hindi masyadong mahal ang train or air fares ninyo. Plus if you stay longer in one place you can save more by staying in apartments and you can negotiate a lower rent. 

Here's a Eurail map that can help you plan.

sis finish na Japan visa namen so ok nako to plan out for this naman. i'll check the sites then provide details to be checked.

thank you!

[letters_to_cleo]

^^Sis update ka after your trip from Croatia ha :-)

[rowan]

hello girls! sino na dito nakapag major  diy european tour? my boyfriend and i plan to visit as much countries as possible coz feeling namin wala na kaming time to go their again. we're thinking of visiting the ff countries in 1 month:


1. spain-just barcelona
2. france-paris
3. italy-rome/vatican,florence,venice
4. austria-innsbruck
5. czech republic-prague
6. germany-munich,
7. netherlands-amsterdam


doable kaya ito for a budget of 4k usd per pax? we plan to spend 3-4 days sa major cities like paris, rome. must see ang italy sa kasama ko and for me gusto ko yung mga medieval european cities thats why prague and innsbruck are there. may marerecommend pa kayo na iba?  and ilan days recommended nyo sa cities na namention ko? if hindi talaga maganda ipagkasya ito lahat sa 4 weeks, ano massuggest nyo na tanggalin?

also, worth it ba ang eurorail global pass?

thanks!:)

[^Vain_Chiq^]

^I've been to all the places that you've mentioned besides venice and prague which will we go to pa lang next month. 1 month for all these places I think is impossible kasi ang lalayo nyan sa isa't isa. Ang pinakamalapit lang dyan sa isa't isa is Innsbruck  and Munich which is 2 hours difference by car. Rome alone is a very big city and will take you about a week to explore not unless gusto nyo ng talagang paguran. For me ha, with just 1 month, you can just concentrate on Italy alone or maybe add Prague na rin. Will go there next month so I can update you about it .

[rowan]

thanks vain chiq!

 how about france-italy then maybe fly to czech-austria-netherlands? will just spend more time sa non negotiables namin which are italy and czech?

[mama squeak!]

^sis, please try to back read on this thread and the earlier Euro Tours thread. Plus meron din mga country and city specific threads that extensively discussed your concerns. Marami ng suggested ITs and tips sa mga threads na iyon. I am sure by the time you finish back reading you will get a clearer idea on how to plan your IT well. Pag meron ka pang additional Qs after back reading then feel free to ask.

 

[bagaholic_chewy]

^^ sis, we did Italy and Czech for about three weeks last 2012. Pace was just right for us. Not rushed, not mala-Amazing Race.

Bale in Italy, we went to:
Rome 5 nights (daytrip to Napoli; Rome was our entry point)
Florence 4 nights (daytrip to Pisa and Siena)
Venice 3 nights (with daytrip stopover at Bologna - bale we took a morning train from Florence to Bologna, left our luggage at the train station, went around Bologna, then took the late afternoon train on to Venice.)
Milan 3 nights (daytrip to Como; flight out from Milan)

Between Rome and Florence, we took a budget airline to and from Prague. We stayed for 3 nights in Prague, then 2 nights in Cesky Krumlov. We left our stuff at the guest house where we stayed in Rome. upon arriving in Rome from Prague, kuha lang maleta then diretso na kami Florence.

Since you have a month, perhaps you can squeeze in about two to three days in Austria (since malapit na sa Czech, madami ako nabasa before na shuttles/vans na bumibyahe from Prague/C.Krumlov going to Austria). And perhaps you can also do Paris for a few days. Just plan your itinerary well para mas efficient ang travel times mo. Check the Schengen map and the direct flights/trains between the countries. Perhaps if you're taking KLM flights, you can squeeze in a day stopover in Amsterdam either on your flight in or on your flight out.

[chez]

thanks sis letters_to_cleo for the suggestion..... :)na excite ako sa Andora...will do research na.

[rowan]

thanks for your suggestions girls! ive been backreading and we decided to cut our countries to 4. anyway is it wise to end our trip in italy or france? napansin ko kasi sa mga posts nyo dun 2 countries na yun yung may heavy shopping due to leather goods. other countries to visit are czech and netherlands. plan namin talaga ng kasama ko na huwag magshopping, experience the places and food trip dapat talaga but since girl ako, i might not resist The Mall in florence hehe:)

[mama squeak!]

Hubby got his vacation days extended yay! So we're doing Brugge for 3 days and probably a side trip to Ghent. Anyone been to these places recently? We will be going to the Choco-Story museum among other places. Any other must-not-miss things to do? We will be staying at the Cote Canal B&B .

[jeune]

Sis cleo, will do

Mama squeak, we skipped the choco museum since we've been to Lindt choco museum in Cologne and it was nice plus our friends who went there said it wasn't that great. Don't miss Luc Vanlaere's harp performance, you'll be glad you went there Also canal ride which you'll probably pass by the place you're staying.

[mama squeak!]

^hey thanks for the tips sis! Specially on Luc Vanlaere, we'll definitely check it out. 

[kulitkidz]

Hi po! ask lang po how many kilos allowed going to Frankfurt? Airline po PAL connecting to LUFTHANSA in Hongkong? Thanks po

[mama squeak!]

^sis check your ticket. Normally pag economy class 20kgs and business class is 30kgs. Pag contract worker or seaman fare minsan nasa 30-40kgs so depende na lang sa binili mo na ticket yung magiging baggage allowance mo.

[^Vain_Chiq^]

Just came 2 weeks ago from a week trip in Prague and Vienna. Both cities are beautiful but as per my observation, Austria has always been more expensive than the other European countries I've been to. What I like about Vienna is their Wochenkaart  (Mon-Sunday) which gives you unlimited transportation (bus,metro and tram) within Vienna for 1 calendar week and costs only 15 something euros. FYI, the wochenkaart is not a 7 days card, but is only good for 1 calendar week, Monday to Sunday so for example you bought it on a wednesday hanggang sunday lang din sya of that week pwede gamitin. We also went to Kahlenberg which is the wine region of Vienna.

@mama squeak! - I went inside the Santo Nino museum and I agree with you that Ben Farrales design was the most elegant one. Wrong spelling pa nga name nya eh, it was spelled Ben Jarrales or something. LOL. Too flashy kasi yung ibang designs like the one from Colombia. We went to the church two times and the first time, a Filipino priest (I think) was conducting the mass in English so hindi kami nakapasok sa museum.  Nga pala sis, we'll go again to Tuscany next month and this time we'll be staying in Sienna and discover the other side like Chianti and of course Sienna. We'll also be doing Reims & Burgundy in France then to Milan, Tuscany and lastly Elba. Wine route na naman into.

[mama squeak!]

^sis, update mo the Italy and France threads ha after your Tuscany/Burgundy/Reims tour. Abangan ko your tips. Hopefully third time's the charm at matuloy na kami sa Tuscany. Syempre drop by France again!

@jeune, thanks for the tip on Luc Vanlaere. Hubby and I enjoyed his mini-concert so much napabili kami ng CD nya! Hehe! We did the Chocolate museum and we enjoyed it too. It's their 10th anniversary so they had some extra chocolate  giveaways. Pandagdag pasalubong! We didn't do the boat tour na since we ended up staying for 5 days so naikot talaga namin ng husto ang Brugge. Di na rin namin napuntahan ang Ghent kasi tinamad na is hubby, non-stop kasi kami sa walking since we arrived in Lyon then dito na sa Brugge.

Oh by the way, the B&B where we are staying happens to be where the most photographed dog of Brugge lives! Kaya naman every time dadaan yung mga boat and bus tours tumitigil talaga sa B&B to take pictures of Fidel. Lovely, friendly dog! Can't wait to update my blog with all the adventures we've had!