European Tours 5 **Pls Check 1st page for the Europe map and reference links**

[jhoygeron]

Sharing our itinerary last sep-oct 2015. I used the map to determine our itinerary.
On our planning, we preferred bus over trains since it's a lot cheaper. We use bus for overnight transfers to save on cost plus it became our accommodation already. We use trains for morning transfers to save on time. My husband and I have agreed that this would be a whirlwind type of vacay to cover only our priority/must-visit sites. Bawal magreklamo.

Day 0 [London]: Arrival at night. Roam around Paddington (near EasyHotel).
Day 1 [London]: Viator Tour: Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Bath and Medieval Village of Lacock
Day 2 [London]: FREE walking Tours (signup online) - London All In One Tour (Change of Guard at Buckingham Palace, photo op at Big Ben and London Eye) and the Dark Side of London Ghost Tour.
Day 3 [London]: DIY: Platform 9 3/4, Picadilly Circus for shopping. Overnight bus (the Roro type) to Paris.
Day 4 [Paris]: FREE walking Tours (signup online) - Paris Landmarks: Right Bank Tour (starts at Opera house) and Montmartre Tour (Moulin Rouge to Sacre Coeur)
Day 5 [Paris]: DIY: Eiffel Tower so early in the morning to avoid crowd, Louvres Museum, Walk the Champs Elysees Street where Arc de Triomphe is, back to see the Eiffel Tower at night (must!)
Day 6 [Paris]: Versailles Palace. Overnight bus to Amsterdam.
Day 7 [Amsterdam]: FREE walking Tours (signup online) - Amsterdam City Tour, did the Heineken Tour and the Red Light District walk
Day 8 [Prague]: Morning flight to Prague via EasyJet. DIY: Prague City Tour (Old Town Square, Charles Bridge to Prague Castle).Overnight bus to Munich.
Day 9 [Munich]: FREE walking Tours (signup online) - Munich City Tour, Viator Tour: Third Reich Tour (Hitler) and HofBrauhaus Beer
Day 10 [Salzburg]: Viator Tour: Salzburg tour (Sound of Music) from Munich
Day 11 [Munich]: Viator Tour: Neuschwanstein Castle Tour (must!)
Day 12 [Zurich]: Early morning bus to Zurich. Pasalubong shopping (Swiss chocs are cheap!). Planned to visit the Rhine Falls, but we decided to skip that.
Day 13 [Interlaken]: Viator Tour: Jungfraujoch Tour/Swiss Alps Tour from Zurich - the only reason we went to Switzerland (must!)
Day 14 [Zurich]: Free tour from Viator: Zurich Tour (Can skip!). Overnight bus to Venice thru Milan.
Day 15 [Venice]: DIY: Venice tour. It's a small city, you can explore in a day. Did not ride the Gondola, it's too expensive. Skipped our planned Burano trip.
Day 16 [Florence]: DIY: Florence tour (Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, Piazzale Michelangelo)
Day 17 [Florence]: Train to Pisa for the Leaning Tower of Pisa then back to Florence for Outlet shopping
Day 18 [Rome]: Early train to Rome. DIY: Rome Tour (Colosseum and the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Fontana di Trevi (under construction), Piaza Navona)
Day 19 [Vatican]: Viator Tour: Vatican Museum with Sistine Chapel and the St. Peter’s Basilica
Day 20 [Rome]: Our flight is not until the afternoon so we just explored Rome but not the tourist sites until it's time to go to the airport.

[princess20]

^nice sis jhoygeron! Ang galing dami nyo napuntahan in 20 days. If you dont mind, how much is the total estimated expenses nyo? We did our Eu tour last spring, but we only covered 5 places.

[jhoygeron]

@princess20 around P220k each person. Excluding the visa fees and the pre departure shopping.

[eischied_21]

^was that a budget trip? Do you eat at expensive restos? Mahal pala

[jhoygeron]

^Yep, it's quite expensive if you based it alone on the amount. We've visited around  8 countries for 21 days. For food, we allot only one nice dinner or lunch in a restau per day. The other meals would be like on real budget. We've spent mostly on tours. The most expensive ones are the Jungfaujoch tour (swiss alps) which is 12k each person and the Stonehenge tour which is around 7k each. You may cut on the countries/cities, tours or days to have cheaper overall price. London is expensive too and would require a different visa, so you may skip that as well.

[Chili1113]

Finally!!! 4.5 months after our wedding we are going to leave for our honeymoon in a week. Just finished finalizing everything. I am so excited! =) =)

GREECE
1. Santorini 5N - Our real honeymoon and biggest splurge on accommodations. We will just bum around for 5 days because after this leg our itinerary will be a bit hectic.

2. Athens 2N - 1 Day for The Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, Plaka

CROATIA
1. Dubrovnik 6N -
Day 1: Booked Tour: Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Day 2: DIY day trip to Catvat
Day 3: Dubrovnik Old Town
Day 4: Booked Tour: Kotor and Budva, Montenegro
Day 5: DIY day trip to Lokrum

GERMANY
1. Berlin - 5N - had no choice but to pass by this city to connect to Reykjavik, and flights are only 2x/week.
Day 1: City -Reichstag, Brandenburg, Charlottenburg
Day 2: DIY day trip to Potsdam
Day 3: Booked Tour: Dresden
Day 4: City -Berlin Wall, Pergamon Museum, Checkpoint Charlie, etc.

ICELAND
1. Reykjavik - 7N
Day 1: Booked Tour: Northern Lights-We're doing this every night till we actually see it!
Day 2: Booked Tour: Golden Circle
Day 3: Rest/City- Reykjavik
Day 4: Booked Tour: Blue Ice Glacier Hike
Day 5: Rest/City - Reykjavik
Day 6: Booked Tour: South Coast
Day 7: Booked Tour: Reykjanes Peninsula and Blue Lagoon

NORWAY
1. Bergen- 3N
Day 1: Arrive/Rest
Day 2: Booked Tour: Norway in a Nutshell- Flam Railway, Fjord Cruise
Day 3: City- Bergen

2. Oslo - 2N
Day 1: Arrive/Rest
Day 2: City-Oslo
Day 3- Depart for Manila

[aranses]

Just got back from Europe. We have 3 days in Athens, naikot namin halos lahat and worth it bilin multi ticket nila for ancient entrance fee. Then, nag attend kami Orthodox wedding in Evia, my bestfriend got married to a Greek guy super cool! at grabe sila magpakain ng bisita ang laki serving!

Then we flew from Athens to Santorini. We stayed in Fira, near the bus station. We booked Spiridakos Yacht sailing, super worth it. We have our own yacht, may chef, unlimited drink, sumptuous lunch and nag snorkeling kami sa Private bay near Thirasia and hot spring. Nakaka inlove Santorini and Greek were super bait. We spent our last day in Oia, we booked an automatic car to roam around Santorini, we also went in Santo wine thou the locals said we must try the other winery since Santo wine is over rated. Ang ganda ng megalochori thou mahirap mag driveang road nila sakto talaga para sa one car! We also went to the highest peak of Santorini (Profitis Ilias) where you can find the best view of whole santorini.

Next stop was Prague. I enjoyed their gothic architecture. Grabe mahal ng water mas mura pa mag beer. We tried cannabis chocolate here. We found out na mas affordable sa Greece compare sa Prague.

4th stop is Vienna. Very grandiose ang Schönbrunn Palace, I am willing to stay my whole day here reading book. We tried sacher cake in Cafe sacher, we didn't like it. Then, pumila kami sa Cafe Central for apfelstrudel, not the best apfelstrudel. The best one we tasted can be found in Hundertwasserhaus cafe. We also lined up for hotdog sandwich forgot the name in front of albertina museum, eto na enjoy namin.

Di ko malimutan from prague to Vienna maynag suicide sa train namin! yikes! ang laki abala almost 3hours kami natengga sa railway kasi inantay next train going to Vienna. Naloka kami. Kakaiba experience!


Last stop namin Venice and Rome. I already went here last year but since my inlaw wanted to see Colosseo then I have no choice but to revisit. . 

[Chili1113]

^How much was your sailing tour in Santorini? Did they pick you up at the hotel or do you have to meet them at the port? I was looking into in but we are staying in Oia. The cheapest tour I found is 95 Eur per person. Is it really worth it? Even if I don't want to snorkel or swim? Thanks sis!!

[aranses]

We rented a yacht from EUR1400 we haggle it to EUR700. 5 kami naghati hati kaya worth it. It comes with unlimited drinks (wine,beer,juice and softdrinks) & lunch. 5 hours sailing, we stop to 3 beaches forgot the name and we swim in a private bay area and hotspring. They also have other packages semi private yacht tour around EUR 150 but better book it sa santorini para maka discount. Yep hatid sundo kami ng mercedez van.

[Chili1113]

^wow!! That sounds so amazing!!!! Solo ng group mo the entire boat. That's a super good price na because it is a private tour. The 95 Eur/person I saw which is the cheapest is on a boat with a lot of other people and you have to go to the port of Oia to meet the group.

Still debating on this actually because we sobrang splurged on our honeymoon suite and feeling ko dapat sulitin namin by hanging out on our balcony every sunset hehe.

Did you visit other places on the island? Im thinking of going to Red Beach and Akrotiri. But if we will go sailing I think Ill skip Red Beach since it stops there for snorkeling I think.

Thanks for all your tips sis!

[gorgeous_me]

Sisies help, I just got my schengen visa from France embassy.
I applied here in Toronto, the problem is, I changed my mind, and I might stay longer in Italy, additional 2 days than France.

Will there be a problem? or should I stick on my initial itinerary?

[bluestocking]

^ Your concern is that your visa might not be valid? It doesn't matter. As long as you leave the EU countries within the allotted visa period, ok na yun. They wouldn't check naman your passport or your itinerary against your visa application.

[gorgeous_me]

^yeah, Cause I plan to stay longer in Italy than France, and since my Visa was granted from France Embassy, my only worry is that, they might ask me, why I didn't stay long to the country that gave me schengen visa? baka kasi may checking sa immigration of each country in EU, na chinicheck nila yung days I stayed

since sa ITI ko, mas matagal yung stay ko sa France than Italy.
There are some cases daw na nagccheck, but if you're lucky, then you can go around schengen countries freely.

napaparanoid tuloy ako, haha..baka kasi biglang i revoke yung visa, once they found out na mas matagal ako sa Italy than France, nyahahaha

[princess20]

^ It doesnt matter sis. Wala ng checking sa immigration once you are inside na ng EU territory.

[gorgeous_me]

^as in sis? kahit nasa visa ko is France? wahaha, paranoid, huhu

kakaloka, baka mahold ako e, OA e no

[gorgeous_me]

question sisies, has anyone tried night train from venice to paris?
I'm considering Thello train (Couchette 6)

[mama squeak!]

^we did Venice to Paris on the Orient Express. Wrote about it on my blog. Expensive but worth every euros we spent.

[gorgeous_me]

^ahh, na-scan ko nga yung orient express, while backreading, train pala yun, heheh
thanks sis

[i_miss_sleep]

My money tips in Europe:
1. I mostly purchase using my card. Find a card that have no foreign transaction fees, great exchange rate and can cover your insurance for your travel needs (ie. trip cancellation, lost baggages, car rentals)
2. It's more organized to have all your purchases in one card so you can monitor what you bought and it's easy to document when filing for tax refund.
3. For buying souvenirs (ie. magnets, postcards, t-shirts, fans, umbrella, etc.), as much as possible, do everything in one store and be done with it. Make sure that you get the receipt, tax form and signed so you can file for tax refund.
4. Find out what's the minimum purchase amount you can put per receipt in order to qualify for tax refund. Austria is EU75. Here's an article which shows minimum purchase and tax rate:http://www.reidsguides.com/t_mo/t_mo_vat.html
(ie. i was able to refund my EU39 Pandora charm I bought from Germany but not the one I bought from Austria)
5. Some stores have option to charge your card in your local currency. Find out your card's foreign transaction fee and exchange rate to make an intelligent decision whether you'd take that option or not.
6.  Instead of exchanging your local currencies to Euro in an airport, just find a local ATM where you can make withdrawals. Check your bank if you can make withdrawals internationally, exchange rates are better.
7. Find out your maximum allowable withdrawals per day.
8. In my case, I withdrew EU200/day just so I can buy from local shops that do not accept cards or do not accept Euro. ie food stalls, vendo machine, housekeeping tips, train/bus tickets, buying prints/art from street artists, toilet use - yes, prepare to have coins!
9. Note that some local stores in neighboring countries only accept their local currency, ie. Prague with Koruna, so I withdrew again from their ATM
10. Have a separate coin purse for loose change and don't be afraid to use them (save it for use of their public toilets, mostly they're coin-operated)

[galatea_spheres]

Hi gorgeous_me! We rode on the Thello night train from Venice to Paris a couple of weeks ago, we were a party of 5 so we also got the 6 seater couchette. The Thello is very basic, no frills train but its also incredibly cheap! But as long as you have your expectations in check, I think its a good option The train and couchette was clean & comfortable enough naman. Top bunks are the most spacious. The train may start off empty in Venice but it can get fully filled up in the suceeding stops. Akala ko kami lang sa couchette namin but a 6th person joined us in Milan so it was a little awkward pero after a while carry na rin Even if the train ride was long, it just breezed by for me because I was comfortable lying down & soon enough we were in Paris! Basta again, Thello is ok as long as you don't expect luxury