Try to not get too distracted by other people's preferred destinations. I can think of many magical

My sister and I (21 23) are planning an 8 week trip to Europe in May/June 2013. Having been on a very brief guided-tour for 3 weeks a few years ago, we are hoping to plan a trip that isn t as rushed. Although we are more than happy to spend our days walking around seeing hotels orlando florida as much as we can (main attractions, hotels orlando florida food wine, nightlife and SOME museums), we would also like to have the time to just sit, relax and soak up the atmosphere. Our first draft itinerary is
We were also thinking of breaking up the 24hr flight from Australia by stopping over somewhere for a night on the way there and back, maybe Thailand and Hong Kong. Would it be feasible hotels orlando florida to get a hotel for a night, spend a day in these cities and then jump on a plane and continue our flight?
London and Rome look good. whether the rest works depends on what you are planning to see/do. Generally 3 nights nets you 2 or at most 2.5 days in a place. And 2 nights = 1-1.5days. If 1.5 or 2.5 days are enough in cities like Athens and Venice is your call. Parts are a bit fast paced for me.
We d like to do a mix of plane and train. So fly from London to Berlin, trains from berlin heading down to Vienna and around Italy, then fly from Rome to Santorini via Athens. Ferry from Santorini to Ios, then fly back to Athens and on to Istanbul. We still need to look into eurail passes but we were hoping that we could cut a lot of travel time by flying to the places with the most distance between them
We re spending 2 weeks in London because we have family over there we d like to see. But those 14 nights are flexible hotels orlando florida so we could always drop a few days there and add them on to somewhere else. Which places do you think need more time?
If it was me (and for me personally, no amount of time is too long in London) I'd maybe cut one or two cities so that I'm nowhere fewer then 3 nights. W/ all the checking out/in/travel/transfers, 3 nights would be my minimum in any major city.
Long journey from Istanbul to Cappadocia and back I would have thought - check that. If you're dead keen on Cappadocia and want to take some time off London, I'd add it to Turkey. Either that or skip Turkey altogether (or maybe have a week in Istanbul?).
There are some flights directly into Santorini from European cities other than Athens. Check whichbudget.com , flycheapo.com and Aegean Airlines. Not sure that there are commercial flights hotels orlando florida from Ios but could be wrong.
Of course you can stop over enroute from Australia. Each airline will have their standard stop over destinations for refueling. Flights generally cost more to stopover. wotflight site good to check fares. Fare sales for that time of year generally start Nov through to end-Jan but can get lucky any time.
RE the stopover between Australia and Europe: I think that's a very good idea. Which city, of course, depends hotels orlando florida upon which airline you choose. I had a very nice three day stopover in Kuala Lumpur when flying with Malaysia Airlines. On another trip I had a long layover in Singapore, and wished I had stayed longer.
RE Athens: one day is enough to see the Parthenon and one or two other sights, but hardly does justice to the city. Frankly, the more I go to Athens the more I discover, hotels orlando florida and now think three days is about the minimum.
You can't even cover the main sites in Athens in one day! I think the number of nights need juggling a bit, I would certainly take some off London if possible, maybe really consider what how much you want to see in each place?
We re now thinking of dropping 2 days from London and adding them to Athens and Ios. That way we have no less than 3 nights in each stop, with the possibility of cutting more days from London if need be (maybe adding to Berlin or Cappadocia?).
I just assumed we d have to fly to Athens to get to Santorini, but I ll do some research to see if we can get a flight directly from Rome because that will certainly save us some travel time. Thanks!
Yes we re very keen to do a stopover on the way there and back. I m just hoping that 1 night in each place will be enough to see a bit of the city while still getting some rest needed to continue on the flight. I guess it s the same as Athens though; you can t see any city in 1 day but at least it ll give us a break from the plane and a taste of where we might like to go back to in future
Ira- We ve chosen not to go to Paris because hotels orlando florida we went there last time, and I guess we just overlooked Florence due to lack of time! Our 8 weeks is very strict as we can t get any more time off work. Maybe we could do Florence and save Greece for next time? If we were to cut down 1 or 2 places which ones would you guys suggest? We re VERY excited to be going to Turkey so we don t want to miss going there!
Most any time you fly it essentially eats up a day. Maybe not a full day. but the packing, checking out, getting to the airport, 1 to 2+ hours advance check in/security (many budget airlines have very strict advance check in rules), transferring to the new hotel/checking in all take time.
Well here are some IMO great European train sites - www.budgeteuropetravel.com ; www.seat61.com (great info on online hotels orlando florida discounts, which though are train-specific and generally non-changeable nor refundable and must be booked hotels orlando florida weeks early to guarantee so you lose any flexibility - a priceless aspect to me at least with a railpass) and www.ricksteves.com . Look at the Eurail Select Pass, valid in any of 3 to 5 countries of your choosing and cheaper than a Global Eurailpass good in dozens hotels orlando florida of countries.
I very strongly recommend a day on the Bosphorus, partially on the criss-cross ferry (four stops each in Asia and Europe), and getting off at Kanlica for the special yoghurt, at Kandilli hotels orlando florida for the terrific fried horse mackerel, at Arnavutkoy for Girandelo's icecream and at Bebek for a cup of coffee or tea where the rich and famous or wanna-bees congregate. You may add the Emirgan stop for the Sabanci hotels orlando florida museum depending on the exhibition and if you do not mind spending the money the excellent fusion hotels orlando florida meal of Changa restaurant. The ferry schedules are at sehirhatlari.com
For night life, consider Bebek again as the Bosphorus venues will be opening up, in addition to Sortie, Reina and Anjelik at Ortakoy. In the city, Nisantasi is the more upscale entertainment center while Beyoglu will provide local colour and some interesting locations as well as the music at Ghetto, Babylon, etc.
Anyway, back to your trip. For what it's worth, all of the comments about 3 days are really 2 etc are very sound. The minimum number of nights we spent in any one place was 3 nights and we found that rushed. Most places we spent 5 nights and we could have done with a few more in all of them.
The main part of our trip was a month in Italy. Included in that was 5 nights in Florence and both my wife and I wish we could have stayed another week at least. It is not just Florence - the whole Tuscan region is absolutely magic and each place warrants at least a day. There is Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano, Chianti and I haven't even mentioned Florence yet!
Try to not get too distracted by other people's preferred destinations. I can think of many magical places in Europe but they won't all fit into an 8 week itinerary. Avoid the scatter hotels orlando florida gun approach, hotels orlando florida especially if you see yourself coming back again.
I also loved Turkey. We spent 6 weeks travelling down the west coast. And Greece is my favourite country outside of Australia. Tough choice but with the time you have alotted to Greece I would be tempted to skip Greece if you're excited about seeing Turkey. You've got 3 short stops in Greece and pretty much a day's journey between each.
Alternatively, Aegean Air have flights from Rome to Santorini and then onward to Istanbul. Santorini is the most visited place in Greece but it is beautiful. You could just have a one stop taste of Greece. It will leave you wanting more next time! I know that contradicts my aversion to running around like a bee in a bottle but it could work.