Here’s how i go about planning a Europe trip:
1. Decide places to visit
2. Check connections availability and travel time
3. Book!
Decide places to visit
- You have to have some idea of the places that may be of interest to you to begin with. Most people probably think of the major European cities they are familiar with, and that’s not a bad way to start. Do look up wikipedia/wikitravel/tripadvisor to check if the attractions of those places are enough to warrant a visit. As a general rule, places with a higher sense of historical significance have more to offer. If you have no idea at all, look up the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites, they usually don’t disappoint (however, these usually do not coincide with the major cities).
- Plot the places you have selected on a map of Europe and see if you can join up the dots to form a logical itinerary. Scale down if you have checked and found out that the travelling time to go between the places are too long. As a general rule, i try not to spend more than 5 hours travelling per day (except on an overnight train), otherwise you might end up just getting from point to point instead of sightseeing. On a long drive, i would arrange for a short visit midway before reaching the destination.
Check connections availability and travel time
- The modes of transport are to fly, take a train or drive. Fly when you have to cover a very long distance (it is usually cheaper and faster than taking a train that covers the same distance). Drive when it’s not expensive to rent a car (this is the preferred mode of transport because it can take you to the doorstep of any place and it is least tiring since you don’t have to carry your luggage around). Taking a train could be cheap if you book in advance, and the good thing is it takes you right into the city centre.
- It is cheap to rent a car in Germany, which also happens to be relatively central in continental Europe, which makes Germany a good place to begin and end your trip. You can usually return the car to a different city from the one from which you picked up the car. Nothing beats having a car right up to the point before you fly home.
- Check for flights using comparison sites such as skyscanner.net. My preference is to find out the cheapest flight using such a site, then proceed to book with the airline website directly.
- I have never failed to find information in English on how to get around, such as finding the cheapest way to get to/from the airport, the cheapest way to utilise the metro etc. so don’t worry
- Develop confidence in knowing how to get from point to point by studying maps beforehand. I keep screen captures of the locations of hotels, restaurants and places of interest, especially in relation to the nearest metro station on my phone. It helps even more when you use streetview to “recce” a place, to find a restaurant or car park for example.
Book
- Do it top down – secure your flight to/from Europe first, then the connections between places on your itinerary, and lastly the hotels (the least to have to worry about)
- A lot of places/events of interest (e.g. museums, UNESCO heritage sites) require you to book way in advance because they can take in a limited number of visitors per day, so do remember to check.
- Hotel booking sites are aplenty. I normally go with Agoda or booking.com, occasionally venere.com (sometimes cheaper for the non-refundable option). I avoid those sites that award points or some form of credit for the bookings. Most of the time, you are allowed to cancel the booking even up to the day before you’re supposed to arrive at the hotel. Take advantage of this to secure hotel vacancies before you do further research for better alternatives, or convert the cancellable bookings into non-refundable ones (cheaper) along the way once you’re sure you’ll be there. If you have a rental car, remember to check for availability of parking at or near the hotel.
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