Seasoned European travellers - can you have a look at my trip schedule? Thanks!

[HelenaQC]

My son will be 18 very soon (still at school) and, having been a single parent from day dot, I feel like having some ME, ME, ME time - so I am planning to head off into Europe for 4 weeks all by myself. (He doesn't want to come, and I would prefer to be alone anyway). He'll be staying with his father & I am planning on going at the beginning of January.

Before you look at my itinerary a couple of things: I LOVE train travel. Love it. I am less keen on air travel. A little sight seeing goes a long way for me & I'm happy just to see the big stuff & enjoy the experience of being there, iyswim.

So this is my plan:

Fly to Stockholm - sleep two nights
Train to Copenhagen - sleep two nights
Train to Berlin - sleep two nights
Train to Prague - sleep two nights
Train to Vienna - sleep two nights
Train to Bern - sleep two nights
Fly from Bern to Amsterdam - sleep two nights
Train to Bruges - sleep two nights
Train to Paris - sleep two nights
Train to Marseille - Sleep one night
Train to Monte Carlo - sleep one night
Train to Milan - sleep one night
Train to Rome - sleep two nights
Train to Brindisi - sleep one night
Ferry/train to Athens - sleep two nights
Fly Athens to Gatwick and home!

The reason I have flown backwards to The Netherlands is because I wanted to head through Germany on the train, because that way I get to see as much of the country as I can. And the flight from Bern to Amsterdam is really cheap (if booked now).

I've spent a lot of time on Booking.com and I can get all of my accommodation (inc. City tax & VAT) for £816. Some places are a lot more expensive than others.

A) What do you think?
B) Is it better to buy a Global rail pass thingy or book train seats individually?
C) How much should I budget for food for myself daily? All my accommodation includes breakfast, so I need the money for one decent meal, and one sandwich/snacky meal.

Thanks so much for any tips, advice, comments :)

I would (personally) Eurostar to Brussels (visit Bruges/Gent/Ypres) then get a train to Cologne (nice for a day then travel on to Boppard and do a Rhine cruise)

Do the sleeper train from Cologne to Basel and do the train through the mountains to Milan. (it's supposed to be stunning)

On to Venice, then Florence and Rome. On the way back maybe Pisa. Cinque Terre villages can all be visited by Train. (Deiva Marina is a good hub) and jaw droppingly beautiful. Portofino also.

The on via Genoa to Nice. (very scenic trip this) That's a lovely spot on its own but can be used as a spring board to visit Monaco/Antibes/Villefranche sur Mer etc

Nice to maybe Arles or Avignon (TGV stops here)

Avignon to Paris for as long as you want.

Eurostar home.

Portofino...that sounds PERFECT! Not kidding....perfect. Taking in pretty much all I want to see with no flying too!

I have decided to knock Athens & the Scandi countries on the head for now so will use this as a template to knock up a new itinerary. Thanks so much :)

What do you think of the global rail pass? Worth the money?

DH says the scandinavian country are at worst in april it is wet muddy (melting snow gunk) cold, miserable. Go in summer or in winter before the snow melts. May be next year?

Yes - that might be next years trip. I am dying to visit them, but they are so expensive that I think they warrant a trip all by themselves.

Not next years...I mean...2016's.

Oh yes, villefranche sur la mer is beautiful!

I wish I could come with you

As someone said above www.seat61.com is fantastic for planning rail travel.

Some of the very useful German sleeper routes are stopping v soon so check carefully for details using the wonderful seat61 everyone has already mentioned. Deutsche Bahn's own site is good for timetables and booking (you can get the English version). But booking European rail travel is frustrating and difficult especially if you want a sleeper. Worth persevering though. You cannot book anything more than three months ahead.

It sounds like you're not going as far East as Berlin now but if you are I'd recommend it highly and a side trip to Leipzig.

are you buying one of those month train tickets?

Is there restriction on how many stops you can have?

I think depending on which pass you have, the number of days actually travelling can be limited.

Germany is lovely at Easter, btw- really nice, with Easter Trees, etc, and the weather brightening up.

Florence is spectacular, and you could spend 3 days in Vatican alone.

Going down through the Black Forest would be heavenly, I think

I second taking the Eurostar to Brussels, it's soooo much nicer than flying and it's quick. Plus there are a lot of international connections from brussels and Belgium is quite small so you can have a look around by train (Leuven is lovely).
Then you can go on to various places in Germany, Amsterdam,Paris very easily on the Thalys/local train/ICE. ANd on from there.

Sounds like a wonderful holiday!

I really like Portofino's itinerary

I would try to do a bit more in the south of France though, travelling by train -- you could also see places like Montpellier, Carcassonne, end up in Toulouse and take the TGV to Paris from there

Also this may be scandalous but I would practically just do Milan Venice Florence and skip Rome (I know, I know)

For your next trip you could do a really nice tour around Scandinavia, Germany, Prague, down into Slovenia and the Adriatic coast

In your shoes I would take a train from Stockholm to Norway, and go up to Narvik. From Narvik take Hurtigruten coastal voyage up to North Cape, then train down through Sweden and on to Copenhagen.
As you were....

Oh also I agree Bruges is gorgeous but could be done as a day trip

I think generally it makes sense to focus more on the bigger cities and do more day trips (by train ) From Venice you can do day trips to Padua, Vicenza, Verona, I think maybe even Trieste

Would definitely get the Eurail/Interail pass (or whatever it's called nowadays). I did it two years in a row many many years ago as a student when it was just for Under 26s.

It'll give you flexibility if you come across exciting opportunities. We were planning on going to Strasbourg after visiting Neuschwanstein but that would've meant spending half a night on a train platform so we decided to use the time to "go" somewhere instead and ended up in Vienna (Prague - no before Iron Curtain came down , Copenhagen, wrong direction, Vienna - good idea! ) on our way to Athens (we went through Yugoslavia).

Venice was fantastic. We came back from Athens via ferry/Brindisi and spent a couple of days in Rome and then a day in Florence. Be careful of doing too much sightseeing though: we "did" Rome (including Rome Cathedral, which I loved) one day and then the Vatican and the Vatican Museums the following. We then went to Florence the next day and I can remember sighing as I looked at Venus Rising (is that the name?) and thinking "Oh. A Botticelli. " 'cos we were cultured out.

Actually Seat61 Guy suggests the passes may not be the best option, particularly if you know where you want to go. Apparently some (even many) of the trains have quotas for how many people on rail passes they can take, so will happily set off with 300 backpackers still on the platform despite being half-empty. Or words to that effect :)

Sounds wonderful. I'd make sure of including Bruges, Ypres (and go to the last post ceremony in the evening) and perhaps Salzburg which I dont think has been mentioned.

Oops - it was Salzburg not Strasburg that we'd been planning on going to (still never been!)

We went to Ypres the other weekend. Absolutely fascinating if very sad.

Hard to believe that this is all new. The whole area was totally flattened during the war.

Just spent 4 nights in Vienna in a great hostel. Very cheap, very clean, great staff who all spoke English. Had a kitchen where you could cook your own meal , supermarket 2 mins away and main station 5 mins away. Metro also 5mins, so easy access to centre of Vienna.
Called hostel ruthensteiner. May need to check spelling .

I like the look of that itinerary too. If you decide not to use a pass I just wanted to come back to say I found the trenitalia website very user friendly I booked 2 months in advance and I think we got reasonable deals. I just liked the idea of having reserved seats. Even the food was good we were very impressed with them.

We couldn't change the tickets though which is worth bearing in mind. In Venice we stayed in mestre to save money as we could get a higher standard of hotel for less money and it didn't bother me.I just wanted a more comfortable room after travelling. Mestre is mainly corporate hotels but they all have regular bus services and it has its own station just one or two stops outside Venice itself.

I think we were about an hour early for our train back to Milan and it was going to cost about 100e to go earlier for example.

When travelling by train in Europe I've often felt overwhelmed by hotel choices. In Milan and in Brussels I couldn't decide where to stay so ended up booking lastminute.com top secret hotels but selecting the ones nearest the station. On both occasions we got fabulous hotels!

I'd be tempted to do a mixture of hostels and hotels.