Planning major trip, want to hit France, Spain, Italy, Amsterdam, Ireland, U.K, Greece. Need help w/the route!

Question

Please help me map this thing out -- I first need to figure out which country to fly into (obviously =). From there, I'll do all my traveling by boat, train, etc. Right now I'm thinking:

Fly into Ireland, then take the ferry to England, then another ferry from there to Amsterdam, then a train to France...and then I'm lost as to which direction to go in! Spain's location is kinda throwing a wrench into my already horrendous mapping skills. Any ideas? Should I just fly to Spain first - then ferry to Ireland, England, Amsterdam, France, Italy, and then end the trip in Greece and just fly back to the U.S from there? Or is there a completely alternate route that I'm just not thinking of?

Additional Details

Just realized it's not Spain's location that's such a problem -- it's Greece's! Let's take that destination out of the equation and see if it makes this map-plan any easier!

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

If you're on a budget, then a ferry from Spain to the UK or Ireland is a very expensive option as it takes a couple of days and you have to book a cabin. Also the Bay of Biscay can be very rough. The short ferry trips from France to England are much cheaper and quicker. e.g. Calais to Dover, and since the Channel Tunnel, you can simply go by train from, say, Paris to London.

I would recommend flying to Spain, then everything's East from there and you can travel by land to most places. Also you can buy cheap interrail passes for travel in Europe. I would probably do Spain - France - Italy, then through the alps and Switzerland to Germany and Holland. Also, these days, flights are really cheap if you book in advance between large european cities. An Irish company that flys from Ireland and the UK to many European cities is RyanAir.

If you are going to fly between places, a good way to plan the times of your flights is to use a website that can display the prices for a whole month, and plan your trip around these dates. The one I use is called skyscanner, I've put a link to it below. Instead of picking exact dates you can select whole month, the same for cities as well, so you can get the cheapest flights, regardless of a fixed city in that country. This way, the trip could almost plan itself :-)

If you want read about Spain(and Scotland) from an English-speaking foreigner's viewpoint, have a look at my travel blog below.

Good Luck!

¡Ciao!

John

Source(s):

http://englishidiotabroad.blogspot.com/ (my travel blog)
http://www.skyscanner.net/

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Very interesting stuff, John -- thanks!! What you said makes a lot of sense and I'm gonna check out those links you added, including your travel blog -- hopefully I can get a some more smart tips from it!!

Answer 2

Fly to Greece , then boat to Italy , next take train to France and Spain , finally take ferry to uk

Answer 3

I would start in Spain, drive to France, the Netherlands. (by train or car)
Then trough the Euro-Tunnel to England. (by train or by car on the train)
Then by ferry to Ireland.
To Greece by Plane

But I think you should visit Germany too. Its a must

Answer 4

with enough money, I'd fly to france do the continental europe in order down to italy take a ferry to greece, then take a nice boat out of greece and visit africa on your way out of mediterranian sea to the ireland from there go to london and fly back home....

but the best advice - go with the flow, decide where you wanna fly in (amsterdam), have a drink or whatever and then make a plan, don't stress - believe me, you will have the best trip ever...
that is what i did back in 2001 here in US and trust me, no one could plan such a trip prior to when it happened. i visited entire US, all the big cities, and I did not plan 90% of it...I still can't believe it!
but mostly make sure ur safe! good luck and have fun!

Answer 5

First of all I think you should seriously consider doing a lot of your travelling via plane.

Europe has many low-cost airlines where you can purchase one-way tickets, if purchased sufficiently in advance, from as little as £25 ($50). Ferries and trains in fact are often more expensive so this makes the airlines well worth checking out.

The aggregator website http://www.skyscanner.net/ lists many of the airlines and can assist you in planning your holiday.

I would recommend flying into Barcelona and spending some time there. No need to go to Madrid, there really isn't that much there.

From Barcelona you can fly into many UK of European airports or take a train into France.

If taking the train, flying into Barcelona you can cover a lot of France, Belgium, Netherlands. Perhaps from Amsterdam you can fly to London and then straight to Italy from there.

There are many ways to enjoy your trip but I suggest you seriously think of flying more than trains or ferries, if you don't mind the ecological impact.....

Source(s):

Personal experience and http://www.skyscanner.net/

Answer 6

I agree with G, goto Greece first. Then the whole trip is easy. Unless you know people in Britain why go there? Horrible climate, much the same as most English speaking countries. Ireland is very special though. If you goto europe and miss Greece you will regret it forever. Actually living in Europe and been to all these places, G's method is the best of the answers you have.

Answer 7

you do know amsterdam is not a country right?

Answer 8

im planning this type of trip too
and dont listen to that guy dont fly everywhere
you loose the experience if you just board a plane to every site you want to see. its laemmm
all i can say is:
dont forget about the new train going to london to paris
its just one train ride to each city.
thought about a eurail pass? i have
its extremeelyy expensive so im not getting one but im deffinatly going to take the train around
dont forget about portugal and germany
both close to where you are going and both worthy amazing places if you have extra time.

Source(s):

something long and extravagant takes time
dont worry it will work out