What do we think about this rough outline for my upcoming 90-day Eurotrip? Any glaring mistakes? Things you’d change?
First, a couple notes:
-About 30% of the locations will be new to me, but I’ve spent considerable time in France.
-Bringing along my girlfriend, this will be her first time in Europe, and our tiny dog, who will always be in cabin with us.
-We’re gonna try to be a bit more sedentary with the dog, but there will be 2 14-day stretched (Prague to Berlin and the France stretch) where we will find high quality dog boarding for him and thus will be able to move more freely at a rapid pace
-I’m trying to keep costs somewhat in check, so less time in Barcelona and Paris, and also a long stay in Madrid to get our feet weight and also be able to rent a place for a month, which will probably save a lot of money there. Also, Madrid seems to have like 10-12 great day trips within 2 hours, so should be plenty to keep us occupied.
-We land in Madrid, but where we end up is open, as we only need to find a flight to Istanbul once finished in Europe, which shouldn’t be too difficult.
-I’m not a huge fan of Marseille, but would like to go to the PSG/Lyon match in Lyon followed by Lille/Marseille in Marseille (their stadium looks super cool), and that route kinda works out well slowly getting back to Barcelona
-We’re thinking about trying for a long stay visa sometime in the near future in Portugal, France, or Spain, and thus want to sample a bit of each country to see which my gf likes (I love France, but would live in any of the 3).
-I would like to spend more time in Sevilla, as it will likely have the best Winter weather, and also seems like Andalucia has quite a lot to see. The main issue is that the Prague date is pretty fixed, and if we open with a month in Madrid, there isn’t much wiggle room. Maybe do 5-6 days in Madrid instead and save the month stay for Sevilla?
Without further dudes, here is our rough itinerary:
Nov 8 - Dec 8 Madrid
Dec 9 - Dec 22 Prague —> Berlin
Dec 23 - Dec 27 Lisbon/Sevilla
Dec 28 - Jan 2 Sevilla/Lisbon
Jan 3 - Barcelona
Jan 4-8 - Paris
Jan 9-14 Lyon
Jan 15-17 - Marseille
Jan 17-19 - Montpellier/Perpignan
Jan 20-Feb 6 - Barcelona
I’m not a Euro traveler, but I’m just curious about traveling with a dog for so long, is there really no alternative than to travel with the pup? I mean it sounds like such a massive headache
We’re eventually gonna end up in Tbilisi, Georgia for a year starting in March 2022, and the plan was to make the most out of the time passing through Europe as well. Had it just been 3 months in Europe and then return home, we likely would leave him with my gf’s parents.
Obviously it adds some headaches, but I don’t anticipate it will be that bad. He’s a super chill dog (can easily rest all day) and tiny (3 kg), so you can throw him in his little travel bag and stick him under the seat on the airplane and he’ll just sleep and not make a fuss. Also no issues just leaving him in the apartment alone during the day. We’ll probably take him for a quick walk most days, but other than that he prefers just being allowed to sleep.
He’s prob about the best dog to travel with, so hopefully complications will be kept to a minimum.
I wouldn’t really call it “constant”. We’ve got a month stay and a couple 2 week stays mixed in.
We did a 3 month, 9 city trip that involved much larger distances in Brazil and that was fine.
I mean, some people try to do a month in Europe and hit up 20 cities/a dozen countries. That I would say is constant.
I did what I called an Epic European Vacation myself. Travelled for 4+ months. I’d say about 2/3 through I was completely exhausted. The trip ended with food poisoning in Krakow but that might have been a blessing in disguise given how drained I was. If I knew better, I would’ve put a long term stay (like a month) somewhere in the middle of the trip to recover but to also immerse myself more in an interesting area. Then, I’d cut off the tail end of the journey for a future trip.
Is there a specific reason why you’re choosing to stay for a month in Madrid over other places in Europe?
Well, apart from the Prague-Berlin stretch, which we added bc a friend will be joining us, the rest is in western Europe and only Portugal/Spain/France.
We considered doing the month in a couple different cities, but for now feel like Madrid is the best choice (although we could still change). A couple factors include: we’re looking a bit at costs and would probably do Paris or Barcelona instead, but feel like that would be a bit too costly. Lisbon or Sevilla might be an option, but much smaller than Madrid, and coupled with the abundance of day trips and museums in Madrid, it should be plenty to keep it interesting for a month.
Also, I’ve already stayed 2 years in France, so would prefer to do it in a different country. Finally, while the weather in Madrid won’t be great in Winter, it will be a bit warmer/dryer than most places in Europe, and we don’t want to be walking in freezing temps often.
I guess if there were another option that seemed much better we’d consider it, but it’d probably take us way out of our main planned route.
We’re then gonna do a month in Istanbul after our 3 month stint in Europe. So really it’s like a 4 month trip that includes 2 separate month long stays. And finally, we’ll end up in Tbilisi for a year in early March.
Karlovy Vary is a stunning town to visit in Czech Republic. Unfortunately, it’s not really on the way to or from anything despite being a short drive from the German border, so it’s hard to plop into an itinerary.
Alinea is one of the best restaurants in the country for a reason. It’s insanely expensive but one of those French Laundry kind of splurges if this is that kind of trip.
Boka is another excellent fine dining option that’s a couple of doors down on the same street and not as incredibly expensive.
And iirc, both are right across the street from Steppenwolf which is a great theater if that’s your sort of thing.
