Show me around Europe...

October 16, 2007 6:59 PM

Help plan our perfect post-cruise European itinerary!

My friends and I are taking the April, 26, 2008 Carnival Freedom Transatlantic cruise. It travels from Miami, FL to St. Maarten to Funchal, Portugal to Malaga, Spain, to Livorno, Italy before ending up in Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy.

Since we'll be there, we'd love to swing north and see a bit more of Europe. The only problem is, we have no clue what to see or how to get there.

Assume around 7 days (closer to 5 might work better, though I know you can't see too much in 5) and $1,000-$1,500 for each of us for transportation & hostels/hotels/whatever. We need to end up at an airport that Aer Lingus services, since we'll be getting home by them. (The $1,000-$1,500 excludes airfare.)

What's an absolute MUST see after the cruise? Hell, what's worth seeing in any of our ports of call?

Moreover, how do we get around? I know trains are cheap and plentiful—can you point me to a "get your ass around Europe by train for cheap" site?

If you know how best to get around Europe, example cities that are easily reached one to another by train would be brilliant.

Thanks, hive mind! (I'll of course be continuing my research on this elsewhere, but I'd love to get some starting points from people who have been there and done that.)

posted by disillusioned to travel & transportation (4 comments total)

Hey, look, RailEurope does a decent job at making it easy.
posted by disillusioned at 7:01 PM on October 16, 2007

For a little advice on the cruise - when you get to St Maarten, take a cab to sunset beach, grab a seat and a beer at the bar on the beach, and watch the planes. As to Europe itself, if I were to recommend an itinerary I'd go North through Italy to Switzerland and spend a few days in the Swiss Alps and the Lake Geneva area. You could head into France if you have the time, but on 5-7 days that's kind of tight.
posted by true at 7:20 PM on October 16, 2007

You need to give us some more details about your interests if your question is "I have 5 days to spend in Europe; what should I see?".

First, settle on one country: do you prefer to see more of Italy, visit France, go to Ireland for an easy flight back to the US wit Aer Lingus?

One more thing: if you have only 5 days, forget about the train unless it's high speed.
posted by rom1 at 12:39 AM on October 17, 2007

true's itinerary sounds nice., especially on only 5 to 7 days. I'd make especially sure to give some good time to Switzerland, which is a definite change from the warmer/more Latin climes and cultures you'll visit before.

But, personally, I'd take the German side of Switzerland over the French anyday. Zurich is a great "big small town" and lovely to walk around in, and there are a bunch of villages in the mountains that you can kick back in for a couple days (If you're investigating, I really enjoyed Braunwald, in Glarus Canton, one hour or so outside Zurich).

About the trains: Honestly, they're not that cheap. If you want them to be cheap-ish, make sure to get a Eurail pass before leaving the US if you plan to do a lot of train travel (maybe sleepers? 5-7 days, again, is not long). The budget airlines available in Europe are often cheaper than taking the train. But you should take the train at least once, for the experience, and not be spending all your time travelling in any case.

And get yourself a Rick Steve's book for wherever you visit after, and visit the website. Good walking tours, confusing train options broken down in plain English, and a lot more.
posted by whatzit at 5:37 AM on October 17, 2007