guys..my euro backpacking trip starts in june 2012. will be fun if anybody joins me

hi tobleronesss

please check your PM box.

I've detail out the specific on the Private message

Hi guys, based on initial feedback, i figured on a 2-3 week span trip, we can try visit 4 countries, maybe 3 depending on activities; Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Czech Republic

My initial draft below i am listing "places to visit". Again this is just a draft and by no means final. It does not mean we will visit all this but just a suggestions from a very very big list. In fact best to just choose a few to fully enjoy the vacation. I know i have indeed missed a lot of potentially nice places to go for each country listed below so please do provide me other suggestions.

I am posting this so others can get an idea of what i am planning and provide suggestions. The things to do below for each country i found from "other people's experience" and tourist source. I find reading reviews from travelers a lot better than blindly picking spots from books. Those interested to travel along please pm me. I will pm people who have already pm me so we can decide further the rough plan of travel, and dates. It is a lot easier to estimate cost, mode of transportation and traveling route once we have a set location to go. Date of travel have not been set yet. Have to determine what works best for other people too but tentatively July or Aug 2012? If we want to go to Oktoberfest must be mid Sept - October.

Oh and there are some suggested places to eat, just did not list them. Keep in mind some of these stuff need advance reservation like wine tasting, or beer tours.

Netherlands
- Cities to visit : Maastricht, Utrecht, Amsterdam
- Mergelgrotten caves
- Marken, Noord
- Amsterdam Dam Square, Canal tours, Red light district
- Van Gogh Museum
- Waag Fortress
- Heineken Brew Tour
- Keukenhof Gardens

Germany
- Oktoberfest, Sept 22nd to October 7th 2012. Cheap beer
- Can take scenic train tour to Salzburg,Austria,
- Garmisch-Portenkischen - take train/cable car to top of mountain??
- Museums to see : Deutsches, Neue Pinakothel, Alte Pinakothek
- Hofbrauhaus beer garden
- Dachau museum
- Kolner Dam which is "Mt Everest" of Cathedrals
- Garten der west (Garden of the World)
- Sachsenhaugen camp

Poland
- Warsaw; craft shopping, bars, eat
- Cathedral of Ss John Baptist?
- Monastry of Jasna Gora
- Salt mine
- Auschwitz or Treblinka camp - 50km west of Krakow, must go
- Hiking? Beskid Sadecki, Mt Sniezka
- Wawel Castle
- Tatra Mountains @ Zakopane - apparently really nice must go
- ojcowski or blalowizy national park
- gdansk, czestochowa, pieniny

Czech Republic
- Staropramen brewery
- Praque castle, medieval type
- Charles Bridge? shopping and eat?
- Karlory Vary - famous spa area close to german border
- Bohemian Paradise NE of Praque
- University town in Olamouc, old capital of Moravia
- Caves in Moravia, underground river to reach caverns

dear digiman, your germany part only covers Munich and some of the nearby city

If you are in Munich and you are big fans of BMW, you cannot miss the boat to visit its museum!~

http://www.bmw-welt.com/web_rb/bmw-welt/en/index.html

I think you should try to go to Krakow instead of Warsaw for Poland, I was told by a Pole during my trip to Stockholm that there is nothing much to visit in Warsaw itself and Krakow is way nicer.

Vienna is a very nice place as well, maybe you should consider it as well ?

If going to vienna, might as well add on Salzburg

hi all,
i dreaming to go to phuket by end of this year,
really want to ride to elephant ,

anyone's want to be my companion ?

Yea we can consider vienna. that is austria. in fact salzburg and vienna all close by. Warsaw is just capital, some architecture stuff there. In poland interested in visiting auschitwz camp, castle and tatra mountains which is supposed to be beautiful. I was thinking we want to rent a car for easier transportation. In some cases take train.

Please do continue to suggest places. I want us to have a good list to start, then check any showstoppers on travel spots (for example: some places only good to travel or open from x to y month during the year)

Also i think i will create a new thread in the forum to make it cleaner. Maybe first 2 post is summary and important details.

if we take Munich as a starting point, I think we can make it like this

Munich -> Prague -> Budapest -> Vienna -> Salzburg -> Munich

anyway, renting car and share by 4 people, the cost will be cheaper i think but we got to drive on the left side!

ok, interesting route moody. another alternate; munich - salzburg - vienna - praque - krakow - berlin

Also I do not know if it is cheaper to fly in and return from same airport. kayak.com allows us to search for flights from multiple airports (travel agents may get us better deals). Need to do some research.

as for driving on left side i do it now anyway lol so no worries there, just the understanding of their street signs and laws may be a bit different.

I guess sky scanner works better than kayak.com

Munich to Salzurg takes around 2 hours train or 1 hours plus drive if didn't remember mistakely

How many days you all plan tentatively for the trip? I think you need to book well in advance to get cheap air/train ticket. Perhaps can consider Eurotrain ? So you all are planning to take flight to Munich from your origin?

Yea have to fly to a "start city". I am also thinking renting car and in some cases use train. Lets work on generating a route, and getting a city to fly in. Right now the discussion is route. We can all fly from and to same destination unless some of you are located in a different country.

Anybody want to suggest a tentative date? Sept 20th to Oct 10th? Also have to cross reference date of travel with activities make sure it is appropriate and available.

10th July Cambodia trip any ?
can call me 0124133189

planning to

piap piap?

tobleronesss; manage to find anybody else?

MAX Two weeks (16 days) for me due to annual leaves constrain

If we really want to save money and fly to europe, airasia -> Paris gives the fair prices with good timing amid its maybe not comfort seats

airasia LCCT -> Paris, depart around 11.30p.m and arrival at Paris on next morning
airasia London -> LCCT, depart around 11.30p.m and arrival at LCCT on next morning

This combination can be lower than Rm2k during sales time

---

Added on July 11, 2011, 9:42 amI suggest you to fix a date
then the rest of us will try to fit in

Let say Sept 20th to Oct 10th
If i only can make it there, I will join
or may i can only make it Sept 20th to 1st Oct, then i will join for this period only

this would be easier for you or else it is hard to find a date that can accommodate everyone

Cheap train tickets only open up 3 months before hand
Flying will be another option via Easy Jet / Ryan Air sometimes it is cheaper than train tickets


This post has been edited by moody5: Jul 11 2011, 09:42 AM

Ok good point moody. i will start a new thread on this. see if anyone else is interested. I did not think of Air Asia, but yea sure seems cheaper.

Basically the tentative dates you all set is in the month of October and not June instead ?