Europe for a month! Hotel (and other) Advice?

henrygeorge

Level 2 Member
I am planning a month long trip to Europe with my soon-to-be fiance starting 7/23, ending 8/20. We're starting in Brussels then Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Venice, Rome, Florence, Lucerne, and ending in Zurich.

I picked up a Hyatt & IHG, and I'm working her up to do the same (she has avoided letting me get her in the game) and maybe an extra Hilton for her. Which city/hotel do you recommend we take advantage of?

We'd like to do this as light as possible. Currently looking at http://www.tortugabackpacks.com/collections/travel-backpacks/products/tortuga-travel-backpack for me. Not sure for her.

Thanks for reading :)
 

sriki

Level 2 Member
I cannot speak for all of them. But, I can give my opinions on the places I have been to last year.

1. Vienna - Stayed at PH (opening week). Great location. Fancy room controls, bathtub, Would most definitely recommend it
2. Venice - First choice was Hilton Molino. Missed out inventory by 1 day. Stayed at Boscolo Venezia (marriott). Standard room was tiny. Not particularly near anything but hotel arranges a private tour of Murano and Burano.
3. Rome - First choice was Rome Cavlieri but stayed at IC Rome. Right next to the Spanish steps and a metro station. Room size is standard for Europe. The room and hotel could use an update. But, location is great.
4. Florence - Stayed at Hilton Florence Metropole. Room was OK. Liked the lounge area (high floor; combination of indoor and outdoor). Did not check out the pool area. Provides shuttle to some areas.
5. Lucerne - Stayed at the Radisson Blu. If you get the right room (like us), you could get a wall of glass with a great view of Mt. Titlis. Yesterday, I read that a botique hotel is being converted into an Autograph collection (marriott) and opens in July. You might want to check that too.
 

wasser

Level 2 Member
I am planning a month long trip to Europe with my soon-to-be fiance starting 7/23, ending 8/20. We're starting in Brussels then Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Venice, Rome, Florence, Lucerne, and ending in Zurich.
12 cities in 28 days?

You do realize that a good portion of practically every other day will be spent in transit?
 

sriki

Level 2 Member
12 cities in 28 days?

You do realize that a good portion of practically every other day will be spent in transit?
On paper, it seems pretty hectic. But, we did something similar last year & enjoyed it. The travel time between those cities doesn't take up whole day but rather a couple of hours (add in 1 or 2 more for airport formalities) if flying

This is what we did: Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, London, 7 day road trip in Swiss (st. gallen,wengen, lucerne, etc), milan, florence, venice, rome, 3 days in santorini & vienna.
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
I cannot speak for all of them. But, I can give my opinions on the places I have been to last year.

1. Vienna - Stayed at PH (opening week). Great location. Fancy room controls, bathtub, Would most definitely recommend it
2. Venice - First choice was Hilton Molino. Missed out inventory by 1 day. Stayed at Boscolo Venezia (marriott). Standard room was tiny. Not particularly near anything but hotel arranges a private tour of Murano and Burano.
3. Rome - First choice was Rome Cavlieri but stayed at IC Rome. Right next to the Spanish steps and a metro station. Room size is standard for Europe. The room and hotel could use an update. But, location is great.
4. Florence - Stayed at Hilton Florence Metropole. Room was OK. Liked the lounge area (high floor; combination of indoor and outdoor). Did not check out the pool area. Provides shuttle to some areas.
5. Lucerne - Stayed at the Radisson Blu. If you get the right room (like us), you could get a wall of glass with a great view of Mt. Titlis. Yesterday, I read that a botique hotel is being converted into an Autograph collection (marriott) and opens in July. You might want to check that too.
Good advice here, I will add:

2. Venice - stayed at Westin Europa, nice room, slight upgrade for SPG gold and a couple of cocktails on the canal. Hilton looked good, but a little further away.
3. Rome - Stayed at Rome Cavalieri, wouldn't really recommend it, back then it was super cheap (145K Axon) but the location is so far from the city that you need to take their shuttle or a cab to get in, IC is much better located.
5. Lucerne, yep, the Radisson was great.

Zurich, stayed at the Sheraton, it was fine, PH is nearby, and is the easy answer to a vendome approach.

Enjoyed Basel in Switzerland.

Previous trip to Switzerland took train to St Moritz, scenic car is epic, through the Alps.
When in Italy I enjoyed Milan for a day, PH has a great location near the Duomo, maybe worth stopping off on route from last location. If you are 'strong' I would say 1 day Milan 2-3 in Rome is enough. Our 4 days in Rome were more than enough, and we took side trips to nearby towns of Orvieto and perhaps another..

Trains are going to be a big value for you -Milan to Rome by train was really nice, Swiss trains are super, German I think are also.. might want to price out a Euro Rail pass.
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
Have spent a ton of time in Europe and have been to all the Western European countries. You are trying to cover an awful lot in a short amount of time. Everyone has their own philosophy on this. If I had gone on a trip like the one you are describing with my husband before we married, we probably wouldn't have made it down the aisle. He hates pack up and go, pack up and go. Everyone has a different tolerance for this. Get a Eurail pass. But also look at skyscanner for cheap flights. To cover the ground you are setting out to cover you may want to fly some. One example you have is Amsterdam and Copenhagen. You can take a cheap flight from Eindhoven (outside Amsterdam) to Copenhagen on one of the budget airlines.

You definitely want to pack very light (European carry on size is smaller than US). I rather like the Rick Steves European size soft side wheeled bag. If you fly in Europe you will have to check anything bigger and on the budget airlines you will have to check that too. If you are taking trains, you want to be able to get on and off quickly.

I actually have not stayed in all that many chain hotels in the cities you mention. Consider some smaller hotels for more of a local feel, especially if you are in and out of cities fast. If you are in chain hotels, everywhere will feel the same to a certain degree. If you go to Copenhagen, consider the Radisson Blu Royal. It is a quick walk from the train station across from Tivoli Gardens.
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
I am planning a month long trip to Europe with my soon-to-be fiance starting 7/23, ending 8/20. We're starting in Brussels then Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Venice, Rome, Florence, Lucerne, and ending in Zurich.

I picked up a Hyatt & IHG, and I'm working her up to do the same (she has avoided letting me get her in the game) and maybe an extra Hilton for her. Which city/hotel do you recommend we take advantage of?

We'd like to do this as light as possible. Currently looking at http://www.tortugabackpacks.com/collections/travel-backpacks/products/tortuga-travel-backpack for me. Not sure for her.

Thanks for reading :)
My notes for an upgoming trip to Italy showed Hyatts very difficult to even find. All other hotels for which we have card/accounts were better: Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, IHG. Even Windham(Ramada) had a possible option in Naples. (oops, I left out Club Carlson, which worked well for Rome). However, Hyatts were scarce. You might want to check your cities for availability of these before you load up on another card. Hyatt DID work well for us in London a year ago.

In Venice we found a small "apartment" that looks nice and got great reviews via trip advisor. $220 for 4 nights, although it appears to be 20 minutes outside of downtown via train. Which works for us, but others like to be in the center of the action! Consider looking at this type of option if you can't find a suitable, cost-effective hotel.
 
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sriki

Level 2 Member
I second a couple of the opinions from @Matt & @smittytabb .

I was lukewarm on Milan before the trip. But, the duomo and the PH location made it a great short stop. The whole trip may or may not end up being hectic but I really hope one of you is a great packer and also won't mind doing it multiple times. My wife is great at that and without that skill, let's say we would have bickered over a few things. We also used luggage storage at the airports to store our bigger bags and just traveled with carryons when we know we will be traveling in trains (in Italy; used Rome as a base and backtracked between other places in Rome using trains and Santorini)
 

redbirdsj

Level 2 Member
I also agree with the sentiments above that this is a very aggressive schedule. But if you are the type who likes to hit the quick highlights of a city and move on, go for it! Below are some experiences on the cities you mentioned:
  • Munich - stayed in Le Meridien near the train station. Hotel is overpriced in my opinion but I didn't research much (came here on a whim after intending to go to a different city) so am unsure of the alternatives. It's well-located and about a 10-15 minute walk form Marienplatz and, more importantly, the famous beer halls.
  • Prague - stayed at Hilton Old Town. As a Gold, got decent value from a room upgrade, buffet breakfast and lounge access here on a 5th night free stay. Hotel is well-located and a short walk from the major downtown attractions. However, if only staying 2-3 nights I'd recommend paying cash/Arrival for a centrally located local joint of which there are many affordable options.
  • Vienna - stayed in Hilton Vienna. Right next to a metro stop which is an excellent way to get around. Also walkable to the main attractions in the city center. Again did a 5 night stay here, got upgraded to exec. floor and they have an excellent breakfast.
  • Rome - cannot recommend the Comfort Inn Bolivar enough due to its screamingly low points price and awesome location. Free breakfast as well. Rooms themselves are just OK (hotel is dated) but adequate for a quick stay and the location means you will never be in your room anyway.
 

rhinodh

Level 2 Member
Congrats!

I know you didn't specifically mention SPG, but we stayed at Le Meridien Vienna and enjoyed it. It recently took a category drop, so it is now only 10,000 points/night, which is a good value IMO. It is in a good location, right on the ring just a block over from the opera house.

They rent scooters there for 35 euro/day (IIRC, and in 2012) and that was fun :)

We also spent a night at Hotel Imperial (SPG) just down the street. It was a little more old school and I wish we would've stayed that night at Le Meridien.
 

Haley

I am not a robot
For trains this website is awesome: seat61(dot)com

I pack in a 'regular' backpack. A good one, $50 or so. Only thing special about it is that it has a water proof bottom. I used the same bag I carried textbooks around in while in school to travel for 20+ years. The strap broke on it so I'll need another. I did the Summer in Europe taking trains around twice with it.

I travel really light for a girl, my husband and I can share a Euro size carry on (his camera equipment takes up his carry on allowance).
 
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henrygeorge

Level 2 Member
Missed being able to help out but man that sounded like one hell of a trip!
Sure was. Thanks all for the advice. We came out about 250 Euro each with Eurail. The Eurail app is awesome, I wish we'd known about it beforehand. We wasted about 40 euro on a non-refundable reservation in Italy that we didn't use. There is lots of pressure to reserve, but it's really not necessary. As well, the Eurail site doesn't offer every path available because they likely want to point you to those reservation needed routes. In addition, we got a free day of travel to Prague because the ticket checker forgot to stamp the date on our pass and afterward we turned a 7 into a 9. That ride was very stressful with many people not getting a seat and sitting in aisles.

The Comfort Inn Bolivar was a great choice. We also used Hyatt certs for Zurich. Holy hell is Switzerland expensive. Probably our first and last. You won't find a cheaper meal than 20 Euro.

Any questions just ask!
 
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