dashboards011

We are planning to visit Europe (in September) for 6 nights 7 days.. here what we are thinking to do.. need professional advise who has already been to Europe

Planning to spend 3 days in Barcelona and 3 Days in London..

Day 1: Reaching Barcelona 11am (CLT > BCN)
Passeig de Gracia
Casa Batllo
El Born

Day 2:
Hop-On Hop-Off Barcelona City Tour 1 or 2 Day
Basilica of the Sagrada Familia
Las Ramblas
Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria
Barri de Gracia

Day 3:
Parque del Laberinto de Horta
Bogatell Beach
Montjuic Castle
Magic Fountain (Font Magica)


Day 4: BCN > LON (morning arriving to LON)
London Hop-On, Hop-Off Bus Tours
British Museum
Covent Garden
The London Eye
Big Ben

Day 5:
Buckingham Palace
Houses of Parliament
Westminster Abbey
Piccadilly Circus

Day 6:
St. Paul's Cathedral
Tower Bridge
Tower of London
Madame Tussaud's

Day 7: Travel LON > BCN > CLT

Thank you in advance!

OverThereTooMuch

If you need professional advice, you really should consult a travel agent. Most of the folks here are "amateurs" (though with a great deal of travel experience).

Are there any specific questions you have? What research have you done so far?

For example, looks like you'll have a good chance at a Buckingham Palace tour during your visit, but no chance at a Big Ben tour. Parliament tours will be somewhat limited in September, but hopefully available during the time you have there.

From a scheduling POV, I think it would make more sense to plan to do the Eye, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey on the same day (since they're all fairly close).

JBord

As mentioned above, research a little more, specifically about what days the things you want to see are open, and what opening hours are. That may change your schedule some.

Overall though, I think you have a very busy itinerary but it can be done. You may find that you have very little time to relax, which is fine if that's what you want.

My one criticism of the itinerary (which applies more to London) is there seems to be little time to just enjoy the city outside of tourist sights. Will you have time to have a couple pints in a pub, go to the theater, eat Indian food, shop on a high street, and walk through Hyde (or another) Park? These are all things I would recommend doing in London.

When I visit a new city or go with someone who is new to the city, I try to fit less into my itinerary. Usually 2 must-see things per day with maybe 2-3 lesser backups. That allows me to shuffle based on weather, and also if we find something we really enjoy, we aren't rushed.

LizGross144

For your first trip to Europe, be ready to be flexible. If you've never traveled transatlantic before, the jet lag might hit you harder than you expect. We've been overseas 5 times now, and only on the last trip did we pretty much manage to beat jet lag.

JBord

Yes, if the OP can't sleep on the plane, I would say the first two days in BCN will be rough and he won't see everything he planned.

I remember one trip to LIS where I screwed up my sleep plan and didn't get out of the hotel until 1 pm on the first full day there. But it was a really good movie .

SwissBritMiss

You have packed way too much into Day 1. The rest is quite leisurely if you want to just see the attractions; tight but doable if you want go on a tour of (depending on availability).

The British Museum is worthy of an entire day on its own, but I'd leave 3 hours at a bare minimum. I'd skip Madame Tussauds and replace with the British Museum visit - never understood why it's so popular esp as London is not the only one.

Palal

Most people here know more than your average travel agent

OP -- you planned everything waaaay too much waaaay in advance. Get a list of things that are "must see", "want to see", "ok to see" and check their opening hours in advance. Once you get to your destination, see what you're in the mood for and go with that. This is most likely not 'once in a lifetime' trip to Europe. You can always come back and see more of what you haven't seen. In addition to the sights, relax and get a feel for the place you're going.

LizGross144

This isn't necessarily wrong - it's a personal preference. I plan my trips down to the littlest detail (where we will eat) months in advance. I'm willing to make changes on the fly, but having a set itinerary avoids the inevitable hours wasted when you figure out what to do. Something I learned about our travel style early on.

bibbju

Totally agree. What is it with tourists and Madame Tussaud's?!!! I wouldn't go there if they paid me. I find the long queues of tourists outside baffling. There is so much to see and do in London, no idea why they waste time at Madame Tussaud's.

OP you need to check your map. You seem to be visiting the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben on different days yet there are right next to each other.

I also second the advice to allow some time to actually experience London rather than just ticking off sights. The latter approach means you'll just see other tourists. Take some time to stop for coffee or a beer, wander down some side streets, have a walk in one of the parks, go to a food market and sample the produce, take a riverboat, there is much more to London than those awful hop on and off buses.

JBord

All very sound advice. I thought about mentioning Madame Tussaud's but decided to avoid being flamed by a bunch of people saying it's great. If I were to come up with a list of 100 things to do in London, I'm not sure it would even make the list.

bibbju

Indeed. It wouldn't make my list of 1,000 things to do in London!

flatlander

I'm never quite sure what tourists see in Madame Tussaud's despite its popularity. However if you do go, I believe it's a couple of hours to go round at least.

Overall you're trying to pack an awful lot in. You can mostly do it as you have said but you won't have a lot of time for each item. I feel you are greatly underestimating the size and complexity of several of these attractions, as well as the travel time between them.

You should book ahead for Buckingham Palace and the Eye.

The British Museum is enormous; it takes more than a day to go round the whole thing and look at everything, so you'll only get to see part of it. However, the restaurant is OK. The gallery of fakes and reproductions is interesting.

Covent Garden can take as long or as little as you like, it's a load of shops and market stalls and so on. Big Ben may only be viewable externally. I hope you're aware that it's on the end of the Houses of Parliament, so it makes more sense to see them together rather than on separate days.

I'm not sure of the attraction of Piccadilly Circus, but at least you can get away easily via Tube when you're tired of it.

You will be hard pressed to do St Paul's (1-2 hours), Tower Bridge (an hour, say), the Tower (2-3 hours) and Madame Tussaud's (2 hours say) in one day. That's just no fun.

I recommend you research what is open and available to you of the above, and pick 2-3 of each on each day.

WestCoastFlyer

My experience is that you are planning way too much on the day you travel from BCN to LON. Lets assume that you are flying BCN/LGW on Vueling / BA. That's about a 2.5 hour flight plus time to get to the airport and check-in at BCN and then you have to get from LGW to the city. That's another 30+ minutes by train once you get to the station plus time to get to your hotel, assuming you plan to drop bags once you arrive in the city. If you can do all this in less than 4.5 hours, tip of the hat to you Governor.

I think hop-on hop-off is a great idea for that day and maybe one or two other things. I'm typically tired after what is normally a very early start to the day and would never make it through your Day 4 list.

Edited to add: I understand your desire to see as much as possible. However, collapsing in bed every night from exhaustion is not a vacation - that's something most of us do when traveling for work. Slow down, plan to see fewer things, and allow time to just take in the city, have a great meal, and relax. Then go back and see the things you missed.

Analise

dash, welcome to Flyertalk.

It seems from what you wrote that you don't have much experience traveling no matter the continent. Your itinerary shows that you haven't looked into each museum/attraction/church and researched what there is to see and the time suggested to do so.

You need either to go online or go to your library and look at travel books first. Your itinerary is unrealistic and you will miss the very places you are spending money to see because you'll be running around like a crazed tourist.

dashboards011

Thank you so much all for your reply.. I may need to change my itinerary .. now we are not planning to go to London.. any other places do you guys recommended while I'll be in Barcelona?

Thanks..