How a Self organised Europe trip looks

Earlier, I had written about how a tour operator's Europe tour looks like and what are the issues you have to watch out for.  You can read that post here. 

The salient points that I had mentioned was that this was effectively a 9 day trip, which would cost you about INR 2.5 lakhs per person. Also, this would be an uncomfortable trip because you would be spending huge amounts of time in a bus, and you would be staying in outstation towns rather than in the marquee cities. Also, you would not be seeing any museums, palaces, etc in Europe.

As a counterpoint, I will show you a recent trip I organised for a family group of 14 people to Europe. The group consisted of 8 senior citizens ( above 65 years), 2 juniors (below 12 years) and 2 adults.

Highlights : 

1. 16 day trip (day of landing in Europe and day of leaving are not counted) 
2. India - Europe - India travel on a full service airline.
3. Within Europe travel on high speed bullet trains - TGV,  Railjet etc
4.  Accommodation in all cities in a central location 
5. Visits to all major sites included - Palaces and museums, all premium cable car rides  in Switzerland, Eiffel tower, Chateau Versailles,  Montparnasse, Colosseum, Sistine chapel, Uffizi Gallery in Florence, etc
6. All meals - Indian meals,  Mediterranean cuisine,   everybody ate what they liked.

Cost - Rs 1.8 lakhs per head. 

(Including 40 K airfare + 8 K Visa + trains + sightseeing + Food+ city centre acco + local travel...everything) 

Days	Day's itinerary	City
0	Arrive at Paris airport,  I will receive you and transfer to hotel, dinner, rest.	Paris
1	Breakfast at hotel,  dep by 9 AM,   by train to Notre Dame cathedral.  Then Champs Elysees and Arc de Triumph,   see Tuilieres palace and Louvre museum, Seine river cruise and Eiffel Tower.	Paris
2	Full day trip to Versailles Palace.	Paris
3	11am departure for Interlaken,  Switzerland by TGV train.  4:30hrs.	Interlaken
4	Day trip to Jungfrau region - Schilthorn cable car / Swiss Alps	Interlaken
5	Day trip to Zermatt - Matterhorn peak / Monte Rosa / Aletsch glacier views - Swiss Alps	Interlaken
6	Shift to Luzern,   day trip to Mt Titlis, Swiss Alps,  Luzern sightseeing	Luzern
7	To Zurich (45minutes),  onto Innsbruck, Austria by train  via scenic Aarlberg Pass (4hrs)	Innsbruck
8	Swarowski Crystal World,  Hofburg Summer Palace,   Innsbruck sightseeing	Innsbruck
9	Dep 10:30am for Verona (Italy) via scenic Brenner Pass,  by train (4hrs)	Verona
10	Venice day trip, Murano glass viewing,  Gondola ride.	Verona
11	Dep Verona for Florence (train,  2 hrs).  Florence sightseeing - Duomo	Florence
12	Uffizi Gallery	Florence
13	Pisa  daytrip - Climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa,  the churches	Florence
14	Depart for Rome (1:30hrs, train),  Rome sightseeing	Rome
15	Sistine Chapel,  St Peter's.	Rome
16	Trevi fountain,  Spanish steps, Colosseum, Catacombs	Rome
0	Dep Rome for Bombay or Chennai or Dubai