I am planning a trip to multiple cities in westesrt europe but i am finding it difficulty coming up with the best route order to minimize travel time and get the best out of the trip. the cities i want to visit are the following:
Paris- Bruges- Amsterdam- Cologne-Strasbourg- Lucern- Interlaken- Geneva- Barcelona.
my trip HAS to start in Paris, i can fly back from anywhere but i prefer either Paris or Barcelona. I have a total of 20 days.
please give me your recommendations.
thank you
The order you have works all by train except Geneva to Barcelona I would fly that one.
I would skip staying in Interlaken and go to Murren or Lauterbrunnen and skip Geneva maybe fly from Basel to Barcelona.
Paris 3 nights
Bruges 2 nights
Amsterdam 3 nights
Cologne 1 night
Strasbourg 3 nights
Luzern 2 nights
Lauterbrunnen/Murren 2 nights
Barcelona 4 nights
Your order is logical but most of these 9 destinations deserve more time than you would have for them. For a moderate trim, I would think about:
Paris- Bruges- Amsterdam- Cologne- Interlaken- Lucerne- Fly home from Zurich
I totally agree with Laura. I'm guessing your 20 days is 19 nights in Europe, so really only 18 fully usable, non-jetlagged days. You're allowing an average of 2 days per destination minus the travel time to move from place to place (which will usually be 1/2 day or more, all things considered). Paris, Amsterdam and Barcelona really need a lot more than 1-1/2 days, and few would recommend heading to the Swiss Alps with that little time. Alpine weather is highly variable, so more days gives you a better chance of decent conditions. You could perhaps see the key sights in Strasbourg in 1-1/2 days, but most people heading to Alsace would also like to see Colmar and/or one or two of the small wine villages.
Most folks on this forum would recommend that you not stay in Interlaken, but rather in Lauterbrunnen or one of the villages higher up, like Muerren.
