14 Days in Europe with my son - Need itenerary guidance

I do think 8 destinations in 14 days is too much, even assuming that you are not counting your jet-lagged arrival and your departure day. Plus most of these places are spread far apart, many with mountains involved.

If you cannot take more time you should scale back. Your priorities, heavy-duty holocaust sites balanced with culture and beauty, should guide this paring back. I'd aim for no more than 4, maybe 5 if you've really got 14 days and not 12.

Brutal honesty about priorities now will yield a memorable trip in May.

I think you can do this but know that you have quite a bit of travel time to fit into this itinerary. Remember that every time you change cities that are any distance apart, you will lose half a day (at least) to travel time. For example, the train from Paris - Nuremberg is about 6.5 hours. This doesn't include checking out of your hotel, getting to the train station, finding your new hotel and checking in. This one leg will take a very full day to accomplish, wiping out a full day of seeing things.
You need to plan an open-jaw flight into Amsterdam and out of Venice so you don't eat up your days backtracking. Use the multi-city function of the website you will use to purchase your tickets to accomplish this.

Perhaps this itinerary would be doable...
Fly into Amsterdam
Amsterdam - 3 nights
Half-day of travel from Amsterdam to Paris.
Paris - 4 nights
Travel day to Nuremburg
Nuremburg - 2 nights
Drive to Munich (to experience the autobahn) - 3 nights. I recommend the Dachau concentration camp.
Lauterbrunnen - I would eliminate this destination from your itinerary - May is not a good month to see the Alps. Dicey weather and mud. The alpine meadows are fertilized by the farmers during this season and the scent in the air may not be one of alpine flowers and fresh air. You could get lucky but it's really a roll of the dice. You also just don't have enough time either IMHO.
Train from Munich - Venice - one full day of travel
Venice - 3 nights
Fly home from Venice

Once you decide on an itinerary then you can schedule a car rental from the States.

You have your question posted twice. You might want to copy the answer that someone posted on your 2nd entry and then delete your post.

This is too much to do in that short period of time and you don't have a lot to time to plan either, as May is right around the corner. Consider going to Berlin instead of down south. There, he could visit Ravensbruck and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camps, the Wannsee Villa, the Topography of Terror, Track 17, and the many memorials located there.

For 14 days, pick out perhaps 3 places. Berlin needs about 5-6 days to see all the main sights.

Just let your son know that while certain sections of the autobahn are unrestricted, many sections have a limit of 130km/h or lower. Even where it is unrestricted the recommended maximum is 130km/h. About 80 miles an hour.

If he has an accident going over the recommended speed he will almost certainly be held at least partially responsible for any accident by the German police. Assuming he walks away alive.

The car insurance that comes with the rental will also refuse to pay up in nearly every case.

Finally, he has no experience on German roads
and German conditions.

Unless he has undertaken advanced driver training that has taught him how to safely drive at higher speeds, I think a high speed (over 130) trip down the autobahn by your average 22 year American driver is idiocy.

Consider going to Berlin instead of down south. There, he could visit
Ravensbruck and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camps, the Wannsee Villa,
the Topography of Terror, Track 17, and the many memorials located
there.

That's also the best region to drive on the Autobahn. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Northeastern Germany is the most sparsely populated state, and the A20, which follows the Baltic Sea coastline, is probably Germanys quietest Autobahn.... and most parts are unrestricted. Could be a nice day trip to drive to Stralsund and see the preserved medieval old town (which is World Heritage Site).

I also think it is way too much. He is young enough so am sure he will get to return to Europe. Suggest you only pick two or three places at the most and fly into one location, say Paris and home from Munich or Berlin and maybe Amsterdam in the middle. It all depends on how public transportation is between these locations so you are not back tracking. A concentration camp is surely one of the most sobering of experiences to see. Be aware of car rental restrictions as some won't allow for a driver under 25 and if you can get that, be sure to have the international drivers license.

kristy,

Your itinerary is too ambitious for that time frame (IMO). Does the 14-days include your two flight days?

I'd suggest skipping Amsterdam, since that's somewhat of an "outlier" compared to the other places you want to visit. I'd have to spend some time working on it, but a slightly different order might work better.....

• Flight inbound to Paris (how many days do you want to spend there?)
• Train to the Lauterbrunnen Valley (time ~5H:15M to Interlaken Ost, minimum one change)
• Train to Nuremberg (time ~7H:20M, often 2 changes)
• Train to Munich (about an hour)

Venice is also going to be a bit challenging to fit into that time frame. I'd suggest spending at least three nights in Munich, as there's a LOT to see there. You could also take a day trip to Berchtesgaden to see the Dokumentation Centre and Bunkers or if time permits a trip to the famous Eagle's Nest if the roads are open then (they should be). Check the website for Eagles Nest Tours for more information on that. There's also a Salt Mine in Berchtesgaden that can be toured.

As someone else mentioned, you could also travel Paris > Amsterdam > Berlin > Munich, but of course that means you'll have to skip the Lauterbrunnen Valley and also Venice. There are some significant "legal" sites in Berlin, but not the same as Nuremberg. As I recall, the Topography of Terror museum has a good display on the Eichmann trial. Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp is also an easy day trip from Berlin, and if desired you could take one of the excellent walking tours offered by Original Berlin Walks (some of which include Hitler's Bunker, although there's not a lot to see there as it's just a parking lot).

There are all kinds of possibilities, but unfortunately some compromises will have to be made.

I agree it's too much moving around.

You could start in Berlin, go to Nuremberg with a long daytrip to Munich (a little over an hour away), Venice (scenery on the train ride), fly to Paris, end in Amsterdam. That's five cities in 12 or 13 nights. A whirlwind, and while I hate to say it, I would drop Venice. If you want the high-speed version, leave Venice in.

Bringing this back up to the top as you are now getting answers on both of your postings. Please consider copying and pasting the answers from one of them onto the 2nd one and then deleting the 1st one.

You have a lot of destinations packed into a fairly short time frame. As a suggestion, I would delete the Lauterbrunnen Valley, as there will still be plenty of spectacular scenery. Also, check to see if there is an age minimum of 25 to drive a rental car, as it may cost a lot extra to put his name on the rental contract. The Autobahn is a well engineered road, but especially in rainy weather ( which may happen in the month of May), it can be daunting to drive at high speeds. Happy traveling, from Daryl Lynn