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16 day trip to Switzerland-Germany-Austria-Belgium in late September

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I am in my 40's, traveling solo, and have used my miles to wrangle tickets that land me in Zurich in late September, leaving from Brussels 16 days later. My prior Europe experience was a delightful few weeks spent in Hungary in 2011, and very rushed stopovers, as I frequently travel from the U.S. to Africa via Europe.

My theme for this trip is "places where people speak German". I will be getting around solely by train. The basic plan is a few days in Switzerland (preferably near the Alps, but not one of the resort towns like Zermatt. I am not wealthy enough for that!). Then go into Germany, where I will spend most of my time, with a possible quick detour to Salzburg so I can do the cheesy Sound of Music tour. (I know.) Then finish with a few days in Ghent, Belgium. I would love to see more of Switzerland and Belgium, but I have to make some tough choices, and am really interested in some of Germany's history, even the grim stuff. I will visit one concentration camp site.

My itinerary so far, assuming at least 2 nights in most places:

  • Land in Zurich > go immediately by train to a nearby city such as Lucerne or Chur [Chur doesn't have as many sites, but is closer to cities in Austria or Germany that I thought I'd go next.]
  • Salzburg [wondering if this would be a scenic train ride form Chur?]
  • possibly, side trip to Hallstatt
  • Munich
  • Dresden
  • Berlin
  • possibly Hannover to visit someone I know there
  • Ghent

Sorry for the long post! Would appreciate feedback and advice. I'm a little overwhelmed now after a few days of looking through guidebooks and forums. Coloring my rushed time through Switzerland are my previous experiences (stopovers in Zurich), where I found that country super-expensive, and people kind of cold, and I started thinking that I could get my "mountains fix" in Austria. I could extend my time there and see something other than Salzburg.

Posted by
21107 posts

Chur will indeed save about 1 1/2 hours to Salzburg. It is an interesting city and claims to be the oldest city in Switzerland, based on Roman archeological finds. It is not squarely on the tourist hit list, so may be a bit more low key. It's a short trip to Sargans where you pick up the Railjet train to Salzburg. That's about 5 hours through the Arlberg Tunnel and the Inn river valley. Scenery will be marvelous if the weather cooperates. Munich to Dresden is 6 hours, as is Hannover to Ghent. You will be spending a bit of time on trains. Remember that these travel days will eat up most of the day.

Posted by
102 posts

Thank you!
Yes, the train to Salzburg will take a while, but I was hoping the scenery would make it a feature rather than waste of time. I wanted to do the Bernina Express but don't see how to work it in to the itinerary, so this is sort of a replacement. I thought it might be interesting to see a town like Chur, which isn't a top tourist destination. The pictures I've been able to find look very beautiful.

As you pointed out, some of the train rides in northern Germany, and the trip to Belgium, are long. The cities in Germany are not set, and I'll welcome any advice for substitutions, except for Berlin, which I definitely want to see.

Posted by
1717 posts

Hello beth.chaplin. Which airport at Europe will you fly from, for returning to the U.S. ?

Posted by
8923 posts

Beth. Why Belgium? I think only a tiny percentage speak German as primary language.

Posted by
102 posts

@Ron, I will leave from the airport in Brussels.
@Stan, I just thought Belgium seemed interesting, and leaving from there would prevent me from having to circle back to Zurich on the train. My "German" theme was more to limit the number of countries I try to visit in one trip. For instance, much as I'd love to see Italy, France, etc., it won't work to try to go everywhere.

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