5 weeks Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France need help

Five weeks in five countries is certainly do-able, with an average of 2-3 main destinations in each. "Flexibility" means not being too picky about lodgings or the prices thereof. May is a busy month in France, for instance, with lots of holidays. See some general strategies at https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/itinerary-tips. Rick's Best of Europe guidebook (in a new format) should be in stores in early December and cover many of his favorite places in your destination countries.

Regarding the rail pass, purchase before Dec. 30 to get a 20% discount, but note that those discounted passes are not refundable or changeable. For any French TGV train, it's recommended to make seat reservations well ahead (up to 3 months). TGV trains running directly to/from Switzerland are more expensive to reserve than domestic TGV or other international routes. Austria, Switzerland, and Germany don't require any seat reservations (except on Switzerland's Glacier Express). So I would try to solidify both French ends of the trip first and then work toward the middle, which may be the part that you leave more flexible.

Before you buy any rail pass, read this, from the rail guru The Man In Seat 61. Make sure you understand ALL of it before you make any non-refundable decisions: http://www.seat61.com/Railpass-and-Eurail-pass-guide.htm#Should%20you%20buy%20a%20railpass%20or%20pay-as-you-go

If you're not uncomfortable with uncertainty (some people really are), I think the viability of a spur-of-the-moment itinerary comes down to two things:

• Cost of transportation and hotels
• Risk of sold-out trains/flights/hotels/sights.
  

Let me say up-front that I make my plans and reservations as I go, usually only 24-48 hours in advance, so I'm not discouraging that approach, just trying to provide some guidance.

Intra-European flights and fast-train tickets (in most countries) can be much, much cheaper if purchased way in advance. You can save over half the cost of the ticket in many cases. To the extent that your transportation legs are quite short--in which case a slower train might not cost you much time and might even be the only option--the transportation penalty for last-minute planning will not be great. In addition, Germany in particular has some great deals on regional day- or weekend-tickets, especially for two or more people traveling together. Those do not have to be booked way in advance.

I suspect that rail passes will not save you money. When you have a fair idea what your transportation legs will look like, post again and the experts can weigh in.

Flights can sell out. That happens less often with trains, I imagine, but it can happen on trains requiring reservations. (Don't know whether you'll be using any of those.) You can always get on a non-reserved train; if it's a very busy period, you end up standing for awhile. Popular times on days around local holidays should be booked a few days ahead of time (or a reservation purchased, if possible, if you're traveling on a rail pass).

For hotels, it's fair to assume that the most charming, highest-rated-for-the-price places will get booked up early. If you are staying somewhere for only a night or two, you may benefit from a last-minute cancellation, but for longer stays, you'll likely be choosing from what's left. That's perfectly fine for me; I don't mind smallish rooms and simple décor. Online reviews will permit you to choose from the best of what's left if you book online a day or two ahead of time. You need to think about whether hotels are, for you, just a means to an end or a big part of the experience.

Thank you for the reply's and good information. We have decided to fly from Paris to Rome right away and our tentative plan is;

Rome-6 nights
we'll do a day trip to Pompeii and a day trip to AsCinque Terresisi
Florence -2 nights
Milan or somewhere in that area-2 nights
day trip to Turin and a day trip to Cinque Terre.
Austria-
Salzburg-3 nights and Vienna-3 nights
We would like to visit Gaming since our daughter attended a semester here with the Franciscan University and it would be fun to see that. I am not sure how easy it would be to do a day trip here from either Salzburg or Vienna ????
Germany
5 or 6 nights
Not sure where to base ourselves here-my husband wants to see Munich and I want to go to Baden-Baden, Oberammergau, Bacharach... Maybe stay in Rothemburg and use that as a home base????
Switzerland
my father's ancestors came from Buix in the French area and I want to spend maybe 3 nights near there (it is so small they have no hotels) and visit the Church and cemetery and surrounding area
France
We will end up in Paris for the last 5 or 6 nights before we fly home but before we get there, I want to spend several days traveling from Switzerland through France. Suggestions please, I love historical, scenic, picturesque but what would be a good town to use as a base?
I spent 2 months in Europe in 1978 so I have been to some areas so I left them off the list if my husband did not care about going. He is most interested in Italy and Austria. I am most interested in France (I did not see this in 1978) , Buix and southern Germany.
Any suggestions or tips please

Did you mean a day-trip to the Amalfi area from Rome? I'm sure it's not really the Cinque Terre. Amalfi would be a rather long day-trip, and even Pompeii is none too short. I'd plan to spend 2 or 3 nights down that way to avoid wasting so much time going back and forth. On a long trip like yours, it's important not to start off by running yourself ragged. Going at that pace for 2 weeks is one thing; 5 weeks is a very different story.

Even from Milan the Cinque Terre area is about 3 hours one way, so not ideal for a day-trip. If you're not heading to Milan to see the Last Supper or the Duomo, I'd drop it and stay much closer to the Cinque Terre. Staying in Turin won't help, because it's a slightly longer trip from there. From Florence it's only about 2 hours by car, but still about 3 by train. By the time you get to the Cinque Terre on a day trip from any of those cities, you'll be sharing the space with all the other day-tripping tourists. It would be better to spend the night in the area so you can get an early start and spend some of the evening in one of the little towns.

Use the Deutsche Bahn website to check on train schedules to see how long your planned travel legs are. I haven't checked, but I suspect that Rothenburg won't be a very convenient base city. In some cases buses may be better. You can take a first look at bus transportation on Rome2Rio.com.

Thanks for the assistance. We may scratch Cinque Terre from the agenda.

What is the Almafi area?

Amalfi..
Where is this?

The Amalfi coast is a very picturesque area south of Naples. Years ago I took a 2 day tour from rome that included Pompei and the Amalfi coast. Very enjoyable

What I meant to write was Assisi for a day trip from Rome.
So we have the trip all planned up to June 1st when we pick up a car for one week. I want to visit Buix Switzerland for a day or two to see where my ancestors came from and hopefully visit their church and talk to someone who has access to the church records. I would also like to visit the cemetery where I may have ancestors buried. I am very into genealogy.
So during this week we will visit Buix and the Black Forest region and the Burgundy region.

Re France: From Buix, you have 2 obvious choices, Burgundy and Alsace. Burgundy is a little less time on the road, but I'd make this decision based on what calls to you. Read a guidebook or two.

Rick's home-base suggestions for both regions can't be beat. Burgundy probably involves more driving to get around, or you could rent bikes in Beaune and get close to the countryside.

You will be tuckered out after this itinerary. Do yourself a favor and chose ONE stop before Paris; whichever it is, ditch the car there and take the train the rest of the way.

We return the car to Belfort and we will hop on a train for our trip back to Paris. My concern is finding one or two hotels to use so we are not changing hotels too often. I have a whole stack of books to use for research but I always like to hear what people on here recommend.

Thanks