Best Europe Trip Planning Tips for First-Time Travelers

Welcome to the forum.

This page gives you a good overview about scenic train journeys in Switzerland. The Grand Train Tour of Switzerland gives you an itinerary how to combine them plus the best towns to consider..

Since Switzerland combines a mix also from Italian and French culture you would get an interesting experience.

Just these 2 cents from my side.

I also want to avoid making beginner mistakes,

I once, and I guess I still do, knew a person who took the train from Istanbul to London. He would do 5 to 8 hours on the train to reach a city, look around a bit and spend the night, then be back on the next train the next day. I think it took him about 10 days to do the trip. Since then (this was 1980-somehting) he has traveled all over the world. Long slow leisurely trips to the best places with the best transportation and hotels. But if you ask him his favorite trip, it will be that first one.

Having said that, your beginner mistakes are two:

• Trying to do 3 countries in 10 to 12 days. You might do 3 cities if you find good connections; but you will completely miss the country of each city.
• Not having some love of destination or focused desire around whcih to build a trip. "I saw London in the movie London Has Fallen and it looked like an amazing city, I want to see it. Anything else similiar that I can do in 10 or 12 days?" Or, I just got a degree in Architectur and .... Or, I love music and, or ........
  

Okay, too easy to be critical. Advice is harder. So here is advice.

Research the heck out of the three countries. Watch tons of videos. Make a list of the places that you know you really, really want to see. Write 1 through 12 on a piece of paper (MSWord) and begin detailing what you would do in each and the cost and how to get to the next. This forum will throw lots of suggestions to you, but they wont make it work for you.

1 depart US (https://www.google.com/travel/flights)
2 arrive Rome mid afternoon ... too pooped to do much stay near hotel | pick a hotel (https://www.booking.com/)
3 see vatican, Plaza Navona and Pantheon (https://www.viator.com/)
4 see colleseum and the forum and palentine hill
5 Plan A: train to Florence (Italian rail (https://www.seat61.com/) | Plan B: flight to Zurich (Lucerne)?
6 Plan A: Florence Plan B: Lucerne
7 Plan A: Florence Plan B: Lucerne
8 Plan A: train to Venice Plan B: flight to Paris
9 Plan A: Venice Plan B: Paris
10 Plan A: Venice Plan B: Paris
11 Fly home.

One day left. Do more research and put it where it moves you the most.

Another note. You are looking for a budget hotel. They dont exist in Switzerland.

Oh, and Marks idea of training around Switzerland would be beautiful. Well, depends on the time of year. You could connect Milan with Switzerland with Lyon, that would be 10 good days for me.

But there is no right or wrong. What ever you come up with, in the right frame of mind, you will have a blast. Fast or slow, train or plane, anthing can work if its an adventure.

If those three countries are your top picks for a first-time trip, you can make it happen. At least you’re not trying to do it in just a week, and 10-12 days lets you spend 3 to 4 nights in each country. But stick to the French, Italian, and Swiss Alps. That is, don’t try to fit in major time in Paris, Rome, Florence, Milan, or Venice this time. Now, you’ll need to fly in and out of a decent-sized airport, but could travel by train once you land. You could fly round-trip in/out of one airport, or fly “Open Jaw,” in one airport and home from a different airport, to reduce backtracking.

This was on a two-week ski trip many years ago, but we flew in to Frankfurt, Germany, and immediately caught a train to Zermatt, Switzerland (no rail pass - individual ticket). One day, we took a series of gondolas up from Zermatt (don’t have to be a skier, can be a pedestrian any time of year) past the Matterhorn and down into the Aosta Valley in Italy for the day (best lunch ever!), then back to Zermatt in time for dinner. We then went by train from Zermatt to Geneva, then on to flew to Chamonix, France. A day tour took us thru a tunnel from Chamonix to Italy (again) for a day. If the mountains are calling to you, you can see some of all three countries in the Alps, and those big tourist cities on a later trip.

You could also take a look at the schedule for Rick's My Way Alpine tour which hits those three countries (plus Austria) in 12 days.

Activity Girl, excellent! Great training trip!

These thoughts are just what works for me -

When searching flights, consider multi-city flights. That way the journey can be made in a straight line, rather than backtracking or traveling in a loop. If, for example, you were to travel to Italy, Switzerland, and France, you might fly into Rome and fly home from Paris.

Get to know and get comfortable with train travel in Europe. The website of The Man in 61 - https://www.seat61.com/ - is a very good website to start with and to begin to familiarize yourself with train travel.

I personally do not think that train passes are worth it and buy point-to-point tickets. But the key is to compare the price of a pass against the cost of train tickets for each journey.

Budget-friendly hotels

I think we have all valued budget-friendly hotels. This is probably one aspect of travel that has changed the most for me. Personally I first value accommodations near train station, transportation hubs or easy access to the sites I want to see. I have especially come to value aparthotels. What is important to you, what is your budget, what are you willing to compromise on, and what are you willing to splurge on?

Best cities to include

In the end that will always be up to you, along with the number of days you spend in a particular city. Ask yourself why are you visiting a place? Is it because it means something to you or are you just checking off someone else's "must-do list". There is nothing wrong with and no mistake in visiting three cities in 12 days, but visit them because that is what you want to do. The reason you visit a city, the things you want to see, and your travel pace will generally determine how long you want to spend in a location. I think that you will find that some major cities are going to be expensive. Pairing them with less expensive locations - the second tier, smaller, less traveled or less tourism focused sort of places - is a good way of averaging your costs.

Get a copy of Europe Through the Back Door by Rick Steves.

It's an excellent primer on European travel and will answer many of the "first time" questions you'll have.

I read it when I first started traveling solo in Europe but that was so long ago it was written on parchment.

Something to think about: you can fly directly from Florence to Paris. I don't know if there are direct flights from Florence to Switzerland but maybe you begin in Switzerland and fly from there to Rome. I also think Switzerland would be an easier place to begin because you will mostly be walking around and enjoying scenery rather than the heavy heavy mental load of sightseeing in Rome. For me, it would a short taste of Switzerland(remember its expensive), Rome, Florence, and Paris. I assume you're going to include weekends to begin and end your trip-squeeze in as many days as possible.

Biggest tip: if you're unsure about a location, tour operator , hotel. ... ask for advice here first before buying to avoid unpleasant surprises.

As Cyn says, your plan is doable. But, keep in mind, you probably won't be able to fit in the biggies like Paris or Rome.

And remember, you say this will be your first Europe trip, not your only Europe trip.

Welcome to the forum, wimona -
Given this is a first trip (and a somewhat complex one for a first-timer) I'll throw my vote in with Activity Girl and Mr. E for considering the My Way Alpine Europe tour. This would be a great way to get your feet wet: hotels and place-to-place transport (other than for day trips and getting to/from Europe) are handled for you, and you have some daily support without having a lot of scheduled activities. Cutting out the accommodation and transport pieces will make the maiden-voyage planning a lot easier, IMHO: you can concentrate on the fun stuff. :O)

It's unclear if you'll be traveling solo but if so, it might be fun to have the company of others on the same trip now and again, such as comparing notes on the bus rides (no train journeys on this tour.)

Be sure to take a browse through the reviews in the link Activity Girl provided? There are oodles of comments about the scenery (!!!!!!), the pleasure of occasional interactions with fellow travelers, and having great tour managers for added sightseeing advice. Lifting just some of the many, many positive comments:

I would definitely do a "My Way" tour again. It offers us the
opportunity to see what is important to us, but having the lodging and
transportation arranged took a lot of pressure off of me when planning
our trip.

Our tour exceeded expectations in almost every way possible.
Incredible views, great hikes and places, people were amazing,
logistics worked fine, transportation and hotels were great, tour
manager was fabulous. It was our first trip abroad, so a steep
learning curve for us, but doing it through Rick Steves Tours really
allowed us to learn, adjust and thrive in our travels.

"It is impossible to pick just one (wow moment). We were awed by the
spectacular scenery on all the recommended hikes, especially the
Panorama high trail in the Alps de Siusi in the Dolomites, the North
Face hike from Murren, and the Balcony Sud in Chamonix. "

A couple things to keep in mind? Switzerland is not an inexpensive country, as I think this poster alluded to:
"I would say this tour is not for the faint of heart when it comes to spending for meals, lift tickets, etc." As you'll see in the reviews, hiking has been a favorite activity for many who've done this tour; it may or may not be one of yours?

Lastly, if wanting to do the tour THIS spring, you need to jump on it: May 11 is the earliest tour available, and there are only 2 seats left. That said, given the weather-related altitude, it's noted that the best time to go is late May through September.

Ten to 12 days in total or in each country? It reads more like 10-12 days total, so let’s go with that. Best cities to include? Only you can answer that. Of your 4 main interests, which one or two are the most important to you? That answer will help you narrow down your choices to cities. For your request for suggestions, my first question would be about your budget. All three countries, somewhat depending upon where and when you go, are big ticket destinations. After you have selected your destinations, look at schedules to get an idea of how long it takes to get from point A to point B. Subtract all that time from your 10-12 days total see how much time you’d realistically have in each place. (Don’t forget to add time for getting to, checking in and out of your hotel and getting to your next train station—it takes more time than you’d think.). With a big budget and a lot of luck with connections, you could see a tiny bit of each country but you probably wouldn’t have time to take a train journey, see more than a couple of sights and grab a couple of meals. If you are determined to visit all 3 countries in 10-12 days total, research it like crazy and pick a place, two max, in each country. I agree with the previous poster’s suggestion of taking a tour both as a travel and as a learning experience for you. I think it would help you get an idea of the complexities of planning for and traveling to a lot of places in a very short period of time, something at which RS tours excel.

Since you mentioned budget hotels (which is what I look for as well), I'm make some comments on the budgetary aspect of traveling. The things I've listed below will run up your costs. That doesn't mean you should not do them (the heart wants what the heart wants), just that you should be aware there are cheaper ways to travel in Europe.

• Going to Switzerland. Everything there is expensive: hotels, train fares, restaurant meals. If you can figure out a way to dip your toe into Switzerland without actually sleeping in the country or traveling hundreds of kilometers there, your wallet will thank you.

• Visiting places that aren't close together. This runs up your transportation costs and tends to reduce the sightseeing hours you get for the money you spend--trips though highly scenic countryside like the Swiss Alps being a (costly) exception.

• Falling in love with charming lodgings rather than settling for utilitarian properties. It's really hard to find a dirty hotel in Europe (and probably totally impossible in Switzerland), so low-end places usually just mean small rooms, no elevator, old furniture (possibly old mattresses) and the like. If you can deal with that sort of limitation, you can avoid a lot of expense.

• Going to cities that are large/capitals/highly popular. Not only is lodging likely to be more expensive in such places, but you'll probably pay more for restaurant meals and sightseeing.

You can use booking.com to determine whether a city feels affordable as far as lodging goes for the period you plan to travel. You can often/usually save a bit of money by booking directly on the hotel's website, but booking.com is very convenient for a first look. It can provide an early warning that your plans may not be realistic for your budget. If you're willing share a room in a hostel dormitory, that will be the least expensive option.

If you end up with an itinerary requiring a flight within Europe (I hope you will not), you'll save considerable money by traveling with a carry-on bag small enough to meet the size/weight limits of the airline you'll be using.

For a spring trip you'll need one warm layer (I just use a not-heavy fleece jacket) and a rain jacket. Resist the temptation to take multiple sweaters or something bulky like a sweatshirts.