Best explorer route Barcelona to Munich

He could fly one way direct from Barcelona or Marseilles to Munich

Hi,

In exploring France if he gets to Strasbourg, he can get to Munich by taking the TGV to Stuttgart, then changing to Munich. Does he want to visit Strasbourg.

Prior to that, if he's in Lyon, he can catch the TGV to Strasbourg.

This only takes a bit of planning since TGV have mandatory seat reservations.

Thanks for the tips. I don’t think he’d want to fly directly to Munich - he wants to explore a bit in France, or elsewhere in Spain. I think the thought was to get to Montpellier or Nice, then explore, maybe take the train toward Lyon, or, as noted, to Strasbourg.

I am wondering if it would be worth it to take the train to Montpellier or Nice, though, to see something along the way, or if that’s just “dead space”. If the latter, maybe a flight from Barcelona to Nice?
And then a train to Munich?

He knows Munich well, so I expect he would rather spend the time seeing something new (and he has spent some time in Paris, too).

Alternatively, what else would be different and worthwhile exploring in Spain, rather than going into France? If there’s some exploring to do there, then a flight from Barcelona to Munich would make sense.

Thoughts?

An easy way to help him decide where to wander would be for him to go to the Explore Europe part of this RS website. From there he can go to the specific countries and cities on his potential list to decide where he wants to go and what he wants to see and do there.

From your description it's hard to tell exactly how many nights he'll have for this trip. The distances between some of the cities you mention are not trivial. One way to get some hints at that is to use Rome2rio to see the transportation options which will might include maps and how long the various methods could take. The results are not perfect, but often eye-opening.

Also, it's already pretty late for finding either lodging or transportation deals. Spontaneity is great, but not that compatible with traveling inexpensively.

Montpellier is a lively university city with a nice historic district, but I don't know how many young folks will be around in August. I guess it depends on how big a summer-school program the university has.

I'd try to see Nimes, Avignon and Arles in Southern France (all easily accessible by train), then Lyon, Beaune and / or Dijon. Finally Strasbourg.

Southern France can be miserably hot in August, I would recommend you explore the more temperate Northern Spain (aka green Spain) after his trip to Barcelona. Continue going in a westerly direction to the Basque Country, from there he can visit one of the culinary capitals of the world, San Sebastian, then continue more west to Bilbao, the more grounded cousin to San Sebastian.

From Bilbao he has a few choices, he can fly most any big city in Spain/Western Europe, Bilbao has a relatively large airport. Or, my alternate recommendation would be keep on going west until you reach Santiago de Compostela, and make it a sort of personal pilgrimage on the Way of Saint James, no need to be religious. Along the way there are many sights including the Picos de Europa national park (like Ireland mix with the Alps), 10,000+ year cave paintings, and turquoise beaches of the Bay of Biscay.

Giving him the benefit of a doubt, based on your post, he has five days to get from northern Spain to Munich, in August, the month when all of Europe is either on vacation or on strike. Add to that this is also the season when the majority of the roads are going to be under construction and this could be the trip from hell.

So, let's resolve the transportation issue first, because (I'm guessing) he has a deadline to fly out of Munich in a certain time frame.

He's not driving,so that's out. Hitchhiking is stupid, unreliable, and in some cases, illegal. Flying is problematic; it will get him there but he's not going to do much sightseeing along the way. That leaves buses or trains. Buses will have the same traffic problems and, unless they are touring coaches for long distances, they are considerably less comfortable. Trains are (for the most part, baring strikes) comfortable, fairly inexpensive, on time, and they go where he needs to be.

My suggested route would be from Tossa de Mar to Perpignan, which he'll need to do by bus. From there to Lyon, then to Bern, and finally to Munich. This gives him southern France; Perpignan is seriously under-rated and a neat old city with huge history, the Alps; I loved Bern when I was in my 20's and I'll bet he will too (the girls are fabulous), and a beautiful train ride to Munich. If he spends a day in each city he'll have plenty of time to get lost in some back street and maybe make some friends.

One note, this is not going to be super cheap. However, he can try the hostels, and eat on the economy. The rail fare isn't terrible (about the same as bus and cheaper than flying) but the scenery is great, and he's doing this at the most expensive time of the year. Have him budget for the train and a cheap hotel (@$100/night), food is the least of the expenses.

Wow, that is a seriously great route you proposed! Basel is definitely a great place. Thank you for that.

Conversely, if he skipped Munich and decided to spend Aug13 - Aug22 in Spain, flying back from Barcelona or Madrid, would there be a good route? Eg something that includes the Alhambra, Madrid, etc? Or is it too hot for that? I know this isn’t the Spain forum, but I would welcome the ideas.

And many thanks to all for so generously sharing your expertise and ideas!!!