Europe in September: Germany/France/Switzerland/Austria

Central Europe to many implies different countries than those you are asking about. You might get more responses if you put the names of the countries in the title.

No planned duration of travel, no interests, ...

Search in the country forums for itineraries and also in the Trip Reports.

Or take a "Best of Western and Central Europe" itinerary from any tour provider, adapt it to your needs, post it here and ask for feedback.

Hi MarkK and Mr. E -

Thanks for your response. I edited my title and post a bit to include your suggestions. Just looking for some honest thoughts about where to go. We are truly open to anything. If those countries aren’t considered Central Europe, what would you call them?

Thanks,
Kelsey

kelseysouser,
For the length of time you have, I would limit myself to no more than two countries, one week each. As much as I love France, since you are thinking of September, I would skip it this trip. Sept. is a busy month in Paris and prices are high. You could combine Germany and Austria or Germany and Switzerland or Austria and Switzerland. If you are still flying into London and taking the Eurostar out (they don't call it the chunnel), then I would spend one week in London with a couple of day trips, before going to Paris for a second week. You could skip Paris and spend the second week elsewhere in France (e.g. Alsace, Burgundy, Normandy, Provence, etc. etc.)
15 full days assumes you will be traveling for 17 days? Day one arrival is sort of lost (jet lag, arrival time , getting to first nights lodging, etc.). Day 17 is lost to checking out of last lodging, getting to airport 3 hours before international departure time, etc.
If 15 days is the total, you effectively have 13 days to see the sights.
Cities you want to see...Paris Yes!!!, Munich Yes!!!, Salzburg Yes!!!, Zurich, Okay. In Austria, Vienna Yes!!! London Yes!!!

Sorry for the disorganization of my reply. Bon voyage!

Skip Zurich. It is a business-oriented city (banking and insurance) and offers little in the way of history and museums, compared to the other places you are considering. I would substitute Vienna, which has an abundance of art, music, interesting museums, important history, and a unique wine culture.

A nice reasonable route would be Paris—-Alsace (history and wine tasting)—-Munich—-Salzburg—-Vienna (more wine-tasting/Heuriger-hopping). Fly out from there.

I added Alsace as the town of Strasbourg is right on the train route between Paris and Munich, and offers lots of history and wine tasting, as well as plenty of charm. I would suggest actually staying in nearby Colmar. These photos will show why.

https://www.tourisme-colmar.com/en/

What’s a Heuriger? A unique Viennese wine tavern, one of many in the hills surrounding Vienna. You can go by tram, bus, bicycle, hiking. . . Your choice.

https://www.wien.info/en/dine-drink/wine/heurige-2-347736

https://carlyhulls.com/blog/the-best-heuriger-vienna-an-epic-guide-to-the-wine-taverns-of-vienna

You could spend 3 nights in each place except Salzburg, which would be 2. That is a lot of moving around, but seems to be what you had in mind. If it looks like too much, drop either Paris (for the reasons expressed above) or Vienna (since it wasn’t on your list to begin with).

My usual suggestion for someone who has not been there is Munich, Prague, Salzburg and the areas around each for 2 weeks, and even then you won't put a dent in everything there is to see. But I'm taking 3 family members on their first tour in a couple weeks and that itinerary is Nuremberg, Munich, Garmish, Konstanz, Strasbourg, & Heidelberg based on what they want.

You can do France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and have a lot of wine tasting too, but you'll have to think more like a EU tourist than most Americans. I suggest flying into Paris, and then concentrating on the Alsace-Lorraine and Rhineland with the area around Lake Konstanz. this will give you the wine regions of the Mosel and the German and French wine roads, great cities like Metz, Nancy, Strasbourg, Colmar, Freiberg, Basel, Zurich, Speyer, Baden-Baden, Heidelberg, & Trier all close enough that you won't waste a huge amount of time moving between places. And September is the perfect time to do this as the wine fests will be wrapping up with the harvest. You could even take a day or two and do the Rhine (although Cochem is much nicer than St Goar or Bacharach.)

There are over 80 castles in the Rhineland Pfalz if that's an interest, there's WWII and WWI, and lots of other military history in the area, there's places to hike (Vosage and Pfalzwald forests are huge), there's Roman and Celtic history sites, fantastic art museums, etc. You would not run out of things to see or do, and this is where a lot of Europeans spend their holidays.

Hey there, welcome to the Forum. While this sounds like fun, it's definitely too much traveling with not enough time spent anywhere to relax & see the sights! You've gotten some good advice, consider how many hours of sight seeing you have per day versus travel days - 15 days with what sounds like at least 4-5 days en route with packing & unpacking plus getting to train or plane based upon your original itinerary? We don't know your likes or preferences, feel free to add them so we have a better idea! I didn't figure out if you're planning on flying or train.... but in any case, definitely book a multi-leg journey, and if you can stand the thought, either skip England & Paris, agreed that Paris will be jammed. Good idea to follow one of the suggested itineraries above to Alsace, end in MUC or Vienna? OR you could just do London & Paris with perhaps a stay outside Paris as well... Good luck!

We are hoping to hit France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

IMHO if all you want to do is "hit" a country but not see much but the inside of a train or plane, then go for it. As others have advised, it is probably too much for a two week trip. Where have you and your husband been before? I myself like to go to new places before repeating, so that might help reduce your selections. I personally would pick two big cities max and plan some day trips. There are an abundance of places that meet your listed interests, you cannot go wrong and you also cannot do everything in two weeks. If you are in decision paralysis, put the names of all the cities that sound interesting in a jar and draw two. Then get planning.

Google Flights is your friend. Do some searches from your departure airport for open jaw tickets (flying in to one city, home from another) to see what prices are like and what might work for your dates. That in turn may inform a more reasonable (and affordable) itinerary. For example, flights to London are much more expensive than other cities from my departure airport so I won't fly to LHR unless I'm going to London.

And since you haven't traveled since covid times, you'll find that many places now require advance reservations/tickets and depending on venue and day of week you definitely have to plan ahead. For example, a popular place like the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam only opens tickets in specific schedules and they often sell out on the day they're released. Not to scare you, but if there are must see things on your itinerary, you must do advance work and research to make sure you know the process. Do not wait until you're there. Europe is a very popular destination and it will still be crowded in many places in September. Also be mindful of events that can cause places to be booked/busy/expensive (e.g. Oktoberfest in Munich, Sept. 21-Oct. 6 this year).

And to answer your other question:

If those countries aren’t considered Central Europe, what would you
call them?

I think "Western Europe" is a common descriptor but you could just go with "Europe" and that also covers it. What RS has labeled "Central Europe" is listed in his guidebook of that name.

Hi Judy,
Thanks for your tips. I know they don’t call it the chunnel, but it is a chunnel. I have been on the Eurostar before.
One of our main reasons for the trip is to go to Paris together and we would like to get in as much as possible. We are new parents and don’t know when we will be back to Europe…could be years. Therefore, we really want to hit all the countries mentioned. Is there a particular spot in France besides Paris that’s not to miss? Or a place in Germany you love?
Thanks,
Kelsey

Dear Lola,

Thank you so much for your helpful tips. Alsace looks like a must do and the town you linked is simply out of a storybook! We are being a bit ambitious yes…17 total days but really only 15 full days. We know travel will take up much of our time, but we are looking forward to it. I am realizing more and more that Switzerland may be a completely different trip. Vienna wasn’t on our radar but looks amazing. Sort of trying to avoid going so far east as we want to plan a trip that hits Berlin and Prague years down the road. But maybe it would be smart to hit up all of Austria (meaning Salzburg and Vienna) this time!
Thanks again,
Kelsey

kelseysouser,
Well, of course, any time you can visit Paris is worthwhile. It is my favorite city in Europe. In France I have three favorite areas: the Dordogne, Provence and Brittany. Brittany is unique because of its Celtic origins/language/customs and mystical menhirs. All three areas would be too much out of the way if you are going to other countries, so I feel the Alsace region is a great place to see a different kind of France than the "Paris" kind of France.

In Germany I really like Bavaria...Munich, Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber, the whole Bavarian Alps region. It is kind of "classic" Europe. Also, friendly and fun and lots to do.
And though some people here on the forum don't feel Vienna is worth much time, I loved it! I remember it as a peaceful interlude in our 4 month trip back when we were probably your age. The city is lovely..... Schonbrunn Palace, the art museum, the opera house, Volkspark, Grinzig, the Lippizaner horses.....Fifty years later it is still one of my fondest memories of my first trip to Europe. (And it is close to Salzburg.)
Have a great trip! (By the way, we took our kids to Europe for the first time when they were 10 1/2 and just turned 8. They did great and enjoyed it a lot!)

Yes, Vienna is further east than you intended. I suggested it to avoid backtracking from Salzburg for a flight home. Salzburg to Vienna is 3 hours by train, just 1 hour longer than the 2 hour trip back to Munich for a flight. (Or 2.5 hours from Salzburg to the Munich Airport). And the city does seem to fit your interests well. But you have lots of great options in France and Germany alone, so maybe you will just stick with those two countries.

If you do decide on Colmar as your base in Alsace, I highly recommend this apartment right on the canal in “Little Venice”, the most picturesque part of Colmar:

https://www.refletssurlalauch.fr/en

We had the “Terrace” apartment with a direct view of the canal and the houses across the way:

https://www.refletssurlalauch.fr/room/la-terr

Hi and greets from Vienna! Are you really planning a trip to Europe but not to Vienna? 🙂

Let's see: 15 nights. How about a multi-city flight plan?
Fly into Paris
7 nights in Paris
(six hour train ride)
3 nights in Munich
(two hour train ride)
2 nights in Salzburg
(three hour train ride)
3 nights in Vienna and fly home from there.
That will give you a taste of each one. Look at some guidebooks to see what you want to do at each location, and adjust the number of nights in each accordingly. Then start thinking about transportation and lodging.

You could fly from Paris to Munich and maybe save a little time. Let's see: an hour out of Paris to the airport, 2 hours before flight for security, etc, 1.5 hour flight, 30 minutes bus into Munich. That's 5 hours. I'd probably train because I find it more comfortable with big seats and the ability to walk around. Sometimes the scenery is interesting. And there are fewer "moving parts" without needing ground transportation between airports and city centers.

An alternative plan would be to fly into Paris, then fly to Vienna, then train to Salzburg, train to Munich, and fly home from there.

I've taken the Eurostar between London and Paris. Since it's going through a tunnel, there's not much to see. If you're not planning to sight-see in London it's probably not worth the detour.

Hope this helps,
Marty