Confused

Munich to Florence, I suggest taking the train. Enjoy the spacious rail seas and dining car, perhaps get a sleeper.
If you rent a car in Tuscany, and travel to its wonderful smaller cities and towns, you will find parking is a problem.

Great places like Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Cortona and more. Research where you go and determine is your hotel provides parking.

Rome is special and far more interesting than CT.

In France, consider visiting Monaco, Nice, Arles, Avignon, Ponte du Gard (intact Roman aqueduct) and Lyon.

Thank you very much for your feedback! I will take a look at all your suggestions.

Unless you want to spend 11 hours on a train, and pretty much think you will have to change stations at some point, I would fly from Munich to Florence. I love trains in Europe, but Paris to Vienna (13 hrs) by train was too much, even for me and managed to pick up a cheap flight which was less than the train fare. Am doing Vienna to Florence in September in Executive class where there are only 8 seats. A couple of years ago did the Trenitalia train from Paris to Rome (with a change in Milan). It was 10 hrs, scenery was lovely, food disgusting (take your own) My issue with night trains is they leave late in the evening, but hotel check out times are before lunch and then you arrive the next morning at your hotel, usually hours before check in. This may not bother some people though, Have a great trip.

Your post is a tad cryptic, but if I understand you are flying into Munich on the way to a wedding in Italy. Ending in Rome at some point. The real question I guess is what do you do after Rome? You are thinking about Cinque Terre. Sure, many love it. I’m not sure when you are going. If it’s high season you might consider something less crowded.

Then the question is can you go to Eastern Europe on the way to Paris. Certainly, if there are things in Eastern Europe that interest you and if you are going at a time of year that works well with those things.

The only help I can offer not knowing any more than you said is to show you that from Rome you can get a discount flight to one or more cities in: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia. From Paris you can reach Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Lativa, Lithuania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia.

So, pick a country going into Eastern Europe from Rome that is well connected to a country (or countries) out of Eastern Europe and on to Paris. Most flights will be about 90 minutes so figure 4.5 to 5.5 hours door to door which is roughly the equivalent of a 3.5 to 4 hour train ride. Those flights will generally start at under $50 but if you are checking a bag for a rough start on the cost I would guess $150.

Its your holiday. Do what interests you. Saving 4 hours of travel time to do things that don’t interest you as much really isn’t money well spent. IF, Eastern Europe does interest you the other advantage is it will save you quite a bit of money as it’s a lot cheaper than the West.

Unless you want to spend 11 hours on a train, and pretty much think
you will have to change stations at some point, I would fly from
Munich to Florence.

Its actually 7 1/2 to 8 hours from Munich to Florence, and there are not station changes involved...

And it is a nice trip, with some good scenery.

Or 90 minutes on a plane.

Or 90 minutes on a plane.

plus to the airport

plus check in time (60, 90, 120?)

plus waiting to take off or change of gates or mechanical

plus waiting for luggage (wedding)

plus from the airport

plus?

which means 90 minutes becomes ... ... what ... ... ??

trains = mostly middle of town

Nigel offers the voice of experience.
Any air travel takes 1/2 a day minimum, always.
That has been my rule of thumb.
For those short jaunts, I prefer to drive, or take a train......depending.

Thank you all very much for taking the time to respond. Definitely need to do more research! We are travelling in April and May.

johnstoneanne,

Everyone looks at things a bit differently. It’s all good. I always made the extra effort to reach the places that most interested me. For me the holiday wasn’t about being able to rattle off a list of places I had been but building memories and experiences that meant something to me. It’s why I said, if something in Eastern Europe lights your fire, with 37 days the world is yours.

I tend to fly a lot because I am not good at sitting in one seat for 8 hours. At least with the plane its breakfast at the airport (we have an affordable first-rate place at the Budapest airport), then pick up something for the family at the gift shop (again, I am luck in that there is a quality one in our airport), then maybe a cup of coffee while I wait for the 90-minute trip. I am laid back enough where this works and I tend to visit Eastern European locations where the airports are more interesting and smaller and less institutional. The last was Podgorica a month ago. Took a little under 5 hours door to door. I've flown in a few times over the last 15 years and it’s still just a bus stop. Works perfect.

Next thing you should do if you like the forum is post in a few of the country specific forums with questions about the places that interest you. See what people say. Just remember we are all amateurs, there are no experts here. And to that point ................ :

Mack, Nigel is one of the forums finest gentlemen, so I know he got a bit busy reading everything. I have been guilty of that myself at times. And even Nigel and I disagree, its been with respect. But Mack, since you commented without reading, I guess my post above bears repeating:

So, pick a country going into Eastern Europe from Rome that is well
connected to a country (or countries) out of Eastern Europe and on to
Paris. Most flights will be about 90 minutes so figure 4.5 to 5.5 hours
door to door which is roughly the equivalent of a 3.5 to 4 hour train
ride.

"Any air travel takes 1/2 a day minimum, always"

Is pretty difficult to define. Half day = 12 hours? Or half a waking day might = 9 hours? Half a Sunlight day here could be 4 to 8 hours. So how does your rule of thumb work? My rule of thumb is I take the time to add it up. Every trip is unique. I flew down to Podgorica a few weeks back. 80 minute flight. Door to door was 5 hours.

Thank you very much, this has given me a lot to think about and weigh up whjat is worth it.
Wer are very much interested in Eastern Europe. However thought of Cinque Terre asaslso wanted a coasted village to stop, slow down and eat some nice.
Now rethinking this.
It's much harder to plan a trip to Europe than I thought!

johnstoneanne, no, it really isnt hard. I always got stuck when I over thought it.

You have 37 days, you have the time to explore.

Some stops may work out, others might not as well.

You might think "gee we shouldnt have wated a day to see this" once or twice. So what?

Wedding? Yours or someone elses? That changes thngs too.

But first a what date do you land in Europe? And why the landing in Munich? And do you have a way from Florence to Castiglione D'Orcia? And what date do you need to be in Castiglione D'Orcia? And since you say 37 days, I presume you have a date that you are leaving Paris?

Thanks for so many replies!
We didn’t know about the wedding when we originally booked our trip, so we’ve had to make a few adjustments! We’re travelling with friends up the Seine in early May and arriving in Munich on the 12th of April. The wedding is on the 15th April, so we’ll be in that area for a few days.

From the 17th April to early May, we’re open and flexible. It’s our first time in Europe, and we’re not looking to rush or tick off a checklist — we’d much rather soak in the culture, enjoy the food and wine, see some beautiful sights and history, and experience local life.

Originally, we were planning an Eastern trip through Eastern Europe, which is why we’re flying into Munich. Now we’re wondering how best to shape our trip. We’re interested in visiting Krakow (for the history), Prague, and Cesky Krumlov — and we’d love to finish with a few relaxing days in a seaside village, drinking wine and eating seafood.

Any advice, tips, or must-see suggestions would be very welcome!

So, you will probably want to be in Florence the day before the wedding. Then you just run down to Castiglione D'Orcia for the wedding, then back to Florence? That’s an option, I guess. Either way, you are in Florence so you might as well explore. Maybe 4 nights in Florence, then a night or two in Pisa and a night or two in Siena and a night or two in Perugia; then head down to Rome for at least 5 nights. So, two long stays joined with some short stays. You can do it with buses and trains or with private transfers or a bit of all. I am not the Italy expert. In all fairness it’s been 10 years since my last trip. But if you post on the Italy forum you will get more help.

Okay, with the seaside village in mind, from Rome you fly Wizz or Ryan to Prague. It’s two hours in the air so maybe 6 hours door to door. Four nights in Prague, then the shuttle down to Cesky Krumlov for two nights. Then the shuttle down to Vienna for 4 nights. Then the train to Budapest with a stop in Gyor and Pannonhalma along the way. Five nights in Budapest.

Now a 75-minute flight to Zadar, Croatia. Spend a week to ten days with nights in Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik.

From Dubrovnik cross the border into Montenegro and here is your drink on the coast: Okay, a bay: https://youtu.be/6louXJbCVb4?si=hdyLiNlUSV7uePwM Okay, this one is actually on the Adriatic https://youtu.be/ZVAGujFv-A8?si=1aMwIJTLigY5e5uD as is this one: https://youtu.be/TE5UsCFxQQs?si=iG_5qxOGj2Ta8uSi

Montenegro is worth what ever time you have left, 3 nights or 3 weeks. Perast, Budva, Stari Bar, Ulcinj, Tara River Canyon, Ostrog Monastery. Go to this thread for videos and guides: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/montenegro/podgorica-to-dubrovnik-by-car

This is a pretty interesting cross section of Europe. You had mentioned Paris too. There are discount flights from Podgorica to Paris if you want to end there. I love Paris and it has the river for those farwell drinks.

Okay, it’s a concept. I use to tell my clients that its easier to criticize than to create. Then I would hand them a plan and tell them to rip it and twist it until it was their plan.

Mr.Ed,
I read your posts, many of them, at least up to the point where I am saturated. I cut to the chase a bit more quickly though. Is that my Yankee upbringing bumping up against a Southern style, or does Texas even count as South? From my experience (born in Georgia, raised in Europe and the Northeast), Texas is its own place.
For me, and I spent over 40 years travelling globally, yes a million miler on several airlines, 1/2 a day of travel is a loose unit of measure that is roughly 6 hours give or take. I am not generally up with the birds and do not head to bed with the bats. I tend towards measuring a day as 6 am to lunch. Lunch to dinner, generally early evening and that half a day of travel would consume one or the other of those chunks. In Europe, I can show up at a train station at 9:00 am, wait a few minutes for my ride, board, have a coffee or a snack and be wherever I need to be in an hour or two most of the time. When I get where I am going, the train will deliver me where I want to be, near city center of other transport, my bag is not going to be riding around in circles on some random conveyor, a taxi sits, I am off to the races.
With all due respect, would you fly from Vienna to Budapest? I know, not a fair question especially in that the Budapest airport is a healthy cab ride to anywhere you might want to be and Vienna is (as you know) quite busy after it opens, but not open very early. So six hours, in answer to your question about my "rule of thumb".

With all due respect, would you fly from Vienna to Budapest? I know,
not a fair question especially in that the Budapest airport is a
healthy cab ride to anywhere you might want to be and Vienna is (as
you know) quite busy after it opens, but not open very early. So six
hours, in answer to your question about my "rule of thumb".

MR OP, sorry we are going to wander off course a bit. My apologies. But at least I used your trip as an example below.

Mack, A very fair discussion. First, if you read what I wrote, and if you knew the Budapest to Vienna train was a 2.5-hour trip, you have the answer to the Budapest to Vienna question.

The only rule of thumb that I have is to add it up when the train ride is more than 4 hours, then see what I have and look at schedules and costs.

So the Topic of the thread at hand. johnstoneanne I picked a couple of nice hotels for you in the heart of the things to see and do (i needed something to work with). Oh, and by the way, I am acutally decended from Johnstone.

Hotel Bayerischer Hof, to Munich train station is about 0.2 hours by taxi. You will arrive 0.5 hours early (sorry, the tourist do, so don’t fight it), have a 7.5-hour train ride, finally Florence train station to the Hotel Savoy is about 0.3 hours by taxi. Total 8.5 and like flying there are unknowns that can occur.

Hotel Bayerischer Hof, to Munich airport is about 0.75-hours at rush-hour (but as little as a half hour otherwise). You will arrive 1.5-hours early, have a 1.25-hour flight, then an hour to get off the plane and pick up luggage, finally Florence airport to the Hotel Savoy is a half hour rush hour. A total of 5.5-hours might be longer with the unknowns. You can call it 6-hours if you want.

But without the unexpected it’s ABOUT a 5.5-hour air trip vs 8.5-hour train trip. But just as important, maybr more importsnt, are a few other issues. Like schedule. What time do you want to be in Florence? The 07:32 train arrives about 4pm and the 09:33 train arrives about 5pm. If arriving at that time is okay and sitting for all those hours is not a problem and you otherwise just hate airports …. It will save you $50 to maybe $100 per person to ride the train. But if you want to be there in time for lunch then the 07:50 flight seems to work nice. Too early? Then the 11:40 flight gets you in about 1pm.

I think the point here is keep and open mind and explore all the options.

Thanks to both of you for such rich and considered input—I've genuinely enjoyed the exchange (and learned quite a bit in the process!).

Mack – I loved your take on the “half a day” measure. It’s such a practical lens, and I can absolutely relate to chunking the day into morning and afternoon segments, especially while travelling. Your description of European train travel is spot on and reminds me why it often feels so much more civilised than flying: no conveyor belts, no security queues, and you’re usually dropped right into the heart of town.

Mr. Ed, your comparison between the train and flight times was incredibly helpful. I appreciate the break-down of both options and the reminder that it's not just about the numbers—it’s about how you want to spend your travel day, and what kind of experience suits the rhythm of the trip. And I must say, your nod to our shared Johnstone lineage gave me a big smile. Small world! (And yes, in our case, the “e” was a later addition—apparently to help stand out among a whole clan of Johnstons in the farming districts!)

We arrive late into Munich on the 12th, so we're hoping to spend at least the full day of the 13th exploring the city, then head to Florence on the 14th. From there, we’re thinking of picking up a car and making our way to Castiglione D'Orcia. Feeling far less confused now,planning in stages is proving to be the way to go.

Thanks again to you both for the helpful advice and good humour along the way!

AJ. aka my cousin Johnstone is a politician. G-d bless you both.

The only direct train Munich to Florence is a night train; during the day you have to change somewhere, either Verona or Bologna. Flights are much easier and convenient.