Please sign in to post.

Critique me (itinerary)

Hello everyone,

I hope this message finds you well. So, to make a short story long:

I am in the early stages of our next trip, just thought I'd bounce this off you guys, see what you think. A little about us, we (my wife and I) aren't museum or tour people, and likely you wont catch us waiting in line for much at all. Thats not to say we wont do any, but we tend to be into culture/foodies and enjoy wandering much more than standing in line. I preface this with that because I find that often the recommendations (for larger cities) especially tend to be much longer than we would choose. For example, last time I asked "how many nights in Berlin" and a lot of people recommended 5-7 days, which really any city to TRULY appreciate and assimilate would take months... or years, or a lifetime. After researching Berlin, we went with 3 nights only, and were actually quite content (thats not to say I wouldn't have stayed for months or even years if I could... I wish!). We did do a bike tour there and it was actually a great experience. So, again, just keep that in mind when you look at this.

Amsterdam: - 3 n
Bruges: 1-2 n (I went w/Bruges b/c I haven't really heard great things about Brussels, and I thought this place "looked" more interesting...thoughts?)
Paris: 3-4 n
Lausanne: 3 n
Luzern: 3 n
Munich: 3 n (It seems a little further than I though to get to Munich from Luzern, but we're really wanting to make Oktoberfest a tradition, I know its not popular w/a lot of people here, but we love it!)

Anyways, I appreciate any insight, thoughts, criticism, tweeks, outright changes you may have. I already did a thread on Switzerland as its a country I know little about and got some really great advice.

Im also thinking about actually starting in Copenhagen then flying to Amsterdam, but I don't know if I cant squeeze it in work wise. Such a cool city though!

Posted by
7175 posts

Looks good.
Gent/Antwerp (if not Brussels) can be a worth a look as well as Bruges. Two nights in Gent with a day spent in Bruges would allow you to experience both.

Posted by
8129 posts

Amsterdam 3 n is perfect
Brussels is big kind of bland aside from the Grand Place (but I assume u like beer because of Munich
and you can find some really good stuff in the shops there) I would do a day trip there from base city like Antwerp or Ghent.
Brugge (too many day trip bus load tourists cameras everywhere not paying attention unbikeable to use as a base)
Paris (3 to 4 nights is perfect. great biking city)
Lausanne 3 nights ok as a base to explore south Switzerland
Luzern 3 nights ok as base to explore north Switzerland
Munich perfect since you love it
Note : to cut travel time to Munich from Switzerland Somehow you have to incorporate Zurich or Geneva as there are direct flights to Munich from these two cities.

Posted by
4105 posts

Switch...Paris> Lucerne>
Lausanne. Short train to Geneva. Fly to Munich.

Posted by
451 posts

Your trip sounds good. I would skip Brussels, it is large and very bland. It does have a nice main square but it is not that nice since you will see main squares in Brugge and Munich. I would stay in the Lauterbrunnen valley(Murren or Wengen), instead of the Lausanne. If you go to Switzerland, it would be a shame to miss the mountains!

Zurich can be reached from Lucerne in about an hour. The trip from Lauterbrunnen to Munich is a long ride around 8 hours I think. If you fly from Zurich, it would cut travel time.