Europe 2020 Itinerary - help, comments, suggestions?

All your big-city stops are fairly short given the wealth of sightseeing opportunities they provide, but perhaps you've found you prefer smaller towns? Assuming Munich a is must because of flight logistics, I'd consider dropping London or Vienna--Vienna because it's a bit of a geographical outlier and London because I assume it would be easy to fly from Dublin to Paris. For me those two would be a lot more interesting than Munich or Dublin, but flights issues sometimes dictate itinerary decisions.

Two nights in a mountain destination like Wengen is really dicey, because the weather may not cooperate. I'm not an expert on the Alpine regions of Switzerland and Austria, but it might be worth thinking about dropping either Wengen or Innsbruck so you have enough time in one place. Note that the travel time between the two is 6 hr. 43 min. Going from Wengen to Salzburg would be even worse--a minimum of 8 hr. 35 min.

I'm just musing here; I don't have any great ideas.

Too many short stays and long transfers as acraven pointed out.

I would drop Austria entirely. Innsbruck is not nearly as beautiful as the Wengen area and as pointed out, transfers are so very long.

If you drop Austria (10 nights) you can add the time to Wengen (minimum 3 nights and 4 is better), London, Luzern, and Paris, all of which you are giving minimal time to and all of which have much to offer. With only 4 nights in Paris and a day trip to Versailles, you are only giving the city itself two full days. That just is not enough.

A factor sometimes overlooked in long trips with widely dispersed destinations is the costly all those transfers. It adds up in time and money.

You don’t say if this is your first time to Europe or these destinations, but I agree with acraven and Laurel. Too much moving around! Reminds me of my whirlwind trip to Europe many moons ago! I learned my lesson. Slow down. Now, when we go to Europe, we spend at least 2 weeks and stay in one country. Remember, you can always come back!

There will be a lot of time spent traveling from place to place but for the most part, your plan seems ok. The one major change I would make is after Stuttgart, visit Munich and then return home from Vienna.

Thank you so much for the feedback! This has been extremely helpful. I edited the original post to note that this will be our first trip to these areas and my first trip to Europe (thank you diveloonie aka Tammy for catching that!).

I absolutely agree that we need to cut back the number of locations and focus on fewer areas. I think we are just at the stage where everywhere looks amazing to visit, and we have a good chunk of time, but we need a bit of guidance on the best places to focus our attention! Basically, besides London and Paris, what are the key places in these areas that are best to see on the first trip?

I'm thinking it might be a good idea to skip Munich (unless that's the only option for decent return flights) and end in Vienna, and cut down our time in Austria overall. It also makes sense to focus on either Wengen or Innsbruck and not try to do both. We are considering removing Vienna as well since it's so far out of the way, but I have to admit that visiting the Spanish Riding School has been on my dream list since I was a kid and it's hard to let that one go!

I disagree with the common advice that your visits to various cities are too short. One says, "All your big-city stops are fairly short given the wealth of sightseeing opportunities they provide". That's true, but then one month isn't enough to see Europe either. Consequently, I'm all in favor of moving around a lot to sample the great variety of sights, most of which are out side the big cities.

After 52 EU sightseeing trips, I took my first bus tour-- 3 nights in each of Rome, Florence, and Venice. That was not enough time for Rome, more than enough for Florence and Vienna where 2 nights each would have been enough. You can't know how much time you want to spend someplace until you test the waters, and the more water you test-- moving a lot-- the better you can plan your next trip.

Alps: West to east, the Alps are nearly 800 miles long. We have done it, all but the Bulgarian Alps by car. By car is the only way to do the Alps because 1] bus-train is very, very slow and 2] flexibility. I always planned two itineraries, one for good weather-- se the Alps, and the alternative, see the towns/cites/museums.

The Lauterbrunnen region (Wengen) is not more scenic than the Innsbruck region if you have a car. Without a car, Wengen is more efficient-- you right at the lift while the closest top views for Innsbruck require a 2 hr bus trip (less than 1 hr by car) to the first grand view lift.

A couple years go I was wandering around the Wasatch Range near our house and came across a lost Italian tourist. I solved his problem by telling him, "Follow me", but I also asked him, "Do you think all mountains look alike?" He said, "No. Compared to the Alps and Dolomites, this is absolutely spectacular". That confirmed my view that all mountains are not alike, so, don't visit the Alps until you have done considerably cheaper travel in North America's mountains. Then you will be ready to see the alps,

You ask "what are the key places in these areas that are best to see on the first trip?" The #1 sight to see in France is not Paris. It's Alsace. The #1 Alp scene in Austria is the Salzkammergut. Stay at Bad Ischl, go to Salzburg in bad weather.

So, maybe London-Paris-Alsace (by high speed train)-fly Strasbourg to Vienna. A day trip from Vienna to Krems and Melk (#1 sight in EU), best by car. 

In my view there is no list of best/most important places to see. There is only your list of what sounds most intriguing to you and fits with the time you have available. We can help you by warning about some potential issues: places that may be a lot more touristy than you expect, awkward/long travel legs, an itinerary with multiple stops of rather similar character, etc.

I would be very cautious about any comments to the effect that a particular place is the top sight in a country or in Europe or that some place is overrated with no specifics provided. What you should spend your precious time on (and how much time to allot to a particular place) depends on your interests. I have spent 2 years in Europe, spread over about 15 trips, and I have never been up the Eiffel Tower, inside the Colosseum or Westminster Abbey, or to Pompeii. That doesn't mean you shouldn't see those things.

Mountains are beautiful, no doubt. I love the Cascades and the Rockies. However, in Switzerland one encounters fabulous transportation that allows access without a car to pristine places. We have nothing like it in North America. In both Switzerland and northern Italy (I am less familiar with Austria) one can hike to cafes and mountain hotels/hostels with good food served properly. It is divinely civilized and should be experienced if at all possible. What if the US had a transportation system like that? Amazing!