Europe Trip 75th D-Day

Rick,

My initial impression is that you've got far too much planned and too much moving around for what is essentially a two week trip. One day stops are not the best method, as once travel times to and from are included, that only provides about half a day to see the destination. Each change of location will require at least half a day, and in some cases a full travel day. Given the distance you're covering between some cities, your proposed Itinerary is going to be difficult to accomplish (IMO).

As you noted, the dignitaries and crowds at the D-Day sites on the 75th anniversary will probably be horrendous. Hotel rooms will be at a premium, which might mean staying some distance away and travelling to the beaches.

These are only initial impressions and I'd have to spend some time looking at the specific details.

Rick, if you can achieve this plan you will be legendary!
Most of your journeys will take most of a day, and you have one night stops. You will only have time to sleep in most places (if you are lucky).
Normandy needs a car because the beaches aren't in towns. Normandy is not "a facility", it is a region of France, and the beaches are spread out over dozens of Km. And it takes most of a day to get there from the nearest major airport (Paris Charles de Gaulle).

For the rest, look up train travel times on the DB website: https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml

Rule 1: No 1 night stops. Minimum 2 nights, better 3.

Rule 2: Try to choose places where you can get from one to the next in maximum 4 hours, so you have some time to see things.
Geneva to Monaco is 8 hours by train, Monaco to Venice is 8 to 9 hours, Berlin to Amsterdam 6½. I hope you like spending all your time on trains.

Print out a map from the internet and mark out your stops, transport and transit times on it.

A few questions: have you travelled in Europe before? Are you in good physical shape? Are you aware of the distances between all of these locations?

You have an alarming (to me) number of one night stands. And I don't think you've considered the time it will take for all these moves. In particular, the Normandy-Geneva, Geneva-Monaco, Monaco-Venice, Venice-Berchtegaden trips (by train) will each eat up most of a day just travelling. Even the shorter trips will require half a day (from check out from one place to check in at the next). That leaves almost no time to see the sights of the place you've travelled so far to experience.

And unless you are flying in a couple of days before the 25th and leaving a couple of days after the 8th, the math doesn't add up.

I'd recommend looking at the Deutch Bahn website to get an idea of how much train time all these trips will take. And think of your itinerary in nights rather than days - with travel bookending each of your stays, 2 nights in a place only gives you one full day of sightseeing.

Realistically, I think you should eliminate a few of your places, spending one or 2 extra nights in the others.

If your interest is D-day, then plan to spend more time in Normandy. There are many sites spread out over an area. Make hotel reservations now. Hire a guide or sign up for a tour.

One point to make regarding D-Day tours when important anniversaries are taking place. Some (many?) of the guide services close down as they want to attend the ceremonies and spend time with veterans. Given the advancing age of WW-II veterans, there's probably more urgency for that now.

Seeing the proposed itinerary, my first thought was that this was a spam posting. Assuming it isn’t, you need to cut your number of destinations severely. You lose half a day every time you move destinations.

If your main interest is Normandy, then I would suggest 4 days here minimum. Are you spending any time in Paris?

Berlin has plenty of recent history and you would only scratch the surface with 4 full days there. Venice and Amsterdam would be a rush with only 3 full days in each place.

Summer schedules for the low cost airlines aren’t available yet. Paris to Amsterdam could be by train.

Well, you're planning in advance, which is a good thing however, your plan is -comically unrealistic. It can be done but, you won't see anything except the inside of a train, train stations and the room you're sleeping in ergo, what's the point. Your plan would be similar to a European visiting the US and wanting to go to NYC, Disney World, Chicago, Graceland and Las Vegas...in two weeks.

IF the goal is to see Normandy and visit the sights around the D-Day beaches...then do so. Normandy is one of the more distinct regions of France, enjoy it. You're planning on 2-weeks of travel; devote one whole week to Normandy, 4-5 days is more than enough, your focus is the WWII experience, there's A LOT to see and don't miss out on Mont. St.Michel and the preserved towns of Rouen and Honfleur. Figure on a home base in Bayeux, you'll need to rent a car for this region. You'll likely fly into Paris or, Amsterdam, spend some time at each, 3-days is best. Dunkirk is along the coast on the border of France and Belgium, best not to miss nearby Bruges in Belgium; I've yet to meet anybody who did not like Bruges.

I would recommend an itinerary below either direction works:

• Fly into AMS
• Amsterdam 3-nts
• Dunkirk/Bruges 2-nits
• Bayeux (Normandy) 5-nts
• Paris 3-nts
• Fly out of CDG

Visit Southern Germany on another trip.

Thank you to everyone who responded. I appreciate the input and I will take much of that information into account when continuing to plan my trip.

Rick