Europe Trip Thoughts

First question would be: have you looked at the total travel time required between each of these places to see how much time you would actually have to sightsee in those places? My guess is that (allowing for meals and sleep), your sightseeing hours each day would be in the low single digits.

Second question: with such an incredibly rushed and overscheduled itinerary, why are you going to Paris if it isn't a priority?

If you really believe this will be your only visit, then I think you should either triple the number of days or eliminate a couple of places; especially Interlaken since it is a geographic outlier. And fly on a multicity ticket instead of round trip. Fly into your first city and out of your last city (into London and out of Paris for example). This will avoid a day, and money, wasted on unnecessary travel.

From where in the US are you flying? It's not clear why you are flying into and out of two cities you won't spend time touring, when Germany or Switzerland (?) might be better entry/exits to save you time.
I am a conservative traveler but even so, I don't see any time factored in for any delay (late plane, navigating from train station to lodging, etc,)
It's exciting to have this meaningful adventure!

Flying to London from Boston. Flying back from Paris is a good idea.

You should probably set that proposed itinerary on fire. NOT feasible unless you just want to see Europe from the inside of a train.

Why fly into London if you have no time to see it and your main goal is Liege?

My effort at triage, assuming you must fly into and out of London: spend time in London and in the neighborhood of Liege... Namur (Belgium,) Maastricht (Netherlands,) and Aachen are nice places nearby to visit.

Hi,
Great that you are able to pay a visit to your uncle's grave!
Let's work around this #1 priority, because yes, your plan will be rushed, and no, you will not see much from the trains.
I will assume your flights to/from London are booked and cannot be changed.

• 13/9: London, OK no comment
• 14/9: Stay in Liège. In order to properly visit the cemetery, you need to. I think you can skip Aachen anyway.
• 15/9: Rhine Gorge (could be Boppard or further south). On your way, you could stop in Köln to see the cathedral. It's amazing and next to the station.
• 16/9: Rhine Gorge, I think you need 2 nights to enjoy it
• 17/9: Switzerland's too far and Paris is not a priority. You want another country, you can go to Luxembourg! Luxembourg city is very cute, perfect for 1 night.
• 18/9: Fly to London (Luxair flights to London City Airport are super convenient). Suggesting another night so that you have a full day there at least (the 19th)
• 19/9: London, OK, you have to stay there before your flight anyway
• 20/9 fly out

EDIT.
Ha, I see I missed extra info. The flights are not booked? Fly out of Frankfurt then, and see more of Belgium. For example:

• 13 London
• 14 London
• 15 Brussels or Ghent
• 16 Brussels or Ghent
• 17 Liège
• 18 Rhine
• 19 Rhine
• 20 fly out of Frankfurt

If Paris isn’t a priority and you are flying multi city then why not skip Paris and fly home from Zurich if you must go to Interlaken? If your goal in Switzerland is to see mountains and you are there less than 24 hours you stand a good chance of having clouds or inclement weather obstructing any views. You could add a night there and the last night in Lucerne. I haven’t been there, but people say it’s easy to get to the Zurich airport from there. Are you taking the Eurostar to Brussels to get to Liege?

If this is your first and only trip to Europe, why are you only spending one week? If you really really want to experience England, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium, then you need three or four weeks. Is there any way that you can add more time?

Have you even looked at how long it will take to get from Boppard to Interlaken on the train? My quick search shows about 8 hours.

After your overnight flight to London, you'll probably experience jet lag. So your first day there is going to be pretty slow. and your last day will be very short since you need to be at the airport three hours before your trip. You basically have a little over five days to enjoy four countries!

Many earlier posters have pointed out the problems with this itinerary.

I agree, you will be doing more traveling than actual touring.
Have you planned out your trip and how much time it will take to see what you want to see, then how much time to travel from each destination?

Also, why did you choose to fly into London, when your tour is on the continent?

I suggest fourgetting about half of your itinerary.

Thanks to all for your excellent and informative comments. You pointed out a lot of problems I kinda knew I had anyway. So I canceled my flights and now here's my proposed schedule. Feel free to dig into it. We can only stay about 8 days. So here goes.

Sept 12 Fly to London, get to London on the 13th
Sept. 13 Land in London around 8am, Tour London
Sept. 14 Tour London
Sept. 15 Eurostar to Liege via Brussels.
Tour Cemetery a couple of hours, Train to Aachen
Stay overnight in Aachen
Sept. 16 Leave for Boppard on Train

Sept. 17 Rhine Tours
Sept. 18 Leave for Lucerne, Stay in Lucerne two nights
Sept. 19 Train to Interlaken on a one day trip.
Sept. 20 Sept 20, train to Zurich airport to fly back to USA.

Thanks to All!!!

that is a good move forwards

I like your revised itinerary. Makes a lot more sense!

The Cologne cathedral is spectacularly impressive inside and out, just massive and highly prominent. Also right next to the train station which is a high speed hub. You could stop in Cologne for 2 hours on your way through to the Rhine and get a superb cathedral experience and memory efficiently on a very short trip. Or you could stay in Cologne instead of Aachen - not a tough transfer from Liege.

Interlaken itself is not an upgraded destination compared to Lucerne, nor distinctive enough to make that day trip. Either go all the way up into the Berner Oberland, or maybe better ride one of Switzerland's gorgeous scenic high mountain railways instead. I think you'd be better off basing in Lucerne for three nights and doing a day trip on one of your full days than moving to Interlaken for a night.

For instance I would definitely rather have time to do the Mount Pilatus cog railway out of Lucerne than transit to Interlaken, check into a new hotel, and walk around the town a bit.

Also, you don't necessarily need to leave Liege and spend the night elsewhere. Already a big travel day to get there, and Liege isn't at all a bad town.

Well, if as you say the objective is to just hit as many countries as possible then yes it probably will work. Although I expect many you tell about it will think it's a bit foolish to spend all that money and the only experience you walk away with is a mastery of the train system and station food, rather than having any real experience of any part of Europe.

If I only had a week and I had to visit the Ardennes, then I stick to the Benelux as that would occupy me for a week.

Again, thanks for all the feedback. We have decided to stay overnight in Cologne instead of Aachen. And we'll do the day trip from Lucern to Grindelwald and Interlaken. Thanks Again!!!! Stan

Sept 12 Fly to London, get to London on the 13th
Sept. 13 Land in London around 8am, Tour London
Sept. 14 Tour London
Sept. 15 Eurostar to Liege via Brussels.
Tour Cemetery a couple of hours, Train to Cologne
Stay overnight in Cologne
Sept. 16 Leave for Boppard on Train
Sept. 17 Rhine Tours
Sept. 18 Leave for Lucerne, Stay in Lucerne two nights
Sept. 19 From Lucerne: Day Trip to Grindelwald and Interlaken
Sept. 20 Sept 20, train to Zurich airport to fly back to USA.

I'm so happy you are open for suggestions and modifying your schedule. Your initial itinerary assumed that all of your train travel would be scenic, and in many areas, that's just not the case. Slowing down will help you actually feel like you're in these wonderful places. However, you really need more time in the ground- is that possible to stay longer?
Safe travels!

There is a term: FOMO

Fear of missing out

If I am in Place X, I would also like to be in Place Y, and Z

So, take the bull by the horns. Drop Paris. Drop Switzerland. Drop Belgium.

Do only Germany and London.

I'm with Paul. From your most recent itinerary, drop Switzerland, add a night in London and a night in Germany.

15th: Spend an additional night in London.

16th: to Liege and Cologne (where you'll arrive late.) 1 night.

17th: sightseeing in Cologne, but leave in the pm for Boppard. 2 nights.

18th: scenic Rhine cruise (Bingen > St. Goar) - visit Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar, or return to Boppard for the chairlift ride to Gedeonseck lookout for the view and some food or refreshments.

19th: train to Braubach for a tour of Marksburg (intact medieval castle) then to Mainz for a final afternoon and evening.

20th: 20-minute morning train ride to FRA airport, fly home.

A few more thoughts, certainly not of any more value than anyone else's. Just opinions.

You really seem to want to go to Switzerland. So I would go to Switzerland.

You also seem to really want to go to the Berner Oberland as well as Lucerne. Grindelwald from Lucerne is 2.5 hours on the train. So you walk out of your hotel 30 minutes ahead if you've already bought your train ticket. Upon your return, you're probably heading to the train station with the same time frame. You have two full days in Switzerland scheduled, and with a day trip to Grindelwald You will have spent 6 hours of that day in transit on a pleasant but not spectacularly scenic train trip.

Grindelwald is a nice enough town but not a premier destination in itself really. The premier attraction at Grindelwald is the Jungfrau Joch. This is the spectacular high mountain station up by the glaciers at 9000 feet. You ride a gondola then a train through a tunnel that switchbacks behind the North face of the Eiger. That's another hour not including walking transfer and waiting.

Really fun hour each way, but still transit, so minimum 8 hours that day one one of your two precious full days in Switzerland.

If me I'd pick Lucerne or the Berner Oberland and stick to it. You can go up an amazing mountain on a crazy Swiss train in either location for a mind-blowing view without burning most of a day in transit.

If you do want to sit on a train most of the day in Switzerland, which if you pick the right train is a fantastic thing to do, Google Switzerland scenic railways. There are some lines there that are well worth the ride just on their own, and you can access them fairly easily out of Lucerne.

I'll also agree with the intimation above that the Rhine Gorge is a bit wider and not as dramatic as one might imagine. But you have picked a great town to stay in, and there are castles, vineyards, cobbled lanes, beautiful half-timbered houses. And there certainly are castles to gaze upon.

I also like your choice to push through to Cologne on your transfer day. That hulking impossibly huge cathedral is really a mind-blower lit up in the evening. Tremendous greeting as you arrive. The old town is charming and compact, with some Roman ruins right there too. Great stop for maximum tourist impact in a limited time.

In general, with your itinerary you best serve your interests by booking hotels that have easy access to train stations and what you want to see. It's surprising how much time you can waste figuring out local transit or taxiing to your hotel or to sites. But a 5 or 10 minute walk from the station, and choosing places like Cologne where the train station is easy to the sites, will earn you hours of fun and relaxation time instead of travel and transfer time.

*Train Schedule-*
Sept. 16- London to Liege via Brussels. $248, $64,
Tour Liege a couple of hours,
Train to Cologne for the night $65
Sept. 17- Leave for Boppard on Train $59
Sept. 19- Leave for Lucerne, $121
Sept. 21- Leave for Zurich Airport. $72
Total train tickets , 2nd class, $629 for 2 seniors

Question, would you buy a 4 day $524 Eurail Global Pass, 2nd class, or buy individual trip tickets?
Thanks for any suggestions

If your Zurich flight isn't too early in the morning, stay in Lucerne that night. It's very easy to get to Zurich airport from Lucerne, via train, and it takes 1+hour.
Safe travels!