First time to Europe - help with itinerary!

My advice is try to avoid 1 night stays, constant travelling without multi-day stops is exhausting.

Also do not be afraid to skip some areas, my attitude is that I will be back in Europe and what I do not see on one trip I will see on another trip.

The Rhineland is a place well worth visiting, notwithstanding the river appearance - tall castles, vineyards, and entrancing towns.

You will be surprised by places you may have decided to just travel through. While Munich lies in a large plain, the German Alps are just a narrow string along the German-Austrian border. The view south is certainly better than the view north. I'd be sure to make a note of sites you may want to visit later: Munich is great, but so are a couple of towns along the Alps your train will take you through: Innsbruck, Brixen and the entire South Tirol area south of the Brenner Pass, Verona . . . Nice will be overrun with vacationers and tourists, but if you have to brag about having the Riviera experience, by all means do so. However, don't miss the coastline along Ventimiglia on the way to Nice (you'd have to skip Genoa this time, but plug it in for the future). Give yourself enough time, so skipping Normandy is well-advised.

It seems a bit busy to me. Travel by train takes extra time and you might need to travel during the day, which will give you less time to enjoy the cities themselves.
What are going to do in those cities? Museums or just walking?
If you can travel by night for the longer trips, so you save the day time for visiting.
I would leave Normandy and St Michel for other time.
I would stay a few days, like 4 or 5 in paris and Rome, 1 in Venice, 2 in Florence. Nice is nice if you want to go to the beach, but otherwise it's nothing really spectacular. St Tropez is kind of cool, with expensive iahts from around the world. Cannes for a few hours. Monte Carlo is one of my favs if you can go there.
I went on a tour a few years ago by car for 3 weeks and covered a lot, but we drove like crazy, from Amsterdam (4 days), Paris(5 days) down South to Golden Coast (4 days including Nice, Cannes and Monte Carlo), stops at many castles on Loire Valley.Then back up thru Italy(didn't stop there), stopped in Germany for castles again, Switzerland, Benelux. But you will cover much more by car.

Colleen, I think it's doable, but it depends on how much time you want to spend in Germany/Austria. You could think in terms of a week each in Germany, Italy, and France.

We always do pretty active trips to Europe, because we're there to see it, not to "relax" and have a vacation. (Not that you want to wear yourself out.)

I'd recommend doing your research really well (as in reading the guidebooks & checking train schedules) so that you know what you really want to see. You won't see everything in the places you've listed, but you'll get a good feel for a place in 2-3 days. I really appreciate Rick & company's guidebooks, because they give me a good preview of what a place has to offer to help me choose how to spend my time.

My only specific advice is to leave enough time in Paris (at least 3-4 days), but I'd rather put more time in Italy than in Nice. Just my taste.

Have a great time.

I appreciate the impulse to see everything, but I do think this is too much for three weeks. I think you could, for instance, see your Italian and French destinations in that time, but not much else. (And I'd suggest Provence in lieu of Nice--but maybe that's just me.) Or some other subset of your grand tour.

The trains are great, and it's liberating (if not always economical) to have a pass, but you would spend nearly a third of your trip in train compartments.

Whatever you do, remember to pace yourself--three weeks is too long for a sprint. And leave a little slack, especially in Italy where things can take longer than you expect.

Maybe you can pick half the locations, immerse yourself in the area, the people and the sights.....

It will provide you with a chance to get the feel for a place....and create special memories rather than rushing...

Then start planning your next trip!!!

Thank you for all the help! I've been trying to put myself in the mindset of knowing I'll be back, so whatever I miss this time, I'll be able to see another time. (it's so hard though! haha) I'm a pretty big history buff, so missing Normandy is a hard thought, but I think I'd rather use that as another trip at a later time so I can really spend a lot of time there. The more I think about it, the more I want to focus on Italy, so I think I'll try and spend the majority of my time there, skip Nice, and add an extra day on to Paris.

Colleen, IMO your planned Itinerary is far too busy for a 3 week trip! A few additional thoughts...

I'm assuming you've already bought your air tickets, so using open-jaw flights is out of the question? That would have been a really good idea, rather than returning to Frankfurt (from Paris you'll have to allow the better part of a day for that trip).

Given that your first week will be spent in Germany (3-4 days in the Rhineland, a couple of days in Munich and it's probably reasonable to allow one day for travel as you won't have much time for touring in Munich when you arrive), that leaves 2 weeks to work with. The Italy portion will likely take another week (Venice 2 days, Florence 2 days and Rome 3-4 days). You'll have to allow for some travel time between the three cities. Finally (and this is where it gets a bit complicated), you'll have to plan your transportation from Rome-Nice and Nice-Paris very carefully, as those are both fairly long trips. With only four weeks to go, I suspect budget airlines won't be an option. I think it's safe to say that Normandy and Mt. St. Michel are out of the question! You could allow Nice 2 days and Paris 4 days?

Since you stated that you want to "truly experience all of the places I visit, rather than just rushing through", it might be better to drop Nice and fly from Rome to Paris (might be expensive, given the short time frame?). This will allow you a bit more "breathing room" and travel time. Keep in mind that Europe is going to be BUSY at this time of year. Have you pre-booked lodgings? You may be aware of this, but note that even with a Rail pass you'll have to pay reservation fees (usually ICE or TGV trains) separately.

Good luck and happy travels!

I like Abraham's suggestion too. We just returned from a three week trip to Greece & Italy. We did 3 nights Cinque Terre, 3 nights Florence (day trip to Siena), 1 night Orvieto (spectacular), and 3 nights Rome (not enough time). This was a perfect pace for us, although would have liked another day or two in Rome. Rome was wonderful!
Have a good trip.
Shannon

Map out your route on a big map. Eliminate the stops that require a major dog-leg or back track to see.

Try to keep your travel days to only three or four hour trips on the train. You want to have some time to see sites and eat during your travel day.

Also try not to travel every day. Your travel days will be consumed with packing, checking out of your hotel, getting to the train station, finding your train, getting off at the right stop, getting to your hotel or hostel, checking in and getting settled. Give yourself some time to see things at a comfortable pace.

Southern Germany (From the Rhine South), Austria and Northern Italy (to Rome) is a pretty good four week trip, though you could easily spend twice that. A good visit to France alone would be three or four weeks.

Plan to average no more than three to four hours on a train per travel day and travel only every other day - see how far that takes you and you will have a pretty doable plan. Remember it's an average. One day (a half day after travel) is plenty in some places, while you could easily spend a week in Rome or Paris and still miss some great things to do.

I would cut out Northern France. If you aren't into the museum sites that much then I think your trip is very doable. Museums take up alot of time and I found that instead of seeing these I had a much beter time walking around great neighbourhoods and sitting in cafes. Venice is a quick trip as well as Nice. They are still worthy of at least 2 nights however.

No matter what, it is a matter of personal preference on how long you need in each city. Some would say 2 days and others would need 1 week.

I wish I was flying open jaw, but the plans have changed the past few months after I bought my round trip flight from Frankfurt...
I've cut out Nice and Normandy from my options and plan on spending some extra time in Italy. That gives me an extra 2-3 days, so I'm wondering if I should tack them on to Rome (I was planning 3 days there) Florence (2 days) or Venice (2 days), or spend those 2 days somewhere else? I'd like to take a day trip to Siena from Florence, and also feel like an extra day in Rome would be a good idea... My trip also has 6 days in Germany and 4 in Paris. Not including the day I arrive and leave, I have 21 days to work with...
I'd like to find a flight from Paris down to Rome, but I've checked and the prices are fairly steep; I know of someone who took a night train from Paris - Rome, and it was something like 14 hours... Would this be a good option, or is there another way I could do this/a place anyone would recommend that I could maybe stop for a day inbetween in Italy so I'm not on a train for so long?
Any other ideas would be a huge help! This is all new for me, so I love hearing everyone's advice and past experiences!

I think you have a nice amount of time in the places you mention in your last post. Sounds like a good trip to me.

Have you looked at Ryanair for flights? I don't know your travel dates, but a quick check for the first week in August turned up fares of 25-110 euros one way, depending on the date, from Florence (Pisa, actually, a short distance from Florence) to Paris. We flew Ryanair last year Frankfurt Hahn to Pisa and back and found the Pisa airport small and easy to get to / leave from.

I'm at the age where I like a good bed, but I've done overnight trains and they do spare you some time.

I would add in Rome. Venice and Florence can be seen in two days each.

You could also add some smaller towns between Venice and Rome during those days.

I haven't taken the overnight train but it may be perfect for your trip.