First Time to Europe Itinerary Help

Pretty good plan.
Have you been to Paris before? Your Paris itinerary will not cover the major sites. There is a lot to see there. You haven't included Versailles.
Also, your itinerary in Munich is tight. There is more to see there.
The trip to Fussen and Garmisch on day two will be a long day. Do you plan to visit the Hofbrauhaus? There are some museums there to see as well.

Also, you are going in December, when it is cold and days are short. It gets dark at 4:30. Take warm clothing, gloves, scarfs and heart overcoats.

The itinerary is stacked. You might have to trim it down a bit. Logistically, why don't you start your trip in this order Paris > Munich > Prague > Vienna > Berlin.

Hi there, this sounds like fun! These are all great destinations for over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

A few comments:

1) Be award that much of the Berlin Wall Memorial is outdoors; the sun sets very early at that time of year so you’ll want to give yourselves ample time to see it all before it’s dark. Maybe save the visitor centre for the end to take advantage of daylight (depending on how late the visitor centre is open of course).

2) On your first day in Prague I suggest switching up the order and doing the Jewish Quarter first. When I did that walk in late November one year, a lot of the closing times turned out to be earlier than published, presumably because it was the off season, not as many visitors, etc. So I missed out on going into several sights on that walk.

3) The Schonbrunn grounds are impressive so I suggest seeing those first to maximise daylight and then doing the indoor tour.

4) Day 2 in Vienna looks a little too full to me and I can’t help noticing you haven’t allotted any time for a relaxing kaffee und kuchen in one of Vienna’s many historic and gorgeous cafés - if I were you I would make time for that!

5) I think a couple of the Vienna Christmas markets will still be open at that time. If so, I suggest checking them out - they are wonderful. I know you’re planning to go in Berlin, but it’s also worth seeing one or two in Vienna.

6) In Paris, I can’t recall if the Historic Paris Walk includes St Chapelle but if it does, I suggest trying to get there while it’s sunny out for maximum impact with the stained glass! It’s worth deferring visiting till the next sunny day (if there is one in the forecast...no guarantees) if it’s cloudy when you first plan to go.

Have a wonderful time!

Hello,
Ambitious first visit! Where are you flying in from? Depending upon your energy levels, snapping back from a long overseas flight during a hectic holiday season in airports can take the first day to recover. During holidays, airports are crowded, expect delays and long wait times.
In addition to checking museum hours/openings, perhaps research weather during that season as well as if you should book between city transportation well in advanced.

Is this a guided trip? Or are you ‘winging’ this first time trip? If latter, I would personally choose only one or two cities for a first trip. I’m partial to having a good first experience in one place. Then in future, take the full plunge visit to Europe; once you’ve had that first trip under your belt you could have confidence to tackle a more vigorous journey.

Let us know how you make out. Good luck and have fun planning! : )

fuller.sherrod, You'll have a great time. For most people, jet lag has a negative impact on the first couple of days. Your body has to adapt to the time change, so you might not feel as energetic as you're used to. You have a lot of detailed plans. You have to take into account the time and effort it takes to get from one sight to another in any of those places, and recognize you just might not make everything, so prioritizing is a good idea. Weather impacts as well: do outside things when the sun is shining; inside things when its rainy. Not saying its a bad plan, but all plans change when confronted with the situation on the ground.

Sorry, but I think this is far too rushed, at a time of year when it gets dark early, transport links will either be very busy with people trying to get home for Christmas or transport will be limited due to the holiday season. You can easily spend double the time allotted to most places, particularly Berlin (when you will have jet lag) and Paris.

Berlin - you only have 2 full days here. What you have planned for the morning of day 2 may take the best part of the day - the guided walks are 2-2.5 hours and the Reichstag is another 2 hours.

Scrap the tacky Checkpoint Charlie.

I haven’t checked what is open at this time and if transport is running. I would seriously consider visiting just three or four places. This would be a rushed trip even without the Christmas and New Year season getting in the way.

Hi,

On confirming whether places are open on the days you intend to visit is one of the disadvantages going in the winter. It's part of the trade-off. That's why I prefer the summer, ie sometime between May and the end of August.

Good that you're going to the Army Museum (Les Invalides) and seeing Napoleon's Tomb. Look for what it says and what it does not say.

I don't think a special exhibit is held in the winter in the Army Museum as is the case in the summer., ie starting late spring in April.

In the summer of 2018 the special exhibit held at Les Invalides focused on " Napoleon as Strategist" I am glad I was there at the time and didn't miss it. The summer before in 2017 the special exhibit dealt with the Franco-German War of 1870/71.

Since I was going to be back in Paris at the end of my trip in early June, ie back-tracking from Vienna, I was going to catch that Napoleon Exhibit then instead of seeing it in early May. On the French news I saw on the TV that special exhibit was featured as "one of the things to do in Paris" activities showing scenes from the Exhibit and so on. More incentive to see it.

The morning of Day 2 is clearly impossible.

Unfortunately, there is no shortcut: You need to go to the website of every indoor attraction you want to visit and verify that it will be open. Between Sundays (Dec 22 and Dec 29), holidays, and days before and after holidays, you are likely to run into a lot of irregular operating hours. I'm afraid some places may close early on days like December 24 and not post that information on their websites, but perhaps you will be lucky in that regard.

Your days are packed too full and not accounting for distance between sights and weather. It's dark, cold, and damp in Northern Germany in December. Some of the museums you mention are huge, many of the sites you're traveling to are 20-30 minutes door-to-door within the cities and you don't seem to be taking any of this into account. And some comments in response are being way too optimistic.

For instance, your 2nd day - you will realistically be able to accomplish about half of what you have planned. Same for day 3, actually. You're going to have to make some hard choices. And you haven't even factored in seriously visiting Berlin's Christmas Markets which is one of the best reasons to be there at that time.

One thing I'd eliminate is outdoors-y sites unless you're specifically visiting a Christmas market. Like, there's zero point in going to the Tiergarten in December. Subtract one museum from each day in Berlin/Munich and you might have a workable plan. On the plus side, Paris looks relatively sane.

Hi,

I would suggest dropping Check point Charlie as a day 2 in Berlin activity...forget it.

Keep in mind that on Sundays the Ger Hist Museum (DHM) shows documentary films in German, can't remember if they had subtitles since that was not my reason for seeing the films anyway. I was there twice on Sundays and the film was about some aspect of WW2. I got sidetracked and spent more time there watching the film than I had planned.

Sunday's activities listed are doable, just plan exactly how to get from Unter den Linden , the (DHM) to the Topography of Terror. You may have to walk back to Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse.

In the battle that building was contested and fought over floor by floor and room by room when the Soviets threw masses of troops at it with orders to take it regardless of losses incurred.

Reality check.

Dec. 24 is impossible. The train ride is 4.5 hours. If you don't leave first thing in the morning, you will have to return to your hotel to get your luggage. You have to allow time to get from the hotel to the train. Then you need to allow time to get from the train to your hotel in Prague. There is no way to then do 2 tours that take a combined 4 to 6 hours.

Similarly, on Dec 27, you have activities with a minimum of 8 hours visit time. You also need to get from one to another. You may also need to wait in line for tickets and/or audio guides. Lunch?

More time in Prague & Vienna, less time everywhere else, especially Munich. Skip it.

Thanks for all the feedback.
We are heavily considering making some cuts and rearranging to allow for more time.

Considering the following:

Option 1 -- cut Paris and add it to the next trip in order to do it right
This would mean Berlin>Prague>Vienna>Munich

Option 2 -- cut Vienna
Paris>Bavarian Alps for Xmas (anyone have suggestions on places to stay)>Munich>Prague>Berlin

Option 3 -- cut Paris and Vienna
Munich>Bavarian Alps>Prague>Berlin

We are really interested in the possibility of adding something in the Bavarian Alps over Christmas or somewhere that is a resort, cozy, with restaurants that will be open and then be able to hit up cities.

Thoughts?

Given those options as listed, I choose # 1.

FYI, Vienna holiday markets stay open through Sylvester (New Year)

Most Alpine resorts are ski resorts. Xmas is most crowded & expensive time of the year.