High level itinerary perspective/guidance needed

Please see my questions below: 1. Would four or five countries in 25 days be a reasonable and adequate pace? 2. Do our interests align well with the countries I list above; are there other countries you would suggest over these? 3. How long would you spend in each country given only 25 days? Side note: I have read Rick Steves' Through the Back Door 2012 and ordered Rick Steves' Italy 2012. Thank you in advance for the thoughts and perspective, they are greatly appreciated. Signed,
The Excited, Anxious, and slightly Overwhelmed Traveler

Yes, you could easily spend the whole time in Italy and have a great time. You are wise to question the idea of 5 countries. I would say that is too much, especially with you interest ratio of 3:1 hiking:museums. It is also a lot of travel. Think in terms of sights and activities, not countries. You could find a nice balance in Italy by visiting Rome, Cinque Terre ( hiking, food and wine), Then Florence or Siena or someplace else in that area,then the Dolomotes ( world class hiking in spectacular scenery with excellent Tyrolian food). Then Venice or maybe Verona. Then onto Switzerland. Luzern for your city and culture stop, then the Alps for hiking. Lots of choices there and no need to narrow it down just yet. June is early season, meaning fewer people and lower prices, but everything should be open. You could stop there, or move on to Germany, maybe Garmisch-Partenkirchen for more great hiking, ending at Munich and flying home from there. I suggest you plan to allot at least half your time to Italy as there is so much there that meets your interests. It is tempting to want to "do it all" on a first trip, but that is not a good plan. When you go to a nice restaurant do you order everything on the menu? No way. You make choices and plan to return to try different options next time. The same with Europe.

The number of countries is not really the issue. It's the number of stops that matter, and how much time you have for each stop. Geographically, the countries in Europe are a lot like states here in the US. So "seeing" five states in New England is a lot different than seeing five states out west in the US. You aren't really seeing the country anyway - you are seeing points within the country. You have done well by giving yourself a decent amount of time for your first trip. You can see a lot in 25 days. You could easily meander from Rome to Amsterdam in that amount of time. But you could just as easily keep busy spending every one of those days in Italy. I can't really make that decision for you except to say, that yes, it can be done reasonably. If you are more activity oriented than city/museum oriented, the off the top of my head, I could see spending 25 days this way; Rome (3) Tuscany (4) Swiss Alps (3) Germany/Bavaria (4) Germany/Rhine (3) Belgium (4)
Netherlands (4) But there are an almost infinite number of permutations. Some people might call that too much, but given this is your first trip and you are apt to be energetic, I think it's reasonable. PS; you didn't ask, but I would take trains and buy point-to-point tickets, some of them well in advance for good discounts. Driving one-way across Europe is a problem dropping the car off in a different country than you pick it up in - very costly.

"High-level," first of all, must include some advice about the process of planning your trip, which should be iterative. Your trip will comprise specific activities at specific locales. I encourage you to think about what those might be for you. For instance, perhaps you plan to visit the Colosseum while in Rome. Or the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. It's hard to do with places you've never been, but try to think about these activities as the reason you are visiting specific places. Much better than saying, We'll go to and see what is there, because you can then set priorities based on your opinion that, for instance, you prefer climbing a Swiss Alp to touring a Belgian brewery. (Of course you include some slack time for serendipity too.) The iterative part comes when you try to fit all these activities into an itinerary, taking into account travel logistics and time on the ground. You may discover that it's too costly, in terms of time, to visit (say) Berlin, so you either find more things to do in or enroute to Berlin and give up something else, or you skip Berlin. you go back to you guidebooks and talk things over and reformulate many times, that is the iterative part. By the way, when you say you "enjoy 2/3 days of hiking, activities, and the outdoors to 1 day of museums," is that 2/3 as in two thirds or 2/3 as in 2 or 3? For each week of museums do you seek 5 days of outdoors or 18?

Will, My suggestions are somewhat along the same lines as Lola mentioned. However, a few additional comments. As this is your first trip to Europe, I believe it would be beneficial to visit several countries, as that may give you some ideas on those you want to return to and explore in more depth. Visiting three or four countries in a 25-day time frame is not unreasonable, although you'll be limited in how many places you're able to see within each country. In choosing the number of destinations to visit, be sure to allow for adequate travel times between locations. In most cases, this will be a minimum of half a day each time. Have you bought your air tickets yet, and is Amsterdam a "firm" destination? One possibility would be visit five locations, travelling Rome > Cinque Terre > Lucerne > Berner Oberland > Paris. You could perhaps substitute one stop in the Alsace or western Germany (depending on your interests). I'd suggest allocating a few days more in Paris and Rome, as there's so much to see and do. Good luck with your planning!

You might want to check out RS Best of Europe 21 day Tour and go to its itinerary to see where they go. I took that tour and it is way too fast paced for what you are looking for - it just covers so many places - but it may give you some suggestions in refining your travel plans. As RS says: "Just assume you will return to Europe in the future" so that it is not necessary to try to see everything. After I took that tour, my first visit to Europe, I have returned every year and taken another one of his tours plus done additional touring on my own. Happy travels and you will be surprised about Europe.

Hello Will. I think a satisfying trip in Europe is a trip that was well planned. I think you are wise to seek advise from experienced Europe travelers. I totally agree with the reply from Randy. I like his proposed general itinerary for you. I do not recommend being at Italy only. Some Americans did not like being in Italy. I remember a woman, in her reply at this Traveler's Helpline, said she does not wish to go to Italy again, because in Italy "there are too many people in your face all the time". You said you desire to travel in five countries in Europe. And you will have enough time for being at five countries. I count a total of 24 days for experiencing Europe in your trip, because I guess you will arrive at Europe the second day in your trip. Thus, I suggest that you plan to be at the Netherlands three days. I think Belgium is worth four days. If you will experience a delay, caused by a transportation workers' strike in Italy, or other cause, you could be at Belgium less than four days. All of your museum visits could be in Brussels and Munich. And I think being at the Rhine River in Germany (Bacharach to the castle Marksburg) is worthy of using one day for travel from Munich to Bacharach or St. Goar, via railroads. I guess : when you will be at Switzerland and Germany, you will wish to stay at those countries more days. I guess you are young. Perhaps you could travel to Switzerland and Germany again, in an other year. I guess the Alps mountains will not change much during the next five years.