21 day Europe Itinerary? Which Railpass should I buy?

In my opinion, you are trying to see too much in too little time. Two days in Paris is not enough time. I sure the same can be said for the other cities. I would eliminate at least two cities.

Well, your itinerary is doable. Another question is if it's enjoyable. Too many destinations in too short time, too many hours spent by traveling from point A to point B, etc. You are not saying when you go. In the heat of summer I would avoid south European countries especially when you are from Seattle. For first timers in Europe I usually suggest London, Paris, Rome, Venice which would be just right for 21 days. But you already fly to Amsterdam so be it Amsterdam instead of London. I got feeling that you are already decided so after you are back let us know if you enjoyed the pace.

You need more time in Paris and Berlin. Scrap Interlaken and spread these nights over Paris and Berlin. I would be tempted to cut Bruges too.

You need to work out if point to point tickets will be better value than a pass. You are not going to find anything exciting coffee wise in your destinations or hiking, but should find plenty of nightlife and food.

I would start in Barca and work north due to the weather.

1) Wine, Food, Nightlife!
2) Hiking, Leisurely biking
3) WWII History, Museums

• It looks like you have nightlife and museums well covered. Not so with the outdoor pursuits. Wine? Of course you can get wine anywhere but I suspect you might mean visiting a wine region or wineries - and I don't see that here at all either.

• "We're trying to utilitze the trains (especially night trains) as much as possible." Night trains = Overnight trains?? If so... Not a great plan, generally speaking - you may or may not sleep well, and that really matters. Also, I don't see what overnight trains there even are between Paris and Interlaken or Prague and Berlin except for options that have you changing trains and waiting in the wee hours in empty train stations for long periods.

• You don't have enough time in Berlin or Paris, IMO.

I think you need to axe at least one destination, perhaps two, and add a rural/natural area somewhere.

"June 13- Fly Seattle to Amsterdam
June 14 - Amsterdam
June 15 - Amsterdam"

Do you ARRIVE in A'dam on the 13th or 14th? If the 14th as I suspect, you need more time in A'dam too.

Here's a suggestion for June 14- 25 that gets you as far as Interlaken.

June 14-16 A'dam
June 17: travel to Bruges in a.m.
June 18: Bruges
June 19: travel to Paris in a.m.
June 20-22 in Paris
June 23: travel to Trier or Cochem (Mosel River in Germany) - sightseeing
June 24: on the Mosel - biking, winery, sightseeing
June 25: Leave the Mosel; spend half day on the Rhine, tour a castle (like Marksburg in the old-world town of Braubach hike some of the Rheinsteig trail or the Rhine Castles Trail? proceed to Mainz, leave on 14:43 train for Interlaken (arrive 20:54.)

After that, I think you have to make some decisions about what to cut. You've got 8 days to spend, maybe 2 days in Interlaken and maybe 2 of those final cities. Prague and Berlin kind of make sense. But maybe one of those and Barcelona will work if you can find flights. Alternatively, visit Prague and somewhere nice between Interlaken and Prague, like NUREMBERG which is excellent for WW II sights - and fly home from Prague.

Your itinerary will assure you of having memories of planes, trains, airports, train stations, waiting and hassle. Seriously.

Slow down you move too fast, you got to make the moment last.
Now take the time and relax.
This is the first trip and not the last!

You provided a huge clue on how to gain the most from your journey, you like coffe and live in Seattle.
Ahem. Seattle. Rick Steve's HQ is located adjacent to Seattle.
Rick Steve's company offers personal meetings, for a small fee, to help define journeys.
I have traveled often to Europe and If I had the opportunity to take advantage of Rick Steve's travel services, I WOULD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please focus on defining a trip creating the opportunity to enjoy wonderful memories. Tip: it involves taking the time to sit outside and watcch humanity flow by while enjoying local food and drink.

Safe travels!

every time you have a rail or plane trip, you need to add at least couple of hours on both ends (more for airlines), to get to and from your hotels, check in, get oriented, etc. So a three-hour train ride or a two-hour flight, really takes up most of a day. That eats up a lot of your vacation time.

As this is your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door prior to your trip, as it covers a lot of information on "how" to travel well in Europe.

I agree with the others that the trip is doable but it's also very "busy". A few comments and questions....

• You mentioned using Interlaken as home base - a home base to do what? You might enjoy staying in the Lauterbrunnen Valley more than Interlaken.
• Why are you using a night train from Paris to Interlaken? It's a relatively short trip in the day time (about 5 hours), and you get to see the scenery.
• I'm not sure how "restful" a night train from Interlaken to Prague will be, as all of them have at least 3 changes, some which occur in the wee hours of the morning.
• Using a night train from Prague to Berlin is ludicrous. That trip is an easy 4.5 hours in the daytime, using a direct train.
• With rail trips, you'll need to know which specific stations you'll be using in each city, as most have more than one (for example, Paris has about six stations).
• As you're interested in WW-II history, you may want to visit Anne Frank House (Amsterdam), Invalides Museum (Paris - just the WW-II part of the museum will take several hours - you might consider a Paris Museum Pass while there) and the Church of Saints Cyril & Methodius (Prague - do some research on Operation Anthropod - there's an interesting smaller museum on the lower floor, in what used to be the crypts). In Berlin I'd recommend a WW-II walking tour with Original Berlin Walks and you can also do a tour with them to Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg.

As you appear to be from Seattle, you might find it helpful to take a short drive to Edmonds and use the free guidebook Library at RS headquarters, and talk to the expert staff there. If you're willing to spend 50 bucks or so, you can have a travel consultation with a professional travel person. They will also be able to provide information on the Raiilpass question, and they also sell Railpasses.

Thank you everyone for the Feedback!

It seems you all agree that I have too many destinations in mind. So I think it might be good to cut out Bruges as there are plenty of trains between Amsterdam and Paris.

But as far as the other destinations, I'm struggling to pick which one to cut out.. Some suggested that I skip Switzerland but both of us really want to see the mountains and do some hiking in the Berner Oberland area. Especially since we will be spending most of our time in big cities. Is there an area that would be more convenient for the areas we're looking at that would be comparable? It's hard when I haven't been to Europe before to not just go to all the big cities. But I felt that if there was one beautiful rural area to go to, Berner Oberland would be a great choice.

Some suggested not taking the sleeper trains, I actually got that idea from Rick Steve's "Europe through the Backdoor" book. My girlfriend and I both plan on asking our doctor for a sleep aid to help with Jet Lag so I'm hopeful that it won't be a problem.

That's great to hear the Rick Steve's offers travel advice at such a cheap price! I had no idea. That's something we'll probably do.

IMO, you do have time for Switzerland, but I'm still wondering why you chose Interlaken. One of the small towns in the Lauterbrunnen Valley would be a better choice (IMO).

I wonder if the information on night trains should be updated in the book. Many night routes are being discontinued, so perhaps a revision would be prudent.

"It's hard when I haven't been to Europe before to not just go to all the big cities. "

Maybe. What would you say to a European whose 3-week trip skipped stuff like the Grand Canyon in favor of 3 weeks in America's largest cities?

"But I felt that if there was one beautiful rural area to go to, Berner Oberland would be a great choice."

I cannot argue with that. You should go there. But you should hit another smaller place or two as well.

I don't always agree with Rick's choices, but there are a couple of tips he gives that are worth quoting...

"Alternate intense big cities with villages and countryside."

"Assume you will return... You can’t cover all of Europe in one trip — don’t even try. Enjoy what you’re seeing. Forget what you won’t get to on this trip."

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/itinerary-tips

I'm definitely not stuck on Interlakken! From what I've just read Lauterbrunnen Valley seems like the better alternative. Thanks for the tip!

The more I think about the end of your trip, the more I think it's wise to skip Berlin and Barcelona this time. Prague requires less time than either one. Nuremberg is on the way to Prague - a good way to break the long journey from Interlaken. Nuremberg is smallish and also requires less time - you can cover the city on foot, mostly. And it is a good substitute for time-consuming Berlin if you want WW II sights.

http://tourismus.nuernberg.de/en/sehen-erkunden/museen/dokuzentrum.html

http://tourismus.nuernberg.de/en/sightseeing/places-of-interest/architecture/d/reichsparteitagsgelaende.html

Nuremberg is a great place for pubs and evening stuff too:

http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/nurnpubs.htm

Based on tentative plans, you could use a Eurail Select pass for 5 days of travel in 4 countries (France, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Rep) at $313 in 2nd class if you're both under 26.

• The Thalys seat reservation from Amsterdam to Paris costs $30 in 2nd class or $45 in 1st as long as your pass covers France, so you need not add Benelux on the pass.

• For the evening (not overnight) TGV that runs directly from Paris to Interlaken, seat reservation fee is about $33 in 2nd class or $68 in 1st class with a rail pass.

• There are no overnight trains to or from Interlaken. There is a Zurich-Prague night train; on a flexipass, that trip counts as the day of arrival, while an earlier daytime train from Interlaken to Zurich would be a separate rail pass day or separate ticket; see https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/using-your-rail-pass.

• I assume that you plan to reserve hotels and it will also be a good idea to book ahead for these three long-distance trains, whether you want a passholder reservation or if you decide against the pass and want advance-purchase ticket discounts.