Itenerary Experts-- Your Input please

I would comment that the train trips are long because you are trying to cover too much territory for two weeks. Myself, I would start in Salzburg (subtracting time in London) and break the trip into 2-3 day segments, with the emphasis on 3 days. So for your timeframe, that is 4, maybe 5 segments. Each segment(a town) then should be closer to 4 hours, at the most 6 hours by train, so as not to ruin your whole travel day. so just start looking for towns within that range, tighter if you need to wind back up in Salzburg. I would maybe consider mostly East; up to Prague, maybe Budapest, maybe Zagreb, heck Venice, then back into Austria.

I realize that we can't do all of them. That's why I want suggesstions on which are best. I have also considered Ljublijana. I figure we can do 1, 2 or maybe 3 places in addition to London and Salzburg (those are fixed and we fly in and out of London). Which city(s) have posters found MOST interesting. We love history, gardens and nautral scenery as well as lovely architechure. My husband is an awesome photgrapher and I like to sketch/draw. We like to walk and use public transport. We don't drive in Europe.

Best depends more on your interests than anything else. Travel time would be better if you confined your travel to Prague, Budapest and Vienna (or possibly Dresden and Berlin).

Warsaw will take a lot of travel time to see. As I recall, other travelers say the train ride is akin to crossing the great plains in the US so a night train might be in order.

Likewise adding the Balkins will add a lot of travel time.

You don't want your vacation to turn into a constant rush from one train to the next with no time to stop and enjoy an area.

In regards to night trains, some love them, some hate them. I tend not to be a fan, for me, I would rather have a nice evening meal, a stroll, sleep in a comfy bed, morning coffee and pastry as I head to the Train station. A sleepless night on a train just does not set well. If you go ahead with night trains, and have never done one, I suggest limit it to one or two to see how you handle it.

Hello Toni. If your total time for the trip is two weeks, that is 14 days. According to what you said, I guess part of your itinerary is : Day 1 - Depart from N.C. Day 2 - arrive at airport of London. Day 3 - Fly from airport of London to airport of Salzburg. Day 4 - be at Salzburg. Day 13 - fly from an airport in Europe to airport of London. Day 14 - Fly from airport of London to U.S.A. That uses six days. Thus, you would have a total of 8 days for travelling in Europe, away from Salzburg. I do not recommend night train travel for going long distances in Europe. Travelling by railroad train from Salzburg to LJUBLJANA is easy. And, the location of ZAGREB is at a relatively short distance from LJUBLJANA. I think SLOVENIA is a good country for American tourists to be at in the summer. SLOVENIA has the elements of Europe that American tourists like to see : Alps mountains, Lake, castle, old church, old architecture, art museum, and the Mediteranean Sea coast (Adriatic Sea). And European alpine polka music. Travelling on land from Ljubljana to Zagreb, a traveller could see vineyards, forests on hills. Slovenia has a very large cave that the public can go in. I like the sound of the spoken Slovene language, spoken by some of the young women in Slovenia. I have a friend who is a citizen of, and resident in Slovenia. Some people in Ljubljana are rude to all people. And many people in Ljubljana are not friendly to people who they do not know. (They do not say "Hi"). The sales clerks in retail stores are not likely to be friendly to customers. In your eight days in Europe after leaving Salzburg, you may not want to use much of your time for travelling by train between cities that are in different countries. You would do that if you travel from Salsburg to Prague, and from Prague to Budapest. In your time frame, if I were to go from Salzburg to Prague, I would not also travel to Hungary. I would travel in the Czech Republic. And fly from Prague to London.

Thanks for all the input! I love the specifics. We are veteran travelers (more than 40 trips in 20 years) but are wanting to explore some new areas. I did not include our flying days in the time span. We will have 14 days (a few more or a few less--- just depending) on the ground. London - 2 nights start and 1 night end, Salzburg- 3 nights.That leave us with about 9 days. Ljublijana is at the top of my list right now. As is Budapest. My husband is also interested in one day in Montreaux (he is a Freddy Mercury fan) so we are considering the Channel Train from London with a stop in Brussells, then to Montreaux, then Salzburg, then either Budapest or Ljublijana (maybe both if we can stretch our time a bit). I'd love to hear from others about the pluses or minuses of Prague, or Warsaw or Zagreb rather than our current picks.

One thing to add - the train ride between Ljubljana and Zagreb is short and scenic. The ride itself is only about 2 - 2.5 hrs and the rail tracks travel along the Sava river.

Prague is a wonderful city. Yes, it is full of tourists, but it is every child's fairy tale town. Architecture is largely unspoiled and beautiful. Concerts available at various venues. Castle and Cathedral are worth a visit with the quaint Golden Lane of old apothecories' buildings. We went there by train from Sazburg with a change at Linz. Went on to Vienna. All part of a 5 week tour of Europe. Spent 3 nights in most places.

Sounds like a wonderful trip... being a photographer myself and having also traveled to Europe many times I would suggest Budapest... it was so beautiful with lots of history and friendly people and great food... as well as being a great value. Also took a boat ride up the river to a town where we had a fabulous lunch, visited a castle and had shopping time in a wonderful village. It was a fabulous trip. You can see some of my images from that trip (which also included Romania) by going to terrykathrynlawrence.com I also love Prague but have to say my new favorite 'big city' is Budapest.