Itinerary Advice: Trying to do too much?

Jeff, consider the travel time between your destinations. Each change in location will eat up a whole day of time- hotel to hotel. Two nights equals only one day of seeing the city. Gimmelwald and Füssen seem the outliers.

Don't drop Bruges IMO. You need more time in Paris and Amsterdam. Bruges and Amsterdam are vastly different places. DROP Füssen - way too much of a detour - check the train hours you'll spend to get there (and remember that the faux castle Neuschwanstein tour lasts a mere 30 minutes.) Gimmelwald would also easily qualify for exclusion as it is also an insanely distant trip for such a short visit - 8+ train hours from Paris, then when you leave, 7-8 hours for the trip north to the Rhine (assuming you drop Füssen) or another 7-8 hours to Füssen.

Drop both of the towns above and you still have 4 countries and have a far more doable itinerary. With fewer travel miles, your trip should also be much less expensive.

Stop fussin' and drop Fussen ...
to Amsterdam, 3 nights
to Ghent/Bruges, 2 nights
to Paris, 3 nights
to Gimmelwald, Switzerland, 3 nights
to Rhine Valley, 2 nights

I agee with Russ. Spend the time in Munich. I spent time there 45 years ago when I was 20 years old, and that Summer in college in Europe was a highlight of my life. Our time in Munich was priceless.

I don't know why, but a lot of Americans totally underestimate distances in Europe. You have only 13 nights yet you are covering a huge amount of real estate. Bavaria and Gimmelwald are really far from the rest and you should drop them both.
The 4 nights you gain from that elimination could be added to Amsterdam and Paris (at least one night each) and you could also add something else closer that is in the general area you are visiting.
Just as an example you could add to your list one of these locations: Maastricht, Luxembourg, Versailles, Loire valley, Cologne, or whatever.

Agree with the posters but wonder where your son wants to go or what his interests are.

Jeff,

Is this itinerary seriously being considered? One thing is for sure, you will be spending a lot of time with your son, unfortunately it will be mostly on trains. I'm wondering if everyone one who responded read that you have air tickets flying into and out of Dusseldorf. You're looking at about 2,500km in 13 nights with 6 different locations in 5 different countries.

Switzerland, Füssen and even Munich don't fit.

My opinion, you need to rethink this entire trip.

Paul

Hi,

You are flying out of Düsseldorf, no problem if your last place to visit is Munich. The ICE trains run frequently direct connecting these two cities. Moreover, there is a CNL night train between Munich and Düsseldorf. The terminus is Amsterdam. I would drop Switzerland, the rest is doable with careful planning.

I was camping in Dinant, Belgium once in May 2008 and the guy in the spot next to me was from Holland. We talked about what kind of traveling we were doing and he lamented that he "only had five weeks" to tour southern France.
I cringed, of course, when he said "only" five weeks but what has stuck with me about that exchange was that we as Americans need to make our circles much, much smaller when visiting Europe.
Dusseldorf is a swell entry into Europe with many great places available in all directions.
You have identified one group to the west, and one to the south of Dusseldorf. Why not choose just one and then add less-famous places along the way? For instance, let's say you choose the western option. Add a night to Amsterdam, perhaps, but also add some smaller towns in Netherlands or Belgium. This would be nicely done by car, too, if you like, or bicycle. You could add the Rhine region to this itinerary.
If you choose the south, consider traveling south along the Rhine while adding Colmar, Strasborg, Freigburg or other Alsatian towns, as you make your way towards Switzerland or Bavaria. Aspects of Switzerland and Bavaria, however, seem redundant and rather than striving to "see it all", just slow down and spend more time in fewer places.
I used to do these trips all the time only on trains but I tend to go strictly by car these days because it makes it possible to explore places well off of the tourist track. You could add Paris to either, also, if you must.
13 days isn't much. Granted, I'm a school teacher and tend to take six-week trips. Try to find some places that others haven't discovered yet. It can be done. Enjoy!

we as Americans need to make our circles much, much smaller when visiting Europe.

What a wonderful visual description! So true!

Thanks to everyone for your helpful opinions and suggestions.

I'm definitely going back to the drawing board to "make my circle much
smaller." I had a feeling we were trying to do too much. Believe it or not,
my son had an even bigger circle in mind and I had to talk him down to
this. I'll remind him that he's only 19 and this won't be his last chance to
see more of what he wants to see in Europe.

I really do appreciate your help.

Hi Jeff,

It's great to hear you're planning to rework your itinerary. Personally, and since you and your son have 13 nights, I would suggest possibly just visiting Paris and Amsterdam. What I would do is spend 7 nights in Paris, and 6 nights in Amsterdam - or vice versa. This may seem to be way too much time in both cities (which it is), at the same time both cities each warrant a very good amount of time to explore and experience. And in each city you and your son can take a number of day trips. For example, I was in Amsterdam three years ago for 7 nights, and one day I took a day trip to nearby Haarlem (it's only around 20 minutes by train), and another day I took a day trip out to Delft (around 50 minutes or so by train).

I feel if you and your son visit only Amsterdam and Paris, it would serve as an excellent introduction to Europe for your son. And there are so many things to see and do - and numerous day trip options - in both cities to keep the two of you busy. And as another person in this forum stated, you and your son can visit other cities and areas in Europe on future trips.