itinerary from rome to london?

Skip Zurich and do the Swiss Alps instead- the Berner Oberland that Rick recommends. Also skip Brussels and do Amsterdam or Bruges. Both Zurich and Brussels big impersonal cities with little tourist goodies.

I’d do at least 4 nights in each place if you can swing it.

I agree with the PP about substituting more interesting places for Zurich and Brussels. And since all of the places mentioned have very interesting day trip potentials, you could easily spend a week in each of them. Considering travel days, I would think 4 nights each should be the absolute minimum.

Rome: a lifetime is not enough but a week is a good start

Florence: 3 or 4 nights if just for the city, more of you want to day trip to the countryside

Munich: I am not a fan so no comment

Zurich: pick another part of Switzerland as mentioned above. The Berner Oberland, Luzern, Zermatt, even Lausanne. No less than 4 nights in any one location, IMO.

Brussels: skip

London: I feel the same about London as I do about Rome. A week is a good start.

Looks like you can do it in 4 to 5 weeks.

Much as the others say.

• Skip Munich. It is a long way off-route. Munich to Switzerland is a slow route.
• Skip Zürich, go to the Alps instead, not a city.
  • First choice: Jungfrau region of the Berner Oberland, one of Mürren, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen or Grindelwald. Info here: https://jungfrauregion.swiss/en/summer/
  • Or alternatively Luzern, more a town but very nice.
• Possibly add Alsace (Colmar, Strasbourg and the Alsatian wine villages). The villages are easier by car.
• Possibly Paris, as there are good trains from Switzerland to Paris.
• Or from Switzerland / Alsace head into Germany: Rhine Gorge, Cologne.
• Brussels is not the first place to go in Belgium. Brugge instead, and/or Gent.
• Then possibly Amsterdam, either from Belgium or direct from Cologne.
• Amsterdam to London is easy. either train or lots of competing (and cheap) airlines.

You don't say your method of transport. All the above can be done by train, except the Alsatian wine route so you could hire there for 1-3 days.
Renting a car in one country and returning it in another is costly, so cars are not good for one-way trips. They are also a useless liability in big cities.

Finally, you are going from hot to cold.
Depending on time of year, and where you are from, and your local climate, it may be better to do it the other way around, London to Italy (cold to hot).

i plan on going by train and it could be london-rome instead of rome-london, nothing has been booked and this trip is a while away so everything can be changed. I havent even decided if i should do it in the spring or in the fall but it has to be one of those since i can't go in summer/winter (not that i would want to anyway). Judging by posts, i'm now leaning
london - around 5 nights (a week seems long)
bruges - 2 nights? (possibly add paris after bruges before switzerland)
swiss alps - 4 nights (possibly add southern france between switzerland and florence as someone suggested?)
florence - 3 nights
rome - around 5 nights (week seems long)

i recently went to amsterdam which is why i'm not adding it. Any other suggestions on what to add?

You can never have too much time in London. There are many great day trips or easy overnights that can be done by train from London. There are entire books on that topic. If you've got the time and money, I'd plan at least two weeks in London and environs.

thanks for the replies everyone, i appreciate it so much. I like culture, museums, sightseeing, i don't know, typical tourist stuff? Like even if i'm not crazy about art museums, if there is a highly respected one in some place I'll always go. What I usually do when i visit a place is look at the top 10 or so attractions on tripadvisor and go to most of them, meanings it's less about my interests and more about what's recommended as being especially worthwhile. Hope that makes sense. Im in my 30s and typically travel fast in that i do a lot in a day, or more than most anyway, because i wake up early and don't get tired.

ok, so it seems like the consensus is that zurich, brussels and possibly munich should be out
so then:
rome-florence-swiss alps-bruges-(possibly paris since it's there)-london? Does that seem like a good plan before i look into how many days in each place? I don't know, i was expecting there to be more stops along the way between italy and UK for some reason!

big old lump between the Swiss Alps and Bruges.

Skipping Nancy, Strasbourg, the Vosges, the Black Forest, the French wine route, Esslingen, Frankfurt, Trier, the middle Rhine and the castles, the Mosel(le) and Luxembourg?

Me I really enjoyed Munich, plus by train there are some awesome day trips. Zugspitze, the tallest mountain and beer garden ;) in Germany. Salzburg in Austria was really nice to walk around and take in. Plus the kings castle can be done as a day trio or on the way to elsewhere. Nuremberg is interesting in itself for a day.
Also the Rhine valley is very scenic as well and can be a stop along the way to Belgium.
I’m in my late 20 s and travel similar to you. Up early and later to bed. Running around and seeing the major sites (though only the ones I know I would be interested in not what tripadvisor tells me is interesting). Though I understand that you could spend a month in places like London and not see it all. I’m more of a person that after I while I want to move on and leave me wanting more than waking up in the same place. I like to keep it fresh. That being said you need to slow down a little and not do a whirl wind so you can take in the ambiance of the area.