Itinerary help on the Continent Aug/Sept

Robyn, on my anchient computer, apparently some hidden characters didn't work right, making your itinerary hard to understand. Is this what you're figuring? (Parens with question marks are mine.)
If I'm right, lots of folks can help. If I'm wrong, tell me and I'll delete.

London: 3 N

Cruise to Ireland, Scotland & Normandie: 12 N

Belgium: 2/3 N

Netherlands: 3 N – probably stay in Amsterdam

Germany: 5/6 N – interests: need to visit Hannover (family history); Rhine River; Neuschwanstein Castle; Dachau

Austria: 3 N – intersets: would like to do “The Sound of Music” tour

Italy: 5 N (5 N total in Italy ????)

Venice: 3 N,

Bellagio: 2 N

France: 7/8 N (7/8 N total in France, incl Paris & Monaco???)

interests: would like to visit Monaco,

Paris: 3 N - visit Versailles;

unsure where else to base ourselves

London: 2/3 N

Thanks Ed - am not sure what's happened.

The 5 N in Italy would be 3 in Venice and 2 in Bellagio.

In France would like to spend 3 nights in Paris and spend the other nights in 2 or 3 places. Don't need to stay in Monaco, but I think my mother would just like to see it.

Hopefully I've covered the bits that went astray - thanks.

You probably expected that list to be a series of single lines:
Place: # N
Place: # N
Place: # N - interests:
etc

If you follow a line with 2 "carriage returns", I think you will get the lines, double spaced (as Ed did).

To get the lines single spaced, insert the HTML "tag" <br> at the end of each line.

I think 5/6 days in Germany: Hannover, Rhein, Neuschwanstein, Dachau is too rushed. There is considerable travel time between some of those places. You need to do a little more detail on the timing. There are too many things to do on the middle Rhein for just a day. It's going to take most of a day to get from the Rhein to Munich (Dachau is a suburb of Munich). You're going to skip the rest of Munich? There are better things to see in Munich than Dachau.

If all you want to see of Austria is Salzburg and Innsbruck, 3 days is probably more than enough. If you want to add Hallstatt and some of the Salzkammergut, 3 days is a little tight.

BTW, I'd skip the Sound of Music tour. Very little on the tour is authentically from the movie. Much of the movie was filmed on sets in Hollywood or on temporary sets in Salzburg that no longer exist.

If all you are doing on the Rhein is St. Goar (Rheinfels), Bacharach and the boat in between, 2 nights in either town would work. For Munich and Neuschwanstein, I'd stay in Munich several nights and do Neuschwanstein as a day trip.

Not being a train person, I can't comment on a lot since it involves movement time. However, having been to all except Sound of Music, here's a couple of thoughts.

The approach to N'stein is a walking path up a long steep hill. I hike a lot and it winded me. My wife has been there independently and she agrees. I'ts a standard measure of miserableness at our house. Mom might not be up to it.

Monaco might not be worth the stop. Most folks who insist that I take them there are tapping their foot, waiting to leave within an hour. Others will disagree.

Thanks for the information so far - just the sort of information I need.

I have gone back in and edited my original post as per your suggestion Lee - thanks.

I understand your concerns re the big hike Ed. My mum is very active and it would probably be me who would struggle with the walk, so will keep it in mind.

I have previously read mixed reports on SOM tour and also Monaco, so will keep your comments in mind, as we tighten our itinerary.

About getting to Neuschwanstein: there are horse drawn carts (Pferdekutsche) that will carry you from in front of Hotel Mueller, a few yards up from the ticket kiosk almost to the top of the hill, ~300yds from the castle entrance, at Neuschwanstein, €6 pP up, €3 pP down.

There is also a bus that goes to Marienbrücke (Mary's bridge), above Neuschwanstein, but it is a steep path from there down to the castle entrance, not suitable for people with walking difficulties.

Netherlands - stay in Amsterdam. Though there is enough there to keep you busy for 3 days, it is also very easy to take day trips to Rotterdam, Delft, The Hague, rather than change trains.

Belgium - there isn't all that much to see. I'd drop it in favor of more time in Germany/Austria/Italy.

France - Versailles is a day trip from Paris. There are several others, including Chartres (cathedral + quaint town), Reims (cathedral + champagne tasting), Fontainebleau (castle and gardens), Giverny (Monet's home and wonderful gardens). The French countryside is hard to do without a car. I'd stay in Paris.

London - Bath can be done as a day trip from London.

I'd take the train from London to Paris, then to Amsterdam and onward, and fly back to London from Italy. This should cut down on the travel time and the weather in Italy is better as you get further from August.

Again thanks for the information that's been posted.

Chani your suggestions make sense, but one of the reasons I put France at the end was because our cruise finishes in London on Aug 22nd and this meant we would hit Paris in August. I had understood from my readings that August in Paris or is it France in general was not a great place to be? We could spend a bit of time in London before going to Paris, but we would still be there in August. Maybe I am reading too much into the August issue . . .

If heat's an issue - no worries -I'm sitting in 86F with 80% humidity at the moment, and it's a nice cool day!

My first trip to Paris was in August and it was no problem. A few smaller family owned type businesses might have been closed, but frankly I don't really remember. Paris is a large city and you won't have any trouble at all finding places to eat, shop, etc. The museums are open too.

One thing that is fun about August is a part of the right bank of the Seine is converted to a beach. Go on the batobus or a river cruise to see the entire effect, especially after dark.