Itinerary Input Requested ... Anything We Should Skip, Anything to Add?

7: Thursday: Germany: Stuttgart: AM Train to Stuttgart / Get to lodging / Relax in Stuttgart
8: Friday: Germany: Stuttgart: Visit and tour with friends in Stuttgart or day trip to Rothenburg (any suggestions for things to do here?)
9: Saturday: Germany: Stuttgart: Leave Stuttgart in the AM and end at or near Fussen (any other suggestions for this area?), maybe a few stops along the way (Nördlingen – thanks Lee, etc.) / Relax and enjoy Fussen
10: Sunday: Germany: Fussen: Mad King Ludwig's Castle / Explore area around Fussen / PM Train to Venice??
10: Sunday: Germany: Fussen: AM Train to Venice?? / Arrive late or early, depending on train schedules / Get to lodging
11: Monday: Italy: Venice: Piazza San Marco / St. Mark's Basilica / Doge's Palace
12: Tuesday: Italy: Venice: Enjoy relaxing time in Venice and walk around for bit / Catch a train to Rome / Get to lodging / Piazza Novona??
13: Wednesday: Italy: Rome: Vatican / Sistine Chapel / St. Peter's Basilica / Trevi Fountain (any priorities, or good order to see these in?)
14: Thursday: Italy: Rome: Colosseum / Forum / Capital Hill & Museum / Pantheon / or Piazza Novona
15: Friday: Italy: Rome: Relax and enjoy Rome or / Visit Ostia Antica (Sea Port)? or / Day Trip to Pompeii
16: Saturday: Italy: Florence: Leave for Florence / Galleria dell' Accademia (David) / Uffizi Gallery (Birth of Venus)
17: Sunday: Italy: Florence: Duomo / Boboli Gardens / Uffizi Gallery (if time allows)

18: Monday: Italy / Switzerland: Florence to Pisa to Zermatt: Leave Florence / Visit Pisa / End in Zermatt
19: Tuesday: Switzerland: Zermatt to Murren or Gimmelwald: Enjoy morning in Zermatt / Travel to Murren or Gimmelwald / Relax in the evening
20: Wednesday: Switzerland: Murren or Gimmelwald: Relax with Alpenhorn players, etc.
21: Thursday: Switzerland: Murren or Gimmelwald: Hike / Relax
22: Friday: Switzerland: Murren or Gimmelwald: AM Train to Versailles / Visit Luzern on the way? / Get to lodgings
23: Saturday: France: Sight see around Versailles / TBD
24: Sunday: France: Normandy: Day trip to Beaches at Normandy or / Enjoy a more relaxing day in Versailles / Head back towards Paris in the evening or head to Paris in the morning??
25: Monday: Paris: Return flight home and planning for our vacation from our vacation

It's doable but exhausting. You have 3 1/2 weeks of travel without any break.

A few things...Buckingham Palace is not open year round to tourists. You may want to see if it will be open when you're there.

You leave London on Day 3 but arrive on Day 4? That can't be right. You could add more things on Day 4 in Paris.

I'll let others comment on the rest of the trip.

I don't think you have allowed nearly enough time from Stuttgart to Venice (2 days?). Unless you are just going direct from Stuttgart to Füssen, that is not enough time. Where are you going to start on the Romantic Road, Würzburg, Rothenburg? You should really spend a day in Rothenburg, unless you just want to say you have "been" there. The Romantic Road is just a two lane country road, often clogged with truck, bus, and farm equipment. Just driving it isn't worth the time, it's the towns you can stop at on the way, and you aren't allow enough time for that.

You also show going from Füssen to Venice in one day, including seeing Neuschwanstein! It could be close to noon before you get out of the castle. Do you know how long it takes to get to Innsbruck, or from Innsbruck to Venice?

Alan,

I agree with Frank but would say this Itinerary is very exhausting! Whether it's "doable" is a matter of opinion, and I suspect it's going to be very difficult to keep to this schedule given the distances you're travelling and the "variables" that could occur. Anything to add - I don't think so!!!

I'm sure you've heard the saying "the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry". This schedule will be possible ONLY if everything goes as you've planned. One thing I've found in traveling in Europe is that "unexpected events" often occur without warning (a "manifesto" in Italy for example). If that happens, it will throw your carefully planned schedule for a loop!

A bit of clarification on London - I'm assuming you mean the "Tower Bridge" (isn't the London Bridge at Lake Havasu?). Regarding the Changing of the Guard, as I recall at certain times of the year this only takes place on even or odd days (July/Aug. this may be every day, but I'd have to check).

In Paris you indicated "Find home base". Does that mean you won't pre-book lodgings? July/Aug. is PEAK travel season so everything will be crowded, and that's another reason why this schedule may be difficult to achieve. This is not the best time of the year for spontaneous travel in Europe!

Visits to the Museums in Florence will also require reservations (unless you don't mind a hot and crowded queue which could take many hours).

Some of your rail trips will require reservations, and you didn't indicate if you were planning to travel with a Railpass or P-P tickets?

Although I'm reasonably familiar with getting around Europe efficiently, I wouldn't even attempt a trip like this.

Good luck!

Day 23, your last full day: Normandy is difficult to do as a day trip from Paris, not impossible but difficult. It raises the possibility of you returning from a long day in Normandy and getting into your Paris hotel very late, being tired and still having to pack for your flight home the next day.For an itinerary of this type, Rick (who is a veteran blitz man) recommends setting aside one day per week as a vacation from your vacation. You haven't done that. We'll see who is right, your or Rick. If you've worn yourself or your partner out, you probaboy loose something important.

I was about to say that you could probably do a little more on day 5 in Paris... but then I saw that the trip goes on and on without a break. Although I do think, for the most part, you've kept traveling distances reasonable, I agree with the others that you're going to be exhausted by the middle of the second week.

I actually think this is very doable - you aren't trying to cram in a ton of stuff every day. As long as you go with the flow and are flexible in dropping things if you get too tired then you should be fine.

One variable is the weather - you may have to adjust in case you hit a heat wave in Italy.

Tower of London and tower bridge could be done in the same day, they are near each other in the north eastern end. Allow time for queuing in line, could be a long wait.

I think it's doable...

My 1 concern is you have not built in at least 1 what if day...

what if...that can be anything...

your sick, exhausted because you didn't sleep, it's crowded and your schedule is slowed down, STRIKE! or you just fall in love with a place and want 1 more day there.

Too too much...at least for me. The nice thing is that you have a nice amount of time to tour some truly great areas - but I would thin it out. For a lot of the people on this blog that I believe have traveled and gained experience - they will tell you that you can burn out on sightseeing. You need the breaks. That and some of the greatest times are the strolling without plans and cafe sitting while talking to locals. If it were me...I would do London, Paris, Swiss Alps and end by touring thru Italy. I would save Germany/Austria for another trip. And by thinning it, you can beef up your time in the big three...London/Paris/Rome. These cities require more time and more energy. Being in the Swiss Alps in between will give you a needed break from museums, traffic and with any luck...crowds.

First of all, let me thank you all for the input that's coming in so far! We greatly appreciate it.

This is a first trip to Europe for us and we're very excited. I would also like to add some clarification to the above itinerary in that it represents our second draft of a wish list/itinerary – and we are VERY interested in receiving feedback. Once we refine the itinerary, we plan on taking things a step further by making reservations for accommodations and train travel ahead of time to minimize the 'unknowns'.

We definitely THINK we're a hearty group of travelers, but want to be realistic as well. Keep the feedback coming!

I'll make some changes / corrections based on the feedback as it comes in.

Thank you!

If you can fly home from Rome instead of Paris then you could see most (and maybe all) of the same places in the same time without the need to back track. Then you could make your Paris stay one day longer without needing to return there.

Alan, I've given some thought to your proposed itinerary v-v the Germany schedule.

I assumed the earliest you could see Neuschwanstein in the morning (if you had a reservation) might get you out to the Hohenschwangau bus stop by 10:00. I input a schedule for Hohenschwangau to Venice on German Rail website. Surprise! The earliest it had you leaving after 10 AM was at 11:30, plenty of time to see the castle in the morning. That schedule had a bus to the Füssen Bahnhof, another bus to Reutte, train to Innsbruck, a little less than an hour in Innsbruck (at lunch time), then three more trains to Venice, arriving just before 10 PM. In my opinion, that is a little late to be arriving in a strange city, but that looks like what you would have to do.

As I said, I don't think you have time to get into Rothenburg, see it, then go down to Füssen. However, Nördlingen is less than two hours by train from Stuttgart via Aalen. Nördlingen is a little less touristy than Rothenburg (lacks the Christmas shop and the crime & punishment museum) but has an almost intact wall which you can walk on. The schedule has you leaving Stuttgart at 9:22, arriving at 11:14. There is a nice place to eat lunch (Zum Engel) just outside the wall, about a block from the station. You could spend 3 hours, total incl lunch, in Nördlingen and then take the train via Augsburg to Füssen, getting there just before 6 PM.

I'm in the process of making some of the corrections and incorporating suggestions to the itinerary. Hang in there as some of the info changes! :)

Ok ... I've streamlined the trip a bit and filled in more specific details for the areas that were still a little grey. This is still a pretty rough draft, so we'd love to get more feedback.
Lee – thanks for the suggestions in Germany.

A few more things to help you understand our group:
1. We're traveling really light (one small day pack per person)
2. We're very flexible ... meaning that we don't feel like we HAVE to see everything on our list ... we'd rather be flexible and respond to something spontaneously happening vs. always sticking to the script (but we'd like to have a good plan as a starting point)
3. We're traveling with a variety of ages (9-42), so we're not planning on spending hours and hours touring art museums and castles. The attention spans for most of us wouldn't be able to handle it
4. We'll most likely stay in smaller local lodging or hostels vs. hotels
5. We'll be traveling on a Eurail Pass for the most part
6. Our chief aim is to get a flavor for the local culture, whet our appetites for art and history, and spark a desire to come back again sometime soon for a more in depth experience in certain areas<BR

I think you can safely say that after a trip like this, your appetites for art and history will certainly be whetted. Have a ball. Golly, I want to go back soon.

Alan,

Some comments on your last post...

1.) Travelling light is good!

2.) That's somewhat the method I use also. I compile a list of sights that I'd like to see but just use it as a guideline. If I don't get to something on the list, I'll see it on the next visit. I always allow for some spontaneity.

3.) Good plan, as some Museums, etc. will be hot and crowded!

4.) Have you checked ETBD guidebooks? They always have good listings for smaller "back door" Hotels in various price ranges. You could also check HI Hostels in each of the cities you'll be visiting. For travel in July/Aug., book soon!

1. One point to note is that even if you're travelling with a Eurail Pass, you'll still need to pay for seat reservations on those trains where these are compulsory. Be sure to budget to pay for these and allow time to buy these.
2. With such a "busy" trip, you won't have time to gather much "local flavour" as you'll only be stopping for a short time in each destination, and then rushing to the next stop.

In any case, good luck with your planning!

I had an itinerary that was packed like that (although only 2 countries and 2 weeks) since it was my hubby's first trip overseas. He wanted 'a detailed plan' so 'a detailed plan' I devised. I warned him in advance that we wouldn't get through everything and there would need to be changes for weather etc but I don't think he believed me. When we were there, we did some editing and revising, but it was nice to have a rough idea of the daily plan while we were there. As long as your heart is not set on seeing everything on the list, it looks good.

One thing though, and others will likely disagree, but I found the London Eye expensive and highly overrated.

Thanks for your comments Ken – as we zero in on the general travel itinerary, we're going to start making lodging reservations ... and we'll definitely plan for the train reservations. I'd be interested in hearing more about how those with more experience go about making their reservations.

Do you:
A. Make reservations before leaving the US?
B. Go to the station before your departure day and make reservations?
C. Go the morning of your departure and make a reservation? or,
D. Make reservations on the fly?

Also, how early do you try and arrive before your departure time?

Alan,

Regarding the train reservations, I use Option "B" for the most part. I often arrange the reservations for the outgoing journey when I arrive in a particular city (since I'm at the station anyway). If I'm going to be staying in a city for several days, I buy the reservations at least a day or two before I'll be leaving. However, since you'll be travelling in peak season I'd suggest getting these as early as possible.

I always research each of my rail trips on the net using the bahn.de site so that I can choose my departure & arrival times. These are listed on my rather detailed Itinerary. I try to choose direct trains or those with minimal changes.

I can't comment on arranging the reservations from here, as that's not something I would ever do. It's so easy to buy them there and in some cases in the past the ticket agent has suggested a slight change that made the trip a bit shorter or more efficient.

I normally try to arrive at the station at least 30 minutes prior to posted departure time. That provides some time to scope out which Track No. my train is departing from, check the info board to confirm departure times and possibly grab a Coffee, snack or at least a bottle of water for the trip. Many trains offer some form of food service, but this seems a bit pricey. Also, since I travel solo these days, I'd have to haul my luggage to the dining car or it might "disappear". I enjoy watching the "hustle & bustle" at the stations, so even if I arrive an hour early, I'm never bored.

Hopefully some of our rail experts will have a few comments on your most recent questions also.

Cheers!

Thanks for the suggestion Ken. Option B seems like the logical choice to me as well ... and shouldn't cause too many problems since we're typically staying in each area for 2-3 nights.

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has had problems getting a train they want by making reservations a day or two in advance?