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Logistics of going from France-Italy via Germany & Austria

I have been on this forum a few times with my various ideas, and all the rewrites associated with them hahaha. I have entertained the notion of Germany in the past since it was located right between Paris, France and Venice, Italy...but Germany is kind of a big country, and now I am also considering a brief stay in Austria as well. If I was coming from Paris and I wanted to see Berlin, Munich, and Vienna...how would a possible route look? What makes the most logistical sense?

Paris-Berlin-Vienna-Munich-Venice?

Posted by
19052 posts

You didn't say if you want go by rail or drive.

Posted by
2922 posts

At this time, I don’t see a direct overnight train from Paris to Berlin but Easyjet flies non-stop from Paris Ory to Berlin for less than $50, pack light to avoid checking a bag.
Have you been to Prague? If you’re taking a train from Berlin to Vienna you’ll need to stop in Prague to transfer to Vienna and I don’t see a direct overnight train where you have the option to rent a sleeper car. You can fly non-stop on Easyjet from Berlin to Vienna for less than $75.
Have you been to Salzburg? You may have to switch trains in Salzburg between Vienna to Munich.
On a good note, I see a direct overnight train from Munich to Venice.

Posted by
149 posts

Thank you for that useful info. I have not been to Prague but I'm more interested (no offense to Slavic culture :p ) in the Germanic side of things but I will definitely make my way out to Prague whenever I have time to do a central/eastern Europe trip. Salzburg is super cool looking and i might make it a brief 2 night stay to break up the trip between Vienna and Munich. One day to get there and check in, and one full day to just kind of explore. It's brief but at least it's a little more than one of those day tours to Salzburg...and I don't have a lot that I'm trying to see there anyways. I mostly want to make a pilgrimage to Mozart's house and get beautiful views of the Salzburg castle from the water. It would be a mostly peaceful stroll day with little energy needing to be spent.

Posted by
6172 posts

At this time, I don’t see a direct overnight train from Paris to
Berlin

There are none at the moment, but there have been rumours about a new night train between Paris and Berlin. There is however a night train from Paris to Vienna, that also stops in Salzburg on the way. So an alternative route could be Paris-(Salzburg-)Vienna-Berlin-Munich-Venice. If it was my trip, I'd consider Paris-Munich-Berlin-Vienna-Venice as well.

If you’re taking a train from Berlin to Vienna you’ll need to stop in
Prague to transfer to Vienna and I don’t see a direct overnight train
where you have the option to rent a sleeper car.

There are direct overnight trains between Berlin and Vienna.

Have you been to Salzburg? You may have to switch trains in Salzburg
between Vienna to Munich.

No need to change trains in Salzburg. ÖBB has frequent direct trains between Vienna and Munich. That being said, Salzburg can be a good place for a stop.

On a good note, I see a direct overnight train from Munich to Venice.

There is one, true. On the other hand, travelling trough the Alps during daytime will let you enjoy the views.

Posted by
1647 posts

You certainly can take the route you have listed. However, why would you want to take such long train trips with so many great cities along the way to break up your train trips? You didn't say how much time you have in Europe. I would suggest you fly a couple of your legs, otherwise consider a day or so in some cities along the way and take the train.

Consider Paris-Cologne-Berlin-Prague-Vienna-Munich-Venice.

Posted by
11027 posts

In one of your other posts you mentioned having a max of 10 nights.

Does that apply to this projected trip?

Posted by
6113 posts

I will repeat the advice given over the past 2 years by most of us based in Europe - to reduce stress, limit the number of countries you plan to visit.

Posted by
149 posts

Though I totally respect the advice of limiting countries to reduce stress, the whole point of this specific trip is to do a country hopping, backpacking sort of look. Now I'm not going to 10+ countries... but I'm still seeing a handful. I had 10 additional days to play with what I already had with Europe, and it gives me a total of 40 nights. This will probably have to be further down the road til covid restrictions are more lenient. But the idea is 5 nights in London, 5 nights in Paris, 12 nights thoughtout Italy, 7 nights in Greece at the tail end of the trip, which leaves me 11 days to do Germany + Austria, or Germany + Switzerland.

Trying to include Berlin and Vienna might be a little out of the way, so I can totally see an argument for Germany + Switzerland where i skip Berlin and go through the western/southern part of Germany and down towards Switzerland and Italy. If I did this method, I would still want to see Munich so I see at least one of my intended cities. It might also be easier since I really only need 3 or 4 nights in Switzerland to take a brief break and do some fun, no stress hiking.

If I kept to the original route, how could i make all of those cities work with 11 days? Prague & Cologne both sound super appealing, but I feel like anything LESS than 3 nights (2 full days after you consider the travel day) in a city would almost seemed too rushed, even for this sort of trip.

Posted by
6783 posts

I am a little bit lost, your original post does not mention Switzerland but your latest does.
I'll interpret it as wanting to see a bit of the Alps.
In such a case, if you are OK with skipping Berlin, then going Paris - Munich - Seefeld (near Innsbruck) for a little break in the mountains - Vienna - Venice would work quite well, with some scenic railway stretches (especially the Semmering railway between Vienna and Venice).

Posted by
149 posts

Oh I didnt mean to make it unnecessarily confusing, I just wanted to be open to a different route if it turned out to make better sense. The original idea was Germany and Austria but I understand the distances could pose a problem to time. Also thank you for the suggestions. I have never researched Seefeld before so I'll take a look and maybe take some notes :)

Posted by
6783 posts

No worries! The thing is that Switzerland-Munich connections are surprisingly time-consuming, even after recent improvements, so they are not as easy to combine as you'd think. EDIT: actually only 3.5 hours for Zürich-Munich trains, that's a LOT better than it used to be.

Besides Seefeld, another choice would be to spend some time in Salzkammergut after Munich - a mountainous region of lakes, where Hallstatt is located.