Mother-daughter trip across 4 countries (technically 5)

IslandGirl,
It would be helpful in planning to count nights, not days. Two nights in a place means one full day, and some partial on arrival day there and maybe some partial on departure day. You will need to factor in time to travel between places. Let's start with nights beginning on arrival day as day 1 and night 1. Day 1 will be kind of lost to jet lag, and any delays in arrival time and getting through immigration, etc.
Days 1-4 Vinkeveen (nights 1-4) 3 full days there
Day 5 travel to Bordeaux....stay in Bordeaux (night 5) It will take the full day to get to Bordeaux. The drive from there to the eastern part of the Dordogne will take about 3 hours, so I don't advise driving that far after a days travel from Amsterdam.
Day 6 travel to and stay in Dordogne region 3 nights (nights 6-8) This is only 2 1/2 days there, a half day after driving from Bordeaux plus days 7 and 8.
Day 9 Drive to Amboise (5-6 hours) stay in Amboise 2 nights, nights 9 and 10. This gives you only one full day there. For 2 days you need to stay night 11 also.
Day 11 (or 12) Travel to "sweet German town" by way of Frankfurt. How are you getting there? Plane or train? If train it will be most of the whole day. Stay 2 nights (one full day). sleep there nights 11-12 or nights 12-13.
Day 13 (or 14) Are you staying in Frankfurt and trying to day trip to Krakow and Auschwitz in one day? Sleep in Frankfurt? night 13 or 14? I believe this part of your trip isn't realistic. The train from Frankfurt to Krakow is 11 hours, not a day trip.
Day 14 or 15 go to Prague and spend the night (night 14 or 15) The train from Krakow to Prague takes about 6 hours.
Day 15 or 16 Prague to sweet German town stay one night? Night 15 or 16 Train time Prague to Frankfurt is 7-8 hours,
Day 16-18 Annweiler Nights 16-18

Okay, here goes....Your Amsterdam through Amboise (Loire Valley) is possible, scrunched in places, but possible, but your German/Polish/Czechyan legs are really undoable. Have you checked distances between these places and checked out how to get from one to the other, how long the train rides are? Going from Amboise to Frankfurt, for instance, requires a train from Amboise to one station in Paris, then going to a different Paris train station to go to Frankfurt. Also, you might keep in mind that changing locations involves more than the actual drive or train time. There is checking out of lodgings, getting to the train station, travel, then getting to your lodgings in the new location and checking in. There is also orienting yourself to a new location. (If getting a car, it usually takes more time than people anticipate just to go through the rental process, and likewise dropping it off.) You might want to get a map of Europe that covers your countries to get a big picture of what you want to do. Also, the website viamichelin.com can tell you how long it should take to drive from place to place. Just add 1-2 hours to what they say because they don't account for bathroom or meal stops, or stops to gas up.
Just fyi...Trains from Frankfurt to Krakow take about 11-12 hours; Krakow to Prague 6-7 hours; Prague to Frankfurt 7-8 hours. That is three days of your 18 spent on a train, plus your full day going from Amboise to Frankfurt. Also, your drive from the Dordogne to Amboise uses most of the day, so another day kind of lost, along with Amsterdam to Bordeaux (7 hours train time). Now you are down to 12 days out of your 18.
I'm sorry to sound like such a Debbie Downer. Planning a trip goes through stages, and each stage seems to entail some paring down until I get to something realistic and doable. For me, I list my priorities, what I care the most about seeing or doing, and plan from there. I wish you luck in your planning and fun on the trip.
Come back to the forum with any questions or concerns and the fine and generous people here are very helpful.

Did you ever check the distances you want to travel? You will spend more time and money for transportation than for staying somewhere to experience the place. This makes not much sense in Europe because there is so much to see and do at every destination. What you plan to do sounds more like: been there, bought a something, took a picture. This will likely not be worth your money.

If you share what you want to see (e. g. a former extermination camp) we can help you with alternatives.

Why Bordeaux?

Another example: why Frankfurt? If you want a "sweet German town" take Regensburg which is directly connected to Prague by train.

And Prague needs 1-2 full days, not just a few hours between arrival and traveling on.

In your own interest for money and memories I recommend to really rethink what you are going to plan.

Your plan works until you plan Frankfurt then Krakow and Auchwitz. This is UNREALISTIC, I suggest eliminating for plan for Poland and Prague.

Another issue, you plan so little time in Krakow, Auschwitz and Prague. Essentially, you plan one day in e each city.

We did Krakow and spent three nights there.

Suggest, expanding your touring of the Rhineland since you want to visit Frankfurt. Do some research on what to visit in that area of Germany.

Also, not sure how many days you plan in Paris. You need minimum of 4-5 days.

When visiting SW France, consider visiting Carcassonne, it is a huge walled city in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

Skip the first visit to a "sweet German town". Cut time in Amsterdam to 2 days. Why not fly from Paris to Krakow(spend at least one night there), Krakow to Prague, then Prague to Frankfort?

Hi Island Girl, first, I commend you for wanting to take a wonderful trip with your daughter. I'm retired and I'm taking my 45-year-old daughter to Scandinavia in July of this year. As you noted, the summer is not ideal, but it's the only time that works for her, so that's when we're going.

As Judy has pointed out, it does help to put nights instead of days, as you get a more accurate idea of how much "real" time you have. It's much more accurate when you say that you will be there for three nights, so we know that you will have two full days and possibly a portion of the day arriving and maybe a portion of the day when you leave. Although most people tend to transfer to their next destination fairly early, so I wouldn't count on it.

I admit I'm a little confused by your schedule, and it might help to clarify that for us. The first part of it makes sense. Starting in Amsterdam and staying there for 4 days, then going to France for 6 days, it looks like 10 days right there.

But that's where the confusion starts. First, I'm a little unclear about how much time you're spending in Paris. You have written "Amboise to Paris; Paris to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to a German town, 1-2 days" (I'm paraphrasing that a little). Can you explain where you are and where those 1-2 days are spent? Are you just going to Paris to connect to Frankfurt from Amboise? Is there any reason that you're not spending time in Paris? I noticed that also in the beginning where you're going from Amsterdam to Paris and then to Bordeaux. Again, skipping Paris?

Honestly, it seems somewhat sacrilegious to me to go to France and not spend any time in Paris. It's such an incredible city. Of course, you may have a reason for that. Maybe you've been there before extensively and don't feel the need to go back? Just let us know because it does help us to help you.

Then you're going to Frankfurt for one to two days, and it looks like you have a day trip to Krakow and Auschwitz from there? Is that correct? I figure that must be a mistake because Kraków is about a ten-hour train ride from Frankfurt. And also the Prague itinerary is confusing as well.

Bottom line, with 18 days plus travel time, I would limit my countries. I would keep in France and keep in Amsterdam, and then pick one more place to go to. Whether it's Krakow or Prague or some place else. I don't know that I would choose Frankfurt. Frankfurt is a very nice city, but there are many more iconic places in Germany that you could visit.

For example, if you are looking for a sweet German town, you might want to try Gengenbach in the Black Forest in Germany, as it has a number of advantages. I stayed in Gengenbach several years ago, and it was just an incredibly beautiful town, with half-timbered houses and charming scenery. It is frequently called a "chocolate box village" because it is just so lovely. It has a good amount of hotels, cafes, and restaurants. It is on the main train line, so you can get to many other places from there quickly. It has the advantage of sitting on the border to France, so after leaving Amboise you could head down to the Alsace area and cross over to Gengenbach.

Plus while you are in Gengenbach, you can also make a day trip to Strasbourg in France, which is only 35-40 minutes from Gengenbach by train. Another advantage is that you will get a KONUS card if you stay in Gengenbach, which entitles you to free public transportation to most of the towns in the Black Forest area. From Gengenbach, you can head back up to Frankfurt, where you can fly home from there.

Another option would be to go to Munich instead, where you could visit Dachau, which is only 30 minutes from the city by train, and also some of the charming towns around Munich and Bavaria; maybe even Salzburg, which is close to Munich.

So there are lots of options, but I just think you're trying to do too much in too short a period of time.

Going to GoogleFlights it looks like KLM flies 3x a day from Amsterdam to Bordeaux with a 1h40m non-stop flight. You might consider this over taking the train. It's a 3-ish hour train trip from Amsterdam to Paris, get across town from Gare du Nord to Gare Montparnasse, wait time and then a 2 hour journey to Bordeaux. Even with security and having to be at the airport ahead of time you may come out with a shorter travel day by plane.

I think you're going to have to give up on either France or the rest of your trip (besides the family visit, of course). Since the France part seems more considered, I would stick with that. Maybe sub Alsace for Dordogne to bring your geographic scope more in line with your 3-week timeline? Take the other commenter's suggestion to use flights strategically. It's not the same thing, but maybe you could add Munich and Dachau instead of Krakow and Auschwitz? For another sweet German town, look along the Mosel River. I can recommend a very nice AirBnB in Enkirch (you'd probably want a car).

My head is spinning.

I think your 2-3 days for the Dordogne and 2 days in Amboise is pushing things, even if you fly into Bordeaux.

1 day in Prague, after a 1-day (or even 2-day) visit from Frankfurt to Krakow/Auschwitz?!!? Agree with others; not realistic in the least. 3 nights in Prague would be the least I’d plan there. 4 nights would be better. Never been to Poland, but I can’t see how or why you’d do that with fewer than 3 nights.

Not sure what you are considering in terms of “sacred sites.”

Why don’t you start over and try an itinerary that is only in the Rhineland-Palatinate (which will include a visit to your family as well as multiple “sweet towns”) plus no more than two parts of France (with at least 7 or 8 nights in France) OR meaningful time in Czechia and Poland. I’d not include Amsterdam, but you could do so for 3 days/4 nights or so there and still have a week in Germany and a week in either France OR in Prague & Krakow.

Remember two good thoughts: “less is more” & “slow down, you move too fast, try to make the moment last.”

We recently spent 30 days in SW Germany & E. France: 2 weeks in Germany (Mosel/Rhine, Baden-Wurttemberg/Black Forest); nearly 2 weeks Eastern France (Alsace/Burgundy/Lyon); and finished with 3 nights in Paris.

An earlier trip (2023) included 3 nights Bordeaux, 8 nights in the Dordogne and 7 nights in the Loire Valley.

I’m not saying you need that long in those particular areas, but two or three days (or 1 or 2 days if you mean 2 or 3 nights), followed by travel days with hours of travel means that you will spend a week of your 3 week trip just traveling around and not enjoying “being there.”

Plan your itinerary & route to minimize travel time and distances and avoid doubling back. Your plan puts you in the Frankfurt airport three times. I don’t think you plan to visit Frankfurt itself.

Enjoy your mother/daughter trip and family visit.