Mother – son first time in Europe

Posted by jolynna on 03/07/16 01:28 AM

Hello! I Will be traveling to Europe May 24 through June 6, a total of 12 days. This is my first ever trip to the continent and I am beyond excited! I will be joining my 21-year-old son at the end of his tour with his university. I will be meeting him in Brussels at the conclusion of that tour. I am desperately trying to figure out a reasonable itinerary that will appeal to us both in the amount of time that we have.

He will already have seen the highlights of Belgium and Holland, so I will scratch those from the list, other than perhaps my first day and night in Belgium upon arrival. Our plane tickets are round-trip to Belgium, so we will need to start and end there. The only place we know for sure we must see is the Swiss Alps. We both love nature and the outdoors and hiking, so we would like to spend two or three days in that region. Other destinations we are considering include Germany/Bavaria and northern Italy – possibly Venice, France or Austria.

Of course, we certainly know that is way too many countries for that short of time, so we must zero in on places we would enjoy the most. Besides hiking, we enjoy local culture, great food and wine, and beautiful vistas. Ideally, we would like to stay away from the large cities and focus more on small towns. We do not wish to rent a car, so all locations must be accessible by train and bus.

My question for all of you is simply what are your favorite small towns and experiences in any of these regions? Are there any places that I should put on my must-see list? I will be purchasing some of Rick Steves guides once I can narrow down the countries. I think realistically we must choose no more than three different areas and spend 2 to 4 nights in each place so we don't wear ourselves out. I'm also considering hiring one of his travel consultants to help. Thank you in advance for any and all help!

Posted by Lane

Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico

03/07/16 05:07 AM

1878 posts

You'll be arriving in Brussels on May 25, staying there the first night, and then needed to end up back there, assumedly on June 5 so you can catch your flight home the next morning. It doesn't give you as much time as you think, and if you're limiting yourselves to bus and train travel, you'll have some long days in transit. Depending on where you go in Switzerland, you're looking at 8-10 hours on the train, and at the end of your trip, you'll have as long a train ride back, so that's two full days just to get to the general region you want to visit.

So you're left with about 9 days for actual visiting of places. As you say, spending 2-4 nights in each of three different places makes sense.

Another challenge is you want to visit small towns but won't have a car. The problem with small towns is you won't have the same public transportation options as you would have in a larger city. Unless you want to pack and unpack every night, you'll be spending time each day traveling from one small town to another and getting back where you started.

So it might be better, given the time you have and the distance you need to cover, to stay in larger towns or cities, near the train station, so each day you can set off on an adventure into the countryside, find your small towns, do your hikes and see your vistas, but get back to the city at night for the great food and culture.

Perhaps a few nights each in Munich, Innsbruck or Salzburg, and Zurich or Lucerne would give you the chance to see some amazing mountain scenery. And in between Munich and Innsbruck are the charming mountain towns of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Mittenwald and go to the Zugspitze.

I would not try to get to Italy on this trip.