Paris-Antwerp-Amsterdam-Cologne-Zurich by train and 11 days

Any tips or cautions

You have too many cities and too much distance between them and too few days.
I guess fly into Paris train to Antwerp and Amsterdam fly out of Amsterdam or vice versa. Zurich does not fit so cut that. I would also cut Cologne but you might be able to squeeze that in and fly back from Cologne. You might have time for another city in Belgium or the Netherlands so research those to see what strike you. Most tourists to Belgium go to Bruges especially.

Once in each city, how do we get to our hotels and around town?

Most hotels will have directions published or if you ask them when it comes to transportation other than a taxi
Paris: Take the subway/metro walk
Antwerp: walk or take the bus or a taxi if you can't figure out the bus
Amsterdam : train, tram and walk

You have to read the guide books or look up the tourist information website for each city; they all have one.

I certainly understand your wanting to see Paris and Amsterdam--both 4 day destinations. But distances in France and Germany can be quite deceiving. Most travelers bypass Antwerp (going to Amsterdam) and Zurich is a somewhat dull business city and not even in the Alps.
Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam has an incredible number of flights to virtually every city in Europe. Why don't you catch a budget flight to another great city like Budapest or Copenhagen or Lisbon?

Do the 11 days count your arrival and departure days as well? As in leaving the US (making an assumption here) is Day 1, arriving in Europe is Day 2. Coming home your departure day is mostly shot.

Also when you are planning, remember that 2 nights = 1 full day for sightseeing. Each time you do a transit from city to city you're using another 1/2 a day.

I agree that you are trying to cover too much territory in the time you have even for a quick look-see.

What pulled you to the choices of cities? I'd choose Paris/Antwerp/Amsterdam but that's me and you might have different ideas.

We know it'll be fast and furious

Definitely a leading contender for 'understatement of the month'

Some taxis won't take credit cards, so do we take the bus or subway?

You could get some euros from an ATM to use for the 'no credit card' taxis. Every train station should have at least one ATM machine

I suspect statistically, subways and buses are safer than cars (taxis)

This itinerary looks like a rehearsal/training for The Amazing Race

Good luck

You all bring up valid points. I know it sounds wild and definitely not traditional or ideal for many, but this schedule fits in with who we are- "see as much as we can while we are there" mindset.
Good point on Zurich....but it looks like we would need to fly out of there.

This is what it looks like...my original post did not include major travel days-intercontinental flights. Here is the full hopeful itinerary. I do expect changes based on learning new things like I just did...
Day
1 leave
2 get to Paris early-adjust-slow sightsee
3 Paris
4 Travel toAntwerp PM
5 Antwerp-visit friends
6 Travel to Amsterdam early
7 Amsterdam
8 Travel to cologne
9 cologne
10 Travel to zurich,Lucern as early as possibly. Sight see late afternoon
11 Lucern
12 Lucern much of the day then Head back to Zurich
13 Fly out of Zurich
14 get home

Redjunk, some minor points.
Yes, it is fast and furious, and you appear to be in later life ("these days") and travelling takes time, but it is your call.

• "Thalys and ICE will be the train lines" - Thalys is the company running trains Paris - Brussels - Amsterdam. ICE is a brand, it is DB's name for their High Speed trains. (DB = German Railways).
• "Is the train a safe way to travel?" - safer than driving. I always find these "safe" questions strange, in what way might it not be safe?
• "I have not researched buses- but traffic would be a turn off." - buses are slower and a lot less comfortable than trains. You cannot get up and walk around like you can on a train. And they have very limited services, a few a day.
• "Once in each city, how do we get to our hotels and around town? Some taxis won't take credit cards, so do we take the bus or subway?" - from a European perspective that question is a bit back-to-front. The default way of travelling around cities is bus/metro (subway). Taxis would be second choice as they are more expensive, and not necessarily faster.
• "take credit cards" - Do not expect anywhere to take credit cards without checking first. Most will, but you don't want to be stuck when the bill comes and not have enough cash.

From your second post:

• "9 cologne, 10 Travel to zurich,Lucern as early as possibly" skip Zürich, it isn't on the route from Cologne (Köln) to Luzern. This takes ~5 hours by train, which is time-competitive with flying to Zürich (+getting to airport, check-in, getting from airport etc. etc.). And train is a lot more comfortable than flying.
• "12 Lucern much of the day then Head back to Zurich, 13 Fly out of Zurich" - no need to overnight in Zürich. Train from Luzern to Zürich airport only takes 70 minutes, so spend last night in Luzern.

You can look up train times here: https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml
This is the DB website, but includes trains in surrounding countries.
If you are newcomers to rail travel, read this website: https://www.seat61.com/Europe-train-travel.htm

Great info! These details all matter and help very much.
Surprisingly, we are young, but have old souls. :) Our view of traveling is seeing- not necessarily doing, so a train will be great for this. Even though we will travel on a train a lot, we will see the land and that is huge for us. We won't be sleeping in anywhere and will see everything that we can with every minute of the days.
In terms of safety, well, knife attacks, etc. Just gonna say it. Yes the chances are slim. The news is a jerk.

Did you really just say “ knife attacks “ , I would delete that , it’s not in any way shape or form a realistic fear .

The most reasonable fear you should Harbour ( and don’t go overboard ) is fear of being pick pocketed . Do not leave any thing unattended for a minute. Keep passport and extra money in a money belt worn under clothing , not on call pockets ! Just carry one days cash around handy to access ( do not access money belt in public ) .

Ps - the views from trains can be pretty boring .

And how does Lucerne get two days( full ) and Paris and Amsterdam get one ?

Redjunk, if you are train newbies, I recommend this video, from the abovementioned Man in Seat 61 website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5NYpy9Tank
This is a German ICE 3 train. Note the seats in second class, and the table. Just right for your picnic (most stations have food stalls, plus supermarkets nearby), and for your bottle of wine. And the large windows.
These trains have 8 coaches, with about 450 seats. They are often run in pairs, that is 900 seats, with hourly departures. It is not some minority service in a back street, it is the main method of getting between towns and cities.

I agree with Chris F suggesting to stay longer in Lucerne and skip staying in Zurich. I'm wondering the choice of Cologne. The cathedral is spectacular, that's for sure, but I didn't find the rest of the city that interesting. If that is the case for you when you are there, I would suggest a quick trip to Koblenz to visit the castles there or to a winery on the Mosel. Winningen is about a 1/2 hour ride from Koblenz and beautiful little wine village if you are into that.

If you're going that way anyway, let me recommend the IC or EC trains from Köln via Koblenz (instead of the faster ICE). The trains via Koblenz follow the Rhine Valley. That part of the trip is very scenic and well worth the extra hour spent on the train when going on this route.

Any tips or cautions?

5 cities in 11 days. Is this also some sort of check-off list to tell others where you have been? To travel so far to not spend time experiencing these cities is a shame.

"ps the views from trains can be pretty boring"

This.

Have you traveled in Europe? Have you traveled on a train? You want to "see and not do" but what you will see is fields of grass for hours. Its not as if train tracks and stations are built through beautiful villages and the center of cities. In addition to grass you will see graffiti as you enter and depart the stations, buildings, roads with cars on them.
Have you taken public transportation in the US (buses, metro)? You find transportation and schedules the same way in Europe. Ive never taken a taxi; they can be faster although more expensive. Once at the train station of any given city, there is easy public transport around that city; usually trams, metro, and buses.
Im fairly certain that no one on this forum sleeps in, and that they too use every minute of every day. Its common to rack up many tens of thousands of steps per day. Honestly, this sounds like a first-time visitor who thinks you will never return and so "seeing" as much as possible is your goal. Would you still plan your trip this way if you thought you'd be back?

I want to add that we have been to both Cologne and Amsterdam and Amsterdam has much,much more to offer and is a super fun city. We had 6 hours in Cologne and that was enough (for us, no offense to Cologne, it was lovely). We had 3 days in Amsterdam and that was not enough, wish we had more. This itinerary does not sound fun to me, way too much moving around and not enough sightseeing, but it is your vacation. Like everyone else, I would strongly advise cutting something and giving another day to Amsterdam and/or Paris. We traveled extensively in Germany (and To Amsterdam) via train and it was great. Very comfortable. We felt very safe throughout our trip. Good luck!

Agree with all those who have posted.

I would do 3 cities at most. Probably Paris-Amsterdam-Antwerp. Ignore Germany and Switzerland.

You could easily spend a week in Paris, and still have things to do. Amsterdam as well.

Is the train a safe way to travel?

According to statistics (for the EU, for 2007-2016), 0.13 passengers die per billion passenger kilometers on trains. That number is 3.3 for cars. From my understanding, the number of passengers killed in cars in the US per kilometer is about twice as high as the one in Europe. So, if I have not misread anything, you are about 50 times as likely to be killed driving in the US as you are to be killed in a train accident in Europe (for the same distance travelled).

France, the Netherlands, and Germany are all safer than the EU average - both for trains and for cars (e.g., chance to be killed in a car accident in the US is about 200 times as high as to be killed in a train accident in Germany for the same distance travelled).

Source: https://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/171206-Verkehrssicherheitsvgl.-1.pdf and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year

In terms of safety, trains in Europe seem far safer than in the USA. One important difference is the intersection with roads. We took the ICE from Paris to Frankfurt. On the entire route, I do not remember a single case where there were gates down and cars waiting for the train to pass. Many, possibly most, of the roads were either under or over the train tracks. In the USA, there are many accidents of cars or trucks stuck on train tracks. Those seem far less common in Europe. They do not want an ICE train with 900 passengers going at 168 MPH to hit a gasoline truck. So the road-traintrack intersections are few or nonexistent.

Part of the reason you go on vacation is to experience something new. For us, that means that taking trains in Europe is part of the experience. Buses also.

I do not remember a single case where there were gates down and cars waiting for the train to pass.

Germany does not allow level railroad crossings for tracks with a speed limit of more than 160 kph (100 mph). I suppose France has a similar rule. For busy railway lines, there is the additional issue that they would impede road traffic. So yeah, there are few level railroad crossings left on the important long-distance lines (but plenty elsewhere).

I usually don't comment on itineraries, but I must agree with others have said. Here's yours with some notes and questions.

Day
1 leave -- from where? When?
2 get to Paris early-adjust-slow sightsee -- Night 1 in Paris.
3 Paris -- Night 2 in Paris.
4 Travel toAntwerp PM -- Night 3 in Antwerp.
5 Antwerp-visit friends -- Night 4 in Antwerp.
6 Travel to Amsterdam early -- Night 5 in Amsterdam.
7 Amsterdam -- Night 6 in Amsterdam.
8 Travel to cologne -- Night 7 in Cologne.
9 cologne -- Night 8 in Cologne.
10 Travel to zurich,Lucern as early as possibly. Sight see late afternoon -- Night 9 in Lucern.
11 Lucern -- Night 10 in Lucern.
12 Lucern much of the day then Head back to Zurich -- Night 11 in Zurich?
13 Fly out of Zurich -- Next day?
14 get home -- Same day.

I totally get the concept of seeing the countryside from the train, but when you use the DB website to check schedules, be sure to note how long the journeys are, how many train changes there are and click on the details and the map view to see the exact route for the options of interest to you. You may not be able to buy your tickets from DB, but you'll see the best information otherwise. You need to keep in mind that it's not the same as driving. It's often faster (I love the 250+ kph trains ), but you are limited by the schedules. If you plan far enough ahead, you will be able to get substantial discounts on fares.

I tested your longest journey from Köln Hbf to Zürich HB for 8 May. There are 1 train change options that take only about 5 hours. The change for Zürich is usually in Basel and the options usually combine a fast ICE train with another type of train. You have 20 minutes to make the switch. This is a journey that you could buy through DB, and prices are shown. When you do your checking, you'll see a wide variety of prices for different times of day and numbers of train changes. The earliest arrival in Zürich I saw was 11:00. It leaves Köln at 05:55, has 2 stops and the price is 39,90 EUR.

I asked the "when" question above because the time of year you go will have a big effect on how you pack and how much you'll see from the train, as will the weather.

This appears to be your first trip, so I also recommend that you thoroughly explore the Travel Tips on this RS website.

With only 11 nights in Europe, I'd skip Switzerland and concentrate on the Netherlands, Belgium and Paris, but it's your trip. Switzerland is expensive and CHF is the currency, not EUR. Today the exchange rate is at parity, $1 = 1 CHF, so at the moment it's easy to calculate and to compare to US dollars.

Thanks all for your advice.
I know us and I know that we will enjoy this trip, as wild as it is. I don't worry too much about boring views- it'll get old on the trip down to Switzerland, but there is a scenic train route, as one poster mentioned, so at some point it should get scenic. The other train rides are 2ish hours or less.
As I research and get more feedback, the itinerary could still change.
A day trip from Cologne is a definite possibility. Seeing castles would be amazing. Cologne was just a major city that seemed interesting to stop at on the way to Lucerne.
I will watch the train video! Thanks!

In 2017, we spent some time in France. We visited Chartres, the small city near Paris with the great cathedral. The cathedral is great, and well known. Some go there for just an afternoon, see the cathedral, and leave.

We spent 3 nights. This gave us time to wander around and discover that much of the city, including places far from the cathedral, were illuminated. We also saw a crazy house which was covered in mosaics.

Spending more time gives you the ability to go below the superficial tourist "speed visit".

It's your trip and I know you will have a great time. Time traveling is considered lost.

I'd suggest the following: Start on your plan as given in several places, but leave yourself the flexibility to change it. What if you really like a place and want to stay a night or 2 longer?

Your revised schedule is not bad, except for one major flaw. Only one day in Paris!! You need at least 3-4 days there.

Driving around Europe is not what you might think, since you probably would be taking many of the autobahn (like interstate) highways. Sure, if you get off those highways, you can find some scenic places, but you will not be traveling fast at all. The places that you want to visit are not out of the way places. The trains in Europe are great, far better than Amtrak in the USA.

The only issue with renting a car is that you have to find a place to park. Parking in Amsterdam is a disaster. If you want to drive at all, rent a car in Amsterdam (perhaps the airport).

Taking the train, will require you to take taxis from the train station to your hotel, unless you pick a hotel near the station.

Use TripAdvisor that has a great feature where after you perform your search in the city with your price range, use the map and it will show you the location of hotels (hold your cursor over the hotel location and the price will show). This way you can book hotels where you would like to stay.

Cologne is worth one day, just to see the Cathedral. There is not much more to see there.

In Switzerland, Zurich is not much to see, so get out of there and go to Lucerne or Interlakken.

There are short river boat rides in Cologne- would those even be worth it to see architecture and maybe a castle or two along the river?

If not Cologne, is there another city along the west side of Germany on our way to Lucerne that would be a smarter stop?

Will look into adding 1 day to Paris. I know it's not 3-4, but better than 1.5 ha.

I want to add that we hope to go back one day, but for Italy, Greece, and other EU countries. No set plans as trips are VERY expensive. Flights alone are pricey. Add "middle of the road" hotels, boarding 3 rescue dogs, feeding us, etc. and wow! ha.

I have several friends and neighbors who are my age and have cancer. We live near a dangerous highway (so many dangerous highways in the world, so moving won't be a fix-all) where a few people die every year. The phrase "Tomorrow is not guaranteed" is quite in our faces in our personal lives. I know it goes for everyone, this is not a sob story. Our feelings are such that we want to see as much as we can while we are in Europe, should we be lucky enough to go. It's not the train of thought for everyone, but in our lives we definitely are shown how tomorrow is not a promise, so let's knock out what we can while we can. Thanks to everyone. I appreciate the helpful comments. Please keep them coming.

maybe a castle or two along the river?
If not Cologne, is there another city along the west side of Germany on our way to Lucerne

A previous poster suggested taking the slow train on the old route from Cologne to Frankfurt.
The ICE train takes the High Speed line. The old route is Cologne - Koblenz - Bingen - Mainz - Frankfurt. Between Koblenz and Bingen that is the Rhine Gorge section, and the train follows the river (slow, winding, scenic). Lots of small towns along that section to stop in. Castles by the dozen.

Map of the area here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Karte_Mittelrhein.png
You Tube video about getting a train through the Rhine Gorge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rhepsQaC3Q
Video about one of the towns along the Gorge (Boppard) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzEJDemcLrE

For what its worth, there are some approaches to traveling that enhance your ability to travel more. People come back to the forum after their first trip wanting to go back and starting to figure out the hacks for how to make that happen. We have 3 kids (and 2 dogs). Traveling for 5 is a budget challenge every year, and I take the challenge seriously ;) I [finally] got a credit card last year that offers points. I put all our bills onto it, plus pay for everything else with it that I can. We fly out of airports that offer the least expensive tickets, and figure out how to get there. Every year our travel depends on getting tickets under my set price limit. Places like Scotts cheap flights and google flights can give you examples of how much things can be. Then I set a limit for how much I will spend per night for lodging on average, and I burn up the computer trying to find [nice] places under that. As for the dogs, can you get a house-sitter? Do you have friends who have family visiting but may want their own place? My friend has an aunt who comes here for 3 weeks every summer. So for those 3 weeks, she stays at our house with our two dogs (and last year she brought her dog with her). No charge. If the dates dont line up, we pay a house-sitter around 25/day for the two dogs (this vs. 42/day per dog at the kennel, which stresses my dogs out anyway). I think many of RS forum folks are the same way; once you travel, it changes how you prioritize spending in all other areas of your life to make it happen more :)
Have a great trip

Chris F- you're speaking my language! That train ride is exactly what I am looking for!

Jessica- that sounds amazing. Not sure about a house sitter as we don't know one we trust. I like the idea, though, a lot.

Cologne is less interesting than your other destinations (much less so than Paris and Amsterdam). I would cut back to one night there and add a night in Paris. If you stick to two nights in Cologne, I would do a day trip to Aachen (half hour away by train).