Reasonable 21 Days?

I agree with Bob 4-5 nights in Rome and Munich each is a lot unless you have something specfic in mind that would take a lot of time. Personally, I am in love with Venice, but it is sort of out of your way. I would spend more time in Germany on the way back to Paris. Your railpasses should make that possible. Have a great trip!

It's really a nice schedule. You're getting to see a lot of Europe. A couple of thoughts. There's not much in Pisa but a leaning tower. And, it's a bit out of the way between Rome and Interlaken. You might look at going another hour north to the Cinque Terre and spending a day there (although we did get off the train at Pisa to see the leaning tower). Note that you have a lot of train time between some of your destinations unless you are flying between some of these cities. While in Italy, you are only staying at Rome and Pisa. Hmmmm. It's a shame to miss Florence or Venice on your way north (although we did skip Rome on our recent trip). We need to go back.

Wow, sounds like you'll be hitting a lot of highlights.

While in Barcelona, I definitely recommend visiting the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, and Tibidabo. These all require some walking/climbing (hills/stairs). Use the hop-on, hop-off bus that loops around to the major sights (Bus Turistic, it was called when we were there, 6 years ago -- you can buy passes for X number of days).

Enjoy!

Yeah, the stop in Pisa was going to be a off-train, have lunch, see the tower, on-train...a few hours maybe.

Couple of thoughts. I would consider coming home from Munich and save the cost/time of back tracking to Paris. Open jaw tickets can sometimes be cheaper. If it is $70/person, you will be OK. If you mean 50 Euro a night for two, cannot be done. The declining dollar could be in the range of $1.50 at that time.

Read some good guide book and THEN ask specific questions. It is not reasonable to ask anyone to answer that question -- it would take hours.

Frank

Paris - I would suggest you view the Eiffel Tower at night from directly across the Seine when it is bathed in lights. It is awesome. We got some great pictures. Don't recall the name of the complex.

Versailles is a must for a day trip in my opinion.

I would recommend you spend more time in Interlaken area - day trips to Lauterbrunnen, Wengen and Murren.

We took an castle tour from Munich to Neuschwanstein which was very interesting.

Enjoy yur trip.

Thanks Frank. I was just trying to get some general info for some starting points. Some peoples' favorite places in those areas.

The obvious touristy stops are a given, Eiffel Tower, Coliseum, leaning tower in Pisa, etc.

This is our first of many trips to come, so there will be plenty of opportunity to see Florence, etc. We'd like to catch the highlights on this first trip.

Our airfare is already purchased and locked in, as are our Select Rail passes. Bought airfare on US Airways miles so only paid taxes.

JB, the castle(s) is one of the main reasons for going to Munich.

It will be very difficult to find accomodation for $70/night per room unless you are willing to have a shared bathroom and a very basic room. B&B's will be nearly impossible to book for $70/night. Try the Perfect Hotel in Paris (Montmartre), a private double is $60-70/night with shared bathroom. Check out Let's Go guidebooks for each of the coutnries you'll be visiting - they list incredibly cheap accomodations that most other guidebooks fail to mention. Munich and Interlaken are very expensive, you'll be lucky to get a bed in a hostel dorm for less than $30/person/night. Should be able to find something in your price range for Barcelona/Italy. Also try eurocheapo.com and easyhotel.co.uk for ideas.

Thanks Jennifer...when I said $70 USD, I meant $100 USD, or about €70.

I think I have overnight stays in Paris (€70), Barcelona (€75), Rome (several great choices; considering Il Rosario Convent right near the Coliseum) and Interlaken.

A really nice B&B in Interlaken (http://www.rugenpark.ch/) is CHF85.00, about $72 as quoted, already been in contact, so I think that's handled too.

A couple of the overnights are on boat (Grimaldi Ferry suite from Barcelona to Civitavecchia) and train.

Haven't even started looking in Munich yet, so I'm open.

Hi Chris,

When you are in Munich, you can have a day trip to Dachau (concentration camp memorial site).
http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/englisch/content/
The Hotel that I stayed while I was in Munich: Hotel Uhland (I paid about 70 euro/ night). Check out the website: http://www.hotel-uhland.de
It's very nice Hotel and close to the Marienplatz

Hope this little info helps.
Have fun!

Hi, what a fun trip, , I too say skip Pisa, it is so much nothing, but oh well. I would take a day from Munich and add it to Interlaken, but then I that is purely my personal preferance.

I think you can find CLEAN< DECENT< places to stay WITH private facilities. You just have to be willing to look now, do some research and book early.
I found a place in Paris, cost us 60 euros a night, but that was two summers ago. It even had a/c and was with a 15 minute walk off Notre Dame.
I like Ricks books , but anything recommended in there goes up in price. So try lookin gon tripadvisor.com , they have a hotel reveiw site I have used to book three different hotels and I was quite satisfied each time.

I've been considering a longer stay in Interlaken, I hear more and more people saying that, including an associate that's been there.

I did find a great site for B&B's in Munich for anybody interested. Killer prices.

http://www.bedandbreakfast.de/muenchen/index.php?lang=en

IMHO:

I would drop a day in Rome and 2 days in Munich to add 3 more days for Paris. Have a great trip!

Chris, I think your itinerary is very well thought out. We did exactly what Larry said about Pisa, we got off the train, walked to the tower, took our pictures, and got back on the train. BUT, we were going from Cinque Terre to Rome and it's right on the way... If you want a hotel in Munich for 70 Euro, you could stay at Hotel Kurpfalz, ensuite bathroom and a nice breakfast (their coffee was AWESOME!)
http://www.kurpfalz-hotel.de/indexe.htm
In Rome, we stayed in the neighborhood Trastavere, at Hotel Trastevere. It's 103 Euro for a double. It was more difficult to find a hotel in Rome for cheap...
When we were in Munich, we booked a factory tour of BMW and it was quite interesting... IF you and your spouse are not easily offended,you should consider the Discover Munich free bike tour. It was the highlight of our three week trip to Europe! You get to see most of the highlights of Munich during the 4 hours and you stop midway at Chinesischer Turm for lunch and a beer! Great fun...

That ferry to Rome is a very creative touch! I hope you have a wonderful time.

Only a few suggestions: consider a night train to Barcelona, and stay in the mountains in Switzerland rather than Interlaken.

Also, a fifth day (or even a sixth) in Paris would probably trump a fifth day in Munich, but of course tastes vary.

As much as I like large cities for the sites and museums, I love going to the countryside. I would stay in Rome 3-4 nights and stay in Orvieto (a quaint hill town) for 1 night. It's an hour train ride from Rome in Umbria. Lots of great places to stay. We stayed at Hotel Valentino. I think your stop in Pisa sounds good--we enjoyed it. I would not stay in the city of Interlaken, but in the alps in Murren. Interlaken is very touristy. I would also stay 4 nights in Munich unless you take a day trip to Salzburg--5 nights is too many. While in Paris, take a day trip to Chartres--charming town with a beautiful cathedral. Versailles is also a must. What an exciting time for the two of you. I'm sure it will not be your only trip.

Just wanted to add to what the other posters have said, you have a pretty good start. First would recommend skipping the ferry because you can fly very cheap barcelona to rome on either click air or vueling airlines.

Don't spend more than 3 days in Rome you'll go mad, most of Rome can be done in a couple days including Vatican, also do not stay overnight in Pisa, my suggestion would be to take the extra nights from Rome and the night in Pisa and go stay in cinque terre. You can take the train from Rome you can see the leaning tower in just a couple hours from Pisa head to cinque terre for at least 2 nights you'll be glad you did!

If cinque terre doesn't peak your interest try florence or venice, which I found way more enjoable than Rome!

I would also recommend at least 5-6 in Paris there is so much to see and do there I felt with 6 days I barely scratched the surface. Versilles is an easy day trip and a must, one of my most favortive experiences.

Many other posters may recommend staying in the mountains instead of Interlaken (definately a preferable option in summer and winter), but realize that the mountain resorts (and Gimmelwald) virtually shut down for tourists in the shoulder season. I don't know about March, but the mountain resorts are definately closed by mid-April.

In my opinion 4-5 nights in Munich is too much.I don't know what you are intersted to see there but
there are just few things to see, and you can do it in a few hours, if you don't walk of course.
Of course it's nice to just walk a round and stop for a coffee , but I wouldn't stay more then 2 nights in Munchen.
have a nice trip!

I'm interested in Cinque Terre, as I've had numerous people mention it. I can't find a city by that name, is it a region? When I pull it up on Google Maps, I get an area that seems to extend from Riomaggiore through Corniglia, and up to Vernazza or Monterosso al Mare. Is this the right area, and if so, what town are you guys suggesting to stay in?

Cinque Terre means 5 lands and it's a group of 5 small towns sittuated next to each other. I know you can take the train, but not sure how.
As far as I know, you can stop in any of cities , they are really small.
Take a look at http://www.cinqueterre.it/

Sounds like fun! I would suggest checking into renting an apartment in both Paris and Rome. We stayed in a fab place last October with our three kids and I am currently looking at our apartment options for a trip to Rome in March, 2008...there are thousands. You can find studio apartments in your price range in both cities easily. There are numerous websites offering lists of available apartments. Good luck!

For your longer stays, Paris, Rome, Munich, you might check out the website vrbo.com We have used vrbo state side several times and always been happy. I've also seen that people on the RS grafitti wall have used vrbo in Europe succesfully. Good luck and have a great trip. Heading to some of those places myself in June.
Margaret

We just returned from 21 days, the best were Paris,Rome,from Interlacken consider Lauterbrunnen valley, it is a slice of Heaven on Earth. Just remember the Euro is high so dollars don't go a long way. We thought food was kind of expensive, especially in Switzerland.