This is our First Trip ????

There are several French towns named La Coste - I'm guessing yours is in Dordogne? The 2nd leg to Lauterbrunnen may take you 9 or 10 hours, so not much time to stop & see anything. Sounds like you're planning a day trip to Munich from Rothenburg - it's really too far away to leave you much time to do anything, plus, unless it's Sunday, you may not want to deal with the traffic congestion. I'd suggest returning the car before you get to Paris and stay in the city. With only 2 nights, you'd be wasting precious time commuting from the Orly area. You might also think about making Brugge 2 nights & Paris 3. Have a great trip!

www.viamichelin.com will give you travel time from point A to point B, you need to know that to plan for the kind of experience you would want to have.

The big thing is to accurately plan travel time.

I try to stop for a couple days (or more) in each place (sometimes it's just overnight, but you get worn out if you string too many one-night stops together).

On travel days, I try to keep it to three or four hours driving time (check out viamichelin.com). Each travel day requires packing, checking out, stops for meals/snacks and some sites on the road, finding your lodging, checking in, unpacking and getting settled. Three to four hours of driving seems easy but more often than not turns into a full day. Trying to make a ten hour drive in one day becomes grueling and tends to make everyone grumpy.

It does seem like a lot of driving. Be sure to "pad" the Michelin times by a good 20% to allow for normal confusion and also serendipity.

You might consider flying or taking the train for the first leg of your trip, or even just renting locally when needed. Its not clear to me how Munich fits in.

You have picked some stellar destinations and my only suggestion would be to think carefully about the stresses and fatigues of the road--it would be a shame not to enjoy where you to the fullest.

The drive from Lauterbrunnen to Rothenburg will consume the better part of an entire day. Expect a few hours drive from Rothenburg to Munich. If you also add a side-trip to Dachau, don't plan on returning to Rothenburg until quite late. Then, prepare youself for the Rothenburg to Brugge route. Via Michelin estimates 6 hours of travel time, but I can't imagine anyone could realistically drive this in less than 8, and 9 hours wouldn't surprise me either.

Ann, your post sounds like many 1st timers. Sounds like my first time too! LOL. As others posted, keep in mind the travel time, and allow yourself to see the sites. On paper its 3 nights, but realistically its 1.5 maybe 2 nights because you have to leave, travel and arrive.

Assume you will be back. If you don't have time for Munich this time (for example) put it on your "to do" for next visit.

I thought my first visit was my last. Now, in 3 year's time I'll be heading back for my 5th? 6th? visit.. you see, I lost count already! LOL

Hello Ann. That is five countries in 13 days. For people going on their first trip to Europe, I usually recommend going to less than five countries in 13 days. And driving a car in Europe can cause mental tension. Why not just ride in trains ? I do not see when Munich fits in. I would not want to drive from Rothenburg to Brugge in one day. Perhaps you could stop for the night at KOBLENZ or KOLN, on your way to Brugges. And be at Rothenburg only 2 nights. You could go to all those countries in this trip. But, because you will be in the western half of western Europe, this is an oportunity to see more of France. (France has a great variety of places). Germany could wait until your next trip to Europe. In your next trip you could go to the eastern half of western Europe : including Germany and Austria.

Thanks for all your info. After reading all the posts I have decided to change my thought process. I also thought I would explain that I feel the car will be easier for us. The reason we are ending up in Germany is because we want to get to Belgium where my husbands grandfather was from. I have now decided that we will keep the idea of getting to Lauterbrunnen from Provence because I have arrangements made for accomodations that I do not want to change. When we leave Lauterbrunnen I am wondering if we could just wing it. How easy will it be in early June to find a place to stay when we get somewhere. By doing this we would leave ourselves open to only have to travel as far as we wanted in a day. I agree I think Munich is out and we will stay more towards eastern France or Western Germany moving towards Belgium. Do you think the winging it would work?

In June, I recommend telephoning a hotel or B & B for a reservation, a minimum of 24 hours before the time you want to be there. And bring with you information about many hotels and B & Bs. When you will be in Europe, you might want to stay in western Switzerland for a few days. Going to Germany may not be important in this trip. You could travel from Switzerland north to the Alsace region in France (it looks similar to western Germany, and some towns in Alsace have German names. The castle Haut Koenigsbourg sounds German). And travel from Alsace to Belgium. Germany is great, but I think traveling long distances on land is not the best way to enjoy being in Europe.