Wandering for a week.

Exorbitant. 🤷🏿‍♀️
Sorry.

Definitely do not rent a car; not knowing the rules of the road in a foreign country can lead to exorbitant traffic fines

Getting to the Alps takes time, not to mention expense. You can't fly in/out. You need to take trains (probably with changes). It is likely to take you a whole day to get there and a whole day to get to Rome. You need at least 2 full days and even then, you may not get good weather - meaning the peaks may be shrouded in clouds with zero visibility. That's 4 days out of your week.

You could spend 4 nights in Paris and see a bit of the city, then 3 nights in Amsterdam, then fly to Rome. With your trip only a couple months away, you aren't likely to find great bargains on train or plane tickets. But the sooner you buy, the cheaper they'll be even now.

Sorry, but it’s unrealistic to see Paris, Amsterdam and the Alps in a week unless you want to spend most of your time in transit. I would consider this to be a 2 week itinerary, allowing half a day or more to switch destinations.

Train tickets will be more expensive if you buy them on or close to the day of travel. If you only have a week, why do you want to leave your itinerary open? If you had a month, I could understand wanting some flexibility. Will your first day or 2 be lost to jet lag? You can easily find enough to keep you occupied in Paris for a week.

April means school holidays, so places will be busier. Several of the Amsterdam attractions need to be booked in advance. I looked many weeks ago at accommodation in Amsterdam for April - many places were booked up plus it’s the most expensive month for accommodation due to the bulb fields being at their peak.

Take the train between Paris and Amsterdam then fly to Rome.

No offense intended, but based on what you're saying, you do not seem to be very well prepared for this trip that's coming up very quickly. You're asking some really basic questions that suggest you need to do a lot more planning and research than I would expect from anyone less than 2 months from landing in Europe. To some of your questions and some implied issues...

How much time do you really have in Europe - not counting the day you arrive nor the day you depart? Be honest. Most first-time travelers lie to themselves and end up miserable because they have an impossible itinerary which they come to regret.

You are proposing to "do" Paris and some "wandering around", Amsterdam, "somewhere in the Alps", then a week in Rome. That's not realistic nor wise (unless you are OK with having a trip that's mostly a blur).

You are correct that by having no plan, you will pay a lot of money needlessly (you'll also probably be disappointed at what your options are, since the best/most economical accommodations book up many months in advance). Prices for train tickets go up up up as the date of travel approaches (just like flight tickets do).

Sounds like you've never rented a car overseas before. Yes, if you're planning to drive, you will need an "International Drivers Permit", which is actually quick and easy to get, at any local AAA (American Automobile Association) office - find a local office and go get the permit - if you will be driving. It'll be $25-$30 and just takes a few minutes, but you must have this (along with a valid US state drivers license) in order to drive legally in many countries (including those you want to visit).

Car rentals are not cheap, but can be a great option - but it all depends on the particulars - so (again) you need to know where you plan to go. One thing to be aware of: if you rent a car in one country and turn it in in another country, you will almost always get hit with a shocking expensive "one way drop off fee" (like maybe $500-$1000) - you need to check for that (the fees are not consistent).

In much of Europe, a car is a useless, expensive headache. In other parts, it's almost essential. In some places, it just gives you the freedom to "wander" and go where you want. So you need to know where you are planning to go so you can decide what transportation makes sense, what the costs would be, and what you're willing to pay for. In/around Paris, Amsterdam and Rome, you do not want a car! "The Alps" is more complicated (a car might be nice, but there are trains that may work just as well), but honestly, that part of your trip seems problematic, so maybe you will be fine with skipping that (and skipping the car altogether).

Assuming you have about 12 days on the ground in Europe, that's enough for 2 or 3 places (specific places, not general regions), and I would suggest you stick to Paris, Amsterdam, and Rome. That's doable, and can be done at an enjoyable pace that lets you actually experience these places, not just blow through them. Fly in to Paris, take the train to Amsterdam, fly to Rome, fly home from there. Buy your train tickets and flights now to avoid extreme sticker shock. Then book your accommodations ASAP. Save "The Alps" and "wandering around" for another trip where you have more time to spend, and have done more advance planning.

April is coming up fast. You need to get cracking and do the detailed planning now that allows you to enjoy your trip then. Without planning, you will be bouncing from one crisis to another, spending oodles of money needlessly, missing out on the good stuff, and feeling bummed out because your trip isn't the carefree experience you would like.

You still have time to pull this off, but it's time to light a fire. Giddyup.

In November you were looking for advice for an April trip to Italy, for your family of 6, with special interest in an agritourismo stay for a couple of members of your group. Those plans seem to have changed entirely since then. In answer to your question about "special licensing" for a rental car, you can refer to the information given to you in your November thread.

The point of my trip is to not plan so much. Very fluid. At 40, our lives are very planned out. We like the idea of being open. I’ve bedn to Paris, Amsterdam, and Swiss Alps before so I’m aware of my timetable.
I thought the point of this forum was to be helpful and encouraging but all I got from most of the comments was very condescending and generally unhelpful so I guess we all wasted our time. Some of you have a lot of time on here to read previous threads so to fill you in, yes, I’m still doing Italy in my second week. Rest assured, that’s completely planned out.
Despite the novellas written above, I’m still pretty excited about my trip. ☺️
For the ones who offered help, thanks!

I've come to enjoy trips where I don't plan so much, but I still need a plan around not planning, y'know? It's very difficult to "not plan so much" and see 3 places very far away from each other in a week without spending a fortune and a lot of time in transit.

Anyway, I'm sorry that people being helpful were so offensive to you. I'm sure you'll figure it out just fine on your own!

I had not seen your earlier posts - looks like you had specific questions and got some answers. I usually try to be very kind but this post sounded a bit off the wall. You were probably writing in a hurry in excitement, but it really did sound like you had no experience at all.

Your trip SHOULD be exciting for you. To answer your specific questions, for the long distances you are talking about, you do pay quite a bit more for the privilege of being spur of the moment on trains. But it’s doable. Flights would also be more expensive and also perhaps less available last minute.

Car rental is sometimes a good option but you are talking about 3 different countries and you would most likely have large extra costs for renting in one country and dropping off in another - if it’s even allowed, it’s not practical.

Amsterdam to Sorrento is a lot of distance. Of course it’s doable - whether or not it’s worth it is up to you, though. You would have about a day in each place, if you have 7 days to cover that distance.

There is a lot of good information on the forum for all these areas, including the websites for purchasing train tickets and budget airlines that fly from place to place. Really, though, I think you already knew that being spontaneous was going to cost you. And only you can decide how valuable that is in real dollar amounts. Which means you will need to just price the tickets from place to place, price the flights, and price the car rental and then decide what works for you.

My husband and I have a trip I info up in April

I have no idea what this sentence means.

You mention going to Paris, Amsterdam, and the Alps in a weeks time before going to Rome.

Next you state spending your 2nd week in Rome

You ask a series of broad questions about transportation method and costs, but give no specifics of origin and destinations.

And lastly you complain that some responses were 'offensive'.

Ask a clear question and you will get clear answers. Leave everyone guessing about what you are trying to accomplish, and you will get answers/replies that you find useless.

You get what you pay for.

Good luck, enjoy your trip.

If you'd written that you'd already been to those places and knew how long it would take, I wouldn't have responded, figuring you know best. Now I don't understand what you wanted to know.