itinerary help - need to fill in 3 days, help greatly appreciated!

If you haven't already gotten your tickets, I would suggest flying into Dublin and out of Paris, so you aren't backtracking, and have one fewer changes of lodging.

Also, consider dropping your rental car in Bruges. The train between Bruges and Brussels is simple and easy, and then you won't have to worry about parking in Bruges or driving in Brussels. Unless you need the car for day trips from Bruges. But that might be easier by train, as well.

I don't have any advice about those 3 days, except maybe to add time to Paris. At that time of year, you could end up with rainy and cold weather; it's easier to find indoor activities in the larger cities.

If you like beer, in Brussels, we kept returning to Moeder Lambic, Place Fontainas 8; in Bruges, we liked Bierbrasserie Cambrinus, Phillip Stockstraat 19, which is actually a restaurant that we liked (not only the beer).

Enjoy!

Have you priced out the car rental and found it agreeable? I would say that you could pick up the car later, not needing it during your stay in Munich. Train to Salzburg is also easy, and you probably don't need the car there either. The cheapest rental rate is usually to pick up and drop off within one country, in this case, Germany. If you wait until leaving Salzburg on Thursday, the closest German car rental location looks Freilassing, a 12-minute ride on the S-Bahn from Salzburg, offering Hertz, Avis, or Europcar. For the same reason, you might drop the car at Koeln or Aachen and switch to train there. www.autoeurope.com can be a good spot to compare prices.

Thanks all!! Yes, we have already booked everything (rental car including the different country dropoff, which wasn't bad actually!, flights, and all hotels except for that 3 day section of our trip which we're trying to figure out where to go - likely somewhere in Germany or Belgium.

If you haven't already gotten your tickets, I would suggest flying into Dublin and out of Paris, so you aren't backtracking, and have one fewer changes of lodging.

Also, consider dropping your rental car in Bruges. The train between Bruges and Brussels is simple and easy, and then you won't have to worry about parking in Bruges or driving in Brussels. Unless you need the car for day trips from Bruges. But that might be easier by train, as well.

I don't have any advice about those 3 days, except maybe to add time to Paris. At that time of year, you could end up with rainy and cold weather; it's easier to find indoor activities in the larger cities.

If you like beer, in Brussels, we kept returning to Moeder Lambic, Place Fontainas 8; in Bruges, we liked Bierbrasserie Cambrinus, Phillip Stockstraat 19, which is actually a restaurant that we liked (not only the beer).

Enjoy!

Does your hotel offer parking? Check this carefully. Otherwise, you may find it difficult to find a spot for your rental car. Parking in the center of Munich is notoriously scarce. And it's one of the few cities in Germany that is particularly difficult to navigate by car.