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Need help paring down my 3 week intinerary Benelux/Germany! Too many places?

Posted by (Minneapolis, MN, USA) on

Hello fellow travelers!!

My wife and I are going to Benelux/Germany in Aug/Sept. We are starting in Amsterdam and leaving from Munich which are locked in. Here's my tentative itinerary in the meantime. I think these are all great places to see but I worry we'll spend too much time travelling via train and not taking it slower but I'm having a REALLY hard time cutting out any of these places as they all seem so great! We could rent a car up in the alps region (pick up after Rothenburg in Munich, return it in Munich after the alps or after Salzburg) but otherwise plan to train most of it due to convenience/cost.

What areas should I consider skipping to put more days in other cities on my list? Other recommendations? I'd hate to have days where I have nothing to do because "there's really only one day's worth of sites in Rhine Valley" for instance and feel like we could've made it to see more areas, but it's no fun being rushed all the time and moving from city to city.

The only things locked in are Amsterdam and Munich but I've done a lot of research and really like these towns I've picked in between, I just worry they are too many. We enjoy wine/beer, castles, churches, local food, local culture etc. More into medieval history and towns than WW2. Coming from the US.

Day 1 Friday Fly to Amsterdam

Day 2 Saturday Arrive in Amsterdam

Day 3 Sunday Amsterdam

Day 4 Monday Amsterdam

Day 5 Tuesday Day trip to Waterland/Ghent, etc (Still staying in Amsterdam)

Day 6 wednesday Travel to Bruges

Day 7 thursday Bruges

Day 8 friday Travel to Luxembourg City

Day 9 Saturday Luxembourg City

Day 10 sunday Luxembourg City (side trip to Trier)

Day 11 Monday Travel to Bacharach

Day 12 Tuesday Mosel/Rhine Area

Day 13 Wednesday Travel to Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Day 14 Thursday Rothenburg ob der Tauber area

Day 15 Friday Travel to Fussen/MIttenwald

Day 16 Saturday Fussen/MIttenwald area

Day 17 Sunday Fussen/MIttenwald area

Day 18 Monday Travel to Salzburg

Day 19 Tuesday Salzburg

Day 20 Wednesday Train to Munich in the morning

Day 21 Thursday Munich

Day 22 Friday Munich

Day 23 Saturday Fly Home from Munich

Posted by
7072 posts

Day 8 friday Travel to Luxembourg City
Day 9 Saturday Luxembourg City
Day 10 sunday Luxembourg City (side trip to Trier)
Day 11 Monday Travel to Bacharach
Day 12 Tuesday Mosel/Rhine Area
Day 13 Wednesday Travel to Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Day 14 Thursday Rothenburg ob der Tauber area
Day 15 Friday Travel to Fussen/MIttenwald
Day 16 Saturday Fussen/MIttenwald area
Day 17 Sunday Fussen/MIttenwald area

"More into medieval history and towns..."

I would re-do the above a bit.

Days 8-10 (11): Too much Luxembourg. Use Trier as a base. Visit Luxembourg en route to Trier or on a day trip from Trier - or skip it. Trier is ON the Mosel, so use it as a base for the Mosel towns of Bernkastel and Cochem. (Bacharach is a poor base from which to visit these Mosel towns.) Add a 4th night here?

Days 12-13: Travel to Bacharach, day trip to Braubach and never-destroyed Marksburg Castle - "unchanged from medieval times." And Oberwesel is right next door to Bacharach. Do a river cruise from Bingen to St. Goar.

Days 14-19: If you're into medieval towns, look into the ones that UNESCO has recognized with World Heritage status - Bamberg and/or Regensburg. Würzburg (northern end of the Romantic Road) has a UNESCO WH site as well and makes for a good travel base for a day trip by train to Rothenburg and/or Bamberg.

BAMBERG
REGENSBURG

The alpine towns on your days 15-17: cute and worthwhile on some level but relatively touristy and you have a lot of time wrapped up in those; you might want to slice a day off there.

Posted by
2487 posts

Day 2 Saturday Arrive in Amsterdam
Consider staying in Haarlem. Much nicer. Half an hour from Schiphol airport and 20 minutes from Amsterdam, with very frequent trains.
Day 5 Tuesday Day trip to Waterland/Ghent, etc (Still staying in Amsterdam)
I suppose Gent is a slip of the pen.
A trip to Broek in Waterland and Monnickendam can easily be combined with Hoorn, which is even better. The public transport planner www.9292.nl/en# will show you which buses to take to Hoorn and with which train to return.
Day 6 Wednesday Travel to Bruges
Day 7 Thursday Bruges
You might find Gent a much livelier city to stay than Brugge. Trains are frequent and take around one hour.
Day 15 Friday Travel to Fussen/MIttenwald
I totally agree with the suggestions above for Bamberg, Regensburg and Würzburg. All beauties.
After the real stuff around the River Mosel, you can hardly be impressed by the nineteenth-century fake near Füssen.

Posted by
13 posts

Thanks for your help! This gives me a lot to think about with these great recommendations.

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