Europe Itinerary

Ooh, sounds busy! With only 10 days on the ground, I'd skip Munich and Paris and concentrate on Italy (or visa versa). You have just 2 nights in each of your 5 destinations. You'll spend all your time packing and unpacking and traveling and not much time soaking up the culture that everyone goes there to discover. IMHO, 3 nights at each stop would be more reasonable. Fly into Venice and out of Rome. Besides, you want to leave some things on the bucket list for your next trip.

First, Rick Steves himself does not frequent this board. We are all "members of the traveling public," just like yourself. Second, the trip you outlined will be an expensive blur; you will spend a lot of time and money in transit, and actually see very little. Remember that the first day is often a jet lagged haze; if your arrival day is all you have for Munich before getting on a plane to leave, that's a waste of time. I had written a whole post telling you to skip Munich and Paris, but I see you've already booked your air. So, you are stuck with starting in Munich and ending in Rome. In this case, I say skip Paris entirely (you just don't have time). Paris is my favorite city, so this hurts to say, but I think you'll be sorry if you shoehorn it in. Remember that changing between even close cities like Rome and Florence takes a half day (check out of first hotel, get to train station, take train, get to second hotel, check in...). Getting between further-flung cities, or flying, takes most of a day. And using Ryanair takes longer, because for both Paris and Venice they use far away airports. If you really want to fly between Paris and Venice, use Easyjet, which uses close-in airports. For train schedules, look at Rick's advice. For where to stay and how to get around, get Rick Steves Italy and Munich. For inexpensive accomodations, you can look at Eurocheapo.com, hostelbookers.com, and hostelworld.com, as well as Rick's extensive listings in his books.

If you are thinking about using ryanair between Paris Beauvais and Venice Treviso, I'd suggest that you reconsider and look at EasyJet instead. Ryanair uses the Beauvais airport which is 1.5 hours from Paris. Also, ryanair charges extra for many things. For example, if you don't print your own boarding pass in advance, they will charge you a ridiculous amount. Read and understand their rules and extra fees before you book travel with them. Ryanair may look cheaper, but consider all the extra fees they charge and the extra cost to get to the airports that are farther away from the cities. I'd suggest that you look at easyJet between Paris Orly and Venice Marco Polo instead. Make sure your luggage is within the limits; if it is not, then pay at the time of booking to check. It is not necessary to buy the insurance from the airline.

WOW! That's a lot of cities in a short time frame! I did it once, and never, ever again! Take the word of someone who made this mistake and take two cities and one country off the list for the following reasons. 1. Every time you change cities (even within the same country) takes up about a half day by the time you check out of a hotel, transport to train or bus, and then travel to the next city and transport to hotel check in, etc. You're wasting a lot of days that should be spent enjoying the city you're in! 2. Trains and busses are expensive. So are flights. 3. even though you're taking an over-night flight and over-night train, you don't really sleep! You've got to factor in some rest time! It appears that you're flying into Munich just to wander around during the day (?) and then overnight to Paris? Why not just fly right into Paris and save Munich for another trip? If this is your first flight to Europe, you will be surprised at how brain dead you are upon arrival, and that can
last for 2 days, even when you're young! First days usually you check into a hotel, take a 2 hour nap, get up see a few sights, go to bed Europe time and day 2 start your real trip! If you cannot change your flight into Munich, I'd say find a hostel and stay for two nights, then fly into Venice and save Paris for another trip. I've been to ALL of these places a number of times (except Munich), and NONE of them can be seen in a day and a half, which is more time than you've alloted for any of them. Another option because of the time of year would be to skip Venice (because it will be cold and miserable) and go directly into Rome and really enjoy THAT city! continued........

I don't know if your flights are "etched in concrete" or if they're changeable, but DO take some cities or a country off the list. Maybe Paris (?) Paris deserves some tiiiiimmmme! You could just do Munich and Paris on this trip if you can change your flight home. If you're locked in to the Munich and Rome flights, I'd actually suggest just doing those TWO cities and enjoy them. At any rate, please let us all know what you decide! We're all cheering for a successful and fun trip for you! I am assuming you have Rick's books on the countries you're going to. If not DO pick them up! I'm a budget traveler, but don't stay in hostels any longer. He has lists of safe/clean hostels for most of these cities, and
this is especially important for young women.

I suggest since you have flights booked, is a couple of days in Munich, then down to Italy and home from there, skip Paris this trip. I assume you have not traveled much or to Europe before and many people who are like that want to cram too many places in one trip as they are afraid they won't get back and I am one of them. Believe me, we "did" France, Austria and Germany in I swear was four days, just kidding,but every time we went from one place to another, it took a lot of time. Cut down your places so you can enjoy.

When traveling thru Europe, you need to take the path of least resistance. And Munich to Rome is a straight shot with plenty of great scenery and cities. Spend a few days in Munich and then take a train east to Salzburg. Then take a train from Salzburg to Venice (thru Innsbruck). Train ride into Florence (150 miles). Train ride to Rome. 4 major cities in 17 days is just about perfect. If you took on Paris, it would put you past the point of no return. You'd have to fly 2 ways Italy is so full of culture, food, architecture and art to spend much longer than the time you have.
Read RonInRome.com for tips on how to negotiate their mass transit and where to stay in the city.

Listen to all of the advice you have been given! Your trip will definitely be a blur and you will spend SO much time in transit between places that you really won't feel as though you've "seen" any one place well. I would immediately contact the airlines and see if you can change one of your flights so that you can cut out 2 countries! There may be a fee to change your flights but I think it would be worth it in the long run. I personally would spend the entire 13 days in Italy but then again your question is posted to the Italy section of the Helpline so I and many of the folks in this section are partial to Italy. To really soak in Paris & Rome alone, I would suggest a minimum of 4-5 full days in each place and even then you will barely skim the surface. Do yourself a favor and rethink your itinerary. The only way I would consider a pace as fast as you're proposing is if I were on an organized tour in which case all the logistics are handled for me. We took an organized bus tour in Europe several years ago in which we visited 4 different countries in about 2 weeks but we didn't have to worry about schlepping our luggage onto/off of trains, planes, buses, etc. and we didn't have to worry about many of the things that you'll be faced with. Have a great trip!

Skip Paris this trip! My husband and I love, love, love Munich and are about to end a fourteen day trip in Italy with a five day trip back to Munich. It's a fun and great place. There is a wonderful hostel there-Wombat's. Check it out. On our last trip, we took our adult children. They stayed at Wombat's and we had a second stay at the Hotel Europäischer Hof directly across the alley (we love their breakfast). Do a walk-through of the Hofbrauhaus, have a beer, see the drunks, and then move on to better places near the Marienplatz. If you have a car, take a trip to Andechs. This has the best weissbier, in my humble opinion, but it is also an emotional attachment from my dad's experience at the end of WWII. Enjoy a few days in Munich and then pick a few spots in Italy to meander through. The worst trips I've ever taken have been the ones I've tried to pack too much into. If this is your first trip to Europe, it won't be your last. Once you see how easy it is to get around, you will start planning your next trip when you are on the plane ride home. Slow down and enjoy!

I agree with cutout Paris, just not practical, plus that gives you 12 tired hours in Munich. My suggestion: Munich 2 days Fly to Venice 3 days Train to Florence 3 days
Train to Rome 5 days

I'm not keen on Ryanair as they are sticklers for carry on luggage limits and every other rule they have. You can use www.edreams.com to find flights between european cities and they will display the 'low cost" airlines as well. You can then easily see what the prices are and the differences. There are many more low cost airlines in Europe than you might think - ryanair, easyjet, air niki (which might be very helpful if you are determined to keep Paris in the mix), blu express, etc. The edreams site will help you find these. Many low cost airlines charge you for paying with a credit card, they have restrictions on luggage weight, carry on luggage restrictions etc., but they can be very cheap. I would not buy insurance for flights within europe.