We are looking for an itinerary that starts in Milan and has 3/4 cities to visit
This is what we have so far. Please respond with your thoughts on the days we have scheduled. We have 10 days to play with. Am I missing an important city that needs to be seen?
Milan - 2 days
Lucerne-1 day
Salzberg- 2 days
Budapest-4/5 days
I'd simply skip Lucerne. I might even skip Salzberg. Milan 3 days, Salzberg 3 days, Budapest 4 days.
As far as "important city that needs to be seen", there are about 300. Here's the deal: FOMO (fear of missing out) is real. First-time travelers want to see everything. You simply cannot. It's best to pick a smaller number than you really want to, spend more time in each city. We were in N Italy last fall. We went to 6 cities in 22 days. We spent a minimum of 2 nights (3 days including travel) in each, although we spent 3 nights in Milan.
We took trains to get around - you will probably need to fly Milan-Salzberg - maybe train is possible. Certainly you can train Salzberg to Budapest.
Plenty to do in 3 cities. You'll have a great time.
Would you add Vienna?
Not if you only have 10 days. Is this 10 days or 10 nights (not including travel days at the beginning and end of your trip)?
I think 3 cities in 10 days is fine. Do the 10 days include arrival and departure? If they do, those are not full days. They are really travel days. Luckily, arriving in Milan (which we did in the fall) allows you to do some low-level things on Day 1 like eating dinner and walking around?
When is this trip?
The 10 days are not the travel days. So, we have 12 days. Trip is in Dec. 2023
Welcome to this newsboard with your first post, Allison.
Month of year? Previous European travel experience? Have you been to Venice and Rome already? Flying home from? U.S.A. origin?
So far, the city ideas are all over the map. Do you envision flying to Budapest? I find the time and stress of getting to an airport (and the total elapsed time for that day) to be a deal-breaker. I'd recommend cities that are closer. But you need to say expressly: "We rarely go to Europe and want to see multiple countries! We don't care about travel time." You have a lot of homework to do, on Google Maps and on maps like this one:
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/switzerland-rail-passes
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/austria-rail-passes
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/italy-rail-passes
(Of course you don't want a railpass for this trip, it's just the web address.)
On a two-week vacation during our working years, we flew NYC-Vienna-Innsbruck and then saw Innsbruck-Salzburg-Munich-Vienna. We flew home direct from Vienna. The Vienna to Salzburg segment on arrival day (Austrian Air) cost almost nothing extra, and had amazing mountain scenery from a commuter-type plane. To me, that's a sensible 4-city trip.
Why Milan?
Eliminate Lucerne
With Salzburg and Budapest would make more sense to fly into Munich
Munich
Salzburg
Vienna
Budapest
Otherwise you are looking at a LOT of travel tine
I agree to skip Lucerne this time. Is Milan because you want to see it or just because of flights? You might check all flight options - I know I unexpectedly found a fare right into Salzburg for cheaper than flying into Munich for myself this summer. Not what I would normally expect! If you fly into Munich or Salzburg, you could easily visit Salzburg, Vienna, and Budapest. That makes more sense than Milan and Lucerne. Be sure you check multi-city fares: into one city and out of your final city.
