We are planning the last minutes trips, 3 weeks, to Europe for our daughter who will be starting school for her PhD in the fall. We are thinking about flying in either Geneva, Switzerland or Munich, Germany and flying back home from Portugal. We have never been to Switzerland or Germany but thought we would like to see a few places there before heading toward Spain/ Portugal. We have been to France several times but we have never been to the South of France so I am thinking about visiting either south of France or Madrid in the middle of our trip before heading towards Portugal. Am I doing too much for this 3 Weeks trip? Please help.
Posted by
North Carolina
2492 posts
You’re considering visiting six countries in three weeks. Sounds way too rushed to me.
Posted by
OP
San Jose, Ca, Usa
38 posts
Thanks for your reply. Sorry I didn’t stated it clearly as I didn’t meant to say that we wanted to visit all of these places. Because direct flights to Portugal/Spain are expensive now so we thought it would be better flying into Switzerland OR Germany and exploring a few places there before heading toward either South of France OR Madrid for the middle part of our trip. I listed a few places that we haven’t been to for suggestions but we definitely wanted to go is Portugal and may be Madrid. Thanks for helping.
Posted by
Green Bay
21142 posts
One thing to be aware of is that there is no direct train service between Madrid and Lisbon.
Suggest you trim this to Germany (with some Austria), Switzerland, and Portugal. You can a decent price from United going SFO to MUC, then GVA to LIS, then LIS to SFO (with change at EWR).
Posted by
OP
San Jose, Ca, Usa
38 posts
Thanks so much for your reply Sam. We would love to visit Austria but we don’t think it’s possible as it’s high times there and Flights are hard to find. We can do Switzerland, Austria, Porto and Lisbon. Right now we are holding flights for home from Lisbon. I am just worried that we are spending too much time traveling between countries. Is Germany worthwhile to visit? Thanks for your help.
Posted by
Green Bay
21142 posts
We would love to visit Austria but we don’t think it’s possible as it’s high times there and Flights are hard to find.
You don't fly to Austria, you fly to Munich, its only 1 1/2 hours to Salzburg by train. You can do southern Germany, Salzburg, Innsbruck, and several locations in Switzerland, ending in Geneva, then flight to Lisbon, train to Porto, back to Lisbon then home. Speaking of high times, Switzerland is expensive, but for 5 days or so, its worth it. Location, location, location, sayeth the real estate agents.
Posted by
OP
San Jose, Ca, Usa
38 posts
Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciated it as you have given me some places to start for our itinerary. Thanks again.