Help with Trip to Europe

I would suggest looking into Bruges, which my wife and I really enjoyed. Also the Rhineland and/or Mosel Valley in Germany, and Baden-Baden / Black Forest. The French side near there Alsace -- I have researched this a lot because we are going there later this year and think it's a worthwhile stop.

Unless you have a reason to visit Zurich, I personally wouldn't. Since you say you like small towns and love beautiful scenery, I would definitely stop for 2 nights in the Berner Oberland--specifically, Murren/Gimmelwald. This area of the Swiss Alps is breathtaking and is on the way to your destinations in Italy. There's lots of hiking and a great hostel in Gimmelwald. Look it up in Rick's tour book.

Ariel,

If this is the first trip to Europe for both of you, I'd highly recommend pre-reading the Guidebook Europe Through The Back Door. It provides a lot of information on "travelling well" in Europe.

A trip of 19 days is not a long time, so you'll have to plan carefully to minimize the time you spend looking at Europe through the window of a train (some longer travel days will probably be inevitable).

One suggested Itinerary would be along these lines:

Day 1: Flight to Amsterdam

Day 2-3: Arrive in Amsterdam; touring

Day 4-5: To Bruges

Day 6-7: To Paris (although you didn't want a large city, it's a major transportation hub so would make the trip to the next stop easier and there's lots to see there!)

Day 8-10: To Switzerland (Zurich is one choice, but you could also consider the Berner Oberland / Gimmelwald or Lucerne)

Day 11-13: To Cinque Terre (travel time about 7H, depending on which train you choose and departure city)

Day 14-16: To Lago di Como (Varenna)

Day 16-18: To Milan (you could also take a day trip to Verona or Stresa while there)

Day 19: Flight home

There are lots of possibilities, but this is one choice that would fit that time frame.

Happy travels!

Thanks so much everyone. These are great tips. We really appreciate it. We hadn't considered going south through Paris (we were thinking Germany) but this sounds like a great itinerary. We appreciate it and look forward to even more.

-Ariel

You can use the European train websites to help you make choices about your route and where you will stop along the way. For this purpose I find the Swiss rail site www.rail.ch the simplest to use.

Let's say you decide to go to the Berner Oberland in Switzerland, instead of Zurich. If you put in Amsterdam and Interlaken Ost as your starting and ending points, it will show you that the most direct route is via Frankfurt; you can do the trip with only one train change.

To compare to a route with a stop in Paris, put Paris in the "via" block. You'll see that the trip via Paris is only slightly longer. Click on "show intermediate stops) to see the towns you will pass through along the way. going this way, you could choose to stop for a night in Strasbourg or Mulhouse. Or you could decide you want to spend more time in Switzerland, and continue straight to there. (It is only 5.5 hours from Paris to Interlaken Ost). But don't stay in Interlaken---continue the short distance to Lauterbrunnen and then on up to oe of the car-free villages perched high above the valley for beautiful scenery (and great food, at least in Wengen).

Another good choice in Switzerland would be Luzern, a lovely town on a lake, with nearby mountains you can visit by boat. cogswheel train and cablecar. Rigi is especially nice in June when the flowers are blooming.

From either the Berner Oberland or Luzern it is an easy trip to Milan to begin the Italian portion of your trip. 5.5 hours or so from Interlaken Ost; about 4 or 4.5 from Luzern.

Another vote to stray outside Zurich, Ariel. It's very "city" in my experience, and if you like small towns and scenery, the rest of the country is so incredibly beautiful.

I would take the suggestions here (ala down through France, into Switzerland), OR think about doing the Romantic road in Germany, down through Munich to Salzburg, then over to Milan. Another beautiful area to travel through, with lots of small towns in the German/Austrian lake districts.

You'd have your choice of going through Switzerland, to Milan, or down to Venice which would be more aggressive.

Sounds like a great time!