We have airline tickets arriving into Geneva Switzerland and departing out of Amsterdam, with 9 nights in between. Here is a list of things we are interested in, but suggestions from you who know the geography would help. We are active, but don't want the trip to be so frantic that we try to do too much. The countries we will visit 1. Switerzerland - by train, stopping for short visits in scenic towns?? 2. France - Paris & Burgundy area 3. Day of sightseeing in Amsterdam Can we also manage to visit any of the places below? If so, is travel by train recommended? We have 4 people, and I suspect that if we stop at many cities, the cost will be much higher than renting a car? 3. Castles in germany ?
4. Cinque terre? Please offer advise for a smooth itinerary. Debra
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
"Also, since we are going in June, is it advisable to rent a car or stick to train transportation?" The answer depends completely on what you wanted to see in your 9 days.
Posted by
Reston, Virginia
403 posts
Well this is pretty open-ended, but the length of the trip imposes certain restrictions on you, I think. As I understand it, you arrive in Geneva on day 1 and depart Amsterdam on Day 10. Working backward, that means you arrive by train in Amsterdam from Paris on Day 9. That means, of course, that you only have about from lunch on rather than a full day in Amsterdam. That means Paris is (assuming four days, which is the minimum I would allocate to this great city) Days 8, 7, 6, 5. So really you are talking about getting from Geneva to Paris via Burgundy in four days. Doable, but I would drop Swiss villages to say nothing of Italy. My suggestion would be to pick up a rental car at the Geneva Airport (french side of border...I know, it's strange). Drive to Beaune on Day 1. Spend days 1, 2, 3 based in Beaune seeing Burgundy. On Day 4, return the car at the Lyon Airport, take a tram into the city center, check your bags, do a quick blitz of Lyon, and in the evening take the TGV to Paris. Others may have far better suggestions, but you might consider this as at least a starting point. In general, when you know when and where you have to depart for the US, I find working backward makes itinerary planning easier.
Posted by
Ottawa
1446 posts
First of all, you certainly can't include the castles in Germany or Cinque Terre in the time that you have; especially since, as was well pointed out by Roe, your time is "boxed" in by your return from Amsterdam... I would stick with the suggestion of picking up a car shortly after your arrival. MAKE SURE that your pick-up point is technically in France, as it will greatly affect the cost of the drop-off charge if you don't. You have received good advice here, about returning the car where you can catch a train into Paris (at least 2 full days), then train on to Amsterdam. If a fast pace is what you're looking for, in order to see & do as much as possible in a short time, consider driving down to the Beaune area, then head back up towards Strasbourg (to return the car and catch the TGV) =} maximum scenery + wine!
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
Debra, you've gotten lots of good advice here. but I would just make one logistical addendum. There is no reason to drive all the way from Beaune to Strasbourg to return your car, since you can take the train to Paris (with a short trip to Dijon and a transfer to the TGV) from Beaune. Total trip time would be about 2 hours. Of course, Alsace is very worth seeing, but given your time constraint I would stick to one or the other.