train route/ time line help needed

A couple of thoughts since you planning this far out. 1) If you are cosnidering Eastern France, Switzerland and the French Riviera, you will have some backtracking to do to either get from the Berner Oberland to Nice or vis-a-versa. 2) We love Chamonix-Mt. Blanc. One very crazy idea is to take the gondola from Chamonix-Mt. Blanc to Italy. Barring bad weather, it should be open while you are there. We wanted to do this recently but the smaller segment from Aiguille du Midi to Italy was closed for the season. Once on the other side, you are actually in Switzerland and can easily get to the Berner Oberland. 3) you do have several legs with some 7-8hour train rides. Another suggestion is to prepare an Excel spreadsheet that maps out every night of your trip. The important part is to list where you will be staying each night and on which date. This will help avoid booking a hotel on the wrong night. Our trips are usually 3 weeks and we produce such a spreadsheet. Once each day is laid out, we begin filling in what we would like to do during that day. Just PM me with your email address and you you can have the spreadsheet. Here's a LINK to what it looks like. It's a bit anal but it really works. The daily stuff can easily change depending on how your day goes but our goal is to get a solid lock on our nights and hotels. For you son, I suggest parking him on a corner in Florence and he can watch the really cute Italian girls ride by on motorscooters. (Just teasing but they are really cute).

Alisa, Do have a travel planning map? My wife and I use the Rail Map Europe by Thomas Cook rail guides. The one we are presently using is the 18th edition. These maps are nice and big, and give you an idea how far one place is from another. You will also be able to find out where the railroads to as well as where you will have to change trains. I buy these maps from Amazon.

Thank you very much. I will look into buying the map you have suggested. Have you traveled in the eastern part of France? Are the places listed before Rome connected by major trains - do you know? I appreciate your comments.

Monte's recommendation of a rail map is great. For timetables, the best resource is the Bahn website: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en. They have schedules for all of Europe, but they won't have prices for trains completely outside of Germany. 26 days isn't as long as you think, if you really want to go to all these places. Even with one day in each, you'd be on the move almost every day. Remember you lose a half day for even the shortest place change. Unless you want to take a tour of train stations, pick about half the number of places you've listed, and enjoy them. For the trip you've outlined, you want to fly open-jaw (multi city), for instance, starting in Amsterdam and ending in Rome. Don't fly into and out of the same city just because it's cheaper, or fly to some cheaper place that's not convenient for your itinerary. (I see both of these mistakes all the time, and their my personal pet peeve). You can look at three week tours of Europe from Rick Steves (or another company) to get itinerary ideas. But remember, you can't go as fast on your own as a tour can, since they take care of all the logistics for you. If you really want to see everything on your list, take a tour. If you're doing it yourself, cut it down.

This is one of the multiple copies of the same question, with answers spread about among them. That can be quite confusing for the people trying to help...

Thank you everyone for your reply. After working on the schedule I have cut my list down and come up with: Paris(2), Colmar(2), Gimmelwald(3), Cinque Terre(1), Rome(3), Florence(1), Venice(2), Rothenburg(1), Tirol/Bavaria(2), Rhine(2), Amsterdam(2), Brussels(2) to London(2). = 21 day Railpass. Hope you all agree the days in the places are sufficient. And I hope the train routes work. I'm wondering about making the correct train reservations. Any input appreciated. Thanks

Each of those (2) will only be one actual day in the location, assuming that (x) means numbers of nights. Or do you mean when you say Paris (2) you are planning 2 whole days and 3 nights? If it is nights, then only one day in Paris isn't a lot. Have a look at what felicia has to say about Florence (in Trip Reports). One night in passing isn't enough time to to do it any justice. One whole day for London? It seems a little rushed, even if you just point out the highlights to your son out a taxi window. Is it really fair to him, or even to the other two of you? You'll certainly have time to see the inside of trains and other transport.

Thank you for your reply. I've taken your advice and cut some places. And other than a few days in Paris and in Rome we are wide open for back door experiences and would love your advice. Do you have ideas for alternate places to this schedule: Paris (3 nights) Colmar/ (2 nights) Gimmelwald (3 nights, night train to Rome if possible) Rome (3 nights) Venice (2 nights, night train to Munich) Salzberg/Halstat (2 nights) Munich/Fussen (2 nights) Rhine (3 nights) AmsterdamHaarlem (2 nights) Bruges/Brussels (2 nights)
London (3 nights)

For anything travelling on two tracks, consult www.seat61.com, which will help you understand the schedules you obtain from http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml
My personal advice: Keep cutting. Think of each stop as a place to stay and understand, not just "see."

Thank you for your advice - I will look up what you have suggested. My daughter and I have done three weeks to London, Paris, Florence, Cinque Terre, Rome,Venice, Munich. We followed all of RS advice. I like to be well prepared, but I know that it is harder for me just to enjoy. My daughter is a very free spirit and wants to just go and explore. My son will follow. I think cutting out a few of the biggies will help. I will keep working on it. Any other advice on smaller town experiences would help. Thank you.

Maybe start London > Paris, ending in Belgium. Why: Shorter easier trip. I still think you've got way too much, but at least simplify where possible.