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Feedback on itinerary-Germany,Switzerland,Italy

Posted by (Cloverdale) on

Never been to Europe before and really need feedback on this itinerary, especially at what point should I try to fit in Interlaken/Murren. I will be using a 21 consecutive day global rail pass to get around and I fly in and out of Frankfurt and I want to spend my final days in Paris. I would like to save some time and possibly do a couple night trains on the longer rides if possible. Trying to figure out the best route to go by train that takes the least amount of travel time.

Day 1 - Arrival in Frankfurt -9:45am 9/1/09 , hop a train to Cochem ,Check into hotel. Catch train to Berg Eltz (if there is time to tour it in afternoon, if not do it in morning) Spend night in Cochem.
Day 2 - Take train to Bacharach KD, do the 1 hour cruise to St. Goar. Hop 2:00pm train to Rothenburg . Spend night in Rothenburg.
Day 3 - Spend day in Rothenburg. Take train in late afternoon to Munich. Spend night.
Day 4 - Take train from Munich to Fuessen. See Neuschwanstein castle. Go back and spend night in Munich.
Day 5 - Go to Salzburg, tour and then spend night or go back to Munich to spend night(or take a night train to Venice or go to Interlaken, if that's possible at this point or wait and hit Interlaken after Cinque Terre and skip Nice & Monaco)
Day 6 - Interlaken to Murren spend night
Day 7 - Murren
Day 8 - Venice
Day 9 -Venice
Day 10 - Florence
Day 11 - Rome
Day 12 - Rome
Day 13 - Sorrento
Day 14 - Sorrento
Day 15 - Sorrento
Day 16- Cinque Terre
Day 17 - Cinque Terre
Day 18 - Cinque Terre
Day 19 - Nice & Monaco(overnight train to Paris)
Day 20-23 - Paris
Day 24 - Train from Paris to Frankfurt airport, fly out late afternoon
Thanks for your response!

Posted by
9221 posts

It is pretty busy. A couple of things have jumped out at me right away. For example, you have Venice -day 9 and 10 and then "voila" day 11 you are in Florence. When did you get there and the next day after that you are in Rome. When and how did you get to Rome? Are you traveling at night or mornings or what?

It seems you have not figured much of your travel time into your schedule. That said, you barely have 2 days in Rome and no time at all scheduled for Munich. Why go there at all if you aren't going to see anything there, except your hotel room one night to sleep. Most of your time is spent going back and forth.

I would not take a 4 hour train trip the day I am supposed to fly. That is a lot of sitting, and you have no cushion of time if something should delay the train.

Sorry, this just does not look like a fun trip whatsoever to me. I count that you have 18 places scheduled in 23 days.

Posted by
2 posts

Your right, it's very busy. I obviously havn't figured all the train times yet. This schedule is far from set in stone. Venice is only 3 hrs from Florence, and Florence to Rome is about 2hrs. I will probably add a day in Florence and take away a day from Sorrento.As far as enough time in Rome, just following Rick Steves suggestions for sights to see in 2 days. Eurail book recommended Munich for a base city for day trips that I'm doing. Need to read up more on Munich to see what is worth seeing there.
I'm scheduled to get to the airport about 4 1/2 hours before my flight actually leaves. I thought that would be plenty cushion for a delay.

I appreciate your input.

Posted by
9221 posts

Base cities make sense if you also have interest to see those cities too. Otherwise, just continue your travels around to those places you want to see. Go to Salzburg, or Garmisch and stay there overnight if there is nothing you want to see in Munich. Otherwise you are wasting your money going there and your time.

I know Rick has a plan for seeing Rome in 2 days, but does he really recommend only giving this fabulous city 2 days? I would much rather spend time in Rome then almost any other place on your list. Perhaps start looking at why you want to go to these places, what is there that attracts you, and not just based on what Rick says. Rick has good suggestions, but still do plan some of your own things, give yourself some time to explore some of these cities and places. Make it YOUR vacation, not Ricks, see the things that you have always dreamed about, but just don't try to see them all on the same trip.

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