France & Germany

Counting all the cities you have listed, you have 15 cities. And you only have 17 days. Before you figure out whether to go north or south, you need to cut many, many cities, or otherwise all you'll be seeing is the countryside from the train and train stations.

What Elaine said. The best thing to do is to get out a map and look at where your main destinations are located, right now, Paris, Prague and London. If you want to fit any visits to other towns in between those 3 places, look at what works best, but there is no way you will get to all of them with only 17 days total in Europe. You already have 2 days in Prague. How many days were you going to spend in Paris, and how many days in London? The rest of the trip can only use the leftover days.

Thanks Elaine & Jo, I eliminated some info. I arrive in France around Sept 10 and spend time on tours until I get to Paris on the 17 where I will spend 3 days. From Paris I either go to Strasbourg or 1 day in Burgundy and then into Germany until Oct 8. I am not spending time in London just flying home from there on Oct 9. I want to see the German countryside but maybe I should fly to the major cities to save time. I am on a budget. I'm interested in the Rhine towns so I didn't know if I should go there first, then down to Munich and up to Berlin and maybe fly back to London from Berlin or go to Munich first and then Berlin and over to the Rhine and maybe fly to London from Frankfurt. I know I have a lot jamed into 18 days so what cities do you think are less interesting? Helen

18 days sounds OK for most of what you have in mind. Paris (3) + (1) en route to Germany Trier and Cochem (Mosel) (2) Rhine (2) Nuremberg, Rothenburg (3) Berlin (4-5) - Fly to London London (1)
Maybe you have time to visit Munich as well but I think I'd add a day or two to what you have already, or make a daytrip from Nuremberg either to Bamberg or Würzburg, places you can visit in a day or so.

Thanks Russ, I've been looking at flights between the larger centres to save some more time so I can go to Munich or Prague. The cost isn't much different from the train in some cases and quicker of course.

For the French leg of your trip: Autun is a bit awkward logistically, though there seem to be regular buses to and from Chagny, on the rail line right outside of Beaune. Otherwise Paris > Beaune > Strasbourg is straightforward. However, even without Autun, I think you will need more than one day to see much of anything. Ideally you'd spend at least 3 nights visiting 2 locales.

Hey Adam, thanks, I was going to Autun for the Roman ruins, I love history. So how long does it the train to go from Paris to Beaune to Strasbourg? Autun & Beaune were on my list to do but I guess Burgundy will have to be my next trip, hopefully I have one. Choices!! I keep changing my iterinery but I love these blogs, so much info.

Helen, Paris - Beaune is generally about 2 hours, Beaune - Strasbourg about 3. Much specific information from the German rail site.

thanks everybody. From Paris, I think I will take the train to Cologne, 1-2 days down the Mosel and 1-2 days down the rhine. Is there any way to go down the mosel and up the the rhine without backtracking?Should I travel to Metz or Trier from Paris instead?
After Bacharach I could go to Frankfurt and then fly to Berlin. Berlin to Dresden to Prague to Munich. Fitting Rothenberg & Nurnberg in might be difficult. It seems Rothenberg is time consuming to get to by train. I have lots of sights saved but it is difficult to get train info. These blogs are the best. I was going to buy a railpass for France & Germany, not sure it is economical now.

A railpass probably isn't economical for your trip. If Rothenburg is an outlier, skip it. It's nice, but it's not as exceptional as a lot of people make it out to be.

If you can't make it to Rothenburg, consider going to Buedingen instead. Lovely, little medieval walled town, an hour outside of Frankfurt. You could spend a half day here and then continue on your way. Rather than fly to Berlin, why not take the train? It is only 4 hours. You will spend that amount of time getting to and from the airports, waiting for your flight, etc. Get your tickets ahead of time and they will be cheap.