Hi all,
My hubby & I fly into Frankfurt on 15 April and leave from Paris on 30 April. So we have 15 days to play around Europe. We're in our early 30s, no kiddos. We enjoy photography, good wine & beer, small towns more than cities, and interesting historical locales. I've been to Europe before, but he hasn't. Need to lock down an itinerary, and the best way to get around...
Our thoughts (dates are the nights in the respective towns):
* April 15 & 16: Arrive in Frankfurt. Decompress from jet lag, and enjoy their spring festival
* April 17: Romantic Road, with stops along the way and a night in Rothenburg,
* April 18 & 19: Munich
* April 20 & 21: Alsace region (Colmar, Verdun, Reims) for wine tasting
* April 22 & 23: Amsterdam & Haarlem
* April 24 & 25: Brugges & find some areas with Trappist breweries
* April 26: Normandy beaches & Mont St Michel
* April 27, 28, 29: Paris (we leave early in the AM on the 30th)
Any ideas, thoughts, input, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Would like to do most of this via train (with such a packed schedule, and seeing such small towns, we might consider a car though). Thoughts?
Thanks!
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
A few thoughts:
Overall, you're trying to fit in too much. In particular, you have far too much traveling and site-seeing built around April 19th-26th. Munich is pretty far from Alsace, and likewise Amsterdam is a long trip from Alsace.
Also, don't expect to visit any of the Trappist breweries. Only one or two are open to the public and only on rare occassions.
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
I think what I'd do is work out the transportation times first (for the whole itinerary), then see how much time is left over for actually looking around (after deducting time to get back and forth from what you want to see to the train station, eating, getting to hotel and back, etc). I'd suspect that the red pencil will come out pretty fast.
Posted by
OP
Thousand Oaks, CA, USA
2 posts
Thanks - that's what I suspected. What if we were to cut out Alsace, and spend more time around Munich - maybe head down to Salzburg & the lakes region, the night train up to Amsterdam?
Posted by
Gangelt, Germany
101 posts
I'd keep Alsace and probable skip Brugges and Amsterdam. From what I can see, those two are what's really packing on the travel time. And, If you're a foodie and love great dry Riesling, you'll love the Alsace region. You could even head over to the Champagne or Burgundy regions for a day or so.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
"maybe head down to Salzburg & the lakes region," You need to cut, not cut and add more.
Posted by
Atlanta
1357 posts
But if you like good beer, I wouldn't skip Belgium. I'd skip southern Germany this time and spend at least some of that time on the Rhine.
Posted by
Grapevine, TX, USA
875 posts
It would be virtually impossible to travel from Bruges and try to do the Normandy beaches and Mont St. Michel in one day. Are you renting a car? Get a Michelin map and check your distances between places you want to see. You don't want to spend your time racing from one place to the next. Even at 30 this will be exhausting.
You definitely need to try to rearrange your trip. You are zigzagging all over the place. I got tired head just reading your itinerary.