Germany Austria Italy or Germany Switzerland Italy

". Whether to go with Austria or Switzerland". The Answer here would depend on your route of travel and how much money you want to spend. If you're headed to Munich from Italy, Switzerland is out of your way. If you're headed to Baden-Wurtemburg, the Bodensee or the Rhineland, you could conceivably pass through both. As for cost, Austria isn't the cheapest country, but it's a bargain compared to Switzerland. "Would it be feasible to take the Euro-rail to get from country to country?" Eurorail is a third party ticket reseller, not an actual railroad. Most trains in Europe are operated by their respective national rail companies, plus a few mulitnationals (Thalys, Eurostar). To learn more about travel times and ticket costs, go to the website of each rail company. For your trip, these would be Trenitalia, Deutsche Bahn (DB), Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB) and Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB). The company websites are available in English. EDIT: Removed all the extraneous junk that popped up in the post originally. Hopefully that made it easier to read.

Keep it simple you could easily do just Italy for 16 days but then fly into Rome and self guide by rail. Travel time can use up lots of time otherwise. If you must add another country you could pick up a short bus tour like Globus , Tauck etc. for neighboring Switzerland but then fly out from Zurich or Geneva or where the bus tour leaves you.

I have done this both ways. I enjoyed going through Swizerland but it is quite expensive compared to Austria. I used a Eurail Pass for 30 days and traveled from Frankfurt, and took an overnight train to Milan that went through Switzerland. I have also taken a day train to Milan. It just depends if you want to stop in Switzerland on your way. I did get to stop and see Bern and Zurich. Then, one time, went from Frankfurt to Innsbruck and stayed in Hall in Tirol Austria on the way to Italy by train. So if you have to travel a long distance and have a limited time table, it would by less stressful to travel by train, instead of car. Take care, Jerry

Serene, to begin with, it would help to know if you already have air tickets, and if so which airports you're arriving and departing from??? As this is your first trip to Europe, pre-reading the Guidebook EUROPE THROUGH THE BACK DOOR would be a really good idea (pay special attention to the "Rail Skills" chapter)!!! As someone else mentioned, Switzerland is a bit "out of the way" from your other destinations, so in this case Germany, Austria and Italy would be the best choice. Sixteen days is NOT a long time, so you'll need to minimize travel times as much as possible. You could (for example) start in Salzburg with a day trip to Hallstatt, travel to Munich and then south through the Brenner Pass to Florence. From there to the Cinque Terre and then an easy trip (about 4 hours via direct train) to Roma Termini. Return to the U.S. from Rome/FCO. Don't forget that you'll lose the first day in travel times and time zone changes (you'll arrive in Europe THE DAY AFTER you departed the U.S.) and the last day will be spent on the flight home. I don't think there's enough time to fit any more cities with the short time frame. As you only have a few trips, buying P-P rail tickets would probably be the best idea. You can research the rail travel times using the Bahn.de website. Given your location, you might also take a drive to Edmonds and have a visit with the experts at ETBD to "fine tune" your plans. If you need more detailed information on the route I suggested, post another note. Happy travels!

Your itinerary is very ambitious! You need to do some research regarding rail travel in Europe before you finalize your plans. Rick's books indicate travel time from city to city. Several websites also provide schedules. Considering you only have 16 days, I would do Germany, Austria, Switzerland and save Italy for another trip. Or narrow your choices to two countries. Otherwise, you are going to spend most of your time traveling and very little time experiencing.

Switzerland always scares me away because it's uber expensive.

BRAD, "Switzerland always scares me away because it's uber expensive." The costs in Switzerland have never bothered me in the past, but this year I REALLY noticed the high prices. For example, I decided to have Fish & Chips and a pint of Guinness at an English Pub in Lucerne (it's not Swiss, but I wanted something different that night and that Pub was where all the World Cup action was taking place that night). The cost was SF$31 for that meal (the extra pint of Guinness I ordered increased the bill even further). To put that in perspective, the Swiss Franc is about equal to the Canadian dollar. I can't imagine paying that much at home for the same meal! Even though it's expensive, I really like Switzerland and will be returning there in future. Cheers!

Food is indeed brutally expensive in Switzerland. But I've found most other cost categories (lodging & transportation)to be in line with lots of other countries in Europe, especially if one purchases one of the Swiss Passes. Switzerland's reputation for being expensive shouldn't really deter one from visiting...there are lots of ways to work around it.

Personally, I would choose Germany, Austria and Switzerland as they are close together and I have been there. I would save Italy for another trip.

I agree with JB. I did a GAS on my own trip in 18 days and felt that I covered everything I wanted to do with minimal travel time. I did an Italy/France trip a few years earlier with the same results using minimal travel time and felt I covered everything I wanted to see. The Italy/France trip was about 22 days as I recall

This question is impossible to answer without knowing where they are flying to and from. Since this trip is in a few weeks, I assume they already have their tickets, so advising an open-jaw itinerary to facilitate a 3-country trip is moot. In fact the whole question may be moot. I wonder if Serene is even checking back to see the responses?

Hello all - Thank you so very much for your insightful suggestions. Sorry, I haven't been able to check your responses. I went to a place where there is no internet connection or cell phone reception after I posted this. I'm surprised that there were so many responses and valuable advice. This was the travel route we thought of initially: Seattle->Munich->Salzburg or Zurich->Cinque Terre->Florence->Rome. Flying into Munich and out of Rome. However, while we were gone and you guys were posting responses, an aunt suggested doing Southern part of France and then going to Italy from Genoa. She suggested flying to a major airport that has direct train to Aix en Provence and spending some time in and around Aix and then going to Italy. We like cities but also thoroughly enjoy villages. We were just in rural Bhutan last November, unguided, and really loved it. We like everything and we know we'll love it wherever we go and that's what makes it so hard to choose. Sorry, I guess I should make up my mind first but I'm really confused what to do. Everything sounds so fun! But the time is drawing close. What do you guys think of Aix and then going to Italy? What would you do and which places (maximum three) would you choose if you were in my shoes (new to Europe) and why? Maybe reading through what you would do will give me an idea. Again, thank you so much and I look forward to reading the responses. :)