Germany, Switzerland and Paris in October

If you go to Lausanne, you should set aside a day to visit the Chillon castle, the Lavaux vineyards between Lausanne and Vevey (a UNESCO world heritage), and maybe even go to Gruyere (cheese factory and medieval village).

This trip is way too packed. A daytrip to Prague from Dresden? Shortest train rides will still be 4 1/2 hours that day on transit, which leaves you very little time in what is a large and fascinating city that people usually spend at least several days in. When will you see Dresden? You don't need to rent a car to tour castles and villages around Fussen, although it's not a hindrance really either. Munich can be done as a daytrip (I have actually done this) but it's really not advisable. Like Prague, we're talking a major European capital (well, in a historical sense, anyway). For a major city like that allow at least 2 days if you want to see it, or skip it entirely and free up time to spend in the countryside. With 2 weeks you can see a lot, but you're trying to see too much. I'd pick either Switzerland OR Germany for half the trip, then Paris for the rest. Or if you are determined to do 3 countries, at least leave out Prague, come back to it on another trip when you can spend more time. There is no neighborhood in Paris that is close to "all major sites" but if you can afford it, St. Germain would be a great area to stay in. Also Les Marais.

You lost me on Day 1, as a day trip from Dresden to Prague isn't reasonable. I think you're trying to pack in too much ~ and I say this as one who has been accused of doing the same. ;-) Just last week, for example, we made a quick foray into Barcelona for the day. Certainly not enough time to take in the city, but we were staying within a half hour's drive and had a specific destination in mind. If general sightseeing is your goal, a half day (given the train trip on either end) doesn't make sense. Pare down your itinerary so you can focus on a few key areas and give them the attention they deserve.

Actually, you can rent automatic transmission cars in Germany, they're just specifically more expensive. I still think doing Prague as a day trip makes absolutely no sense, given the train time AND the fact that this leaves Heidi no time to see Dresden either.

I agree entirely with Sarah. I would recommend flying into Munich and seeing Munich and the castles. If you think that leaves too much down time, consider Rothenburg OBT or Salzburg. Then go to Paris and consider either sides to Versailles, Giverney, and Chartres, or Provence. Prague and Switzerland are wonderful, far too wonderful to get the short shrift you are suggesting.

Thank you all for your comments so far. As Switzerland and Bavaria/seeing classic German castles/towns/countryside and the city of Paris are my focus, I think I will plan to remove Prague on this Europe trip. We plan to see Dresden for a few days before, as Dresden is where my husband's business conference is. We plan to take the train from Dresden to Munich to stay for a few days. And then go to Fussen to stay for a night to see castles the next day. Would you reccomend renting a car from Munich to take to Fussen, or getting to Fussen via train and then renting a car for the day? Can we go from Fussen to Interlaken via trian, or does it make most sense to end up in Munich to head to interlaken? Has anyone been to the Wengen area in Mid-October? How is the weather and the availability of things to do?

If you want a car for the Fuessen area/castles, I'd rent it in Munich, it's likely to be cheaper and easier there. Driving out of Munich isn't terribly difficult. This is provided you don't get charged extra for leaving it in Fuessen. There's no reason to go back to Munich to get to Interlaken. Most trips to Interlaken from Munich take 7 hours, same from Fuessen, although most of the trains from Fuessen involve more changes. Use Bahn.com to try plugging in your dates and locations and see what your train travel options are. It's a shame actually that it's so expensive to rent a car in one country and pick it up in another, as it's much faster to drive from Fuessen to Interlaken (4 hours or so). One option to maybe consider, if you can find a cheap rental rate (manual transmission!!) is to rent the car in Munich, keep it through Switzerland, then use it to drive back up through Germany and drop it off on the German side of the border near a place that has a high speed train to Paris - like Stuttgart (3 hours, 40 minutes to Paris) or Offenburg (short train to Strasbourg, then 2 hours to Paris). It might cost more money to do this than just taking trains, but you will probably save time. Worth exploring, anyway.