Order?

Another possiblitiy:

Fly Venice to Berlin - then train around from there. Depending on your travel dates, EasyJet offers fares as low as 25 Euros or so from Venice - which may be a lot cheaper than a Venice-Interlaken or Venice-Munich train fare.

A lot of your travel in the north involves criss-crossing Germany; consider a German-Railpass and a $20 ticket between the German border and Prague.

Assuming you're locked into arriving in Paris (but asking for advice as if you're starting in Venice) and departing from Amsterdam, then the following is one way (only one way) to do the sequencing:Venice - Interlaken - Munich - Rothenburg - Prague - Berlin - Brussels - Amsterdam.The itinerary is all over the place map-wise, so there's no totally efficient way to do it, esp. given the big deviation northeast to Prague.

Polly, as Kent mentioned, one item that's a bit confusing is the fact you're beginning in Paris, but want a suggested travel route from Venice. How are you getting to Venice and where are you visiting in Spain? A full list of cities would be really helpful!

We will begin in Paris then travel by train to:
Barcelona
Madrid
Nice
Cinque Terre
Florence
Rome
Venice
Switzerland
Munich
Rothenburg
Prague
Brussels
Amsterdam, flying out of Amterdam
Unless we can think of a better route!

Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris-Madrid-Barcelona-Nice-Cinque Terre-Florence-Rome-Venice, then perhaps -Prague-Munich-Switzerland-Rothenburg (fly home from Frankfurt) or Switzerland-Rothenburg-Munich-Prague (fly home from Prague).

Consider swapping Cinque Terre and Florence, just for greater contrast after Nice.

Consider flying some of these routes.

Polly, thanks for the clarification. My first thought is that your Itinerary is quite "busy", even for a six week trip! Have you considered how much time you'll actually have in each city? I'm assuming you've already bought (open jaw) air tickets?

The order I'd consider might be something like this:

> Paris (5 days including "lost" flight day?)

-- one LONG travel day/night to Spain

> Madrid (3 days?) Budget air would be a better option on this route. Train is a LONG journey! You might start in Madrid, then to Barcelona.

> Barcelona (3 days?)

> Nice (2-3 days?)

> Cinque Terre (3 days?)- which village will you be staying in?

> Rome (4-5 days!) I'd change the order here. Using an ICE (fast) train, the trip from La Spezia (CT)is quite reasonable. I did that trip in the reverse direction, and travel time was reasonable.

> Florence (3 days?)

> Venice (2 days?)

> Switzerland (3 days?) Interlaken? - route will probably be via Milan?

> Munich (3-4 days?) will depend on whether you want side trips to the Castles or Dachau.

> Rothenburg (2-3 days?)

> Prague (at least 3 days?)

> Brussels (2 days?) - many travellers seem to prefer Bruges.

> Amsterdam (3 days?)

I haven't worked out the rail travel times between cities, but I have a general idea on what these will be. Some will be quite short and easy (Rome-Florence) and some will be longer (Interlaken-Munich). The bottom line is that you'll have to allow some travel days also. Using the minimum time that I've listed in each city, we're already at 42 days with no allowance for travel days. Some "compromises" will probably be necessary.

BTW, have you read the "Rail Skills" section in Europe Through The Back Door?

Hope this helps. Good luck with your planning!

Ken,
I have read Europe through the backdoor and the train and railpass skills section. Actually that is where I got into trouble. We we going to do Rick's two month trip itinerary, but cut ours down to 6 weeks. We began with cutting off London, (we've been there.) Then we eliminated what would be the other "2 weeks" from the end of the "wirlwind tour," everything north of Berlin. Now we want to go to Madrid after Barcelona only to be in Madrid on a Sunday for a bull fight! Now I am seeing you cannot get to Nice from Spain unless you travel 4-5 trains and 20 hours. I am questioning the sample itinerary that I had so much hope in!
Thank you for your suggestions and any help. We may have to do some budget flights that were not in our budget.

http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/viamichelin/gbr/tpl/hme/MaHomePage.htm

Hi Polly,
... we suggest you use ViaMichelin to obtain the information you want. By entering trip(s) into the system, you will get information by mode of travel, distance to travel and the time required. Just use your mouse to copy the above link, then paste it into your Internet search box. Finally, touch ENTER on your computer's keyboard - and voila! Happy Travels... P

Polly...unfortunately, air links between Nice and Barcelona and Nice and Madrid are still the preserve of the major airlines, and are very expensive. Missing Spain would be a shame, since it's such a wonderful country. There are budget air links from Paris or several spots in Italy, if you want to consider changing your itinerary that way.

Polly, you really can't do a tour itinerary at tour speeds unless you are on a tour. I learned this years ago following Rick's old Normandy itinerary at about 2/3 speed--which still left us exhausted (but happy).

Tours eliminate all your logistical work on the ground and deliver you from place to place. That's a big time savings.