Please sign in to post.

Spain, France, Switzerland, and Austria in 4 Weeks in May 2011

Posted by (NEW BERLIN, WI, USA) on

Hi everyone,
First of all I want to thank everyone for helping to plan our first trip to Europe in 2008 when my husband & I spend 13 days in Italy! My husband & I are beginning to plan a new trip for May 2011 for 4 weeks. We want to leave mid May, return mid June and travel to Spain, France, Switzerland, and end in Austria (where I have family). We have just begun our planning and due to building our own business we don't have near as much time to plan this trip as we did our trip to Italy. So, we would appreciate any insight on this "early stage" itinerary considering we have never traveled to these countries before.

Our main interests are food, wine, culture, and beautiful scenery. Our budget is about $10,000-$15,000. I will be heading to the library to pick up Rick Steve's books and DVDs and have contacted our AAA who is sending us information. A few questions we have are: 1) Spotlight cities to visit in each country 2) Best to travel by plane or train within Europe (we traveled by train throughout Italy which worked well but this trip will be covering much more ground) 3) Best way to book flights within Europe 3) Any tips on length of time in each country 4) Has anyone ever done any tours...specifically any culinary/wine tours in any of these countries and if so what did you like/dislike and would you recommend those?

Thanks everyone! If anyone has any questions on Italy, please let me know...I still have my entire itinerary including places we stayed, restaurants, etc.

~Kim Bovre
Internet Product Broker

Posted by
17238 posts

What a wonderful trip you will have!

You might start by thinking of spending a week in each of the four countries and see how that feels. It would mean limiting yourselves to two or (at most) three cities/stops in each country. If that doesn't seem like enough for, say, Spain or France, take a day or two from another country and add it there.

Keep in mind that the highlights in Switzerland are mostly in the alpine areas, not the cities. The Berner Oberland and the city of Luzern are easy to include on your path between France and Austria.

Fly into Spain (Madrid or Barcelona) and out of Austria (or Munich if it's cheaper and more convenient.) It would be possible to create a path between these countries that you could do entirely by train, but you'd have to leave out the northern part of France entirely. Or you could fly (or take a night train) between your last stop in Spain and Paris, then train from there.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.