We are traveling in mid June with our 16 year old son arriving in Paris for a 3 day stay followed by 7 days to fill with highlights as we travel to Amsterdam. On our wish list is a visit to the Bavaria Triol area so we can possibly catch a glimpse of Austria, the Rhine region, and a stop in Belgium. Does this sound like a good plan? We plan to travel by train. We are clueless on how to do this so any insight on a route, towns to stay in, and how to accomplish this would be greatly appreciated. Last year we visited the Berner Oberland area with the wonderful advice we received on this site. Thanks in advance to all you travel experts out there.
Posted by
2081 posts
hi, the first thing you may want to do is: > to make a list on what you want to do/see in each city > ask/guestimate how long it will take to do each. this will determine how many days you will need. > look at travel times between each city. > try not to cross your path or do alot of backtracking. this is just my opinion without (w/o) doing your work for you, but i think its too much unless you plan on spending 1~2 days in each place between Paris and Amsterdam.
when i plan my travels, i try to minimize my travel time since i want to pound pavement and see/do things instead of watching things go by from a train or plane. im sure others will chime in with help and more relevant experience. happy trails.
Posted by
OP
Duluth, Minnesota, USA
51 posts
Thanks Ray. It may be a bit ambitious. We will need to prioritize what we do. Hugh
Posted by
Denver, CO
796 posts
Hi Hugh, Do these 7 days include your time in Amsterdam as well? It does seem pretty tight to head down to Austria. From Paris to Bavaria (I chose Munich as a potential stop) it's over a 6 hour train ride, and then another 1.5-2 hrs to Salzburg in Austria. While this in itself it's horrendously long, the fact that you'll be then going back up to Amsterdam makes for a lot of backtracking and would eat up an entire day in travel time. One option would be to leave Bavaria for another trip and instead do something like this for your 7 days after Paris: Paris to Koblenz (or other Rhine town) – 4.5 hours by train. 4 nights in Rhine region
Head to Belgium (Bruges, Ghent, or Brussels) – roughly 4 hours by train, depending which town you're going to. 3 nights in Belgium Head to Amsterdam – 2-3 hours by train. Of course this is just a very rough idea. If you haven't already done it, check out bahn.de and plug in your wish list destinations to see travel distances and times. I find bahn.de invaluable for helping plan trips! Enjoy your trip!