My first effort at this was greeted like a teenager coming home after curfew so here is my second shot.
Two week trip in July with my wife. We're young and fit. Fly into Amsterdam and spend two nights. On the third day we'll overnight it to Munich. Spend two nights there and then slide over to Salzburg for the next two nights. Then we will stop at Mauthausen on our way to Vienna for two nights. We'll catch a night train over to the Berner Oberland (Gimmelwald). After two nights we'll travel to Alpe d'Huez for the finish of that stage of the Tour de France. Then travel up to Geneva and spend our last night there before flying home. This creates three days of heavy travel (to Vienna from Salzburg and getting to/from the Tour). I welcome thoughts and constructive criticism.
Posted by
Park Ridge, IL
524 posts
John Since I was the first person to reply last time, I will do so this time as well. I reread my response to you and realized it was abrupt and curt. So I apologize and am glad I have another chance. Your revised itinerary concentrates in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. That is great for reducing your travel times and giving you a feel of these countries! And you have definitely reduced the long travel days. As well as given yourself 2 nights in each destination. One thing you might want to consider is to check out European discount airlines for your Amsterdam/Munich and Vienna/Grimmerwald (or someplace close) train trips. A good website is www.skyscanner.com. This will save you what could be an expensive and tiring night in the train. Also get to your destination faster. There are often evening flights. Also, RS Guide Books have great information about the train travel times between destinations and he tells about air, bus, and train times and makes recommendations. This information is at the end of each destination chapter. My experience is that it takes at least 1/2 day for train travel because you have to get from your hotel to the station, advance time at the train station waiting, actual train time, and station to the hotel. Except maybe Munich to Salzburg. So consider including that in your travel times and itinerary. My personal preference is to have a couple of 3 night stays during my travels in areas that I love, maybe one city and one country. Would be good to check out the Tour de France ending to see what accommodations and travel is available. I thought I saw somewhere that there were 100's of thousands of people to cheer the finalists on. Your itinerary changes have made a very workable trip plan. If you make any changes, I would love to know your final plan. Bobbie
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10606 posts
Hi John,
I didn't see your first post, but it seems this is an improved itinerary from what you originally proposed? I just want to point out that you will on the move a lot. One way to look at it is that if you stay somewhere for 2 nights, that only gives you one full day there. I think there are situations where that would be okay, but every place you are staying is for only 2 nights, except your last night. It is time consuming (especially if you are going by train and have to adhere to their schedule) to move from one location to the next. You will be seeing a few sites and a lot of trains and train stations. Have you considered staying either in Munich or Salzburg and taking a day trip to the place you are not staying in? Amsterdam is so far from the other places you are going. Have you considered saving it for another trip and adding that time to one of your other places? I know you are flying into there, but if you could change your tickets to fly into Munich or take a short flight from Amsterdam to Munich it might be worth it. I know the temptation to go to as many places as possible, but to really enjoy each place you are going you might want to eliminate some of the moving around. I hope you have a fantastic trip!
Posted by
Los Angeles, California
1986 posts
I would be tempted to stay 2 days at Alpe d'Huez, (one night before the Tour) just to get a feel of the place before taking your position along the side of the road. We saw one Tour stage ending, but it was in the flat lands, so remarkably unexciting- a mountain top stage sounds more like it Your tour still sounds a bit rushed, but with two nights in each location you will see something other than train stations. Not sure what you are going to get to se of Geneva though- is that stage worth it?
Posted by
jasper, il, usa
64 posts
Have you thought about reconstructing your trip to take advantage of the geography? Overnight from Amsterdam to Vienna and then work your way back towards Switz. ie. Vienna, Mauthausen, Munich, Salzburg, then Switz. This would avoid backtracking and allow for more time during the train travel days in each of your destination towns. Another hint - don't sleep late. If you hop on a train early in the morning, by 7:00, you can arrive at most of your destinations in time to enjoy lunch and the rest of the day. You can sleep when you get home but you can only do certain things when you're in Europe.