Trip to Germany (first time out of US!)

That sounds very rushed to me. Munich and Paris alone plus travel time would be plenty. But you love beer and breweries, so go to Belgium and do the Westvleteren Brewery! If you make some "cuts", I'd do Brugge instead of Brussels. Maybe do Munich another time. You could perhaps do Cologne instead of Munich. Fly into Cologne and you'll shave a lot of ground travel time off the Munich-Belgium route. Some good museums in Cologne too, and you could visit an 800-year-old castle on the Rhine instead of the newborn N'stein: http://www.marksburg.de What are you doing the night of April 30? Not far from Marksburg Castle: Oberwesel, a wine town on the Rhine that celebrates the new wine season by burning a straw wine witch and crowning a new wine witch (a real gal) for the new season. Fireworks, wine stands, lots of street fun. http://oberwesel.de/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=484&Itemid=286

Thanks for the input! Munich is probably at the top of my list for things to see so I'd rather not cut that out. Maybe I could cut out Brussels, and go straight to Brugge from Munich? Then from there head to Paris?

Sounds like an easy decision for you Mikle- the beer in Munich and Belgium are much better than in Paris. Paris you can see your 4 sights in one day. however if you are going for the sights, not much in Brussels compared with Munich/Bavaria and Paris Decide whats important to you and do it. Munich and Paris you can do by walking and public transportation; not sure how you do Belgian breweries without driving

Mike: Going to Bruges from Munich you will connect through Brussels. It is comparable to going from Pittsburgh to a town on Long Island, you would necessarily connect through NYC. Breweries in the cities themselves are of course easy to do by train/transit, but I agree with the poster who suggested that you may have a tough time getting to a rural brewery without a car.

You obviously like beer so be sure to try Brugse Tripel while in Brugge, it's outstanding. For my money, Belgium is the best beer country in the world.

My usual contrarion opinion is don´t necessarily skip over Brussels in favour of Brugge. Brugge may be more instantly pretty, but with a little exploring, Brussels is a far more interesting city (there´s only so many chocolate and lace shops you can visit). A third option, better than either, in my opionin, is Ghent.

-Munich 3 days
-The train from Munich to Brussels takes 6.5-8.5 hours. If you took the 5:17am (yikes, but doable if you are ambitious enough to have this kind of plan) bus from Munich, you could get to Brussels by 1:35. You could explore Brussels til 6 (go see the Royal Arts Fine arts museum) or so then take the hour long train to Bruges and stay for 2 nights. De Halve Mann Brewery tour is good, plus there are a few restaurants there with like 500 beers to from. -Train to Paris for a 4 night stay. Get reservations a day before you leave!! -It is possible but there is quite a bit of distance between your first and second destination. Make the most of it but sucking it up, get on the earliest train, sleep on the way there, and have fun drinking awesome beer. Edit: I said bus earlier, I meant train

In my opinion, you have plenty of time. My first trip was 8 days and I did Paris, Beaune, Bern, and Munich. I did not feel rushed. In fact, by day 3 of Munich I decided that I had spent too much time there!

If you get the chance try the rauchbier (smoked beer) from Bamberg. You don't have enough time to add Bamberg, but if it's available in Munich. Try it. There's the neatest beer garden in Brugges. Sitting on a canal, enjoying all that delightfull beer. I love Paris (a wine city.). Love Brugge. Brussels I only changed trains and caught a plane. The Brussels airport has the best beer I've found at an airport to date. Munich second. (Consider flying Munich-Brussels.) Munich I only changed planes going to Nuremberg. But with only 9 days I'd cut to 2 or at most 3 places. Have fun.

If you like beer I agree that you should try the 'smoked beer' and also a Hefe Weizen Bier when in Bavaria. I also agree with the suggestion that Ghent is worthy of consideration. I reckon your itinery is just about doable if you haven't consumed too much beer en route!