Driving vs. Taking a train

Will you be returnng to Amsterdam to fly home or will you fly home from another city?

Susan: just a quick note. Rick does not personally visit this board to answer questions. All of us here are fellow travel enthusiasts, not professionals. That said, some people here (not me) are quite expert in their knowledge of rail passes, and how to get discounts on point-to-point tickets that will beat the price of a pass (by a small fortune, in some cases). There are also plenty of people (again, not me), who know all about car rentals. So, it shouldn't be long before you get good answers.

I am not an expert in anything, but I will say that 10 days is not nearly enough time to visit and enjoy Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Linderhof Castle,Black Forest, Treir, and Brugge. You will be spending all your time in the car or on trains if you do that, and have no time to see what you came so far to see. Here are some approximate train travel times from the Deutsche Bahn website (bahn.de, the place to look for schedules): Amsterdam to Berlin, 6 to 7 hours Berllin to Prague, 4:40 Prague to Schloss Londerhof, 7 and a half hours Linderhof to Trier, 8 to 9 hours Trier to Brugge, 6 hours
And then you still have to return to Amsterdam to fly home. You really need to cut some of the stops from this trip!

I agree with Sasha. Sorry to derail your thread, but 10 days simply isn't enough time to do all those places, even on a whirlwind schedule. You need to evaluate which places you most want to see and tuck away plans to return later for the rest. As to travel methods, the typical rule of thumb is that a car is useful for seeing rural sites, small towns and the countryside. For cities, a car is useless and expensive. You have to park it, pay for the daily rental while exploring and pay for gas and tolls. Even with 4 people, a car won't save you money for such long trips to big cities. And unless you return it to the country of origin, you'll incur very expensive drop-off fees. So once you have revised you itinerary, stick to trains, maybe even a flight for trips over 4-6 hours, and use a car only for things like the Black Forest. Hope that helps.

Absolutely agree with Sasha. Yours is an itinerary better suited for 18-20 days minimum. A'dam and Brugge can be done in about 5 days altogether. Berlin alone requires 4-5 days for most visitors. Maybe you could fit in those three places in 10 days. But assuming A'dam is a must, I'd also keep Brugge and Trier, and then heavily revise the Germany/CZ itinerary with an eye to keeping a tighter travel circle. In the area west of the Rhine River, not far from the Belgian and Dutch border, there are dozens of interesting German castles that are much closer than Linderhof, a couple WW II sites, and scenery that competes favorably with the Black Forest, and while there's no real "Prague" in the area, there are many fine smaller towns with cobblestones, fine town squares, old town walls and towers, and old-world atmosphere - Cochem and Bernkastel (near Trier) and Linz (on the Rhine near Koblenz) pop immediately to mind. If your Berlin visit had much to do with WW II, then you might include some time in the Belgian Ardennes mountains - and that would mean a car - but otherwise, I'd try to do this trip by train; look into 5-day, 2nd-class saver passes for Germany and Benelux at $276 each. Additional travel days in Germany are dirt cheap for 4 on Laender tickets (or other local daypasses.)

I would suggest that you take a map of Europe and put some map tacks in it. You will soon see that Berlin and Prague are way out of the way from the rest of the places you have mentioned. We have always opted for a car over the train it gives flexiblity and the ability to travel door to door if you have the misfortune to hit some rain plus you don't have to worry about missing the train by one minute and watching your whole day slide down the drain. Also remember you rent the car once but your family will be renting the train four times. Brugge is a great town to see and I still have fond memories of hot chocolate and a waffle for a mid afternoon lunch at the The Old Chocolate Shop on the Mariastraat among other things. I assume the Linderhof you are intested in is the one near Fussen. Of the three castles that King Ludvig built. Linderhof is the crown jewel. (Nueschwanstein is simply theater and Herrenchiemsee is nice place based on Versillles) Linderhof is just what I always wanted, a one bedroom getaway in the mountains with beautiful grounds and a collection of poecelain that is exquisite. Ludzig probaly spent more time at Linderhof than any of the other castles he built. You definitely will be served well by a car getting there. Go to viamichelin.com to check driving routes and times. The driving time from Linderhof to Amsterdam is about 8 hours but all of the places have mentioned except for Berlin and Prague are long the route so it is easy to break up the trip with stops in both directions. Have a good trip

Susan, Regarding the main topic of your question, travel by train will be a MUCH faster and more efficient travel method as all the places you listed are well served by public transit. The "fast" trains run at up to 300 kmH, so no car can (legally) keep up with that. Driving to all the locations you mentioned within a 10-day time frame would be exhausting! I agree with the others that you have far too many stops for the time you have available. As you'll both be arriving and departing from Amsterdam, that will have a bearing on what you can realistically get to in the time you have available. Amsterdam, Bruges, Trier and Black Forest should be possible. Which location(s) are you considering the Black Forest? When you've narrowed down a list of places to visit, I'm sure the group here will be able to help you "fine tune" the details. Good luck with your planning!

Thank you Tim, Harold, Sasha, Douglas & Russ for your quick replies and honest feedback. Tim: Answer to your question: we will be flying out of Amsterdam. We are on our way to India. I will have to cut back on the places to visit. I may have questions, so this will not be the end of my questions. Thanx again. Regards Susan

For four adults, I think you can normally do well with a car. The big question is how much car you need? It's much better if you travel light, not only easier to travel, but the price of the rental car you need goes up dramatically as the car gets bigger. I like to rent a diesel with manual transmission. The mileage is amazing and there is no smell or vibration that we usually associate with diesel. If you train, passes are rarely a good deal (they can be on really long travel legs). Buying point to point in advance is the much better option. Germany also has great deals for group travel day passes, but you have to use the local trains - which are fine for the Black Forest and Trier, but not at all for long legs like Amsterdam to Berlin. One place to start is viamichelin.com, put in your start and stop points and see how long it takes to drive each leg. Remember, after you arrive you will need to check into your lodging and get settled before you can start to tour at all. Also, when planning departures, remember you have to get up, get ready, pack, check out, and get to the station (if you're training), and probably eat before you are actually on your way. If you start pulling travel times out of your ten day calendar, you will see what we're talking about as far as what is reasonable to see during that period.