Germany, Italy & France

Just a suggestion. Don't buy any Rail Pass until the more experienced travelers here have looked at you itinerary. IF you do need a Rail Pass buy from this site. See Railpasses above. Personally, I would fly into Munich...work myself down to Italy and fly out of Paris or vice versa. Since this is your 1st time, I would fly into Munich. It is an easy airport to get around and into the city. 1. Decide how long you want to travel....2 weeks....4 weeks, etc. 2. Research the sites most important to you. 3. Post a tentative itinerary here and the experienced travelers will help you. If you are interested in castles...you can take a day trip from Munich to Neuschwanstein and Linderhof. We took this tour and really enjoyed it.

Dachau is about 1/2 hour by train outside of Munich. A bus will take you from train station to the site. Very easy travel. If you have the time, Prague is within 6 hours of Munich...easy travel and with a Barvarian Ticket (2 or more traveling together) is either 28 or 29 euro..not sure what it is now. Links: Castle Tour: http://www.city-discovery.com/munich/tour.php?id=1507 Barvarian Ticket: Scroll down abut half way http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/prices/germany/laender-ticket.shtml From Munich you could travel to Venice. I am planning the reverse. Planning a trip is half the fun.....ENJOY.

Our first trip we found the best airfare was into Dusseldorf through Toronto. This will be tricky, draw your circle tour and keep a watch on airfares at big hubs on the circle. Also keep an open mind to open jaw. Found a good deal flying into Paris and leaving from Milan. We all want to get the best deal, but you can drive yourself nuts trying to get the absolute best price. So spend more time deciding where you want to go, when you want to, what you want to see and do. While doing that you can keep an eye on airfares, then strike when a sweet deal presents itself. Now you might say "who wants to go to Dusseldorf?" its 30 minutes from Cologne on the train and Cologne is the gateway to France and the Rhine and Mosel valleys, as well as being a great stop in its own right.

The Bayern-Ticket (aka Bavarian Ticket) used to cost 28€ for 2-5 people, then it was 29€. It now costs 22€ for the first person and 4€ for each additional person up to five total (you specify the number when you buy it). So for two people it costs 26€. That is the price online or from an automat; it's 2€ more at the counter for "personal service". It's non-transferrable; one person has to sign the ticket and it is only valid if that person is one of the people in the group.

Your questions are not really answerable. 1. Each of these countries has enough to keep even a casual visitor busy for weeks. How long is your trip? Which parts of these countries interest you? What kind of places do you want to visit in general (small towns, large cities, scenic vistas, Nazi sights, fine art museums, wineries...)? How many people are going, and what are their ages? Would you be willing to rent a car or not? Etc, etc. Start by getting some guidebooks and narrowing what you want to see. As you can see from the Berlin vs. Munich thread, there are no definitive answers about what to see or not each country; you will have to make these hard decisions yourself. 2. As for airports, their is no consistent "cheap" or "expensive" airport. You just have to check and re-check for your dates, and accept that the only people who know for sure about the best deals are the airlines (who aren't telling us what they know). For example, when I was looking at airfares from New York to Europe for September 2011, I found that Istanbul and Warsaw were substantially cheaper than cities that were closer and had more competition for flights, like London, Paris, and Frankfurt. Furthermore, Krakow cost almost the same as Warsaw, but Gdansk was $200 more. Why? Who knows? But these kinds of idiosyncrasies are now the rule, instead of the exception. Once you know where you want to go, you can decide which cities make sense for starting and ending, and whether you want to do a circle or an open-jaw flight (starting at one city and ending in another). Open-jaw (called "multi-city" on airline booking sites) are not necessarily more expensive, and you save the time and money of backtracking.

"Each of these countries has enough to keep even a casual visitor busy for weeks." I would say "years".