Itinerary Input

Every place you mentioned is well served by trains. Why do you want a car? If you rent a car in France and return it in Germany you will be paying a large drop off fee. If you must have a car you would be better off training to Strasbourg, then picking up a car across the border somewhere in Germany. You may be prohibited from driving it to Prague. Driving in Switzerland and Austria will require purchasing vignettes. Factor in all the costs including expensive fuel and parking. I think you'll find trains are less expensive, unless you need a car to go to places not served by trains. With your race across Europe you don't allow yourself time to stop along the way to sightsee.

As for your itinerary, you're right. It is action packed. Your time in Great Britain and Paris looks okay. After that, it's a bit of a blur. Remember that 2 nights in a location gives you one full day. You will be spending a lot of time traveling between places. You essentially have one day each in Strasbourg, Zurich, Vienna and Prague. How much can you really see? You might want to revise your itinerary and stay in your chosen places at least 3 nights.

You lost me at Strasbourg.

"We know that the drive from Zurich to Vienna is a long one, but we were planning on stopping in Munich to get lunch and quickly sight see."

And how does stopping in Munich for lunch and sightseeing (for how many seconds?) make that trip shorter?

It seems that after Paris, your itineray is travel one day, spend the next day in a city, travel the next day, usw. Seems like a lot of time traveling.

If you want to start out in Edinburgh, why fly into Glasgow? In any event, I would take the train between the two instead of driving. It won't be cheap to park a car for three days in Edinburgh.

Also need to ask why to rent a car to drive from Glasgow to go to Edinburgh. Can't remember how long it takes by bus from Glasgow to Edinburgh but I think about an hour by bus but no need to rent a car to get there and no need to have car in my opinion for that part of trip.

Sorry Mandy, but your itinerary as posted will be a trip that's a big blur. Remember that your first day and your last days are wasted going to and coming in from the airport. Every day you travel will also be a non-productive day.

It's very difficult to see a jam packed trip to everywhere unless you're on a professionally guided tour.

You should simplify your itinerary as many of your chosen cities are worthy of 5-7 days each. I suggest you skip York, Strausbourg and Zurich.

Edinburgh--London--Paris would be a good 2 week itinerary traveling by train and Eurostar. Then take a train to Brussels/Bruges and/or Amsterdam if you have extra days.

Berlin--Prague--Vienna would also be a good 2 week itinerary traveling by train. If you have extra days, take in Salzburg and Munich. Or take the train from Vienna down to Budapest.

If you're wanting to visit Switzerland for the mountain vistas, take the easier and cheaper route by taking in the Austrian Alps around Innsbruck. They're the same mountains, and the scenery is absolutely breathtaking.

Good luck to you in planning this trip.

Mandy,

Your proposed Itinerary is FAR to ambitious for the time you have available, especially as you'll be driving for most of it. Is there a reason you're not primarily travelling by rail? The high speed trains are a very efficient way to get from one city to another, and MUCH FASTER since no car can travel at 300 kmH. Also, with the first part of your trip in the U.K., are you comfortable driving on the "correct side of the road"?

For travel by car, you'll need to consider that EACH driver will require the compulsory International Driver's Permit in some countries, you'll need compulsory highway tax vignettes in some countries (hefty fines without them), high fuel costs, high CDW costs, tolls, parking and the fact that some car rental agencies won't allow their vehicles to be taken into the Czech Republic. As someone else mentioned, if you rent a car in Paris and drop in Berlin, you could face a HUGE drop-off charge.

Mapquest indicates the driving time from Zürich to Vienna is about eight hours. I'm not sure whether "stopping in Munich to get lunch and quickly sight see" is a realistic plan. There's a LOT to see in Munich and you'll have time to see very little.

Given your location, I'd highly recommend that you take a short drive to Edmonds and have a personalized tour consultation with Rick's travel experts (there's a small charge for that). They'll help you work out all the details and provide you with a workable Itinerary.

Good luck and happy travels!

Mandy and friends,

greetings.

Just so you know, they have really a really good train system across the pond, way better than our in the USA. If you and your friends like to be behind the wheel then go for it.

Ive been to all of the places you mention up to Paris and plan on going to the other half next year about the same time too. I used trains from Edinburgh to Paris without issues and i will probably do the train/bus as much as possible on the next part. my rule of thumb (ROT) (for me) is to fly if the train ride is over 4 hours unless something special is on that route. you can always take an overnight train too and i may do that in some places.

try looking at train travel times and costs and see how that floats your boat or ferry.

happy trails.

Ken is right. You have way too much planned for the last part of your trip. We have always traveled by car but I always plan our driving day around three hours and never more than six. It's supposed to be a vacation not an endurance contest. The distance you are planning would be best done by train. Lunch and sightseeing in Munich on your way from Zurich to Vienna is unrealistic at best. Like Ken said, you need to prioritize where you really want to go and then spend some time with a travel specialist and trim the trip to something that won't be totally exhausting. You don't want to drive into Munich, you want to park outside of town and take the S-Bahn into the Marienplatz and start from there.

To make it less hectic, I'd drop out one of the cities between Paris and Berlin and spread those 2 nights so that you have only one city where you'll be staying 2 nights (effectively one day).

However, if your intention is go on a long car trip through the countryside, I'd leave out Czech Republic (most rentals won't allow driving in Eastern Europe) and completely rearrange the stopping points so that they are mid-size or small cities, not big ones.

In any case, driving between Zürich and Wien is best done crossing the whole Austria entering the country in Voralberg. Iit is a very scenic drive until Salzburg. Either way it takes, not counting stops, some 8 hours to complete the trip.

As others say your itinerary is way too rushed. Also for your itinerary car is not needed at all. It will be more expensive, slower, more stressful than being on train. It's not pleasant being stuck in traffic jam around big cities, looking for parking there and God forbid having an accident. Car is good for seeing countryside but with your itinerary you won't have time for it, just hurrying from one big city to another. So if it was me I would cut one night from Edinburgh, rent a car there and drive around Scottish Highland. Otherwise I would be using train. Then I would cut one night from Paris, skip Strasbourg. Instead of Zurich I would stay in Luzern. Much prettier town. Add one night for Vienna and one night for Prague. Believe me you don't want a car for your itinerary. The same distance by car seems quite longer in Europe than in USA. On the other hand trains are better and much faster and more plentiful in Europe.