Hi! I need advice on what order and method of transportation to see the towns/sights I have picked out so that I am maximizing my foot to ground hours enjoying sightseeing and minimizing my time spent on trains/buses/airports/cars and the time spent at their respective stations. I have a few restrictions that I must adhere which will impact this answer. First, me and my husbands budget is $6,000 total. Based on my estimations this will give us about a $100 to spend on transport for each leg between major destinations. We leave NYC on Sept 14th and are returning home on Oct 7th. We are flying roundtrip in/out of Brussels. This means we have 22 nights. The plan is: 3 nights Bruges, 3 nights Amsterdam, 3 nights Bacharach, 3 nights Munich, 3 nights Salzburg and 7 nights Paris. Somewhere I must fit in Heidelberg for atleast 4 hours, but I am not sure where (personally I want to skip this but it is my father-in-laws birthplace so I have to do this one for the hubby). I hope to see the following towns via day trips from where we are sleeping. I want to see Ghent while in Bruges. See Haarlem and Delft while in Amsterdam. See Marksburg Castle, Boppard, St. Goar, Burg Eltz Castle, Cochem and Beilstein while in Bacharach. See Hallstatt while in Salzburg. And see Reims, Roeun, Giverny and Versailles while in Paris. We already booked 7 nights in Paris the last week we are there and the 3 nights in Munich a few days before Paris. (which we are purposefully scheduling to coincide with Oktoberfest) I would be willing to change my Munich date if I can still get a room, but that may be unlikely. I am toying with the idea of a night train somewhere but have heard bad things. Anyone have any comments on the night trains? I am not opposed to hitting a side town on the way into a city/town we are sleeping in. As long as it saves us time in the long run.
Posted by
OP
Lawrenceville, New Jersey, USA
20 posts
P.S. Also, am I being too ambitious? Am I allowing enough days for each destination?
Posted by
Stuttgart, Germany
3050 posts
For most routes to maximize time you'll be wanting to take high speed trains when available. So disclaimer to posters coming after me: YES there are cheaper ways to do these routes but involving regional trains which will be slower. You might not be able to purchase tickets for two between those locations for that amount for some legs of your journey. For instance, the cheapest train tickets I can find from Amsterdam to Bacharach are 62,80 Euro per person, bought well in advance. I think it's unlikely you're going to find plane tickets cheaper (flying into frankfurt or dusseldorf) for cheaper on that route. Bacharch to Munich can be done by train for as little as 29 euro pp but you'll need to purchase well in advance to get that rate. Munich to Salzburg you can use a Bayern ticket and take regional trains which are only slightly longer on this route, 29 for both of you, travel good all day. Salzburg to Paris you can buy for as little as 59 euro pp, bought well in advance (includes mandatory reservation fee. I'm not familiar with the websites to buy tickets from Brussels to Brugges but based on these legs alone you're averaging about 90 euro which is more than $100 per leg. I don't think the other two legs I haven't calculated for are going to significantly reduce that average, either. I think train makes the most sense for the big legs, I don't see anywhere where flying is likely to be cheaper or more convenient. I also did a price comparison for a 3-country Eurail pass (Benelux-Germany-France) for 6 days of travel which you trip requires and the total is a little over $1000 USD. That doesn't include mandatory reservation fees for the high speed trains outside of Germany/Austria. Cont.
Posted by
Stuttgart, Germany
3050 posts
Still, depending on the cost of the Brugges-Amsterdam and the Paris-Brussels leg of your trip, the pass might save you money, particularly when you factor in that you could use the pass to stop for a few hours in Heidelberg on the way to Munich without having to pay for a separate ticket. You could also utilitize the pass creatively to try to squeeze in some of your day trips on regional transit on the same day as a major "leg" but obviously this won't work for really long travel days like Salzburg to Paris probably. Use the websites of the national rail companies Belgium/France to calculate the lowest point-to-point tickets you can get for that, and add it up. Then calculate in the cost of the trains you'd need mandatory reservations on, and add that to the Eurail pass. See which comes up better. If it's at all close, I'd go with the pass as it will be more flexible. For help on how to do this, the seat61.com website provides step-by-step instructions on buying tickets and reservations in many European countries. I think your overall major destination schedule isn't too ambitious, but that your planned day trips from locations are. You'll probably have to cut a few of those. Also if you're worried about horrific crowds...Oktoberfest may be a problem for you. Just a warning.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
Duplicate post - posted as "Itinerary" in To the West section.