Pls Help: Transportation Route

Janice, some of the sights most worthwhile in Germany are between Amsterdam and Basel along the rhine river, like the rhine river gorge, the mosel river valley, the towns of Bacharach, St. Goar etc etc. Why don't you try to book and Open Jaw out to London and return from Zurich. Then consider flight to London, train to Paris, train to Amsterdam, train to Frankfurt via the rhine river valley and sidetrip to the mosel river valley. From the Frankfurt area train to Rothenburg via Würzburg. Then train to Munich, train/bus to Füssen and Neuschwanstein. From there take a night train to the Zurich are where you end your trip.

Wow thanks so much for the immediate reply and the enlightenment! All best to you Andreas, and for everyone at Rick Steves.

Janice, what is your timetable? That seems like a jam-packed trip. I'd give yourself a minimum of 3 weeks to get all of that in.

yes ive got 3 weeks for the whole trip. may cut out some chunks to enjoy the places at a more leisurely pace.

should i cut the german part? anyway ive always wanted to rothenburg.

Janice, if London is the only place you want to go to in the UK then cut out Paris and Amsterdam. If I were planning this I would do either:

1) London, Wales, Ireland, Amsterdam, Paris and fly out of Paris to Tokyo.

OR

2) Fly into Frankfurt, see Nuremburg, Munich, Rothenburg, Salzburg, and perhaps Innsbruck. Fly out of Frankfurt back to Tokyo.

I'd save Paris and Basel for a trip that would include Burgundy and Nice.

Janice, you could easily add Amsterdam to Jarrod's No. 2 suggestion. And then maybe even Basel if you skipped Paris and London who are pretty far off the track...

you guys are right. seems like i'm trying to cover too wide area and its not logistically wise. will refer to your suggestions and look at the map, and revise my plan ! will keep you posted shortly. thanks a lot for being there for me, all of you !

I would suggest:
flying into Amsterdam;
taking a "City Night Line" sleeper train to Munich;
bus, or preferably rent a car and drive through Bavaria / Tirol to Switzerland;
see Switzerland by train, being sure to go to Murten and Avenches which give you a walled city like Rothenburg and the Roman Empire within a couple of kilometers of each other;
TGV from Lausanne to Paris;
Eurostar to London;
Fly home from London.