Switzerland intrigues us both. We love the mountains. However, it may be the most logical to cut out due to the fact that it seems not as easy to travel to by train. And with my wife being sick, I never know if its going to be a good month or not for heavy activity.
Just throwing in my two cents here as someone who travels often to Germany - given your ties to Germany and the fact that you love the mountains but may need to cut out Switzerland due to logistics... I'd definitiely consider spending a few days in south of Germany - maybe base yourself in or near Munich? It's far easier to get from Berlin to Munich than to get into the center of Switzerland. The south of Germany has a much different feel/culture than the areas closer to Berlin.
Though Munich is not in the mountains, you can see them on a clear day and you are within an easy train ride from places like Garmisch and Fuessen or Salzburg, Austria. And - you could take an overnight train from Munich to Venice if you wanted to continue on to Italy that way.
go where your heart leads you. if you are intrigued by switzerland, go there. out of paris, you can take a tgv to geneva. if you want to see interlaken, stay in bern. a wonderful medieval type city. then do a day trip to interlaken and up into the alps. check out deutsche bahn website. you can get really good special advanced prices on rail tickets. i see one way coach fares from zurich to munich for 39 euros. maybe do the glacier express while in switzerland. i just bought an intercity ticket from munich to amsterdam for like $60.00. if you go to munich, be sure and go to salzburg. also check out biddingfortravel.com to see what people are paying for hotels in europe on priceline.
If you haven't decided where to use your Hilton points we stayed at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and really liked it. We were upgraded to a very nice suite since this was an anniversary trip for us. Also, the lounge access was very nice for complimentary breakfast.
sorry about your wife; I hope this will be the first of many trips for both of you;
Try looking at airfrance website. Many times they will match the price of one of the cheaper flights and considering they serve the main airports (easier to get to and closer to the city) it may be worth your while paying an extra 20-30 euros for a more convinient flight.
I would NOT miss Venice; It is romantic and unique. All cities in Europe have their own charm but Venice.... well, its Venice.
As far as night train, as long as the train leaves after a certain hour, it counts for the next day so it may be only one day. You can do up to 5 neighboring countries and remember that Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg count as on (Benelux). Go to ricksteves.com and read about his train suggestions.
As far as night trains, in some you can just sleep in your seat but in others you can have a bed (6, 4, 3, or 2 to a room); needless to say, per person the 2 per room is much more expensive. It is not cheaper than staying in a hotel and the train but it saves you a few hours.
I agree with you that planning the trip is time consuming but if you try to enjoy it, it can be tons of fun; I really enjoy planning trips.
Your other option is to take an organized tour where everything is included and you just show up at the right place at the correct time. Makes me feel like cattle.
Interesting challenge you have ahead of you, seeing Europe in 2-3 weeks. Sorry to read about the reason for it.
As a dutchman living in Switzerland and doing a lot of travel in Germany, I would like to add following to the previous suggestions.
First: look in Europe for your arrangements instead of in the US. Have a look on European web sites, like www.sncf.fr for french trains or www.bahn.de for german trains. There you can get really cheap tickets when booked in advance (TGV: 90 days).
Or www.motel-one.de for really decent hotels in Germany, for example in downtown Berlin from 51,5 Euro (double room)!
A Lonely Planet Guide may also come in handy.
In all these cities, hotels can be very expensive, but there are always very nice little hotels for decent prices. Maybe not a big room like in the Hilton, but often much nicer and more personal. Like in Paris "Hotel Chopin" (around 90 Euro for a double) or Residence Foch (140 Euro).
A good engine for booking hotels in Europe is www.hrs.com (english available). In Germany, autumn is exhibition time. Lots of hotels cost 150% or more compared to normal. Especially in Berlin, Munich and the Frankfurt area.
In Paris: skip the Louvre. The Louvre is very impressive, one of the worlds biggest musea, when not the biggest. You can walk around there for one week without seeing one thing twice. This is frustrating when you only have a few days. Instead, see the city, the people, which is one of the best things of Paris. Rent bikes. Climb the Eiffel tower. When you like Monet, go to the Orangerie and the small hidden museum "Marmottan". Otherwise see the Musee d'Orsay. There is a very nice restaurant called "Bouillon Racine". They have excellent 3 course menus for 30 Euros, which is cheap in Paris.
Train travel from Paris to Amsterdam: yes, good idea.
When in A´dam, ride bikes. But: see to it that you get out of the city too. See the Ijsselmeer (part of the sea that was dammed and now is a big lake) when you like sailing; go to Den Haag when you like art (also some good musea in A´Dam though). Go to a place by the sea in the dunes (but not Zandvoort, Scheveningen is better (tramline 1 from Den Haag central station).
Berlin has a lot of art and history and is relatively cheap. I would definitely go there. See an opera if you like it, the remainders of the wall, etc.
When you want to see the mountains, go to Switzerland. Otherwise: skip Switzerland.
Train travel from Berlin to Switzerland: I´d rather not. Take the plane from TXL to ZRH. This will save a lot of time and with AirBerlin this will cost you only $66 per person. And: AirBerlin is not a lowcost airline like RyanAir or EasyJet, so no funny stuff with extra charges for printed boarding passes or fast boarding or luggage surcharges.
When going to Switzerland, take the train from Zürich Airport to Bern (1,25 Hours). From Bern you have easy access to the mountains. For instance, you can go on a via ferrata in Kandersteg, which is very impressive. You will never forget that. If you want to go up to a peak and not climb youself, go to the top of Europe: http://www.jungfraubahn.ch/en/DesktopDefault.aspx
From Bern you can take the train to Milano, from where you can go on (by train or plane) to Rome or Venice. Trains in Italy run also in the night, bur to Rome is quite a distance.
When you like to see southern Germany instead of Switzerland, go to Füssen if you like castles (you can also do this on a day trip from Munich). Near Füssen, you will find Schloss Neuschwanstein (http://www.neuschwanstein.de/), which is without doubt one of the most impressive castles in the world. In the village nearby you can relax in hot springs (Kristalltherme; http://www.kristalltherme-schwangau.de/). I believe you can book both as a package.
Venice is nice to see, but be very selective and don´t spend too much time there. Besides: it is probably inaccessible in autumn due to flooding (check in advance). I would rather concentrate on Rome when in Italy. Be careful for pickpockets there!! And: when looking for Espresso, you can watch the price rise by the meter when nearing tourist attractions. Near big sites, an espresso can cost 5 Euro or more (normal price around 1 Euro).
Hope this helps a bit rather than confuses (all the possibilities). Otherwise, just ask
Wow, so many good suggestions in this thread. A lot to take in. I have been doing a lot of research based on suggestions here, and on ricksteves.com. I think we may try to trim the cities down a bit as originally suggested. I think we may try to just do Paris, Rome, and either somewhere in the Alps or Berlin. We are getting a lot of people telling us that skipping London is a bad idea as well. Whatever we decide we are going to try to trim it to at most 3 big cities and the Alps.
Thanks again for all the suggestions, every single post has been EXTREMELY informative. Each one gives me a new avenue to research.
I regard London and Berlin both as very hip and in-style cities. Both have lots to offer, especially in terms of design and modern art (where I regard Rome and Paris to be more "classical"). Strangely enough, Berlin is one of the cheapest major cities in Europe, where London is one of the most expensive, when not the most expensive. When you want to see Germany, would go to Berlin and skip London without feeling bad about it.
When you want to see the alps and plan on doing so in Switzerland, this website might prove very helpful: www.myswitzerland.com
Under "choose language" you can chose your language and even your county of origin to get a service that fits your needs.
I regard London and Berlin both as very hip and in-style cities. Both have lots to offer, especially in terms of design and modern art (where I regard Rome and Paris to be more "classical"). Strangely enough, Berlin is one of the cheapest major cities in Europe, where London is one of the most expensive, when not the most expensive. When you want to see Germany, would go to Berlin and skip London without feeling bad about it.
When you want to see the alps and plan on doing so in Switzerland, this website might prove very helpful: www.myswitzerland.com
Under "choose language" you can chose your language and even your county of origin to get a service that fits your needs.
Cheers,
SuperVoid
So would Paris, Rome, Berlin, and Interaken be doable for 2 weeks? As I stated it MIGHT be 3 weeks but if it has to be 2 weeks would that be too much to cover?
So would Paris, Rome, Berlin, and Interaken be doable for 2 weeks? As I stated it MIGHT be 3 weeks but if it has to be 2 weeks would that be too much to cover?
Well, hard to tell, actually. This can only be answered when you at leats have a rough idea of what you would like to see, or what interests you. Because you can spend more than a week in each of these great cities without seeing everything.
If I were you, I would invest a few $$ in a couple of good travel guides or (loan them from the library), such as Lonely Planet. You can also find a lot on www.lonelyplanet.com about these cities and countries. This is a great resource.
Be aware that city trips are a lot more "compact" or "dense" (more to do/see in less time) than for instance a trip to the alps.
However, when you want to do all this in two weeks time, I would lose the idea of travelling by train. Despite fast connections (in Germany and France there are lots of connection with fast (200 mph) trains and superior products, you will lose to much time on these long distances. Unless of course, you find a direct night connection. Assumed you arrive in Paris and leave from Paris, you can fly from Paris to Berlin, from Berlin to Zürich, from Zürich to Rome and from Rome back to Paris for about 500$ per person. Have a look on www.bing.com/travel
Also consider to fly to one city (from US) and fly back from another.
If I had to do the planning for myself, I would plan like this:
4 days in Paris: 1 day city walks (Montmartre, Notre Dame, Quartier Latin, Jardin du Luxembourg, ...) 1 day Versailles, 1 day impressionists (Orangerie, Marmottan), climb the Eiffel tower in the evening (beware of waiting lines!) and one day for Musee d'Orsay or Centre Pompidou, or something else, depending what's on.
2 or 3 days in Berlin: one day sight-seeing/landmarks, one day musea, possibly one extra day depending on what you like and what's on at the moment
5 days in Rome: the Vatican, Forum Romanum, Villa Borghese, Colosseum, and and and. Do not forget to have a night stroll to some of the squares with the illuminated fountains (piazza Navona, Trevi fountain, this list is endless ) and have some Italian ice cream on a terrace. Also try to plan in a day to get out to Tivoli (Villa d'Este, Villa Adriana (where Hadrian lived)).
When you have time, you can visit Switzerland en route from Berlin to Rome or vice versa.
I would spend 2-3 days there, probably go from Zürich to Bern and from there to Interlaken or Brienz, stay in the hotel Giessbach (www.giessbach.ch), you may have seen this in "Band of Brothers" and make some mountain or lake trips, go back to Zürich via Luzern, which is very nice too.
I hope this helps you a bit with your decisions. Two weeks is short, every day that you can possibly add you will not regret .
May 24th - Arrive in Rome. Stay 4 nights. Leave for home on the 28th. Have the 28th, 29th, and 30th to readjust before work [/quote]
You've already got a lot to figure out regarding locations to visit, so I won't confuse the issue by adding my 2 cents there. However, no one else has commented on the ending of your trip.
Although it might be nice to think about having a few days to readjust before heading back to work - and perhaps in your case it's necessary for your wife - HOWEVER, if this was my one and only trip to Europe (although I do this for every trip regardless) I would want to spend every minute there that I could. Coming home a few days early depresses me because as I'm sitting back at home waiting for (& dreading) my return to work, I can only think about what I would be doing had I stayed for a few extra days.
So you'll be tired and jetlagged when you return? You'll get back into the rhythm soon enough, but you may not have another chance to spend a few extra days overseas and see or experience something (maybe even another city - I can't help but re-recommend Venice) truly wonderful.
I think we have decided to do 6 days in Paris, 4 days in Interlaken, and 6 days for Rome and Florence. We are either going in May or October. Not sure which yet.
I think we have decided to do 6 days in Paris, 4 days in Interlaken, and 6 days for Rome and Florence. We are either going in May or October. Not sure which yet.
in switzerland, be sure and visit bern. the old city is very nice. walk down to the bear pit.
in switzerland, be sure and visit bern. the old city is very nice. walk down to the bear pit.
The bears are not in the pit anymore. They have moved to a new bear friendly park next to it
And the restaurant next to it (Altes Tramdepot) sells truely great home brewed beer. The meals are good too, as a matter of fact.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hawnted
..., 4 days in Interlaken,...
I’ve been wondering about this since the first post: why are you so interested in Interlaken? Because, as a city, it’s worthless (more like a village). Interlaken is only good as a base for excursions into the mountains (a day trip up to the Jungfrau for instance).
If you are looking for a nice Swiss city, visit (and spend some nights in) Bern, Luzerne, Zurich, ...
) and have some Italian ice cream on a terrace. Also try to plan in a day to get out to Tivoli (Villa d'Este, Villa Adriana (where Hadrian lived)).
[/quote]
I’ve been wondering about this since the first post: why are you so interested in Interlaken? Because, as a city, it’s worthless (more like a village). Interlaken is only good as a base for excursions into the mountains (a day trip up to the Jungfrau for instance). 
