lynnd58

Ok, so my husband and I are planning our first Europe trip for our 33rd anniversary. We are taking a space-a flight into Ramstein, Germany in early June. We want to go to Garmisch, Munich, Paris, Interlaken, and Lucerne, and then back to Ramstein for return flight. We're traveling by train mostly, but can rent a car if necessary. We're pretty baffled as to the most efficient and best route to take. We'll be there about two weeks. Any suggestions are appreciated (including hotels/gasthauses, restaurants, excursions, etc). Thanks!!

Underhill

What you need are some good travel books for basic research. The Fodor's Germany is very useful; for Paris I prefer the Michelin Green Guide.

voyager61

Congratulations on planning your first trip to Europe. You can get a lot of help on this forum if you provide information regarding your interests (museums, hiking, etc.) and approximate budget for accommodations. All kinds of travelers respond here, from budget to luxury and everything in between, so with a little more info, you will receive a lot more useful responses. Also, if you know the exact number of nights, you might get some helpful suggestions for your itinerary (how long to stay in each place, based on your interests and preferred pace of travel).

lynnd58

Thank you! We plan on doing all of the typical activities and sightseeing in each location. We haven't decided on the exact number of nights for each location, but at least a couple for each one. We also need recommendations for the order in which to visit each city that would make the most sense based on beginning our trip in Ramstein, Germany and ending at the same location. Our price range for accommodations is mid-range (equivalent to the Hilton/Sheraton/Marriott in the US)....up to $300 per night or so at the most (preferably less).

Bamaman

When I travel, I try to go on paths of least resistance. The distances in your planned itinerary are pretty great and chopped up--requiring a number of train transfers.
I would suggest you save Paris for another trip, as there are few budget airlines flying to/from Southern Germany or Zurich. Your time would be better spent in Southern Germany or Bavaria.
Have you considered substituting Western Tyrol (Austria) for Switzerland? It's so much easier to rent a car when you leave Munich and drive a circle down through Garmisch into Austria, around to Salzburg and back into Munich. You'll find this route much cheaper than Switzerland, and the Austrian Alps are essentially the same mountains.

bobthenavigator

I agree, keep it simple, and the Austrian lakes and Alps are superb---and close. SWitz. is very expensive.

Google " Salzkammergut" and see what I mean.

Sassafrass

Forget flying to Paris.
Germany and France created routes to Paris by combining the German ICE trains and the French TGV.
From Kaiserslautern, near Ramstein, you can be in Paris in 2 & 1/2 hours. There used to be one direct departure a day and two others with connections. Not certain exactly what is currently available, but check it out.

Check out the Ramstein website for lots of travel info.
Not too far from Ramstein is the Alsace region and Strasbourg.

If you are not a member, it is well worth the $35.00 to join Dirk Pepperd's website, www.pepperd.com, for military space-a travel, everything from schedules to special discounts to lodging. This is a great resource, even while traveling to get a quick answer for something.

lynnd58

I like the idea of Austria instead of Switzerland, and thank you for the recommendation. I spoke to Greg (my husband) and he also thinks its a good idea to rent a car once we get to Munich and follow your advice in driving to Garmisch and then to Salzburg. Any more recommendations on where to stay, eat, must sees, etc. for each of those regions?

I appreciate your input, but Paris is a MUST for me. I've never seen it and I can't pass up the opportunity to go there. I don't think it's very far from Ramstein by train, so maybe we should just go there when we first leave Ramstein. Then, maybe we could take the train from Paris to Munich??

voyager61

I think you can do Paris along with southern Germany and Salzburg, as long as you plan carefully. Paris requires a minimum of 4 nights, IMO, especially for a first-time trip, that leaves you 10 nights to do the rest of the trip.

For Paris, Hotel de Fleurie in Saint Germain area is within your budget and a very nice boutique hotel on a relatively quiet street, but within walking distance of several things.

Can't help you on Southern Germany/Austria, but many others can.

Have a great trip.

bobthenavigator

Look at St. Gilgen to stay and especially the Garni Schernthaner. Visit Salzburg and Hallstatt from there.

Travelforbeer

A couple of ideas based on past experience-

If you must do Paris, go there by ICE train when you get off the flight.3-4 nights is probably enough for a first time. If you are retired military, you can probably book reasonably priced hotels thru the Paris USO... At least we did so maaaaany years ago...

Then train from Paris to Munich. I believe there is a night train (City Night Line) with twin compartments which will save you a day of travel. When you get to Munich, spend a couple of days there. Since you mentioned Marriott, there is a Courtyard about 2-3 blocks from the main train station.

Do not rent a car until you leave Munich. The public transportation in Paris and Munich is very good.

The drive from Munich to Salzburg is about 2 hours. Spend 2-3 days there and day trip to Hallstatt, St. Gilgen. and/or to Berchtesgaden. A nice small hotel is the Bergland hotel- elevator, free parking, easy walk to river then into downtown or catch bus 1 block away from hotel. In the range of $150/nite, book early.

When you leave Salzburg you will have 4-5 nights left. You can get to Garmisch by taking the scenic route or the quick route back toward Munich on A8 then on B472 through Bad Tolz and then onto A95 which goes into Garmisch. If the weather is good the Palace at Herren Chiemsee is nice to stop at on the way- it is at the Prein exit.


In Garmisch we stayed at Gastehaus Brigitte last September- Full kitchen, separate bath, separate bedroom, balcony, free parking, free breakfast, linens changed daily, and only 3 short blocks from the main drag in Garmisch. About $80/nite - a real deal! Nice day trips are to Linderhof, Wies Church, Ettal, and the Zugspitz.

If you have a night or 2 left, you might want to drive to Fussen for one night or Rothenburg (Hotel Hornburg is very nice, about $150/night)on your way back to Ramstein. If you have an early flight there is a nice Marriott in Hiedelberg about 1-1.5 hours east of Ramstein. Check where you can return your car when you first arrive (before leaving for Paris)- it might even be on the base.

This sounds like a fun first trip!!!

Sassafrass

Travelforbeer,

Sorry to tell you, but there is no USO in Paris, been gone for many years. Memories. . . .

Travelforbeer

Sassafrass-

Thanks for the info- sorry to learn about the Paris USO closure. They had some good deals at one time... I didn't know because I have used other resources in Paris for the last 25 years or so...

Sassafrass

I really feel old now, TfB. We used the Paris USO 37 years ago. What changes since then!

lynnd58

Wow! You guys are great! Your tips have really been helpful, and believe me, we will follow your advice. Doing further research about Space-A flights, it doesn't look like we'll get a seat during the summer, so we've rescheduled our trip to depart the end of April. Based on that, I think we'll only be able to do 10 days.

Gretchen

For 10 days you will need to cut some things out. I never saw how long the trip was to be. Glad to hear Paris is a must. For an anniversary it couldn't be better. So if it is 10 days, what will the breakdown be. You can probably fly into Paris and maybe out of Frankfurt (just thinking of it as a major hub)--maybe there are other places too.

lynnd58

We're flying space-a into/out of Ramstein. I'm thinking we'll arrive in Ramstein in the morning and spend night 1 in the Ramstein Inn; go to Paris on day 2 (fast train from Ramstein) and stay in Paris on nights 2 and 3 and during the day on day 4; leave for Munich on the night train on night 4 and arrive in Munich in the morning of day 5 and spend that day and the 5th night in Munich. Then on day 6 rent a car in Munich and drive to Salzburg, and I'm lost after that (lol). I need suggestions for days and nights 6 through 10. We want to see Salzburg and Garmisch during that time, and we need to end up back in Ramstein on day 10.

bobthenavigator

Hmmm ! Space available---fond memories.

WE first did it in 1961---to Frankurt and home from England and spent 21 day in Europe including 3 nights in Garmisch. We stayed at the Officers hotel fo $3/nite---wow!

All told, we spent $385 for all the trip--it is a long story.

Sassafrass

Lynn,

Late April is a perfect time for Paris, even with a few showers!

It is also a much better time for space-a.

Unless you think you will be totally exhausted, don't stay on the base that first day and night. Head straight on to Paris. You can sleep a bit on the train and even if you arrive late and sleep late, you will wake up in Paris. No point wasting most of a precious day when there is nothing to do on base except eat the same fast food you can have at home.

Your trip will give you more memories if you spend more time in fewer places and less time traveling to them.

Using space-a, you may get back to Germany, but may not make the trek to Paris again, so based on lots of personal experience, I highly recommend you give Paris more time and also see Versailles while you are there. Spend at a minimum 4 nights there. Five would be better, but you could do the 5th night as the night train to Munich. Whatever it takes to give you four days, one of those for Versailles. Believe me, even a week in Paris would not be too much!

Plan your last night to stay on or near the base and be ready for the flight home. Nothing is set in stone. Times are fluid. The last time we were there, Ramstein did roll call nearly an hour earlier than the posted time, so check it and go a little early anyway.

Just curious. Are you active or retired? What is your departing place? Have you done space-a before? Did you check out Dirk's site? We used space-a a lot for a few years. Then it got nearly impossible to get seats, so we haven't in several years. We may try again this Spring, though not to Ramstein.

PalenQ

We're traveling by train mostly, but can rent a car if necessary. We're pretty baffled as to the most efficient and best route to take>

Not necessary to rent a car for the places you mention - trains go everywhere and once in a city cars are pretty useless - parking can be expensive and hard to find - many hotels do not offer parking or charge a lot for it, etc.

If you want to meander thru the German countryside more than hit cities - wonderful cities and places like the Interlaken area where many places in the Jungfrau Region are simply off-limits to cars - anyways for lots of great info on trains in those countries I refer you to these IMO fantastic sites: www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com and for Switzerland www.swisstravelsystem.com - a Swiss Pass can be surprisingly cost-effective even if there only a few days.

So for your itinerary cars are not needed and would be far slower between cities than trains going well over 100 mph many places.