abcdes

My boyfriend and I are planning a 21-day trip for May/June 2015 and we're stuck on a couple of decisions. We are OK with not spending a few weeks in each city because one of us gets bored easily and we are looking at a budget of about 3-4k. Our current itinerary involves:

Arrive in Rome
Rome (4 days not including arrival day)
Florence (3 days)
???
Munich (2 days)
Drive to Berchtesgaden/Ostsee (2 days)
Drive to Fussen/Hohenschwangau (3 days)
???

1) The '???'s are where we got stuck. We're deciding between Venice, Vienna, and Salzburg in between Florence and Munich. Which should we do and how many days should we spend there (Please don't suggest a week)? Or should we go to both Venice and either Vienna or Salzburg?

2) Should we include a leg to France (e.g. Paris or Colmar) after Germany, before we return to Rome for our flight home?

3) Is there a better suggestion for moving between Munich, Berchtesgaden, and Fussen than driving? We're more familiar with right-hand drive and automatic cars but are willing to pay more for an automatic car if we really have to. We figured it would be more convenient especially if we have a suitcase.

Thank you!

nytraveler

First of all, do not get RT tickets to Rome. It is much more efficient to fly into the first city and return form your last city. This gives you another day of vacation and avoids the cost of backtracking. If you look at open jaws flights (multi-destination on many search engines) you will see they cost no more than RT tickets.

Second, without knowing more about you and your intersts it's hard to make specific recos on where to go. I know what I would like but not your interests.

Finally as far as budget - this is 3 of 4 K what? Euros? US$? Is this for both of you or each? Where are you coming from and does this budget include airfare? If you are coming from the US your airfare is very likely to be more than US$2K for 2 people - leaving you US$1 - 2K for 21 days - or at most about 40 euros per day per person - not workable unless you are couchsurfing, eating picnics and taking very inexpensive buses or budget advance train fares.

(Student guide books usually use about 50 euros per day as a sort of minimum budget - doing everything a inexpensively as possible. Even staying in hostels most of your budget would go just to lodging.

abcdes

Hi nytraveler, if we get multi-destination tickets would you suggest flying from italy to germany/austria as well instead of just taking a train?

We both want to soak in the atmosphere and culture and just eat, drink, and walk around. But I'd also like some things to see at some point otherwise I'll get quite bored and feel like I'm not making good use of my time. It doesn't have to be a lot but it'd be nice to have a purpose other than just relaxing. My boyfriend has no real preference over sights. He's more interested in the atmosphere and language and culture. So we're just looking for a good balance of both. I love churches and music but I don't HAVE to visit churches everywhere we go.

For the budget, we're looking at 4k Singapore Dollars per person, which is about 3199 USD. It includes airfare and average airfare prices we've seen so far are about 1.2k SGD. We're looking at airbnbs mainly since he's not too big on hostels or couchsurfing. At this point estimates of our costs are as follows (in SGD):

Airfare - $1.2k
Optional tours - $400 (Vatican, Florence day trip)
Car rental for 4 days - $430
Eurail pass - depends on whether we go to France as well but it looks about 600-700SGD (not sure if I'm looking at the right pass)

This leaves slightly more than 1k for accommodation? Is there any way to make this cheaper?

sandralist

If you start in Rome and head north, I would suggest going to Verona after Florence. It both suits your interests and is right on the train line between Florence and Munich.

Southam

Basic tools:
www.seat61.com
www.db.com
These will help make you an expert on train travel.
www.skyscanner.com Good way to research one-way air fares on Euro budget carriers.
Quick point: Inter-city train fares often work like the airlines: The earlier you buy, the cheaper the price. You trade the loss of flexibility for saving money.
Quick point #2: There is plenty of good advice in the archives of this forum, found through the Search button at upper right.

Fussgaenger

"Drive to Berchtesgaden/Ostsee (2 days)"

The Ostsee is the BALTIC. Could you possibly mean the Königssee?

"Is there a better suggestion for moving between Munich, Berchtesgaden, and Fussen than driving?"

Taking the train to B'gaden or Füssen is simple and cheap. People take suitcases on the train all the time.
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/pr...a-ticket.shtml

There are many destinations in Bavaria - I wouldn't plan a lengthy trek to Paris just because you have a few days to fill. Salzburg is fine for 2 days. But after your visit to the German Alps you might enjoy the old-world places in Northern Bavaria (Franconia - Bamberg, Würzburg, Coburg, Nuremberg, Rothenburg, Bad Windsheim, Iphofen, Ochsenfurt and more.)

Bamberg: http://us.hellomagazine.com/imagenes...137_0007-a.jpg

Photos of wine/artists' village Iphofen: http://www.stadtbild-deutschland.org...&threadID=2985

Nuremberg's Kaiserburg Castle complex and old town: http://media.belocal.de/120712/1152x768_0,0c.jpg

Fussgaenger

"Is there any way to make this cheaper?"

Apartments can be cheap. I had a studio apartment in Neustadt an der Aisch (near Nuremberg) for 3 nights for about €20/night (single price; figure about €30 for two.) Neustadt is a good base for day trips.

http://haag-nea.npage.de/privatzimmer.html

You can usually find an apartment for around €35-€40/night if you look around on the town and local tourist office websites, which will have many more options than airbnb.

Also, forget the Eurailpass. You don't need it for trips within Bavaria or to Salzburg if you have the Bayern ticket (my previous post) and there are cheap ways of getting between Germany and Italy without a railpass.