lilladki

My husband and I are planning a trip from May 22-June 3rd. Currently our flight flies into Berlin and out of Prague. Our tentative itinerary is:

May 22-23: Berlin, overnight train to Munich
May 24-26: Munich
May 27-29: Zurich
May 30-31: Budapest
Jun 1-3: Prague

We are 26/27 and like sightseeing and historical places. We are also planning a 2 week trip to Spain next May so we could potentially go to one of these cities then.

- Am I being over ambitious here? Should I drop one or two cities? If so, which cities? We definitely want to go to Prague.

- We have the option to change our ticket to fly into Munich or Zurich and out of Prague instead of Berlin/Prague. Would that be a more feasible option with the amount of time we have? Or should we drop Budapest?

- What is the best way to get from one place to the other? Is train travel too far for the itinerary above?

Any help would be greatly appreciated - thanks!

J_Correa

If it were my trip, I would drop 1 city from the list, possibly 2. Keep in mind that whenever you move, you will basically lose at least a half day of sightseeing because of the time spent travelling, checking into hotels, etc. Seeing fewer cities will allow more time in each, of course, and also allow time for side trips out of the cities. With the train systems, side trips are easily done and I think really worth the time.

Of the cities on your list, I have only been to Munich, which we really enjoyed. So I say definitely go there Prague, Berlin, and Budapest are on my list of places to go, just haven't gotten their yet I haven't heard a lot of great things about Zurich though, plus since it is the furthest west, that would probably be my choice to drop.

Michael

I would drop Zurich from the itinerary, unless you have special reasons to see it. I liked Budapest, but Vienna would make more sense geographically.

kja

How long to spend in any one place depends on your preferred pace of travel and what you want to see and do. That said, I must admit that I would find the trip you are proposing extremely frustrating, because (as others have noted) you'll be spending a lot of time traveling and very little time actually seeing these wonderful cities. And they are wonderful!

travelbunny

Zurich is a city that is on my least favorite list. I really would suggest that you not visit on such a short trip.

lilladki

Thank you to everyone who has responded so far. We have the option to
fly into Berlin, Munich or Zurich but have to fly out of Prague on
June 3rd as that is all that is available, but anything in between is
open. With that said, what route would you recommend?

We are also planning a 2 week trip to Spain next summer, so I thought
maybe it would be a good idea to fly to Zurich then. So for this trip,
we could do Munich, Berlin and Prague and potentially Budapest, unless
that would be too much. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

noe847

Does this list of dates include your travel dates? In other words, do you land in Berlin on the 22nd of May and fly from Prague on June 1? I'm assuming you're flying in from N. America??

Your proposed itinerary is too many cities, too much distance, and too little time. I would consolidate your locations and trim the number of cities. Otherwise, your trip is liable to be jumpy.

I would eliminate Zurich and probably Budapest as well. Also, I think I'd pick either Berlin or Munich and fashion an itinerary from there. Munich is a charming city, very Bavarian and beautiful. Berlin (I am going to visit there my first time in March) seems to be more big-city, modern in architecture, contemporary art, lots of 20th c. history.

Although this is not exactly what you asked, you could do an itinerary from Munich to Salzburg to Vienna to Prague. We did a similar trip in 2 weeks. It's still a bit rushed, but the train trips are manageable and the cities are beautiful, historical and different.

You could also do Berlin, Dresden, Prague, with some time for day trips.

JN

Given your short timeframe, I's sugggest skipping Zurich (well out of your way and not my favorite city by a long shot) and Budapest (because of distance), adding Salzburg and having the following itinerary:
May 22-25: Berlin, overnight train to Munich
May 26-28: Munich
May 29-30: Salzburg
May 31-June 3: Prague