naich

Hi All,

I am planning a solo Europe trip for 14 nights ( July 6- July 20 )and this is my first Europe trip.Planned to travel in cities by high speed train in day , My plan as below and advise with your valuable suggestions to finalise my itinerary.
Arriving Frankfurt Airport afternoon ( My visa issued from Germany and cheapest destination for my flight is from Frankfurt ) -1 night stay and will leave next day morning to Amsterdam via train

Amsterdam ( 3 Nights stay in Amsterdam ) and leaves to Paris via train in morning

Paris ( 2 Nights stay in Paris ) and leaves to Interlaken via train in afternoon

Interlaken ( 2 Nights stay in Interlaken ) and leaves to Luzern via train in afternoon

Lucerne ( 2 nights stay ) and leaves to Munich via train in afternoon

Munich ( 1 night stay ) .-Staying to meet one friend and leaves to Vienna via train

Vienna ( 3 nights stay ) , One day day trip to Bratislava planned and return from Vienna on Night 20 th July via flight

My plan is to purchase 5 days Euro rail global pass and 3 days Swiss pass for intercity travel.

Please advise with your suggestions and which daily passes I need to buy for visiting Museums ,other attractions and for local transport in Paris, Amsterdam and Vienna

I have booked accommodation with in walkable distance in all cities from railway stations.

Could I get good exchange value against US dollar for Euro and CHF, and from where ?

Thanks All

P_M

Only 2 nights in Paris? I think you need to trim back a bit. I would save Amsterdam for your next trip and spend more time in Paris. If Amsterdam is a must then skip Paris and redistribute your time elsewhere, as your itinerary is far too rushed.

As far as the exchange goes, you're MUCH better off to use your credit cards as much as possible and use your debit card at the ATM for cash. Be sure to advise your bank and credit card companies of your travel plans so they won't think it's fraud.

nylilly

I'm not going to address anything beyond your last question with regards to exchanging money - the best method is to simply use your atm card at a bank affiliated atm once you have arrived to access local currency. When asked if you want to convert the amount to U.S. dollars, the answer is "No." Read more here. Also, if you don't already have one, get a credit card that won't charge you a fee for foreign transaction fees. Here are some cards to consider.

tomboy

2 nights in Paris, versus 1 day trip to Bratislava, on your first trip to Europe?

janisj

Welcome to Fodors. Sorry but that is a very aggressive itinerary and you would be spending a lot of time just traveling between cities.

What you have is:
1 night Frankfurt -- that's fine

3 nights in Amsterdam which gives you 2 days

2 nights in Paris which gives you just one full day in Paris. Why go to Paris if you are only going to have 1 day there???

2 nights in Interlaken = one day

2 in Lucerne - again only one day

1 night in Munich - After a 4.5 hour afternoon train ride you will only have a few evening hours in Munich

3 nights in Vienna - gives you one day for Vienna and one day for Bratislava.

I would cut out at least two of your planned destinations.

hetismij2

You need to do as janis says, and also check on whether you can use your rail pass on all the trains you want and whether you need to reserve seats on them.
Personally I would drop both Amsterdam and Paris and give more time to the rest of your trip.
If you are going to Amsterdam then for some museums you need to book and pay for a timed entry slot in advance, certainly for the Anne Frankhuis and the van Gogh Museum.

kerouac

Connect the dots on a map of the various cities you have mentioned and see if your itinerary makes any geographical sense. I suspect that it won't.

Jean

You're spending about 26 hours sitting on trains and another approximately 4 hours getting to and from the train stations at each destination... 30 hours just moving from place to place. That's almost 3 days you won't have for sightseeing.

SusanP

As noted, you will spend a lot of time on the train with very little time in each place.
Cut out either Amsterdam and Paris OR Lucerne and Interlaken so you have more time in the remaining places.

Travel_Nerd

I agree with the others. You need to make some cuts.

You are planning this trip at the height of tourist season. Not knowing your interests, have you even checked to see if there are advanced tickets still available in some of the cities you're planning to go to and to see? I'd start there to see what might make sense to cut.

For example, I checked the Anne Frank House for tix and there is nothing available around the dates you're traveling to Amsterdam. If this was something you really wanted to see, you're likely out of luck.

Do the same for major sites in Paris (Louvre, d'Orsay, Versailles, Eiffel Tower - if going to such places is of interest), other spots in Amsterdam, and also Vienna and Munich, if applicable. I'd hate for you to make all of these plans - and rushed at that - only to find you cannot actually see anything. Then again, with your current plan, you won't really be seeing much besides train stations.

While I thoroughly enjoyed Bratislava, you do not have enough time for it - with your current plan. If you make cuts and add more time in Vienna, then yes, Bratislava as a daytrip might be doable.

neckervd

I second everything said above.
Did you check the train timetables in order to get an idea about the time you will really have to visit the places you mention?
I tried to get the best solution and got:

July 8th: Frankfurt dp 7.28 - Amstardam ar 11.48. I hope you will get breakfast in your hotel before 7am. You will have 2 1/2 days in Amsterdam, OK for a short visit.
July 11th: Amsterdam dp 8.15 - Paris NORD ar 11.35. Most Paris museums are closed on Tuesday.
July 13th: Paris LYON dp 16.22 - Interlaken ar 22.00. That gives you 2 half days and 1 full day in Paris.
July 15th: Interlaken dp 17.04 - Luzern ar 18.55. If the weather is fine, you can use these 1 1/2 days for trips into the mountains. If not?????
July 17th: Lucerne dp 16.05 - Munich ar 21.04. In 1 1/2 days, you can either do a day trip and visit no museum at Lucerne or spend most of the time in twon.
July 18th: Munich dp 17.30 - Vienna ar 21.32

My conclusions: it's feasible, but not enjoyable. You waste not ony too much time, but also too much money for train rides.
But it's up to you.
May be it's not a good idea to buy a 3 days Swiss Pass. Your Swiss legs are too short or may ben not covered by it (like Jungfraujoch)

Fleur_de_Lis

Congrats on planning your first trip to Europe! I totally understand the inclination to see as much as possible, but I agree with others that with this itinerary, you won't be able to really experience any of these places - you'll spend the majority of your time on trains. And as Kerouac mentioned, you seem to be backtracking a bit with this plan?

I think you have some choices to make. Here's what I'd do - Focus on EITHER Central/Eastern Europe OR Paris and Amsterdam. I'd probably save Switzerland for another time, unless you're really attached to it (but the way your itinerary is set up now, you'd hardly get to see any of it). I'd do either of these two itineraries like this:

Frankfurt - 1 night upon arrival, leave next morning (Day 1)
Amsterdam - 4 nights (Day 2-4)
Brussels - 1 night (Day 5) [Optional, but it is on the way and a lovely city]
Paris - 5 nights (Day 6-9) - Can do day trips to see Loire Valley chateaux, champagne region, Versailles, etc. if you are so inclined - or just stay in Paris all 4 days! 4 days is barely enough time in Paris to see everything and soak in the atmosphere.
Then you COULD tack on Interlaken and/or Lucerne, but bear in mind this is a 5+ hour train ride from Paris. I'd probably just extend my time in Paris or explore more of France at this point (Strasbourg and the fairytale wine villages in the Alsace region would be a great option) and fly home from somewhere in France.

OR

Frankfurt - 1 night upon arrival, leave next morning (Day 1)
Munich - 4 nights (Day 2-4)
Vienna - 5 nights (Day 5-9) including day trip to Bratislavia and/or Salzburg (I wasn't a huge fan of Bratislava and much preferred quaint Salzburg - but up to you)
Prague - 5 nights (Day 10-13) - You didn't have Prague on your itinerary, but it's wonderful - one of the best examples of a preserved, medieval city in Europe, with the opportunity for lots of day trips to castles, other medieval villages like Cesky Krumlov, etc. Fly home from Prague.

If you REALLY wanted to get Switzerland in there, you could also do something like:
Frankfurt
Lucerne/ Interlaken
Munich 1 night just to break up the looong trip to Vienna
Vienna


My math as far as the # of days and nights might not be quite right and you should double-check, but you get the gist. Best of luck!

dfourh

All the comments are spot on, but if you realize, and can accept that this is a trainride smorgasbord dash through Europe as a teaser for what you want to do in the future, I can see how it might be fun and exciting. Especially if you can get decent seats on the trains. If you don't have decent seats, the whole two weeks could be hell on wheels, unless you bring lots of great breads, cheese, olives, and sundry other tasty delights onboard with a further array of fun and delicious (read: bubbly) things to imbibe and make a moving feast of the whole affair.

If you think of it as a whirlwind flavor-a-minute taste-of-Europe travel-a-thon, and you have decent comfort on the trains, then you can trademark it and lead groups, who will have a blast with you.

tomboy

or, you could just take a one-week whirlwind tour, where THEY make the reservations for you

lavandula

Hi naich, I hope you are not overwhelmed by people's attempts here to reform your trip. In amongst the advice I think I can summarise for you that people are generally trying to line up a better number of nights with destinations that are more worthy of visiting, and trying to get you to attempt fewer destinations with your time. I agree with this, although I think some of it should come from you, as it's your trip and you should have the final say. I don't care for all your destinations but I don't think that should stop YOU visiting them.

I also have my own thing to point out here - that is, the area around most train stations in Europe is generally not good, ranging from dangerous to just run-down and unpleasant.You say you have beooked hotels near the train stations, but this is generally not a good idea. I would pick a hotel in or near Frankfurt airport and not go downtown to Frankfurt for that one night. Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof is not the best. There is a high-speed train station in the airport itself, so you can easily get to Amsterdam or Paris from there. If you stay in the Hilton Garden Inn in the Squaire, you can just wheel your bags from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel down to the train station. We did this in January - rooms were a bit tight but with a better budget than we had, you could stay next door in the Hilton.

Good luck naich, hope we can keep helping you!

Lavandula

dfourh

For Frankfurt airport there is also the Mainz train station, which is 17 minutes by frequent S-bahn or regional train direct to the airport. Mainz has a bunch of properties within a block or so from the station, some at really good prices, and from there it is a 10 minute walk into the Altstadt, which is pretty and casual, with lots of great food and wine options. (I always stay in Mainz when flying from Frankfurt airport.)

janisj

It sort of looks like we may all be more interested/concerned about the OP's plans than s/he is ??

naich

Thanks all for your valuable suggestions and sorry for my late response , I was busy with my office work. Considering all the valuable opinions I will remove Paris from my itinerary. Will travel from Amsterdam to Interlaken ( By night train with sleeper ). Amsterdam I already have confirmed booking for Ann Frank Museum, Rijks Museum and Van Gogh Museum.

I will increase my additional two nights ( Previously for Paris ) in other locations. Please advise your suggestions.
Again sorry for my late response ,I was in day and night in one plant shut down activities

Regards,
Naich

naich

Sorry for my late response ,I was in day and night in plant shut down activities

janisj

Welcome back - not to worry, life happens. Just glad you are still with us

Even without Paris your plan is awfully rushed. Amsterdam is the outlier but it sounds like Amsterdam is a main focus of the trip because you've already booked things there.