1st trip to Europe -- 1 Week -- Starting in Germany
 

I have a friend who is stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. I plan to visit for a week in late June and plan to fly into Frankfurt or Munich (Frequent Flyer Miles with US-Air).

My thoughts are to either "stay" close to the base and take some day (and maybe a couple of two day) trips to different places. --- OR --- Keep moving from the time I land on Sunday morning, staying one or two nights each in different places (making a night or two somewhere close to the base to see my friend just part of the larger trip) until I leave on the following Sunday afternoon.

I'm comfortable renting a car and and/or using trains. It looks like, in addition to Munich/Bavaria and some other great looking German destinations, some sampling of Switzerland, France/Paris, Amsterdam, or other "places of interest" might be able to be worked in to week's time. I, of course, would like to see as much as possible and try not to duplicate ?similar? experiences and need some help before I create an itinerary nightmare for myself!!

Thanks

I think you're asking how much can reasonalby covered in a week. Eveyone has different POVs on this depending on their travel style. IMO in a week like this I would stay in only 2 places, doing day trips from them as time allows. (Locating new hotels, checking in and out and unpacking/repacking in very time consuming so I always reco as few hotels as possible.) As far as Switzerland, Paris, Amsterdam,etc these don;t make a lot of sense if you're flying in/out of Frankfurt or Munich.

Based on location of Ransteim you may want to fly into Frankfurt and out of Geneva and see a little of Germay and a little of Switzerland. Anything else in the time allowed would really need to be by air - europe is small but not that small.

Why not get a good map and look at the locatiion of all the places you;re interested in - this may help make a selection of a couple of places to stay.

The only specific place you mention in Germany is Munich, so let's assume that's a given. Also, you sound eager for some variety and you mention Paris. I agree with nytraveler on the 2-place-max base idea. Both cities are nightmarish with a car. Munich is an ideal hub for train daytrips into Alpine scenery (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Berchtesgaden, Fuessen are all possibilities that would compensate some for not visiting Switzerland) or even to Salzburg. For most, Paris can hardly be seen in half a week, but that was long enough for me.

The train will allow you to at least relax a bit and enjoy your transit time between destinations. I suggest taking the train from Ramstein to Munich, sightseeing from there by train, then taking either an overnight train or a flight to Paris. See if you can fly out of Paris to avoid another trip - you just don't have much time.

Thanks so much for the replies. As plans begin to materialize (largely due to US-Air blackout dates) it looks like I will fly into Frankfurt and have a choice to fly out of Munich or Paris (Ramstien is a non-issue since my friend now tells me he can meet anywhere for a couple of days).

SO, What is the best of Europe in 1 week if you fly into Frankfurt and can choose to fly out of Munich or Paris??!! Most interested in local fare (restaurants, neat towns and cities, etc.) and can save some time and minimize my time spent at major museums and the like (I don't have the time to properly invest in that much).

Thanks!!

And the next plan is to get a good map. I'm trying to get a little idea of what I'll be looking at once I get it!!

One week is not a lot of time. So it depends a lot on your personality and travel style.

If I had one week flying into Frankfurt, I'd fly out of Munich. Land in Munich and take train to Bamberg. Spend afternoon and next day in Bamberg.

then train to Munich. Depending on interests, the entire time remaining could be in Munich, or include daytrips to such places as Linderhof-Neuschwanstein-Hohenschwangau castles, or Chiemsee or Dinkelsbuhl or Augsburg, or etc. etc.

But there are dozens of other options that would be as good or better, depending on your interests.