3 days to spend in europe
 

Hi all,

I with my colleague will be traveling to Germany (First time abroad) to attend a meeting. We will have 3 days time to roam in Europe. We need suggestions in this regards. Please answer my questions below.

With Germany visa, it is possible to visit other countries in Europe with out applying for visa to any particular country? ( We are planning to visit France, Switzerland and Netherlands )

We will be arriving to Frankfurt on Sept 02 at 2:00 pm. We have meeting on Sept 05 and Sept 06. So we planned to cover Frankfurt and Berlin on Sept 3rd and 4th. And we have booked return flight on Sept 09 evening from Frankfurt. So we have 3 days time (Sept 7, 8 and 9) to roam Europe. Please suggest best places to visit. As I informed before our priority is France, Switzerland and Netherlands. We want to visit maximum countries possible and 2 or 3 best places in one country is fine for us. Sept 3rd can also be used to visit any countries mentioned above.

Regarding traveling in Europe, due to budget constraints, we are planing to roam by train. Any suggestions regarding rail pass ?

We are also seeking for any other miscellaneous suggestions and tips. Kindly help us.

Thanks in advance.

Your visa will get you into the other Schengen countries but I think you should just stay in Germany. Seriously. Visiting France, Switzerland, and Netherlands is doable but it is NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL.

My proposed schedule:

Sept 2 14:00 arrive Frankfurt. Take train to Berlin. (there is a 16:47 and 17:47 train that leaves from the airport to Berlin). Arrive around 22:30.

Sept 3: Berlin.

Sept 4: Berlin. Train back to Frankfurt.

Sept 5-6: Frankfurt meeting. See Frankfurt after the meetings

Sept 7: Train to Munich

Sept 8: Munich

Sept 9: Morning or afternoon train to Frankfurt airport. Leave that evening.

You can switch Munich and Berlin or go to Cologne or Hamburg instead of Munich.

If you really, truly want to make your France, Switzerland, and Netherlands idea work, then you need to go here and play around with timetables and destinations: https://www.bahn.de/p_en/view/index.shtml

There is a train that leaves from Frankfurt to Amsterdam on Sept 6 that leaves at 19:29 and arrives in Amsterdam at 23:45. I picked the 19:29 train because I don't know when your meetings will be over and how long it will take you to get you and your stuff to the train station.

There is a train that leaves from Amsterdam to Paris on Sept 7 that leaves at 19:17 and arrives in Paris at 22:35.

There is a train that leaves from Paris to Zurich on Sept 8 that leaves at 18:55 that arrives in Zurich at 23:52.

There is a train that leaves from Zurich to Frankfurt Airport that leaves at 14:00 and arrives at the airport at 18:06.

What time was your flight? Don't forget you need to get there two hours early.

I hope I don't need to spell it out what a horrible idea this is.

I am usually very encouraging of people travelling in the manner they wish, but this is the craziest idea ever! You will spend so much time travelling from place to place and only have a day in each city, each of which is in a different country! If you want to get the flavor of a country at all, this is not the way to do it. With only three extra days, pick one country. This would preferably be Germany since you will be there already and there is lots to see. If you must, then pick just one more country and do one city there for your remaining time.

You simply don't have time to "roam Europe." You have 3 paltry days. You can't see 3 countries in 3 days - are you nuts? You can hardly "see" 3 countries in 3 weeks.

Stay in Germany. It's not as though there aren't myriad options for things to do there.

I agree with previous posters: you do not have time to visit 3 countries in 3 days.

SparkChaser's layout is a good skeleton. If France is really your top priority, you could take the train from Frankfurt to Paris (under 4 hrs) and spend your 3 days there. Any possibility to move your flight to fly out of Paris instead?

Not sure where you are from but, is it possible to see your country in one day including travel?

I d recommend not to sleep and to get off at each train stop.
That way you can visit more countries in the way.
Ps : did you have a look at a map ?

>>As I informed before our priority is France, Switzerland and Netherlands. We want to visit maximum countries possible and 2 or 3 best places in one country is fine for us. <<

That would not be possible even if you had a private jet.

Th eonly way to do what you want and have time to see even one major sight in each city is to hire a helicopter and bounce from one country to another at all hours of the day and night, with little sleeping and a huge expenditure of money.

Otherwise this is a nonsense.

Remember each country has a different culture, different language, different meal times and transit systems and you would be left with literally a few hours in each of the cities you visit. Europe no longer has a large number of overnight trains so in most cases you need to either waste daylight hours in travel or sit up in a train all night, perhaps changing trains 2 or 3 times in the middle of the night, to preserve daylight for sightseeing.

You are already in Germany. Either stay there and see a very few of the wonderful sights it has to offer or pick one (ONE) place and travel there and see a little bit of it. Switch your air tickets so you fly back from the second city and don't have to waste a whole day returning to Germany to fly home.

If you don't believe the advice you have ben given here go to the web site of the the german rail line, which has schedules for all of europe - bahn.de - and put together a timetable for yourself that shows you how little tie you will have any place if you try to follow this mad whirl.

Just for the sake of argument, here is <b>OP's DREAM ITINERARY:</b>

Sept. 2 14:00 land at FRA

Sept. 2 14:20 deplane

Sept. 2 14:30 arrive at immigration queue

Sept. 2 15:30 clear immigration queue

Sept. 2 15:40 claim baggage and clear customs

Sept. 2 15:50 grab a coffee and a sandwich or pastry at any of the several bakeries there then head to the train station

Sept. 2 16:35 arrive at Frankfurt Airport train station Platform 7

Sept. 2 16:43 take ICE 122 to Amsterdam

Sept. 2 20:57 arrive Amsterdam Centraal. Walk to hotel (I went ahead and imaginary booked you at the Hilton Doubletree)

Sept. 2 21:07 arrive at hotel, check-in, go take a shower

Sept. 2 21:40 leave hotel to walk to red light district and grab some dinner on the way there or back then return to the hotel.

###############

Sept. 3 7:00 Get up and get ready. Pack your stuff. Grab breakfast and checkout of hotel.

Sept. 3 8:00 Leave hotel and leave luggage there if they will allow it, else go to the train station and put your luggage into a locker.

Sept. 3 8:15 See as many of the following things as you can before 15:30: Sex Museum, Van Gogh Museum, Heineken Experience, Ann Frank House, Royal Palace, Maritime Museum, perhaps a return to the Red Light District (I won't judge you)

Sept 3 15:52: Are you back at the train station with your luggage? I hope so because your train to Paris leaves at 15:52.

Sept. 3 18:08: You arrive in Brussels for a 35 min layover. So you have enough time to walk out of the train station and take a photo of a peeing fountain statue and grab a quick snack if you'd like.

Sept. 3 18:43: Get on the train to Paris. Fall asleep for a bit and suddenly wake up not knowing where you are.

Sept. 3 20:05: Arrive in Paris (Gare du Nord). I went ahead and imaginary booked you at the Hotel Mercure Paris Terminus Nord because it is a 5 min walk away.

Sept. 3 20:10: Arrive at hotel. Check-in and go to room to clean yourself up and get ready for dinner.

Sept. 3 20:40: Leave hotel and go wherever the front desk recommends for dinner. Or perhaps a kind Fodorite will give you a place to eat. Drink a whole bottle of wine by yourself because hey you're in Paris. Go back to room and crash.

###############

Sept. 4 8:00: Get up and get ready. Pack your stuff up. Check-out and take your luggage to the train station and put into a locker.

Sept. 4 8:30: Go have breakfast somewhere. I hear that it is just a croissant or pan chocolat and an espresso. So do that.

Sept. 4 9:00: Go see the following in whatever order you choose but be back at the train station by 17:00 so you can grab your train back to Frankfurt: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dam, The Louve, Sainte-Chapelle, the Grand Palace.

Sept. 4 17:00: Are you back at the train station with your luggage? I hope so. Your train leaves at 17:10.

Sept. 4 20:58: Arrive at Frankfurt train station. I don't know where your meeting is but I presume your hotel is near. Go there. Go to a FKK if you want (I won't judge you).

#######################

Sept 5: Meetings. Do whatever your local colleagues suggest. tell them that you can't hang out with them on the 6th.

#######################

Sept. 6: Meetings. I am going to assume that you will not free until 18:00.

Sept. 6 18:58: Your train to Berlin is leaving. Don't forget your luggage!

Sept. 6 23:06: Arrive in Berlin. I have imaginary booked you at the InterCity Hotel because it is right there. I suggest checking into the hotel and hunting down a Döner or Currywurst for dinner (you can thank me later). Have a beer or two and go to bed.

Sept. 7 8:00: Get up. Grab some breakfast and check-out of the hotel. See if they will hold on to your luggage else you will have to put it into a locker at the train station.

Sept. 7 9:00 You should be on your way to see as much of the following as you can: Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, a piece of the Berlin Wall, Reichstag Building, the Großer Tiergarten, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Currywurst Museum, and whatever else you happen to see. If you had Currywurst for dinner, have a Döner for lunch but if you had a Döner for dinner last night, have a Currywurst for lunch. Be back at the train station by 16:30.

Sept. 7 16:30: Are you back at the Berlin train station with your luggage? Good. Your train to Zurich leaves in one minute!

#######################

Sept. 8 01:24: You train arrives in Zurich. What? You didn't want to go to Zurich? Too bad. You're in Zurich. Now, go check into your hotel (I imaginary booked you at the Hotel St. Gotthard because of its proximity to the train station). Sweet dreams!

Sept. 8 8:00: What? 8AM already? WTF? Get up, get ready, grab breakfast, and check out. See if they will hold onto your luggage and if not then put it into a locker at the train station.

Sept. 8 9:00: What You slept in? You bugger! Get your butt out of bed! You only have a few hours in Zurich. You can sleep when you are dead. Get up, get ready, grab breakfast, and check out. See if they will hold onto your luggage and if not then put it into a locker at the train station.

Sept. 8 9:30: So, you're in Zurich. Do you want to buy a watch? You can do that here. There's probably a watch museum or a memorial to neutrality during wartime or banking museum or something. You can see the Alps. That's cool. You can also pay like 20 Swiss Francs for a Burger King Whopper meal. You could get fondue. That would be cool. Just be back at the train station before 17:00.

Sept. 8 17:00: Your train leaves the Zurich train station for Frankfurt.

Sept. 8 21:08: Arrive in Frankfurt. Check into a hotel of your choice.


#######################

Sept. 9: Whatever your local colleagues told you about on the 5th or 6th that you didn't see and still want to see, go do that. Just remember that you need to be at the airport at least two hours before your plane departs.


See? Completely doable but think of all the wasted time on trains. And the extra costs of trains.

I don't think anyone here would recommend doing it but if you are hell bent on doing it, I just gave you the itinerary.

Strike that, you can do it. I believe in you!

You can do all this at Europa Park. There's a section dedicated to different countries in Europe. Europa Park is located in Rust and it's a fantastic amusement park.

Have fun!

Hehehehe

Great job, Sparky!

I will nominate you for the "Most-helpful-Fodorite-of-the-year"-award!

As others are kindly getting at:

<we have 3 days time>

<to roam Europe>

<our priority is France, Switzerland and Netherlands>

You simply can't "roam" Europe or see 3 countries in only 3 days.

sparkchaser you are brilliant. Although I do feel very tired reading the Iteniary. I have had to pour myself a third prosecco hoping it would look better. Now not sure if it is the Iteniary itself or the prosecco that makes this look awful.

Great post Spark.
You deserve a beer.

Hey guys.. thank you very much for your comments and suggestions. Specially "sparkchaser", u r a cool dude. Thank you so much sparkchaser.

Our stay in Germany extended and now we will have time to roam from September 07 (from 1:00 pm) and until September 11 (till 11:00 am). We have return flight from Berlin on September 13. (Have another short meeting on September 11 at 1:00 pm). So can roam Berlin on 12th.

Please suggest us to travel Paris, Amsterdam and if possible, Zurich in the time period available.

We are very much exited about the trip and looking forward to visit the beautiful Europe for the first time.

Our idea is to visit as many countries as possible hoping in future we get more time to visit each and every country separately.

Thank you all.

Seriously, even with added time, it is impossible to visit four countries.

Amsterdam, Brussel (extended stopover on the way from Amsterdam to Paris), Paris will halfway work, but I would strongly recommend skipping Zürich. Is not in the league of Eurpean A-cities anyway. And you will not have the time to train into the Alps.

Then, fly from Berlin to Amsterdam and back from Paris to Berlin. It will save a lot of time. Search for budget flights which are often cheaper than train fare.

materialscongress, I would be more than happy to add to your itinerary. You have three extra nights. Would you like to visit Warsaw, Rome, and Barcelona? Or would you rather go to Copenhagen, Gdansk, and Riga? Or perhaps Prague, Budapest, and Sarajevo?

Please do the needful and advise me on your desires so I may craft a doable itinerary for you.

<i>Seriously, even with added time, it is impossible to visit four countries.</i>

Your negativity is not constructive to helping materialscongress see 8 or 9 countries in 11 days.

materialscongress, ignore the naysayers. You can do it!

Thanks for the laugh everyone, I needed some light entertainment.

Sparkchaser. Could you please add St Petersberg as I would like to go there.

That's not a bad idea.

materialscongress, would you like to see Vilnius, Riga, and St Petersburg?

Dear sparkchaser, our main target is Paris, kinda dream city.

So please suggest any sequence which covers Paris. Also few of my colleagues suggested Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris is a perfect sequence to travel. So I was thinking it is gud idea to visit Paris from Frankfurt and then from Paris to Amsterdam through Brussels (stop in Brussels for few hours) and finally reach Berlin from Amsterdam.

Please advice and help us. Thank you very much.

If you spend more than two days in Paris then you won't be able to go to Prague or Vienna or Krakow or Copenhagen or Budapest or Rome or Madrid or Lisbon or London or Belfast or Kiev.

>>Please suggest us to travel Paris, Amsterdam and if possible, Zurich in the time period available.<<

Nope -- sparkchaser is trying to give us all a laugh, but he isn't serious.

>> our main target is Paris, kinda dream city.<<

Then go there (and ONLY there). If you must see something else do a day trip to Chartres, or the Loire, or Normandy or someplace,

>>Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris is a perfect sequence to travel<<

Would be IF you had 6 or 7 days (that means 7 or 8 nights). You could do Paris and a day/night in either Amsterdam (my preference) or Brussels. Realize it will use up more than half a day getting to Paris, half a day getting to A'dam and you will likely need to be in Berlin very early in the AM, or possibly the night before your meeting.

<i>Nope -- sparkchaser is trying to give us all a laugh, but he isn't serious.</i>

That's not necessarily true. The itinerary I have come up with is 100% possible. Obviously nobody here would actually suggest doing it but it is doable and materialscongress WANTS TO DO IT, so I am doing my best to do the needful and give him what he is asking for.

Naysayers gonna say nay but I believe in materialscongress and his plan and want to see it happen.

oh fergoodness sake. you have 4 days. just go to Paris (your dream city) and call it good.

>>Obviously nobody here would actually suggest doing it but<<

Yes, as you say <u>"Obviously"</u> - and IMO you are giving the OP an unrealistic hope that what they want to do is remotely doable - at least if they want to actually see anything.

materialscongress, I think you will be very pleased with this itinerary. You will get to visit Amsterdam, Brussels, Zurich, Paris (two full days in Paris!!!!), and Berlin. All the train itineraries can be found here: https://www.bahn.de/p_en/view/index.shtml


Sept. 2 14:00 land at FRA

Sept. 2 14:20 deplane

Sept. 2 14:30 arrive at immigration queue

Sept. 2 15:30 clear immigration queue

Sept. 2 15:40 claim baggage and clear customs

Sept. 2 15:50 grab a coffee and a sandwich or pastry at any of the several bakeries there then head to the train station

Sept. 2 16:35 arrive at Frankfurt Airport train station Platform 7

Sept. 2 16:43 take ICE 122 to Amsterdam

Sept. 2 20:57 arrive Amsterdam Centraal. Walk to hotel (I went ahead and imaginary booked you at the Hilton Doubletree)

Sept. 2 21:07 arrive at hotel, check-in, go take a shower

Sept. 2 21:40 leave hotel to walk to red light district and grab some dinner on the way there or back then return to the hotel.

###############

Sept. 3 7:00 Get up and get ready. Pack your stuff. Grab breakfast and checkout of hotel.

Sept. 3 8:00 Leave hotel and leave luggage there if they will allow it, else go to the train station and put your luggage into a locker.

Sept. 3 8:15: See as many of the following things as you can before 15:30: Sex Museum, Van Gogh Museum, Heineken Experience, Ann Frank House, Royal Palace, Maritime Museum, perhaps a return to the Red Light District (I won't judge you)

Sept 3 15:52: Are you back at the train station with your luggage? I hope so because your train to Brussels leaves at 15:52. Yes. You are going to Brussels. Because you love Belgian beer, even if you don't know it yet. And you definitely love Belgian chocolate and mussels (but not at the same time like some filthy hipster).

Sept. 3 18:08: You arrive in Brussels. You are staying at the Hilton Brussels City because I imaginary reserved a room there due to its proximity to the train station and the price is not bad. So go check in.

Sept. 3 19:00: Head to the Delirium Cafe. It's a 10 min walk away. On the way you will pass many restaurants serving mussels. Go to the one where people are speaking a language you can't understand and does not advertise with photos of the menu items. Order mussels and reflect on how amazing they are.

Sept. 3 20:30: You almost forgot that you're supposed to go to the Delirium Cafe like your best pal sparkchaser suggested. You head over there and are blown away by the sheer amount of Belgian beer available -- you are tempted to panic and order a Budweiser or a Heineken: DO NOT DO THAT. Order a Delirium Red to start. As you take that first sip you decide that you could drink this forever and never want to leave. As you finish it, you survey the list of beers and decide to see what the Delirium Tremens tastes like...

###############

Sept. 4 9:30: What? How did I get back to my room? Why does my head hurt? Ugh, what died in my mouth? Where is my wallet? Oh, there it is. Whew! Better get up and get ready. Pack your stuff up. Check-out and take your luggage to the train station and put into a locker.

Sept. 4 10:30: Go have breakfast somewhere. The Hilton breakfast is solid so you can do that.

Sept. 4 11:00: Here is a list of things you should probbaly see: Royal Palace, National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg, Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Musical Instruments Museum, Église Notre-Dame du Sablon, MOOF Museum, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, a bunch of statues and fountains, and Choco-Story Brussels. You realize that the EU is based in Brussels and you want to go see their building(s). Don't do that. It is a waste of time. You need to be back at the train station at 18:34 for your train back to Frankfurt.

Sept. 4 18:34: Catch your train to Frankfurt.

Sept. 4 21:30: Arrive in Frankfurt. Head to your hotel. I didn't reserve anything for you. Sorry.

#######################

Sept 5: Meetings. In the evening do whatever your local colleagues suggest.

#######################

Sept. 6: Meetings. In the evening do whatever your local colleagues suggest.

#######################

Sept. 7 13:00: You are done with your obligations in Frankfurt. Now, head to the train station! You are going to Zurich!

Sept. 7 14:00: Are you at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof with your luggage? Good. Your train to Zurich leaves at 14:05.

Sept. 7 18:00: You train arrives in Zurich. What? You didn't want to go to Zurich? Too bad. You're in Zurich. Now, go check into your hotel (I imaginary booked you at the Hotel St. Gotthard because of its proximity to the train station). Ask them where a good fondue restaurant is and go there. If you don't want fondue then ask for a good restaurant nearby and go there. I don't really care.

#######################

Sept. 8 8:00: Wakey, wakey. Get up, get ready, grab breakfast, and check out. See if they will hold onto your luggage and if not then put it into a locker at the train station.

Sept. 8 9:30: So, you're in Zurich. Do you want to buy a watch? You can do that here. There's probably a watch museum or a Memorial To Neutrality During The World Wars or a Banking Museum or something. You can see the Alps. That's cool. You can also pay like 20 Swiss Francs for a Burger King Whopper meal. Just be back at the train station before 17:30.

Sept. 8 17:34: All aboard your train to Paris via Basel (FYI you have 8 min between trains).

Sept. 8 21:40: You have arrived in Paris. Well, Paris Gare de Lyon. I have imaginary booked you a room at the Novotel next to the station. Go check in!

Sept. 8 22:20: OK, you have checked into your hotel. Grab dinner wherever the hotel suggests. You should go to bed early because tomorrow is gonna be jam packed with stuff to do.

#######################

Sept. 9 8:00: This is your wakeup call. Get up, get ready for the day. No need to pack because you are coming back tonight. What? Yes, that's right: you're getting two full days in Paris, my friend.

Sept. 9 9:00: Go have breakfast somewhere. I hear that it is just a croissant or pain au chocolat and an espresso. So do that.

Sept. 9 9:30: Go see the following in whatever order you choose: http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/f...paris#!1-intro The day is yours!

#######################

Sept. 10 9:30: Get up, get ready for the day. You should totally splurge and do a river tour. Perhaps the Bateaux Parisiens River Cruise. Oh, and do whatever you didn't get to do yesterday.

#######################

Sept. 11 5:00: Rise and shine, sunshine. You have to get up. Yes, I kow it is 5AM but you have a meeting in Frankfurt at 13:00 and the trains don't run so regularly on Sundays. Wait, you have a meeting on a SUNDAY? Seriously? Damn dude, that sucks. Anyhoo, get up and get ready to leave. Pack your stuff and check out of the hotel. Grab a taxi because you need to go to the Paris Est train station. Don't worry, it's not far.

Sept. 11 6:39: Get on your train to Frankfurt via Karlsruhe.

Sept. 11 11:08: Arrive at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof.

Sept. 11 13:00: Your special Sunday meeting. I am going to assume that your meeting will be over by 17:00

Sept. 11 17:13: Your train to Berlin leaves from the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof.

Sept. 11 21:28: Arrive in Berlin. I have imaginary booked you at the InterCity Hotel because it is right there. I suggest checking into the hotel and hunting down a Döner or Currywurst for dinner (you can thank me later). Have a beer or two and go to bed.

#######################

Sept. 12 8:00: Get up. Grab some breakfast. No need to check out today.

Sept. 12 9:00: You should be on your way to see as much of the following as you can: Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, a piece of the Berlin Wall, Reichstag Building, the Großer Tiergarten, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Currywurst Museum, Ramones Museum, Buchstabenmuseum, Pergamon Museum, Führerbunker Parking Lot, and whatever else you happen to see. If you had Currywurst for dinner, have a Döner for lunch but if you had a Döner for dinner last night, have a Currywurst for lunch. If you fancy something lighter, check out the Tajikistan Tearoom. You will be tempted to go to the Hofbräu Berlin -- don't. Go to the La Soupe Populaire Restaurant and order the königsburg klopse. Or get more Döner.

#######################

Sept. 13: Check-out and head to the airport. If you have a few hours to kill, go see whatever you didn't get to the day before.

#######################

That's it!

Now, all of the posters in this thread (except me because I am contrary) have said that this is a horrible idea and, as experienced travelers (armchair and otherwise) who have been to Europe before, you should probably heed their warnings.

However, if you actually do go through with this cockamamie idea of yours I want you to come back when you return home and report back on how it was.

>> cockamamie idea <<

ditto >)

sparkchaser. When we are planning our eight week 2018 trip to England I am just going to tell you where we want to go and the way we travel and you can do all the work. You are a good person to take the time to work all this out for this OP.

Eight weeks? That means you can visit like 50 cities, so like all of Europe! Just tell me you arrival and departure date, time, and airport and I will sort the rest.

Lol. Thanks. Just England and three weeks in Italy (places already decided) will be fine.

Dr Phelps saw the world in 80 days.
50 days should then cover at least 2 continents.

OhMyGoodness - sparkchaser, you have DH & I in stitches reading your itineraries. They make our trips look like positively relaxing.

Hilarious.

Even though I don't need itinerary planners, at this point Sparky would be the very last person I would ever ask. He'd kill me.

Sparkchaser wins this week's "Rising to the Challenge" award.