ArtLaramee

I am planning a European trip for May or June of 2014. I plan to fly into Frankfurt, take a bus trip on the Romantisch Trail, ending in Munich.
In Munich, I plan to hit the Hofbrau House and see some folk music entertainment. I'll also visit Assamkirche.2 nights.
I'll rent a car then and go to Garmisch Partinkirschen to see the Eagle's Nest, then Oberammergau for the fairy tale painted houses and the crucifixion painted houses.
Then on to Neuschwantstein. There's a castle nest to that that I would like to see as well but don't know its name.
I'll get a Eurail Pass and travel to St. Moritz Switzerland. Be there for 2 days and then to Zermatt. Be there for 2 nights and a day.
Then off to Venice for 2 nights.
Then to Florence for 1 night.
Then to Rome for 2 nights
Then to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast for 3 nights.
Then fly home to Chicago.
I might take a tour of the Amalfi Coast as opposed to renting a car.
I wouild welcome all comments on what to "don't miss" as well as planned time to stay and whether I should include a place I could have but didn't..
Thes are just plans and I welcome suggestions. Thanks so much.

asps

Well, the Eagle's Nest is not in Garmisch.

PalenQ

In lieu of a Eurailpass I would suggest looking into a Swiss Pass for Switzerland then doing individual tickets in Italy - www.trenitalia.com has nice discounts if you want to book trains in stone weeks or months in advance - as low as a flat fee of 9 euros on high-speed trains regardless of distance traveler - so perhaps only a Swiss Pass would be best for you - covering all your travels in Switzerland.

You may want to hit Zermatt first then take the Glacier Express to St Moritz then go down into Italy from there.

ArtLaramee

Sorry, Berchtesgarden

Improviser

Wonderful list. Too bad you won't have any time to see/do much of anything though. But hey, you can buy a few t-shirts as you go along and you will at least get to tick the names off the list so that when you go home you can say, 'I've been to X,Y and Z. It will all sound fine until someone asks you about any of them and discovers you didn't actually spend any time in any of them.

I'm going to guess this is your first trip to Europe and you want to visit all the places you have heard about and consider 'must sees' if you go.

A classic case of the 'to see as much as possible' syndrome. Here's the thing Art. You aren't actually going to see much of anything. The word 'much' is not synonymous with the word 'many'. Take a moment to think about that.

You're from Chicago. OK, what would you think if someone said I'm going to visit Chicago. I'll fly in arriving sometime in the afternoon, spend the next day there and then leave the morning after that for Denver where I will repeat it before then going to Los Angeles; San Dieogo; maybe try to fit in San Francisco. Then hop over to Santa Fe for a day and drive up to see the Taos Pueblo before hopping a plane to Phoenix. I'll spend a day there seeing the Frank Lloyd Wright school Taliesen West and then drive a rental car down to Tucson. I want to hike on Mt. Lemmon (does anyone know a cheap place to stay for 2-3 nights). From Tucson I'll fly to Boston for a couple of nights before ending in New York from where I will fly home. Yup, all of the USA in 2 weeks.

That's the equivalent of your plan Art.

The way to see 'as much as possible' is to spend time IN places, not in BETWEEN places. In travel less is always more. The less you move the more you see/do.

This part in particular, "Then off to Venice for 2 nights.
Then to Florence for 1 night.
Then to Rome for 2 nights", is ridiculous. What? You leave Venice in the morning, train to Florence and get maybe 3 hours of time to see/do things, then leave for Rome the following morning? 'Hey, I've done Florence'.

Your plan in simple terms Art, sucks. UNLESS, all you want is to tick off the boxes. In which case it could be sped up a little.

bobthenavigator

Easy to say---hard to execute. You need to think travel logistics.

Improviser

On another thread Art, you posted, "I went to Neuscwanstein and found it very entertaining. I don't agree with the put downs of this Disneyland inspiration."

How does that statement jive with what you have written here? Do you plan to visit Neuschwanstein for a second time? Or is this thread simply a troll?

ArtLaramee

I have been everywhere that I plan to visit back in1985 except for the Amalfi Coast. My plan is not researched as to feasibility rather it is a high level plan that will change as I solidify the ideas that appeal to me from research on sites such as this.
My wife had never been to Europe/ I want to show her what I found interesting and see more of what I can that is new to me as well...
I have ordered Fodors travel books on these countries and will spend some time in tripadvisor.

Peter_S_Aus

I can fully understand wanting to take your wife to places that you visited almost 30 years ago. I did the same thing, took one wife to Venice in 1975, and a different wife to Venice in 2006. Different companion, but the same lovely place.

I can’t really list any “don’t miss” places in Venice, and I’m a bit ignorant of Florence and Rome, only having spent a handful of nights in each. But I’ve written trip reports about Venice, and if you click on my user name you’ll find them. The selection of “don’t miss” things does depend so much on what interests you. Some people visit Italy and the tower at Pisa is on their list, others see it as a bit ho-hum (I’m one of those).

I do think that you maybe have too many one-night stands on your list. Florence for one night won’t give you much time, and maybe could be omitted. Ditto for Sorrento & Amalfi, which is a fair haul by train. But maybe Sorrento & Amalfi are important to you.
Do ignore the comments about collecting T-shirts, an offensive contribution from a particularly boring old fart.

nytraveler

All these one night stands means you have 3 or 4 hours in several cities (and they may be hours when the things you want to see aren't open).

You really need to cut back on destinations and figure out what you want to see where - and how long it will take. Otherwise you have a lovely tours of european train stations.

PalenQ

It's a long LONG way between St Moritz and Zermatt - you can take the Glacier Express but it's a long all-day marathon. But from St Moritz you can take one of the world's most scenic railway - the Brunig Pass Railway over which run the official Bernina Express trains all the way down to Italy, Tirano where you hook up with the Italian train system to Milan and onto Venice.

For lots of great info on European trains check out these superb IMO sites - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

In Italy use www.trenitalia.com to score discounted tickets.

Improviser

My, my, "particularly boring old fart."

Is that not contrary to the forum's Terms of Use Peter_S?

Hmm, let's see what I can offer in kind. You are a badly dressed (no fashion sense obviously), only semi-literate, poorly travelled typical tourist.

There, that's as insulting as I can be to someone.

SkipHudgins

Ray
Sarcasm aside, this is way too many places for your time period.

ArtLaramee

Thanks so much to all of you for your constructive comments. I get that I have to lengthen the trip or reduce the destinations. The comment on the Glacier Express was invaluable as was the Amalfi Coast.
If I got a limo ride to Amalfi from Roma, do you know how long that would take???

PalenQ

But from St Moritz you can take one of the world's most scenic railway - the Brunig Pass Railway over which run the official Bernina Express trains all the way down to Italy>

Oops I do mean Bernina Pass Railway not the Brunig Pass one that lies between Interlaken and Lucerne and is part of the Golden Pass scenic rail route.

PalenQ

If I got a limo ride to Amalfi from Roma, do you know how long that would take???>

Longer than trains that go up to about 150-60 or more m p h on that route - 1.25 hours by high-speed train then get a much cheaper driver from Naples' train station to whatever Amalfi place you want to go - or take the commuter railway from Naples Centrale station to Sorrento then go by taxi (or public bus) to any Amalfi town.

But a driver from Rome will certainly take much longer than the train and be very pricey - go to www.trenitalia.com for train fares and schedules.

flpab

Berchtesgarden is about a three hour drive from Garmisch. I would skip that all together and concentrate on Munich, Garmisch and Oberammergau. You could take a train to Italy and see Cinque Terre, then to Florence, Venice and back to Rome, flying out of Rome. You could take the train from Garmisch to Switzerland and then to Italy. That is possible.

PalenQ

If I got a limo ride to Amalfi from Roma, do you know how long that would take???>

by train it would take 1.5 hours or so to Naples so a driver would take about twice as long if speed limits were obeyed - 3 hours then it would be another two at least to Amalfi given the fact that there is only the tediously slow Amalfi Coast road to get there.

Look into buses that run from Rome and possible the airport to Positano, near Amalfi.

KL467

I recommend adding at least one more night to Florence and Rome. Adding even more nights would be preferable.

PalenQ

Consider going directly from Florence to the Amalfi Coast - Florence direct to Salerno or Naples and hop taxis or buses or boats from the former or trains or boats from the other if not doing a private driver.

then end up in Rome - always my advice is to be in your departure city the night before your flight - or a few days in this case - hard to get from an Amalfi base to Rome's airport quickly and there are usually many more options from Rome back home than from Naples.