Can I do it all?
 

My boyfriend and I are going to a wedding in Germany in the first week of June. It will be his first time to Europe and my second (although my first was only traveled in Spain). We will be there for a little less than a month. What do you recomend I see? I want to travel as much as I can and see as much as I can!!

With nearly a month you can see a great deal. You should plan carefully and decide up front: Do we want to skim the surface of lots of places so that we know where we want to go back some day? OR: Do we really want to feel we've BEEN to some terrific places. Do you want to spend a considerable amount of time on trains or in cars and stay only one or two nights in each place, or do you want to pick three additional destinations and spend some "quality" time in each? (Even doing this, there are daytrips you can take, returning to your base city at night.) Go to the library and get a few travel books, one of which should be Rick Steve's Europe through the Back Door. He plots out a number of trips you might want to attempt, which follow the sampler theme. But also consider an alternative, such as staying in three or four base cities: (for example) Munich, Venice, Rome and Paris and figure out how best to travel between them (trains are easy, but you may find cheap flights, too) and then what you want to do while you're in each. You might prefer splitting your time between big cities and small towns in the countryside. Think of it as if you were advising someone from another country who wanted to see the US...what do you want to see? Just big cities (NY, Chi, DC) or throw in places like the Grand Canyon, a riverboat jaunt on the Mississippi, and Niagra Falls. There's a lot of choices to be made, and while it seemed like a lot of time to start with...it goes by really fast. <BR><BR>

Hello Sara, First, some questions.<BR>Where in Germany? Do you mind driving?<BR>Do you have a budget range? I am picturing a loop starting in central DE and including Bavaria, Western Austria,<BR>northern Italy, parts of the Swiss Alps, and ending in Paris. I can fill in the dots, but you need to define the above and how long you will really have.<BR>Sounds like a fun exercise.

The wedding we're going to is in Stuttart, Germany and I don't mind driving, but we are on a budget. YOu're advice would help... thank you!

Hi Sara,<BR> You have chosen a wonderful time.I have travelled by Eurail in May 99 for 5 weeks.It was an action packed tour but well worth.Eurail unlimited 1st class travel pass for 21 or more days is quite economical and more than comfortable.You can do some overnight journeys to save time and hotel costs.<BR>We visited 10 counties.This can be a sort of orientation tour,so that the next time you can choose your repeat destinations.I have visited Europe once before and once after this trip.I could only repeat Paris,London,Venice and Lucern.You can definately do this.My itinerary was something like this( We had 3R.C.I. resorts booked in Amsterdam,Deidesheim near Frankfurt and 40km from Salzberg)<BR>Paris 2<BR>Switzerland 4<BR>Venice 1 (enough)<BR>Vienna 1 ( less )<BR>Salzberg 2<BR>Salzkamargut 1<BR>Innsbruick 1<BR>Munich 1 ( enough )<BR>Berlin 1 ( less )<BR>Romantic Road 1<BR>Frankfurt,Heidelburg 1<BR>Manheim,Mainz,Rhine Valley 1<BR>Wine strasse 1<BR>Trier Luxemburg 1<BR>Brussels,Brouges 1 <BR>Amsterdam 2<BR>Amst.Tulips and mini Holland 1<BR>London and around 5<BR>I have valluable info. on Eurail.Feel free to contact. Best luck.

Sara, You have a rare opportunity to see much of my favorite part of Europe.<BR>You can do this in two directions but I would do it this way. I will not fill in the details but just give you a route to plot on your map. I will assume 24 days after you leave Stuttgart. Is that fair? I will also assume a car for the trip until you get to Switz.[CH] and rails after that. This will be 8 destinations with an average of 3 nites each. Again, this is not all-inclusive, just a rough route:<BR><BR>Stuttgart to Salzburg/Salzkammergaut<BR><BR>Salzburg to Bavaria Castles<BR><BR>Bavaria to Dolomites/Lake Garda<BR><BR>Garda to Tuscany/Florence<BR><BR>Tuscany to Ligurian coast/Cinque Terre<BR><BR>Coast to Italy Lakes<BR><BR>Lakes/Lugano[drop car] to Berner Ober.<BR>[ best of the Alps--near Interlaken]<BR><BR>BO to Luzern--depart Zurich for home<BR>[ Or, train to Paris for last 3 nites]<BR><BR>This is the best of the Alps and northern Italy--my favorite region. Holler if you need more detail. I have traveled this region a dozen times.

Sara - GO FOR IT! I would leave the wedding in Germany and beeline it for Euro Disney - just outside of Paris!! It rocks and spend no less than three days there. If you love theme parks this is it!!! A theme park with an attitude!!!

Is it worth it to spend more time in Southern Italy?