niurka76

thinking of flying to Frankfurt , from there taking a train to Mainz and do the Rhine boat up to cologne. from there taking the train to Paris, and another train to London. from London flying to Rome and train or flying to Barcelona. is it feasible?

janisj

Well - train from Rome to Barcelona doesn't make sense . . . but other than that sure all that is feasible. But it ALL depends on how many weeks you have for the trip . . .

janisj

OOPS -- didn't notice the two weeks in your title.

IMO that is waaaaaay too much in too little time. Five cities and a cruise in 2 weeks is a 'drive by' not a vacation.

janisj

And yes - I do know that is a short cruise but it still requires 2 days in the area because of the timings . . .

Fussgaenger

"...from there taking a train to Mainz and do the Rhine boat up to cologne."

That alone would take 2 days.

Best cruise option is to take a train to Bingen and cruise north to St. Goar (1.5 hours) or Boppard (2.3 hours) through the most scenic part. Use the train for any other travels that day.

Either town could serve as a good base town for 2-4 days if you want to visit some castles and old-world villages.

elizzie4000

Oh my, this just doesn't make any sense to me! Sorry.

With only 14 days I'd pick 2 destinations. Paris & London are a easy combination with a short train ride between.

Or 1 week in Paris or Londom and 1 week in Spain.

Or 1 week in Paris or London and 1 week in Italy.

Or Germany sights for 1 week and then pick 1 destination for the other week.

janisj

Or . . . Three destinations (rushed but doable)

FHurdle

There is nothing wrong with a fast-paced trip, but you need to select cities that are close together. It is very expensive and time consuming to get to the airports from city center, and as a result flying in Europe is an all-day affair. It should be avoided.

The Rhine cruise is a great idea, but you need to spend a few nights on the Rhine, so that you can see the castles, etc. Then you ought to go to Cologne and see the cathedral and anything else of interest, although it is perfectly okay to just stay one night in Cologne.

Then on to Paris, where you ought to spend four or five nights, then on to London, following which you fly home.

If you want to travel speedily, that's fine. You can add another city. But it needs to be a city that can be reached in no more than two hours by train from the places you are already visiting. That rules our Rome and Barcelona. However, you should certainly include this cities in a future trip.

niurka76

thank you for the sugestions, I lived in Germany before and I have done the rhine boat cruise on the past; I have very fond memories of it but I dont need to do it for 2 days.Just want to show it to my kids and maybe stop for some exploring along the way
"Best cruise option is to take a train to Bingen and cruise north to St. Goar (1.5 hours) or Boppard (2.3 hours) through the most scenic part." this sound like a plan. I definitely want to visit London and Paris. and I want to depart from Barcelona like i have family to visit there. so thinking of flying there from London.

niurka76

What about the mediterranian cruise that take you from Barcelona to Athens, is it that a good idea or a good deal, like it would cover the transportation, room and meals and them just fly to Germany from Greese?

Sassafrass

When are you going?
How old are your kids?
Which particular cruise are you looking at?

danon

Perhaps , a good guide book and google might give the OP some direction.

niurka76

thinking in june time frame, my kids are 10 and 12 and my parent also coming. they are 65 and 70

janisj

>>thinking in june time frame, my kids are 10 and 12 and my parent also coming. they are 65 and 70<<

Now we are talking 6 people (or maybe 5) -- makes all that dashing about even worse.

StuDudley

On my first trip to Europe in '77 with my wife, mother, & sister - we dashed around also. We often didn't get to our final destination of the day until 7-8PM. Spent most of our time in the car or on a train. About half way through the trip, my mother & sister "bailed out" - couldn't take the pace anymore. My wife complained a lot and said "never again"!!! Next trip, we returned to the same places so we could enjoy the cities/sites that we just did a "drive by" on during our first trip.

Now we spend two weeks in just one place, and then we drive 2-3 hrs (normally) to the second place where we spend two weeks.

Less is more, niurka76!!!

Stu Dudley

Sassafrass

You must know your kids, but at that age, mine would rather be hiking or walking, exploring a castle, rowing a boat in a park, looking at some unusual museum, etc. rather than be on a boat just looking at scenery.

If you definitely want to see London, Paris and Barcelona, do those three. Do a day trip from each of them if you find the time. Cut Rome and Frankfurt. There are plenty of beautiful rivers the kids can see other places. There are super interesting things all over London for kids. Paris is very kid friendly. Barcelona has a beach and great park.

Those three places are really all you have time for, especially with two kids and two older people. You will have a lot more time to actually see things without using up so much time and money simply getting from place to place.

Get guide books for each city and discover what they offer for your kids and you.

niurka76

thank you for all the advice

FHurdle

Niurka,

A cruise can be a lot of fun, and it's a good way to see a lot of cities with the transportation taken care of.

The Med cruises can get a bit tiring, because you do see a lot. And it's frustrating to always have to leave port calls at 6 or 7 p.m., since one of the most enjoyable things about being in a city is the nightlife.

I don't know whether the cruise would be right for your group, but they are enjoyable.

bvlenci

I think flying into Franfurt, doing a short trip on the Rhine, and then going to either Paris or London for four days or so, followed by your trip to Barcelona, would nicely fill two weeks.

We once took a Rhine trip (KD Lines) from Mainz to Koblenz, which is a scenic section of the river. It certainly didn't take the whole day. We arrived in Mainz in the morning, by train from the town of Alf, on the Mosel, where we had been staying staying. In Mainz, we visited the Gutenberg Museum before boarding the boat. We got to Koblenz in time to get an evening train to Rotterdam, where we were living at the time. We didn't get off anywhere, and we ate on the boat. This was over 20 years ago, but I don't think the boats going downstream are any slower than they used to be.

Here are the current KD line schedules:

http://www.kdrhine.com/rhineschedule.htm

It looks as though it would be better to board in Rüdesheim, and the scenery is much better after Rüdesheim, anyway.