I am working on plans for a 30th Anniversary trip for my wife and I which we would take in April of next year. I know this is rather vague, but would like feedback and suggestions regarding what to do while we are there. Aside from going to Paris and doing the touristy thing 20 years ago, we have not been to the other destinations. This time we would like to explore not only the "must sees" in each city but also experience the other culture outside the normal touristy things even if that includes day trips outside of the city to see the countryside.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. We are planning on booking air fare, hotels, places we visit, etc. ourselves so any help on that process and when to do it would be appreciated as well. As we are both pastors on a limited budget, we are looking for economic options that will allow us to see as much as we can with those limited funds.

Thanks for your help!

Depart Monday April 17, 2017
Arrive in Amsterdam on Tuesday April 18th
4 Nights in Amsterdam
Train to Paris on Friday April 22nd
5 Nights in Paris
Train to Lucerne on Thursday April 27th
4 Nights in Lucerne
Train to Zurich on Monday May 1st
Flight Home

No need to stay in Zurich the night before your flight. Trains depart from Lucerne every 30 minutes and arrive at the Zurich airport. Trip takes about 70 minutes. Otherwise looks great1

Thanks Edward2005. That was my plan...train to Zurich and then fly home.

We can make better suggestions for you if we know your interests. Do you love/hate museums, hiking, art, shopping, sitting in a cafe relaxing, fine dining, cycling, pocket watches, castles, history, boating, . . . ? You get the idea. My must-see might be a 400-year-old library which might be a bore for you.

In order to explore the countryside, are you willing to rent a car or will you use public transport or a day tour?

Would love to do some countryside - day tour would work and public transportation. (If renting a care would make a huge difference, then we will consider it)

We like museums - art, culture, (not too much straight history).
Limited hiking as my wife has an artificial knee - but we love scenery. Relaxing in a quaint cafe, watching the local culture and people is great. Some shopping but mostly for something a little unusual that is specific to where we are. Not really into "souvenir" shops.
Love castles, churches, and interesting things. Love the water and nature and eating outside.

Fine dining once in each place is enough. Would rather experience the daily local places that tourists can sometimes miss.

If there is something else that you think is noteworthy that is not listed here, please suggest as we are open to new adventures.
Thanks for your help!

You itinerary is fine except for one item. Switz is the most expensive country in europe and April is sort of early in the year to head there. It' still late winter and you're too early to see the green meadows spangled with wildflowers and Many of the hiking/walking trails will still have some snow. So you can see the lowlands but the mountains really only via the cable cars or cog railways - which tend to be expensive (it's about $200 per person to ascend the Jungfrau).

Much as I love Swtiz I might be tempted to switch it out for some time in Germany where there's tons to see and do and you are into spring.

Most useful you can do right now is collecting empirical data.

Many questions revolve around prices, availability, schedule, etc. While the same environment probably doesn't repeat next year, if you were to ask others price trend, availability, etc, they would try to recollect from their memory. You have a chance to gather them yourselves.

Some of them are: accommodation availability and prices at target destinations under different scenario for same day of the week in April 2016. This helps you make data driven decision later this year by giving some evidences indicating where you have to book ahead for your April 2017 trip.

Transport schedule for April 2016. If you do this in summer, they would only show you the schedule for the remainder of 2016. While the schedules for non seasonal transport are similar throughout year, you have a chance to build a database of schedules for April 2016 you can reference later this year along with what you can see at that point.

Seat occupancy on flights you can see the seating charts under various scenarios at this point in time for April 2016. Air fares are market driven. If next year's booking pattern is similar to this year, the flights full at this point for April 2016 departures are high demand routes and gives an evidence that if you see the price again later this year for April 2017, planes likely to fill out early would less likely to offer lower fares by waiting.

Avoid boxing yourself into the sequence of cities you mentioned at this point.

1. You have three major entry/exit points: AMS,CDG,ZRH. You have four ways to logically enter and exit: CDG-ZRH, ZRH-CDG, AMS-ZRH, ZRH-AMS. Look now for sample April 2016 flight choices noting the departure/arrival times for out and inbound, layover airport and time and seasonal impact at that layover airport, prices, duration, type of planes used and consult www.seatguru.com.

2. Look at ground implication matching different flight choices. While some events repeat each year, others you don't know until later. If there is a major event, your accommodation prices can skyrocket. Your key defense is to be able to tinker with the arrival and departure airports to change when you end up in each destination. Note especially early morning arrival. If you combine that kind of flight to accommodations that cannot accept early check-in or luggage drop-off such as apartments, you have to figure out what to do with luggage.

3. Lay down which day of the week you end up in each destination with different flight scenario. In a city you want to visit museums, you get hit more museum closures with SUN-MON-TUE-WED stay than WED-THR-FRI-SAT stays.