altamiro

Palenque - Bielefeld is not Bitterfeld.

Palenque

altamiro - thanks for that - i feared the worst.

Dukey

Is taking a budget flight between any of these destinations a possibility for you?

antymuff

Yes, a flight is possible. Someone mentioned that it would be best to reserve the flight ahead of time; is it possible to do this when we are there to give us more flexibility? Now that we have seen everyone's responses, we were thinking of this:
Day 1-2 Fly into Munich-see Dachau; then head to Bielefeld;
Visit the Rhine Valley and Castle Elz
Day 3-6 Train to Paris
Day 7-10 Train or flight to Cinque Terre in Italy
That leaves us with a couple days leeway; we were thinking of the possiblity of flying to Italy from Paris to save time-the train is about 9 hours, so if we took the train, we could take the last train as mentioned before. Is this STILL too much? (On paper to us, it looks do-able), but you are the experts! Should we leave out Italy for this trip? One other question-if we take the train to Italy from Paris, do we go through the mountains-in that case, should we travel during daylight hours? Sorry if I seem to be asking the same questions, but we want to get this right-we have limited planning and research time! Thanks.

rs899

Generally, cheap flights aren't so cheap when you book them just a few days in advance. You may get lucky (especially this year) but train travel may be your better bet if you want to preserve some flexibility.

jamikins

Hi antymuff,

So you are looking at:

Day 1 arrive in Munich
Day 2 Bielefeld
Day 3 train to Paris (from Bielefeld?)
Day 4 Paris
Day 5 Paris
Day 6 Paris
Day 7 Travel to Italy (yes fly Paris to Pisa, and YES you must book in advance...the sooner the cheaper)
Day 8 Cinque Terre
Day 9 Cinque Terre
Day 10 Cinque Terre

1. What time are you arriving?
2. When do you propose seeing Dachau, on arrival? If so, how will you get there and what will you do with your bags?
3. Will you drive to Bielefeld? Is this when you plan to see Rhine? The drive from Munich to Bielefeld is in excess of 5 hours so it seems like waste to even bother going up there...can your daughter meet you in Munich? I dont see how this will allow you time to see Rhine valley and a castle.

Extra days...I would add these up front to Germany. Otherwise just skip Germany and have your daughter meet you in Paris...that way you save all the travel costs because as you have it you wont end up seeing much and you will spend a tonne on transport costs.

Day 1 arrive in Munich, overnight
Day 2 Get to Dachau first thing as its on the way to Bielefeld (well can be) overnight in Bielefeld
Day 3 Bielefeld
Day 4 Bielefeld
Day 5 train to Paris (from Bielefeld?)
Day 6 Paris
Day 7 Paris
Day 8 Paris
Day 9 Travel to Italy (yes fly Paris to Pisa, and YES you must book in advance...the sooner the cheaper)
Day 10 Cinque Terre
Day 11 Cinque Terre
Day 12 Cinque Terre
Day 13 Fly home from Pisa

I would definitely look into flying into Munich and out of Pisa to avoid backtracking...if not you will waste another whole day backtracking to get home.

I dont think you will need a car, I'd use trains (and fly Paris to Italy). Check www.easyjet.com and www.ryanair.com for cheap flights...but be sure to be aware of luggage contraints on these airlines as the costs can be very large for excess of their weight resitrictions.

Palenque

www.whichbudget.com and www.skyscanner.net show budget flights that are offered between any two places.

ira

Hi AM,

I think that I would visit Germany, maybe Switzerland, and Italy OR Germany, maybe CH, and France this trip.

I think that France and Italy, along with Germany is contraindicated.

Also, if you are visiting Bielefeld, which seems to be up near Hanover, why are you flying into Munich?

antymuff

I really have my heart set on seeing Dachau .