Help! 11 days in Europe - where do we go?
 

Hi!
My boyfriend and I are planning a last minute trip to Europe in December. Potential places we have on our list are:
Zermatt, Switzerland
Vienna
Munich
Budepest
Somewhere in Northern Italy

We have 11 days including travel days, we're planning on arriving somewhere by the morning of the 12th of December.

We've even considered flying into Paris, mainly because its a direct flight and then going from there.

If anyone has any suggestions i'd be thrilled to hear them.

Thanks so much!

Hi,

Don't know what interests you exactly, but we loved our late Nov. trip in 2010 to visit the Christmas/Advent markets in Austria... Salzburg, Innsbruck, St. Gilgen, Rattenberg, Hall in Tirol, etc. While we've visited most of these places before (some many times), at this time of year it was simply magical. Don't know how else to describe it. The festive, holiday atmosphere was incredible. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip. Only regret was that we didn't make it to Sterzing/Vipiteno and Brixen/Bressanone in Italy, just south of Innsbruck. Well, hopefully there'll be a next time. In Dec. you'd also have the Chrstmas markets in Munich and Bavaria.

Just a thought.

Paul

Given you don't have much time there, you may only want to pick one or two cities. Three at the most. (Munich>Vienna>Budapest). Here is a great thread on an 11 day trip to those three cities:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...a-budapest.cfm

Three cities is pushing it, but that's just me. Since it's last minute and you have just over a week, I'd stay in one place (with a few day trips), and really enjoy myself. However if you're up for a lot of bouncing around, go for it.

It looks like you have 9 full days, since 2 will be travel. And, if you are hopping from place to place, even more days of travel. It adds up. Especially since the places you mention are not terribly close to one another. You could fly from place to place, but getting to the airport, waiting, luggage, etc.. that all eats into your time as well.

This may be an idea - You could fly into Paris, stay there a few nights and then take a train to ONE of the other destinations of choice, and then fly home from that last destination.

Example: Fly into Paris December 12, stay a few days, then take an overnight train to Venice, stay a few days, fly home from Venice.

Here's a thread about the new Thello overnight sleeper train from Paris to Venice. Sounds fun!

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...eper-train.cfm

This way, you can sleep on the train and not waste a day traveling.

There are also overnights from Paris to Munich and

For the limited time you have, stick to Munich, Vienna and Venice; and fly to Munich and out of Venice, or vice-versa. Look for international flights on www.kayak.com.

PS: The Thello overnight goes from Paris to all of these cities:

Brescia, Milan, Padua, Venice Mestre, Venice S. Lucia, Verona, and Vicenza.

http://www.italiarail.com/thello

Michael says:
<i>"fly to Munich and out of Venice,or vice-versa"</i>

And backtrack to Vienna and back?? Makes no sense. It would make more sense to: Fly into Venice > train to Munich > train to Vienna> fly out of Vienna.

See map:

http://i.imgur.com/flHZQ.png

I meant following a Munich-Vienna-Venice itinerary or vice versa.

Munich>Vienna>Budapest

http://i.imgur.com/f8HcY.png

Michael said:
<i>"I meant following a Munich-Vienna-Venice itinerary or vice versa."</i>

Do you mean <i>a Venice-Munich-Vienna</i> itinerary or vice versa? (Vienna-Munich-Venice) ??

No. You can land in Munich, train to Vienna, and then take the train to Venice. Given that these would be train rides, not taking the shortest route between Munich and Venice is really not that important. One could use your itinerary. I think that it depends on the various costs of an open jaw ticket.

You have a bunch of differnet options.

To give th emost useful suggestions:

What is your budget (Switz is really expensive)?

What are you most interested in doing?

Where have you been in europe - and what did you like dislike?

IMHO at this time of year large cities are best (most to do even if weather is bad) unless you want to do winter sports.

Also I would probably do 2 places - at most 3 - if you really want to see much. Remember how early it will get dark and that you may hit snow, ice or sleet anywhere.

If you can get tickets on the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St Moritz, do it.

I have a similar question. My wife and I are planning 2 weeks in June 2013, centered in Brienz, Ch. Any ideas on some short trips out of there? They could be overnight or two or day trips. We have seen Bern and Grindelwald. We were thinking of flying from the US to Zurich but could be open to another airport. Help would be appreciated. Thank you all.

jschwarz: Welcome to Fodors. "<i>I have a similar question.</i>"

Not really - your questions are not similar. The OP's trip in in Dec, yours is in June and you are asking about completely different destinations.

Instead of tacking on to a thread about different topics, you will do <i>much</i> better if you start a new thread of your own w/ your specific questions.

Agree you need a separate question.

Separately, Brienz is a VERY small town, and unless you plan on spending your whole time hiking, not sure what you will do. It is NOT really a convenient center for sightseeing to other areas. I would definitely stay someplace with more to see/do, esp for two whole weeks.

Thanks, all. I'll form another thread, as you suggest. We are staying in a mountain home, courtesy of some family there. Looking forward to some down time but also know we can travel some.

11 days which include travel, so you mean 9 full days on the ground. For me that would be one destination, perhaps two at most.

I agree that flying into one city and out of another would be best option, you should be looking at "multi destination " flights, aka "open jaw" rather then two one ways. They sometimes cost a bit more, but backtracking from one city to another is not free either.

Personal tastes are always going to color peoples suggestions, for me Paris would be my pick, but some cities in Germany with their Christmas markets would be an attractive alternative.

I love Zermatt, but it will be very expensive and its a not a direct trip there from anywhere. It is very pretty though.