My husband and I want to go on a long awaited trip to these places, France, Switzerland and Germany....we want to visit the south of France, then travel to Switzerland and end up flying back home from Germany (of course, another line up may be better from you seasoned travelers!)...we want to get a Eurorail Pass so that we can travel by train from country to country...what is the best place to start and end....what is the best place to fly into and out of? Also, any help on using the Eurorail and of course, we will have to find rooms in and around the stations so that we can walk....what are the best towns in which to stop and visit for a couple nights? We would like to more quaint smaller towns...does the train go there or just large cities? We speak no foreign language...and is this too much to try to cover in 2 weeks? Please help since you have been there? Also, any good websites would be greatly appreciated especially one with all the towns through which the train passes.....thanks a million...can't wait to hear some suggestions....

Hi gingersnap,

I'll try to answer some of your questions first then comment on your itinerary.

Trains do go to **just about** every town in Germany and Switzerland and, to a lesser extent I think, in France. The consideration is that a smaller and more remote town will require more connections and take a little longer that simply going from city to city. You can get very complete train schedules at www.rail.ch.

You don't say where you want to go in Germany, and it's a pretty HUGE place. Do you want to see the Alps south of Munich around Garmisch or the Rhine River valley around Bacharach or the Romantic Road around Rothemburg?

Although you also don't mention a specific place in Switzerland, can I assume you'll aim for one of the favorite alpine villages like Muerren, Wengen, and Grindelwald south of Interlaken? Or do you have another spot in mind?

You also don't say if you plan to spend any time in Paris or if you'll fly right to Nice.

Then, I'm afraid your itinerary is quite ambitious for a two-week visit. If you follow a route of Nice-Grindelwald-Bacharach-Frankfurt, you're facing a ten-hour train ride from Nice to Grindelwald and about eight hours from Grindelwald to Bacharach. That's a lot of moving around, especially when you consider that you'll be going through some spectacular areas!

A way to do your plan might be to fly into Nice and stay a few days; take the budget airline Easyjet (www.easyjet.com) from Nice to Geneva and take the train on to Grindelwald (about 3.40 hours by the direct route; five hours through the mountains-- stay overnight in Montreux if you want to split your journey) to stay for a few days; then go by train to your German destination.

However, I recommend you focus on two of your chosen three countries, and here are some possibilities:

Paris-Nice-Montreux (Easyjet to Geneva)-Grindelwald-Zurich
Zurich-Grindelwald-Bacharach-Frankfurt
Paris-Heidelburg-Bacharach-Frankfurt
Paris-Grindelwald-Bacharach-Frankfurt

One Fodorite recently returned from a 17-day trip going from Frankfurt-Beilstein (Mosel River)-Ribeauville-Montreux-Grindelwald-Lugano-Milan; you may want to read that trip report and see if there's anything you would care to duplicate. The trip report is at: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34450648


Anyway, I hope some of this is helpful. I think you'll get more specific responses after you come up with a more specific itinerary. Let me know if I can help further.

s

Hi snap,

After you have decided on your itinerary and before you buy the Eurailpass go to www.railsaver.com to see if a pass is cheaper than point-to-point tickets.

Your best site for train schedules is http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en is the site of the French train system. You can purchase tickets from them online, and possibly get reduced fares.

Hi gingersnap,

I may get to eat my words here!

I just went to the discount airline Germanwings site (www.germanwings) and noticed they have a Nice-Cologne/Bonn route that you can get as cheaply as 20 Euro.

That flight really opens up your possibilities. So you can fly into Nice and stay a few days, then fly to Koeln (Cologne) and meander down the Rhine to Switzerland; from Basel go to Grindelwald and finally fly out of Zurich.

Play around with the train schedules and a map to see if this will work. Do a photo search at www.webshots.com for some of the villages along the Rhine to see which one looks most charming to you.

Have fun!

s

Hi gingersnap - Your route brings back many fond memories for me....might I suggest that you consider renting a car rather than a rail pass. It will give you more flexability and perhaps take some of the hassle out of what will be a busy 2 weeks. Driving in Europe is very easy (get a drivers license from AAA). Shell geostar web site can provide you with concise directions point to point. I usually plan my itinerary, create a folder for each day, print directions, place in folder and then search the web for things to do that day. Everything is in the folder each AM when I wake. As the day progresses I put paper "souveniers" (tickets, reciepts,post cards etc.) in the folder. When I a get home and get my pictures, I'm prepared to build a fun scrap book.

G'snap:

"what is the best place to start and end....what is the best place to fly into and out of?"

There are often good deals into Paris and Frankfurt, but I like flying in and out of Frankfurt over Paris. F'furt has excellent connections to anywhere right from the airport, and if you speak just English, Frankfurt will be a lot easier.

"we want to get a Eurorail Pass so that we can travel by train from country to country"

Good choice. Look into the Flexipass options for 3 countriers (usually there's a discount for 2 or more traveling together.) I've driven many times in Europe, but it's a pain compared with the train, which will usually take you right where you want to go. Pack light. There are over 6,000 towns in Germany with train stations, probably more than you'll need to visit on your 2-week trip; Switzerland is covered by trains extremely well. Some small towns in France may be hard to get at by train, but considering the time you'll have there, you'll find somewhere.

"what are the best towns in which to stop and visit for a couple nights? We would like to more quaint smaller towns"

Towns with stations: to minimize your ground travel, stick to Southwest Germany. The Rhine towns of Bacharach, Boppard, and St. Goar are good. On the Mosel River, try Cochem. Heidelberg is not especially quaint or worthwhile, in my opinion. The town of Titisee, in the Black Forest near Freiburg, is easy to get to by train and incredibly scenic. In France, look into Strasbourg and Colmar, both quite close to Germany's border. In Switzerland, the Bernese Oberland is great; Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken, Muerren, are accessible by train. I think such a roughly north-south trip would easily eat up 2 weeks, but many (not me, necessarily) would feel that a trip to France is incomplete without a trip to Paris too. You'll have to make some choices.

Thanks for the information....I will try to get down to the specifics of the trip soon...then I may need addtional advice....