Help with Itinerary Please
 

We are planning a trip to France, Austria and Italy in the fall. There are a few areas that I am totally puzzled about. We will be in Paris for 5 nites and then train to Strasbourg, where we will spend a few days in Alsace. Then what is the best route for a train to Salzburg and Vienna? From there we plan to go to Italy, rent a car and eventually fly home from Rome.
What do you think of this itinerary? Doable? Weird? Crazy? And, how do we go about taking all those trains? Don't know where to begin. We have always traveled by car when not in the big cities. How long do you think we need to do this? We would appreciate any input. Thanks!

There's a bit a lot for this for 5 nights. You mentioned a lot of places and you barely got time. I think it's better to concentrate on Paris plus one place. Then you can explore around these venues.

<< what is the best route for a train to Salzburg and Vienna >>

If you're taking a train the routes are established so I don't understand this question. You can find train schedules on this site but you would book a train from France from the French web site and in Austria from the Austrian web site, etc.

http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

You can click on the ">" symbol to see the train route.

<< how do we go about taking all those trains >>

Not sure I understand this question either. You book your ticket, go to the station, look for the track number from the large, overhead board (similar to an airport arrival/departure board), and get on the train. Many trains require seat reservations (and it's always good to reserve seats on long distance trains) so you find your car and seat. Sometimes there are boards at the beginning of the tracks to show the cars. Other times the car numbers are written on the outside of the train. Seat numbers are marked like on an airplane.

For French/German trains the cheapest tickets are 90 days out.

<< Don't know where to begin >>

You begin by getting some guidebooks and reading the general information sections in the front of the book and then read about the places you'll be visiting. There is a wealth of information in guide books.

<< How long do you think we need to do this >>

That would depend on how many places you'll be visiting in Italy. If you're planning to explore Italy from the border to Rome plus the other places you mention I'd say 6 weeks.

Of course the itinerary is doable and it's not weird or crazy unless you're expecting to cover this area in 2 weeks.

ediemay, how long do you have altogether? Most of the posts I have read suggest that at least a few days in each main spot. then you can do day trips from these main places without having to unpack and repack each day.
I haven't got the experience of the trip yet, but I have been doing a lot of reading and getting lots of good advice here. check out sites like via michelin or google maps to get an idea of how long it will take to get from one place to the next.
Hope you have a great trip and enjoy the planning..
JT

You can find a lot of information about train travel on www.ricksteves.com. You'll probably get some of your "how do you do this?" questions answered.

I used the bahn.de site mentioned above,(German rail site) to do most of my research to see the frequency of the trains on my route, time of the trip, etc. If the trips are in Germany, you can see the fares but sometimes I can't see them on international routes. The French rail site is a little more difficult for me but I have used it also. http://sncf.com/en_EN/flash/ I know there is another URL that takes you just route planning but I can't figure it out (probably why I don't use this site much). I have never used the Austrian train service.

I do not usually purchase my train tickets until I am there. You'll be in Paris for 5 days, so you could purchase your Paris to Strasbourg, Strasbourg to Salzburg trips when you arrive, just go into one of the train stations. Or find a travel agency where they speak Englsh to get help.

Have fun, I enjoy the train traveling!

Thank you all for trying to determine the purpose of my post. I guess my mind is not very lucid at !:00AM. I of course knew what I was seeking but no one else did. The solution: post during the day.

I will try once again. I looked up some train schedules before posting and saw several big variations in travel time depending on where the train departs from. I was hoping to learn of the most direct route from France, whether north or south or Paris itself to reach Vienna. I am thinking about 22 days or so in total for the trip in order to see what we want to in each country. As I said I have always driven a car, rather than take trains. I have not been to Austria or Italy for close to 40 years so I am aware that travel has changed tremendously in that time but I have diligently read tour books and websites and am attempting to plan the most direct route from one country to another

ttt

If you really want to drive then do so. No need to take a train unless that is what you prefer.

As for 2 days - you could do Paris, Strasbourg and then Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome) and have a fine trip. Detouring through Austria means you would have to cut way back on Italy.
'
We have done a couple of road trips with Rome and Paris as the anchors. But the places we stayed in between were either northern italy or Switzerland or eastern France. For a 3 week trip I would try to keep it to 5 hotels - 6 at the absolute most.