Please critique and give some advice on the following itinerary:

Day 1: arrive Luxembourg and then Metz (France)
Day 2: check out Metz
Day 3: check out Luxembourg, may be Trier (Germany) or Klobenz (Germany)
Day 4: Take train to Rothenburg
Day 5: Take train from Rothenburg to Munich
Day 6: Munich, bus tour to “Mad” King Ludwig’s castles
Day 7: Munich, then take nigh train to Venice
Day 8: Venice, take train to Florence
Day 9: Florence
Day 10: Florence, side trip to Siena
Day 11: Florence, take train to Rome
Day 12: Rome
Day 13: Rome
Day 14: Take train from Rome to Berne (Switzerland)
Day 15: Berne, side trip to Interlaken
Day 16: Berne, side trip to Lucerne
Day 17: Berne
Day 18: Berne, take train to Paris
Day 19: Paris
Day 20: Paris
Day 21: Paris
Day 22: Paris
Day 23: Fly home

I am not sure yet on which train to take from Rome to Berne. Would you recommend any city besides Berne? I fly in to Luxembourg and fly out from Paris. Any advise to order of city visits?

Thanks

I would think that reversing Florence and Rome would be a good idea. Venice to Rome is easy and then in Florence you are closer to Switzerland. Rome to Switzerland seems a long hike in a day......But Switzerland is one place i have not been so i can not say which place is better. Lausanne and Montreux is the places i am looking at visiting on the nest trip and seems an easy train ride from Milan, and to Paris is about 6 hours.

Good luck

The first part of your trip is way too rushed - you will be jet lagged, exhausted - and have time to see very little. Unless you have some special reason to see Metz i don;t know why to bounce there and then back to Luxembourg. Trier needs at lest a full day (2 nights) to really explore - and I would simplify the beginning of the trip. Also = in Switzerland I would stay either in Interlaken or in one of the smaller villages in the Alps - Bern IMHO is very ho-hum and taking all those day trips is a waste of time.

Yeah, the whole first 2.5 days Metz/Luxembourg/Trier/Koblenz stuff really seems confused. Maybe just head for Trier (or somewhere) and stay a couple of nights, maybe doing a day trip somewhere.

Oh yeah, and why so long in Bern, of all places?

Thanks for all the comments so far. I'll stay in Metz because I have relatives there. I'll look into Trier and Interlaken. The reasons I have so many days in Bern and Metz/Luxembourg because I follow few samples from the book 'Europe by Eurail Touring Europe by Train'

I think you're trying to do too much in the first half of the trip. You'll probably be jet-lagged and not good for much when you arrive in Luxembourg, and you will be spending so much time on trains that I'm not sure you'll see anything much.

Hi SanDieganTraveler,

Actually Bern is a fine base for what you want to do in Switzerland. It is a city, but a charming, lovely, interesting, and conveniently located one.

Interlkaen, on the other hand, is a charmless tourist and transport hub. If you want to stay in the mountains, Interlaken still isn't it -- it sits in the flats between two lakes. And if you are going in the summertime, Interlaken is simply wall to wall tourist busses.

If you want to stay in the mountains, I recommend you select one of the car-free villages, Wengen or Mürren. These are really wonderful, scenic, beautiful villages, but they will add about an hour of travel time on your day #14 as well as some changes of train. Also, you won't be well situated for a trip to Luzern -- if you stay in the mountains, it's best to stay put and see all the glories that are nearby.

So, really, for the plan you outline, Bern is a great spot. heehee, all the tourists will be in Interlaken!! If you go to the Trip Advisor forums for Bern, an expert there has put together a walking tour of the city.

Have fun!

s

Any suggestion on what destinations I should skip?

Hi Swandav2000,

Thanks for comments on Bern, I think I'll skip Lucern and look into Wengen and Murren.

Ok, here is a site for good research:

www.myjungfrau.ch

And if you change your mind - back - here is a link to that walking tour of Bern:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g1...r.Of.Bern.html

Good thing is, this is a win/win problem!

s