Use of frequent flier miles dictates arrival in Paris (3/29). Departure out of Rome (4/13). In between, we would like to do some castles in southern Germany, Venice and maybe "something" in Austria or Switzerland: So....
1. Suggestions for Austria and/or Switzerland for a family?
2. Ryan Air has extremely inexpensive flights from Paris to Venice but not to Munich. Would is make sense to fly to Venice then drive north to Austria/Germany?

I am having drawing the lines between countries! The 8 - 12 hour train ride from Paris to Munich is pricey and doesn't sound too appealing.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

you have 2 weeks - that is really not long enough to visit Paris, Bavaria, Austria and/or Switzerland, Venice and Rome. You lose 1/2 to one full day every time you move plus day 1 is jetlagged exhaustion, and the 13th is a lost day just traveling home.

So out of your 15.5 days you'd really only have 12 or 13 days free. I'd pick 3 places out of your list and stick to them. Obviously Paris and Rome are two of them, so only one other destination.

If Paris and Rome are only transit cities and you don't plan any time in either one, then you could squeeze in two other locations.

Basically agree with janisj. With 15 days total, you could maybe spend 4 nights in Paris, 4 in Germany, 3 in Venice, 4 in Rome. But I wouldn't try to stretch it beyond that.

I would suggest taking the train from Paris not to Munich but to the Rhine/Mosel area for your castle visits. Burg Eltz, near Cochem, opens April 1 and represents one of the best castle tours around:

www.burg-eltz.de

Marksburg Castle is terrific and open all year:

www.marksburg.de

The Rhine Gorge between Koblenz and Bingen is full of castles, including Auf Schoenburg in Oberwesel, a lovely castle-hotel. A milk-run train ride through the gorge is a real highlight (cruise boats don't normally run until mid-April.)

Cities and towns of interest in the area include Cologne, Aachen, Trier, Germany's oldest city, Mainz, and Bacharach.

You can fly Ryanair from Frankfurt Hahn to Venice; the airport is in the heart of the Rhine/Mosel region.

Hi Jill02,

A note about trains. It looks like you're getting your train information from Raileurope, which is often incomplete with schedules and over-priced with point-point tickets.

Instead, you should use either the German rail site or the Swiss rail site; both will give you accurate schedules for the whole continent and generally most fares. You can find them at

www.bahn.de (German)

www.rail.ch (Swiss)

For instance, the trip from München to Paris takes 6-7 hours, not 8-10 hours.

You should also plan to buy your train tickets 89 days in adavance, when the discount fares are first available. These can give you great deals on the international trips. For instance, I got TGV tickets from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Paris for 50E. And there are discount fares for travel in Germany, called Dauer Specials, where you can travel anywhere in Germany for 29E.

Have fun planning the trip!

s

It's been said before many times, but it doesn't hurt to try it again ... "extremely inexpensive" fares from RyanAir add up quickly ... credit/debit card fees per person, baggage per person, airport check-in per person if required, etc.

Go through the on-line process right to the end to get the total price before you commit to flying, just to ensure there are no surprises at the end.

In places like Venice, the airport also actually isn't in the city you want to visit - in this instance it's about an hour bus journey as I recall, which you also have to pay for.

Ryanair doesn't fly from Paris. Ryanair flies from Beauvais, which is a good 90 min by a coach from the La Defence bus station, which in itself either isn't very convenient for central Paris.
Ryanair doesn't fly from Venice either. The Treviso airport is a good hour by bus from Venice.

In general, Ryanair (and some other "budget" airlines) fly from tiny airports in the middle of nowhere, often 1-2 hours away from the city they claim to connect. It helps them fly cheaper (landing fees in such airports are a tiny fraction of what you would pay in a big aiport) but you should not forget this fact.
Also, Ryanair ticket ONLY covers yourself. Not your check-in bag, not your hand luggage, not any food or drink on the way. Anything of this will incur extra costs.

Others have said it. Not nearly enough time for "what I want to do". Personally I would have chosen a little round trip around Paris/Germany and saved Rome for another time. It is a long way down there. AND you might feel like you have really seen some things rather than passing by.

"Ryanair doesn't fly from Venice either. The Treviso airport is a good hour by bus from Venice."

Treviso is about 19 miles away. Transport costs 6 Euros, takes under an hour:

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/..._to_venice.htm

What ages are your children? You haven't asked about places to stay but consider apartments, at least in cities where they'll rent for stays less than a week.

As for Switzerland, early April is not the best time to visit the mountains. It's just coming off ski season, but not yet summer tourist season. They close down lifts for maintenance, etc., hoteliers take vacations, and so on.

Russ has a good suggested itinerary. We loved the Mosel River area, and it would be nice for you to see some countryside and smaller towns, not all cities.

You guys are wonderful! So much collective knowledge. With kids, I am prepared to be pretty superficial with some cities (ie. Venice - go to P. San Marco, ride a gondola, walk around, leave). I think I will stick to Paris, Venice and Rome... But, we want to see castles!!!??? Actually, one will do... I especially appreciate the train schedule/fare reference. Thank you!

The train trip from Munich to Venice is quite scenic; I don't recall how many hours it was.

Jill02, there is a 'castle' in Rome. Obviously not a gorgeous fantasy type castle, but will it do? (Castel St. Angelo next to Vatican).

Sounds like a great trip - Paris, Rome, Venice - not shaggy!

Enjoy. Julie

Chateaux are castles, and there are some in Paris--even the Louvre.

go ito the Alps........Lauterbrunnen..... the kids wil love the gndolas and cog trains...grindelwald....wengen...its going to be cld ....take a gondols upand alk don the montain to the town....it is beautiful there....... the mountains and valleys. what about Lugano and the lake regon of northern italy....
austria is far.... in my opinion...