joehan

Hello

Its kind early plan but time flies fast … I’m planning for my solo trip in December 2017 to Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Czech Republic. It will be 16 days.

I will be flying in & flying back via Amsterdam.

My journey begins soon touching down Amsterdam. As I will be flying back via Amsterdam, I think this will be the last city to explore.

In my mind:
• GERMANY (Berlin / Munich / Stuttgart)
• AUSTRIA (Innsbruck, Vienna)
• CZECH REPUBLIC (Prague)

I need an opinion which is the best “sequence” / geographically sense country / city to start first & also days of stays.

My initial trip:
Touchdown Amsterdam --> Berlin -->Munich (*Stuttgart is to visit car museum) --> Innsbruck --> Vienna --> Prague --> Amsterdam

Preferable means way to travel is by bus or train.

Your feedback is much appreciated. Thanks.

bilboburgler

16 days, in december and staying in 7 cities. Going to be a dark cold rush around.

You do know Stuttgart is a wee way from Munich?

I'm not sure Munich is that exciting in December, actually any time, but the gardens are good. Innsbruck is famous for the size of its bus station, I guess there may be another reason to go there.

Ams, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Stuttgart, Ams makes most sense based on trains

read up trains on seat61.com
get an idea of train travel at bahn.de or overall use the error prone rome2rio to get a flavour of the options

tonfromleiden

I agree you have to weed out to see more than railway stations.
I found Munich not living up to expectations. The same is for Stuttgart. If you need a stop between Vienna and Amsterdam, cities like Regensburg or Nürnberg are more interesting.

sparkchaser

Seven cities in 16 days is really pushing it, considering that it will take pretty much a full day to get from Amsterdam to Berlin (6.5-7.5 hours from Amsterdam Airport to Berlin Main Station) and Prague to Amsterdam (11-13 hours from Prague Main station to Amsterdam Airport) if you take the train.

Are you going to the Mercedes or Porsche museum in Stuttgart? Any plans to see the BMW museum in Munich?

Your German path looks ok and it is probably how I would do it

Check out Deutsche Bahn to see ticket prices and timetables: https://www.bahn.de/p_en/view/index.shtml

My poposal:

Day 1 (arrival in Amsterdam): hop on train to Berlin. Arrive in Berlin Day 1 evening.

Day 2: Berlin. See whatever (you need to tell us what you are interested in seeing/doing).

Day 3: Berlin. See whatever

Day 4: Take morning train from Berlin to Munich. Arrive early-mid afternoon. Do/see whatever. BMW museum?

Day 5: Munich.

Day 6: Take early train to Stuttgart. Arrive late morning/early afternoon. Go to Museum(s). If you are quick, you can see both in a day but if you want to really see the cars and take the time to admire them, only do one museum per day.

Day 7: Stuttgart. See other museum. Go see other stuff.

Day 8: Train to Innsbruck (4-5 hours). See whatever.

Day 9: Innsbruck. Do whatever.

Day 10: Early morning train to Vienna (4-4.5 hours). Arrive around noon. Do whatever.

Day 11: Vienna. Do whatever.

Day 12: Early morning train to Prague (4 hours). Arrive in Prague around noon. Go do whatever.

Day 13: Prague

Day 14: Leave Prague for Amsterdam (11-13 hours). Arrive in Amsterdam that evening.

Day 15: Amsterdam. Do/see whatever.

Day 16: Leave Amsterdam, returning home.


As you can see, it's a pretty tight schedule. You can save some time (and maybe money) by flying from Amsterdam to Berlin and Prague to Amsterdam instead of taking the train and by traveling in the evening/overnight or early in the morning (like the first train running early).

sparkchaser

*proposal

Also, don't listen to the nay-sayers. You can make your crazy itinerary work. And I will help you.

fourfortravel

Most of the cities on your itinerary, if not all, will have Advent and Christmas markets throughout December; the festive atmosphere changes the character of the city (the markets even make Vienna feel less uptight!)

And, depending on your actual dates of travel, keep in mind that throughout Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, at least, there may be holiday closures and/or shorter hours.

Southam

You may be able to use a multi-destination search function to make your route more efficient. For instance, the inbound flight might connect through to Berlin. Work your way west to Amsterdam to use the return leg of your ticket. But without knowing your home base, this is just speculation.
PS: I'm with those who think you will spend too much time travelling and too little actually seeing your destinations. It's a check-list itinerary.

PalenQ

Train are by far the best bet in Europe - for lots of rail info check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

You could take an overnight train Munich to Amsterdam when returning from Prague to Amsterdam.

PalenQ

Since you are taking several long train rides check out the Eurail Select Saver Pass 4 country option - it's first class if over 25 and that to me is the way to go - especially with luggage - more relaxed, more roomy - often more empty seats than first class. And in all those countries you can hop on virtually any train anytime.

Whathello

Hello

I do hope you like cars, if not, Stuttgart holds no interest.
Besides the city was in complete reconstruction - a major rebuilding of the trainstation, I don't know if it is stopped.

For the rest, be ready to read a lot of 'if it is tuesday it is Belgium' comments.
However it is your trip, you are young and or like it hectic, you just go !

PalenQ

I would avoid Belgium on Tuesdays because it is so so crowded that day, always IME!

sparkchaser

I could spend a month in Belgium and not be bored.

joehan

Thanks for all your response. I'm very appreciate your comments.
Still got plenty of time. Will look into flight & rail for more time saving. Have been saving a lot for this trip & I must make it sucesss. Dunno why but I'm fascinated with German, Austria & Czech. Its my instinct that told me that I must go there.

PalenQ

follow your dreams!