Options for traveling few countries across Europe?
 

HI,

I'm planning a two weeks trip from Geneva in a month or so and here's what I'd like to cover:

Geneva-->Vienna-->Budapest-->Prague-->Berlin-->Copenhagen/Malmo-->Amsterdam-->Brussels-->Geneva

I'll be traveling with my wife and an infant daughter. Trying to decide wether I rent a car for two weeks and drive or take the Global pass at RailEurope. I know driving would be much more flexible but I'm not sure so please advise...Any tips/ideas welcome

Since you're only going to cities I would use the train rather than drive through city traffic. Check the point to point ticket prices against the Eurail pass price as the pass is not always the best option.

I would cut back on your itinerary as you will be in a different city every 2 days so will see very little on this trip. You will have 8 train rides (or car trips) in 14 days. That's a lot of traveling, especially with an infant. Lots of packing and unpacking and trying to find your way around a new city every other day. I would find this quite stressful.

Your family will hate you with a passion after that trip. You don't have time for ANYTHING except being in the train or sleeping.

Did you look at a a map before, and at distances and travel times involved? Use www.bahn.de for the schedules and you will see the point. Trips like Geneva-Vienna, Berlin-Copenhagen, Copenhagen-Amsterdam and Brussels-Geneva are full day train trips. You can travel by night trains on some of teh relations but it is more expensive and not really relaxing - if you are a light sleeper you won't get to sleep at all.
And no, with driving it is not going to eb any different.

Horrible idea, especially with an infant. Eight cities in 14 days? Come on. Unless you're doing a thesis on European train stations, this is crazy. Pick two - or three at most - destinations. The issue isn't whether to drive or take the train, it's how much you can realistically see and enjoy in 14 days.

Hi R,

8 major cities in 14 days?

With an infant?

You can get motor routes from www.viamichelin.com.

Geneva to Vienna is 10 hrs.

This is not a vacation, it is an expedition.

I urge you to rethink your plans to no more than major 3 destinations and no more than 4 hrs between overnight stops.

((I))

You are all over the map. As much as I like to travel I would never attempt all those cities in 2 weeks. You could fly from Geneva to Berlin and then train to Prague, Vienna and Budapest and fly back to Geneva from Budapest.

My family is used to road trips and we often do long trips in short time. I talked to my wife again after looking at all of your responses and I think we are going to go for it. This past weekend we drove Geneva--> Montreoux--> Furka pass--> Lucerne--> Interlaken--> Geneva. Started on Saturday morning, spent night at Lucerne and back the next evening.

Last summer we did a 4 day road trip from NYC-->Niagara falls (1 night)-->Toronto(1 night)-->Montreal(1 night)-->Lake George(couple of hrs stop)-->NYC. It was 2000 kilometers in 4 days..My daughter 3-4 months at that time. This may give you an idea that we enjoy travelling.
I've checked the routes through Google maps and mappy and this 7 cities trip is around 4700 Kilometers.

I agree that this is not going to be relaxing vacation but we're trying to touch major cities during our stay in Geneva for 3 months :)

Next weekend, we are going to Venice for 2 nights with a tour. Following week, we're flying to Andalucia, Spain for 4 days.

Now, any suggestions to make this trip as comfy as possible? I think there'll be less packing/unpacking if we drove...but it would be less stressful if we took a train but I haven't had a chance to take the EU rail yet...