charmed786

I'm hopeful to get some advice, places to go, things to see and if this is feasible in two weeks. We are waiting for my DH's boss to get back to him about 3 weeks, but we aren't sure yet.



Fly into Prague (2 days?)
Train from Prague to Munich
Rent Car in Munich and head to Bavaria/Romantic Road /Neuschwanstein Castle (3 days?)
Drive to Lucerne (3 days?)
Drive to Rhine Valley (Mainz, Heidelberg, Rudesheim) and return car in Frankfurt (2 days?)
Train from Frankfurt to Brussels with a stop in Ghent (to visit our friend) (2 days?)
Brussels to Amsterdam (3 days)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

nytraveler

IMHO this is way too rushed. You haven;t allowed time for getting from one place to another - which will take from 1/2 to 1 day based on cities and means of travel. I think that you are giving everything very short shrift. But it depends on what type of travel you like. this will give you a quick glance at a bunch of places. to see things in any depth I would do 3 or at most 4 hotels/cities.

bettyk

Agree that you are trying to do way too much in too little time. Even with 3 weeks, you may be taking on too much.

charmed786

Thank you both, what would you cross off of our list?

We wanted to take advantage of as much as we could since we dont know when we'll be on that side of the World again, any insight is appreciated. Thank you.

Aramis

Lucerne is the odd man out on this itinerary if you are looking to drop something that saves the most travel time.

Prague 3 nights - day one is not a full day and has jet lag)

Train to Munich (lose most of the day)

Munich 4 nights - day trip (train) south to Neuschwanstein (if you HAVE to)

Rent a car and drive north on Romantic Road to Rothenburg, Wurzburg, or other.

Romantic Road 2 nights

Drive to Rhine - I suggest St. Goar, Boppard, etc. - somewhere where you can reach the Mosel (Cochem, Burg Eltz, Bernkastel) easily. The Mosel, IMO is much more attractive and enjoyable than the rail and barge-way corridor extraordinaire that is the Rhine, so you might want to consider it as your base. The Rhine is more attractive up near St. Goar than at Heidelberg and you won't be that far south if you drop Lucerne.

Rhine (or Mosel ) 2 nights

Drive to Aachen - drop car - visit the Cathedral (BONUS!) and train to Ghent (2h:15min). Aachen is much closer to Belgium. If you went to Frankfurt you would be back tracking and the train trip would be twice as long. Ghent is west of Brussels so you don't stop in Ghent on the way to Brussels, you would do the opposite.

Ghent/Brussels 2 nights - You are now at 13 nights. Your proposal used 15 for your two week trip, so that would leave 2 more nights.

Amsterdam 2 nights.

Staying in Ghent/Brussels for just one night (I don't know if you have any commitment to stay with them) gives you 3 nights for Amsterdam. You could drop a Munich night to gain one in Amsterdam, too, but you do lose most of 1 day training from Prague.

If you get the third week, my suggestion would be to add 1 day to each stop, or at least turn the 2 night stops into 3 nights. If you add 4 nights to the 2 night stays you have 3 more to use up and I would suggest adding in Brugge, either directly from Aachen, or from the Ghent/Brussels stop.

Alternately, you could add in the days to Aachen, or earlier in your trip to Regensburg (from Prague), Bamberg (from Munich or the Romantic Road).

If you get 3 weeks and really want to see Lucerne, it could be the location of the other 3 days (action packed long ones) and you should probably then rearrange the order and go to the Romantic Road from Prague, then on to Munich, then Lucerne, then up to the Rhine/Mosel, etc..

Whew! Guess what my favourite part of the travel experience is? Okay, maybe after eating, um....and after taking photographs, oh, and drinking beer, and driving.

Good luck

hetismij

With only two weeks, and if you can get a flight home from Brussels, I would drop Lucerne and Amsterdam if Ghent is an essential.
If it isn't an essential then maybe drop Brussels/Ghent and go to Amsterdam instead - maybe your friend could join you there?

charmed786

Aramis,

Thank you for the reply. We originally wanted to go to Lucerne, so DH could do some sports in Interlaken. It looks like we might drop Prague instead. DH finds out on Monday if his 3rd week is approved. I can't wait to find out that way we can finalize our plans.

Thank you for the tip about not dropping off the car in Frankfurt. I have also beautiful things about Mosel so it seems that area is where we will end up.

Hetismij - Great idea about having our friend meet with us.

I can't wait to confirm everything and post a tentative schedule.

charmed786

My husband drew out this schedule and wanted to know which one of these is more feasible.. Do you recommend any changes?

May 25 - 9:00 A.M. Arrive in Munich
May 26 - Munich
May 27- 28 - Drive early to fussen area - castle - stay the night -surrounding areas (Do not want to stay here too long as in days)
May 29- drive to lucerne, stop by lake and other spots on the way. (Lindau?)
May 30 Lucerne (go to interlaken)
May 31- Rigi or Pilatus (?)
June 1- Get up early drive to rhine valley or black forest - would like to go to spa in baden - baden? (Stein am Rhein, Titisee or thereabouts)
June 2 - Rhine valley or Blackforest?
June 3- Rhine valley or blackforest?
June 4 - make way to final city (Aachen or Frankfurt or ?? to drop off car)
June 5 - Train to paris for just a day? or from belgium train to paris for a day
June 6 - Belgium
June 7 - Belgium
June 8 - Belgium
June 9 - Amsterdam
June 10 - Amsterdam
June 11 - Fly Home

Schedule 2:

May 25 - Arrive in prague 9am
May 26 - Prague
May 27 - Train to Munich
May 28 - Munich
May 29 - drive to fussen area - castle - stay the night. surrounding areas (dont want to stay to long here)
May 30 - drive to Lucerne, stop by lake and other spots on the way. (lindau) ?
May 31 - Lucerne (go to interlaken)
June 1 - Rigi or Pilatus ?
June 2 - Get up early drive to rhine valley or black forest - Would like to go to spa in baden - baden? (Stein am Rhein, Titisee or thereabouts)
June 3 - Rhine valley or blackforest?
June 4 - Rhine valley or blackforest?
June 5 - Make way to final city (Aachen or Frankfurt to drop off car) Train to belgium
June 6 - Belgium
June 7 - Belgium
June 8 - Belgium
June 9 - Amsterdam
June 10 - Amsterdam
June 11 - Fly home


We aren't too concerned with the time change because we will be flying from Dubai to either European destination. Even though the flight we know the flight is long.

Thank you for your help in advance.

bardo1

<b>Schedule 1</b> seems to make more sense...

...with one caveat:

<i>"June 5 - Train to Paris for just a day?"</i>

Not such a good idea:

Brussels/Paris 1-1/2 hours each way (on high speed train)
Aachen/Paris 3 hours each way.
Frankfurt/Paris 4 hours each way (on high speed train)

That's a lot of money and travel time for a trip to just get the most glancing of glimpses of a city like Paris.

You might consider skipping Paris this time and save it for a future trip (and stay in Paris 7 nights or so).

charmed786

Also, can it be done all via train?