thoughts on my Amsterdam/Germany/Switzerland itinerary?
 

This is not finalized, I am open to any suggestions!!Thanks.

day 1 - arrive Amsterdam
2 - Amsterdam
3 - Amsterdam
4 - train to Koln, pick up car drive to Rothenburg (sleep Rothenburg)
5 - Rothenburg (sleep Rothenburg)
6 - day trips from Rothenburg (Romanitc Road)(sleep Rothenburg)
7 - drive to Munich (sleep Munich)
8 - day trip to Fussen (see Ludwig castles) (sleep Munich)
9 - day trip to Berchtesgaden (sleep Munich)
10 - drive to Lucern, SW (sleep Lucern)
11 - Lucern (sleep Lucern)
12 - drive to Florence for wedding
13 - Florence
14 - Florence (wedding, not mine!)
15 - drive to Munich
16 - fly home from Munich

Hi travelchic,

I wonder if you've checked the mileage you'll be driving? I just checked the last part at www.mappy.com, and found that Munich-Luzern is about four hours, Luzern-Florence is about five hours, and Florence-Munich is about six hours. That's WAY too much driving for me; it would turn a vacation into a driving event.

For starters, apparently you're already planning an open-jar (into Amsterdam and out of Munich), but I think you should plan to fly out of Florence or somewhere else close. You may have to arrange two rental cars (one for Germany and one for Italy) to avoid the drop-off fee.

You may also want to look into substituting the Italian alps instead of Luzern, which takes you far out of your way. Sorry, I don't know them much -- but it would be worthwhile checking out Bolzano and Cortina, maybe Lake Garda or Verona, to keep the mileage manageable.

Good luck!

s

"open JAW" not "open jar." Uh oh.

s

Yes, I did look up all the routes on viamichelin, it is a bit of driving, but my husband and I are real road trippers, so it doesn't seem all that bad to us. Although, I like your idea about the Italin Alps, I may look in to that as an option.
We also thought about dropping our car in Germany and taking a train to Florence and then flying home from FLorence, but the train ride was over 10 hours from Munich to Florence and we need to be in Florence at a certain time (for wedding duties) so the 5 hour drive from Luzern seemed like a better option.

You didn't mention when you are going. If you are thinking of driving from Lucerne to Florence, remember that there can be MAJOR traffic jams before the Gotthard tunnel, at the Swiss/Italian border and sometimes on the motorways going down to Florence. This is especially true on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in during the summer months.

Also, avoid driving into Milan at all costs. It's easy to get into the town, but the devil to get out.

We'd be traveling to FLorence on a thursday morning....how would that be?

Should be fine as long as it's not a religious holiday (we have a couple in May/June).

Sounds like a good trip for the two of you! The only two suggestions: Ditch the car in Muenchen, and - if possible - fly home from Italy instead of from Muenchen.

You can stick to your plan on day 10. The train from Muenchen to Luzern takes 5:37 hours, if you leave at 7.12 you're in Luzern at 12:49 for lunch. Others take longer. You don't want to have a car in Luzern anyway, and not in Firenze, either.

If you then leave Luzern at 07:21, you're in Firenze at 13:45. Can't beat that.

You may not be able to fly out of Firenze airport, it's being renovated for a month or two, but it's only an hour or so to Pisa or to Bologna, or three hours to Milano or Venezia or Verona or Bergamo - if you look around, you may get an open-jaw ticket that flies you into AMS and out of one of those Italian airports.

If you've already booked the return from Muenchen, fly from an airport near Firenze on the cheap to Muenchen.

Check with Deutsche BA, Air Dolomiti, Ryanair, Lot, opodo, skyscanner, whichbudget, meridiana, Air Berlin (flies Bergamo - Nuernberg), Germanwings (flies Bologna - Stuttgart), and so on.

Or take the night train from Florence, either the 21:46 from Firenze S. Maria Novella (the main station), train EN 288 that gets into Munich at 06:31, or the 00:12 from Firenze Campo di Marte (a suburban station in Florence), train EN 286 that gets into Munich at 08:30. They have couchettes (bunks) in shared compartments of 4 or 6, and sleepers with privacy - the sleepers is a great way to travel if you like trains. Reserve early.

WK

Thanks, WK. We have not booked our ticket yet, and flying home out of Florence is sounding better and better. I am going to look in to taking the train to Lucern and to Florence.

Thanks, everyone!

Also, WK, where did you find these train times from Munich to Lucern and Lucern to Florence? I don't know much about booking train travel, and can't seem to find any site that allows me to look at prices, times, etc...

Good train info at

www.bahn.de (Germany and beyond)

www.sbb.ch (Switzerland and beyond)

www.trenitalia.it (Italy)

http://www.http://plannerint.b-rail....p;L=profi& (all of Europe)

WK