Trip suggestion
 

Hi,

I am planning to have my first Europe trip in March next year, will depart from Tokyo and begin my trip from Paris (and come back to Paris again at the last day: should be there at day 7). Let say if I have only 6 days for land touring, could you suggest me how to enjoy Schengen area within those days? I put Paris-Geneva-Milan-Munich-Frankfurt-Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris into my travel list. Is that too much? Amsterdam/Delft is a must-visit for me (will meet friends there).
I prefer to use train/bus to enjoy the sightseeing. By the way, I like to spend my days in traveling rather than just staying at the same place for long times. Because this will be my first experience, your kind opinion will be much appreciated :D

~Irwin

If you have only six days, Paris-Geneva-Milan-Munich-Frankfurt-Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris is "doable" but DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMENDED.

Can you fly into Paris and out of Munich? If so, 3 days in Paris and 3 days in Munich would be my suggestion. If you are bound to Paris as your entry and exit points, I would head immediately to Munich for 3 days then finish in Paris.

With 6 days on the ground, you list 7 locations plus a return to the point of entry. The first thing is to enter at your first city and fly home from your last-called multi city or open jaw. You'll save lots of time in travelling and back tracking.

Secondly you are being way too ambitious with your stops. In 6 days you can only do justice to two places, three at a pinch and if Amsterdam is a given, then perhaps Paris should be your other and only other stop. Fly into AMS and out of CDG.

Paris-Geneva-Milan-Munich-Frankfurt-Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris is certainly too much and not doable, unless you only want a tour of train stations.

If Paris is included in your 6 days for land touring, then,
Paris - Amsterdam - Delft - Paris is already enough for 6 days. I, too, like to spend my days in traveling rather than just staying at the same place for long times, heck I even like being in long flights and trains; but I also like exploring a city and not just taking a photo of the central Amsterdam station and say "I've been to Amsterdam!".

It is your first Europe trip, you might not have an idea about European cities (just my shallow guess). It is very difficult to do the sightseeing in any European city if you have less than 2 days there. It's not just about one palace, one typical street or one Eiffel Tower.

March would still be winter and the weather might not be optimal to do sightseeing as much as you want.

If you still insist on seeing more than that, and if you can change your flight to multi-destinations (fly out from your last city and not going back to Paris), then it's possible to add one more city to the itinerary. If so, I recommend doing daytrips from Paris and Amsterdam rather than change location. Plenty of choice for daytrips from Paris: Versailles, Chartres, Reims,...

your trip is a ticking off list.
If it is what you want (say, you want to get a glimpse of several cities and be able to say you've been there), it is great.
If you want to visit it is crazy
I've done this kind of trips and everything was blurred after some months (didn't take years..).

However I've been to places I'll never go back to.

If you think you have a good chance to come back
then follow above advice.

I'm with the others.
If those 6 days are also meant for Paris, just split your time 50/50 between Amsterdam/Delft and Paris. If not, have a few days in Belgium (Antwerp or Gent) in between.
You are aware of the high-speed Thalys, which does Paris-Brussels-Antwerp-Amsterdam in less than 4 hours? Buy those tickets well in advance to get a considerable discount.

Hi tom.
On wed the Thalys did Bruxelles Paris in 5 hours and back in 2 h 45

The day before RER B didn't work the whole day and line 12 didn't in the evening.

But it is extremely rare. Once a year max I would say.

Doesn't matter how fast you travel. Your list is NOT DOABLE in six days unless you are just flying over and looking down! On landing, you do have to get into the city, etc. and getting to the train stations takes some time, plus travel time. You want to spend your days traveling, but not actually seeing anything? Why go so far and spend so much money to see nothing? Save the money.

Look at maps and look up travel times.

Try to get multi-city or multi-destination tickets, into Paris, out of Amsterdam. Saves time and money backtracking.

You have time for Paris, Amsterdam and Delft (since those are musts for you), allowing for travel in between.

NO, you cannot do all that in a mere 6 days. Your first day will be lost to jetlag and confusion, so you really have only 5 days. Stay in Paris. Do a daytrip outside the city if you must, but you certainly won't run out of things to do in Paris itself. Next time, when you have a month or a few months, you can get to all the other places. NOT this time. Look at a map of Europe and see.

i would do just Paris and Amsterdam and do day trips by train to Delft and some regional French city-could also stop in Brussels or Bruges en route to Amsterdam.

For lots on trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com. Book Paris to Belgium or Amsterdam ASAP at www.thalys.com for sweet deep discounted tickets.

Except for Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris, all your other connections take hours to travel whether by train or air when you include all the accompanying overheads. Just plug in your itinerary to www.bahn.com and see how little time you are left with at each destination.

Also, look at your flights. You mention 7 days equal 6 usable days. Is it more like 5 usable days?

If you are flying NRT-CDG-NRT on JAL or AF direct flights, your CDG landing time is around 4:30pm, meaning you will not get settled into your accommodation in Paris until about 6:30pm. The return flights from CDG for direct flights are around 11:50am, meaning you only have time for breakfast that morning. This leaves first day not usable for anything but a quick dinner leaving you with 5 full days to visit places.

If it's Tuesday how about Belgium?

Again if going to Paris and then Amsterdam - a stop in Belgium can easily be done but I'd just stop off in say Brussels for a few hours (put bags in train station locker) and end up in Amsterdam.

If I only had 6 days, I'd spend it all in Paris.

Well, thanks a lot for your comments in a very short break (for me hehe) :))

I will certainly do more consideration to decide the main destinations based on your humble opinion! So, 2-3 cities are enough, ya! Got it!

Once again, thanks! Hope could find someone to accompany me and my friend to enjoy the trip!

And to maximize your time chose cities a short train ride away from each other - like Paris and Amsterdam.