ledhead

Hi all! My daughters and I have been to Europe once, London, Paris, Black Forest, Florence. We loved it and want to go back. However we can't decide which itinerary to take. We were thinking, Ireland 3 days(for something totally different), Paris 4 days (we just loved it last time and want to go back), Munich 4 days, (we missed a big city in Germany and hear its fantastic)then Interlaken,Switzerland 3 days (my girls ski and we want to experience Jungfrau). Our other itinerary would be: Paris, Munich, Interlaken and possibly Salzburg Austria around Christmas time to see the famous Christmas markets they have. Should we eliminate one country in either itinerary? Which itinerary seems more reasonable? We do have limited funds, but last time we managed to do 4 countries reasonably with 3 to 4 star hotels and 2nd class train travel. We have around 15 days to travel. We also aren't sure if its a good idea to travel in the dead of winter. Any suggestions please?

Travelnut

What do you do with the skies during the rest of your travel..? or do you just rent the equipment at the ski location?

WallyKringen

Interlaken is not that great - handy because it is full of restaurants and hotels, but you have to take a train everytime you want to actually go somewhere nice. No skiing in Interlaken, it is down on the flat between two lakes, not up in the mountains.

Go to Ireland in summer, it is too dreary in winter. Then you have a fighting chance at making this trip work.

Make it open-jaw tickets, into Paris and home from Munich. (Check the Multicity option on airline search sites).

Then give Paris 4 days (day 1 is a wipe-out on arrival, you will remember nothing later, just keep moving to get through the day).

Day 5 is a travel day, here are some times to popular ski areas in Switzerland:

A good six hours from Paris to, say, Gstaad, or 7 1/2 to 8 hours or more to Grindelwald (for Jungfraujoch acess), or a good 7 hours or more to Montana-Crans, or a good 5 hours to Villars sur Ollon, or about 8 hours to Engelberg. There are lots of others, of course, but if it's like this winter, you will have to check to see if there is any snow at all. The higher up the better: Saas Fee for example provides summer skiing (at least 7 hours from Paris).

Days 6 - 9 Swiss skiing

Day 10 is a travel day to Munich - 7:23 hrs or more from Grindelwald.

Days 11 to 15 (?) til flight home in München, with a daytrip to Salzburg (1:31 hr or more each way) etc.

ledhead

Thanks WallyKringen. You really helped. I think we are going to eliminate Switzerland and leave the skiing to up here in New England if we ever get any snow. While Switzerland was nice to see on the train last time, I agree it doesn't sound that great to bother with all these hours of traveling. I think we will do Ireland, Paris, Munich and a day trip to Salzburg. Thanks!

swandav2000

Hi ledhead,

Good idea to drop Switzerland because you don't have time to do it justice on this trip.

However, you don't have to drop skiing. Munich is of course in Bavaria, and only about an hour or two from ski towns like Garmisch, Berchtesgaden, etc. So after you hit Munich, just train south for 3-4 days of skiing the German alps.

However, I should add a warning -- the Christmas Markets occur before Christmas; they usually fold up on 24 Dec. And that's not really a good time for skiing. I'm in Mittenwald right now, have been since 16 Dec, and we just got some snow last night. You can't really depend on skiing until January (the same actually for most spots in Switzerland).

Good luck!

s