Any advice on this itenary for my wife and I. I've done a lot of research on this site and others.

This is for the first 17 days of April '06.
We're 35, mildly adventerous and active.
We like pubs, cafes, bike trips, rafting, museums. And just a taste of all the churches.

It's my first (her second) time to Europe and it could be our last time to these areas of Europe. If we make it back to Europe it'll probably be London/Dublin/Paris. So we're leaning more towards seeing as much as possible with still having time just to rome around and relax.

Day 1 - Arrive Vienna from Chicago in afternoon. Stay at Pension Pertchy. Ringtrasse tram. Figlmuller restaraunt.
Day 2 - Vienna: Hofburg, Kunsthistoriches. Cafe Sacher.
Day 3 - Vienna: Schonnbrunn Tour/Dinner/Concert package.
Day 4 - Vienna: Train to Melk (abbey), bike to Durnstein, dinner in Durnstein, train back to Vienna
Day 5 - Vienna: Stephensdom, Cafe Demel, Belvedere.
Day 6 - Venice: Arrive Venice from Vienna in afternoon. Stay at Hotel Leon Bianco. Ponte Di Rialto.
Day 7 - Venice: Piazzo San Marco, Palazzo Ducale.
Day 8 - Vencie: Guggenheim, Academia Museum. Night Gondola ride.
Day 9 - Venice: Scuola Grande. Overnight train to Interlaken.
Day 10 - Interlaken: Rest. Stay at Hotel Latschberg.
Day 11 - Interlaken: Jungfraujoch
Day 12 - Interlaken: TBD. Maybe Grindewald day trip. Maybe rafting.
Day 13 - Munich: Arrive Munich from Interlaken in afternoon. Stay at Gasthaus Englisch Garden. See Marienplatz. Augustinerkeller/Weiss Brauhaus.
Day 14 - Munich: Lenbachaus, Residenz. Hofbrahaus.
Day 15 - Munich: Hang out in English Garden.
Day 16 - Munich: Alte & Neue Pinakothek. Night at Olympia Park/Olympiatrum restaurant.
Day 17 - Fly Home.

Dear Chicago Bob,

It looks like a great itinerary. Haven't been to Munich, but your pacing on the other three seems good - lots to see, but not overly packed with a "check-off" list. Looks like you have some flex time each day to wander if something catches your imagination. Hope you have a great trip!

I think your schedule is exhausting and not really relaxing, but whatever. I have a few comments only on the Swiss portion as I used to live in Switzerland. Early April in the Interlaken region is not really ideal, it is very much between seasons, winter is over but spring has not yet started (people will still be skiing albeit sometimes mushily), if you are lucky a little bit of spring will be appearing. Take a look at weatherbase.com for average temps and rainfall info. In early April it is unlikely you will find anyone to take you rafting, have you confirmed that this is being offered? If you do, the water will be VERY VERY cold, so dress quite warmly and have a second set of dry clothes with you to change into.

Be flexible with your Jungfrau day, as it is more than likely to be cloudy, foggy raining or snowing on the day you pick to go, so you may have to go the next day. There are webcams you can check on the Jungfraubahn site so you can see if it is worth paying to go up, go to http://www.jungfraubahn.ch/en. They also have TV monitors in the train station at Wengen so you can again decide whether to continue going up, i.e. you can buy a regular Swiss Rail ticket to Wengen and then buy the much more expensive Jungfrahbahn ticket to the top in Wengen if it looks clear.

It is again unfortunate the time you have picked to go to the mountains because you won't be able to do much walking in the mountains, snow is melting and it will probably be muddy as well so walking probably won't be possible, but check when you get there, as perhaps you will be lucky. Most restaurants in mountains townswill still be closed in the mountain towns, although you are close to Easter so you may find some open. You probably will find some restaunts open in Lauterbrunnen and Grindlewald. Bring good waterproof boots or shoes, lots of layers, gloves, hats, etc for the Jungfrau trip and for walking. IMO Grindelwald is not really worth a visit if you get to the Jungfrau the day before, the views are much the same. You might want to walk the Lauterbrunnen valley floor to see the waterfalls, there is probably much less or no snow there and more walkable and good views. Your days there will be totally weather dependent. Maybe you will even be able to do some skiing, there are having a very very cold winter this year and there is a lot of snow there right now.

The night train from Venice is not a great deal of fun, in April you at least will not be hot and hopefully the cars will not be that crowded as it is not summer.

I assume you have confirmed that all the things you want to do in Munich will be open on the 14th (Good Friday) and 16TH (Easter Sunday). Easter is a fairly significant holiday in Europe and things tend to close.

Personally, I would leave the Interlaken area out and stick with the other areas, or better yet go to Florence for the 3 days instead. You can get to Florence from Venice is 2.5 to 3 hours. There is a night train from Florence to Munich that gets there with NO changes in about 8 hours, and thou I am no fan of night trains this is better than the Interlaken on that which will require at least 2 changes one of which is at 6:52 am in Brig which will be freezing; hope you don't have a lot of luggage. . .. Florence is so great, the countryside is beautiful and temps would be a little bit warmer, and you would not have the fog/snow issues you will in the Interlaken area. And if the weather is bad, there are the museums, cafes and shops which you will not find in the Interlaken area. Save Switzerland for better weather, it really deserves it.

By the way, what train are you taking from Vienna to Venice? The only fast train I see on April 6 is the EC #33 which departs at 3:30 pm and arrives at 10:20 pm. Takes 6 hours 5 minutes and requires no changes. This is the train I would take. Go to rail.ch for the schedule.

Other than Cicerone, I don't know Interlaken, but I disagree with him for the other three destinations: I don't think this itinerary would be exhausting for a 35-year-old couple, rather, I think it's a highly reasonable mixture of sightseeing and relaxing. Maybe I'd skip one day in Munich and add it to Venice, which is certainly the most interesting of Bob's destinations. Munich is fairly nice but no "must", and you might find yourself ending up dissatisfied, being departed from Venice and having left behind that incredible, unique atmosphere in order to spend as much time in an average German city (nevertheless, Munich is quite worth visiting, get me right - but three and a half days may seem exaggerated).
I'd strongly suggest to partly rework your Vienna plans, however. As far as sights, consider visiting the Belvedere; you'd easily have time to add it to your schedule, but if you don't want to overload, then I'd rather see the Belvedere INSTEAD of Schönbrunn - thousand times more rewarding, and thousand times better as far as baroque architecture!
In any case, skip Figlmüller!!!! This is a terrible tourist trap, the food is not half as good as the prices are high, and in fact not good at all. If you want to taste authentic Viennese cuisine at its best, there is only one place in April: Herkner in Dornbacherstraße. Incomparable! (The second great place is fun only for open-air diners, so not quite possible in April - the restaurant itself being ugly). A second (insider's) choice if you want to taste a perfectly prepared Wiener Schnitzel, is Maxingstüberl in Maxingstraße, just outside the "Hietzing" gate of the Schönbrunn park.
For the cafés as well, you are about to tap into the traps. The Sacher is a café where nobody of the locals would ever go - it's exclusively for tourists!! But the cafés are a tradition filled with life by the Viennese people every day, so you shouldn't miss the experience! Maybe Vienna's most beautiful café is the Sperl on Gumpendorferstraße; other top choices include the Prückel on Ringstraße, the Westend opposite the Westbahnhof rail station, the Frauenhuber on Himmelpfortgasse (in the center), the Zartl in the 3rd district (Marxergasse near Donaukanal) and - a true insider's choice, even in Vienna few people not living in the neighbourhood know it - the Goldegg at the corner of Goldeggasse/Argentinierstraße, near the Belvedere.
The Demel, on the other hand, is heavily touristy, too, but a great place - but absolutely NO café. DON'T tell a Viennese you are going to the "Café" Demel, he or she would be seriously offended!! The Demel is a (really excellent) pastry shop, NOT A CAFÉ!!!!

Thanks everyone for the detail.

Having inquired about Interlaken in April in the past on this forum, I knew the weather was going to be a crapshoot.
Unfortunately, April is the only time we could get away.

Though Cicerone your points may have hit home enough to give the Florence instead of Interlaken option a look.
And the swiss rafting thing was just something we were looking into earlier when we thought we were going in late may. Looks like its not available or too cold for it in April.

Franco, we do have Belvedere on the intenary. Last stop of the trip. We did realize the demel and figlmuller were touristy but every one of the books and websites had the demel and figlmuller on its lists that we thought we go anyway. But maybe we will give one of your suggestions a try and skip the Sacher.

I have looked into train times but have not booked seats yet. The Vienna to Venice one Cicerone mentioned is the one I had picked out. How late can I wait to book our seats?
If we were to buy a eurail 5-day pass, would you have to buy the eurorail pass first, then book the seats?

Uh oh, I just looked at trains for venice to interlakien on April 9 and I swear there were more options when I looked a couple weeks ago. Do these trains sell out? If we do overnight it would have to be the 11:00 pm to 8:30 am one with two changes.

Well, Bob, if all of the guidebooks and websites tell you to go there, that's one more reason (and maybe the best) NOT to go. Or why else are you seeking expert's advice on this forum? I wouldn't suggest to skip the Demel, as the pastries are excellent, and the place is beautiful, I repeat, but neither the Sacher nor the Figlmüller (that one less than any other) are places to go IMO, and I've spent quite many years in Vienna.

I agree that the Swiss portion ought to be scrapped for reasons stated. Not worth the time and money for such a huge detour and minimal pay-off - you'll get there someday on a dirt-cheap flight from Dublin or London or some place, during a better season.

While exploring the greater Vienna region, consider Passau and Cesky Krumlov and Bratislava!

In Vienna, go see the Hundertwasserhaus, it's up there with Barcelona's Gaudi in terms of architectural and overall uniqueness:

www.hundertwasserhaus.at/

Build in a day in Salzburg on the way to Venice.

Spend a day visiting Ravenna by train from Venice (back the same evening). Google it and see why, those mosaics are awesome and it's a nice no-big-deal Italian town.

WK