I have taken everyone's advice about visiting to many places, (originally Amsterdam, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland,) and have altered our trip drastically. We've decided to visit Germany and Austria. Again, in the planning stages. We are looking at sometime in May or June of 2026 - no preference on dates - I just want to minimize the crowds. Our goal is to visit a few main cities, while also relaxing in some of the darling, picturesque towns along the way. Our thought was to fly into Berlin for 3-4 days, although I recognize it might be out of the way from the rest of the trip. Our interests include history, architecture, easy picturesque hikes, good food, a castle or two, and quaint towns. For example, when weI visited Paris, we spent a few days in the Loire valley - which was a highlight of the trip. We definitely wan't to consider less touristy options if possible.

The places we want to hit in Germany include - although all suggestions are welcome:

Berlin (feels like the history/Architecture makes this a "must see," but we've also thought of skipping it and visiting it on our next trip, which would include Prague.
Munich
A town or two in a picturesque village where we can just enjoy the scenery and wander into quaint shops. I saw some along the romantic road - such as Fussen, Rothenburg ob Der Tauber etc..., but I welcome suggestions of other places to visit instead. Doesn't have to be along the romantic road, just a rough plan.

Austria:
Vienna
Salzburg
Innsbruck?
Hallstatt - this was the most gorgeous town I've ever seen, but I recognize that it is overrun by tourists. If there are other towns that rival Hallstatt's beauty, I am open to suggestions.

Our plan is to travel via train or rent cars as needed. We would obviously want to minimize travel, but I am not sure how to map out the route.

Someone suggested using a calendar to plan, which I thought was wonderful. I just need to hone in on how to get the most out of this trip.

Thank you in advance.

I'm not at all perfect in my understanding of the German train system (see seat61.com and bahn.de) but you might like to add Ulm to that tour which has a fantastic centre.

An alternative route (and holiday) is to work your way down through Liepzig, Dresden and into Prague (mainly along the Elbe) which is an under rated river and site of where the Red Army met the American troops in WW2. This takes you through Saxony and some lovely walking country.

But in general I think your present plan is a much better understanding of the geography and logisitics of Europe. Not sure you have enough time to do everything you want but I'll leave that to other people.

IMO, much better!

I think including Munich, Vienna, and Salzburg in the same 18-day trip will give some wonderfully divergent experiences and would allow you time to visit some smaller towns at a leisurely pace, enjoy some easy hikes, etc. Working some other destinations into a plan that includes these three should be quite manageable, IMO.

If Berlin is a priority for this trip, I’m sure you can find a way to fit it in – it’s just a matter of priorities. FWIW, I felt rushed with 5 full non-jet-lagged days in Berlin. YMMV. I think it makes a good pairing with Prague, so if you are looking for a way to trim this trip, delaying Berlin might make sense.

BTW, if you are coming from the U.S., remember that you’ll lose some time in the first day or so to jet lag. Give that some thought when you decide how long to stay in your first destination.

When I try to identify routes, I literally mark up a map. I circle the cities / towns I want to visit. Then I check rome2rio for just about every connection (excepting only the most obvious ones) to see how long the trip would be and whether transfers would be required. I draw lines between the circled cities with the estimated time and transfer info. And then I decide which route makes most sense for my purposes. I might drop a place or add a stop somewhere; it’s certainly useful as a way to identify the smaller places that will round out my trip. It can be tedious, but it’s a strategy that has worked well for me over many trips.

And yes, mark up a calendar!

I think you are well on your way to identifying a wonderful journey.

I recognize that this might be too ambitious, and we still may skip Berlin and Prague. Our itinerary depends on where we fly in and out of. We are using miles on Amex, but we have to use their partners. And they recently dropped Lufthansa as a partner. Tomorrow I will know more. Flying into Berlin and out of Munich makes sense as we're basically going from the NE Germany (Berlin), S. to Vienna-although its a 9 hour train ride which is why we thought we would break it up by visiting Prague for 4 days- and then down to Vienna. Then we would train to Salzburg, drive to Hallstatt, and train to Munich. But if I skip Berlin and Prague, should I fly into Vienna and out of Munich? Or into Frankfurt and out of Munich? In addition to the Austrian countryside, we would also like to find a charming town in Germany where we can stay for 2-3 days and soak up the atmosphere. I can't seem to figure out which town to choose. Finally, we dropped Innsbruck from the itinerary. What's your opinion on that?

From Berlin you could travel south to the Harz Mountains, which is a beautiful area between Berlin and Frankfurt. There you will find many small beautiful towns which get mainly German tourism. The jewels in the crown are Quedlinburg, which is UNESCO World Heritage-listed, and Goslar, but also Wernigerode and Wolfenbüttel are interesting and pretty, and Wolfsburg has the Volkswagen plant which can be toured. There is a steam train up to the Brocken, where there is hiking. I would probably do this area with a car from Braunschweig but there is a train here through this whole area if you prefer that. You should budget about 4 days to do this area.

From there a train south to Munich, and then on to Austria.

Lavandula