Hi Folks,
Our son will be finishing up a study abroad semester in Copenhagen on May 10, 2024. Our plan is to meet him there and spend 2 weeks. We have been to Europe several times but have not spent time in Germany or France so thinking about Copenhagen to Berlin to Munich to Lyon to Paris. W'd like to end up with at least 2 nights in Paris, prefer more. And I realize subbing out Hamburg for Berlin would make this easier but really want to see Berlin. My question is, is this at all realistic as a Eurail/ICE train trip or should we be looking at renting a car?
Thank you!
Pilgrim

Since you are focusing on large cities, train travel makes the most sense. I think that you will have to change train in Hamburg on your way to Berlin.

Train, yep easy seat61.com for overview, bahn.de for detail


Copenhagen to Berlin great idea,
to Munich to Lyon to I think there are more interesting places to go, but it does depend on what you like to do. Have you sat down with say a good guide book?
Paris. great idea

As well as Eurail there is also a German rail pass. But if you have firmly in mind where you want to go, point-to-point tickets usually work out cheaper than Eurail or a pass. With Eurail you pay for the convenience, however you will still have to pay to reserve seats on the ICE - I don't recommend you travel without a reservation. You can get on board with just your rail pass but then you might have to hunt for a seat, which might only be available for part of the trip, then you are standing in the corridor again, then you get hustled on by the condiuctor - you get the picture.

Lavandula

Have you spent time in Denmark already?

Are you flying into Copenhagen and out of Paris?

Thank you for the comments thus far, and to answer questions: yes we are flying in to Copenhagen and out of Paris. We will spend 1 or 2 nights in Copenhagen. Berlin, Munich and Paris the cities that we want to spend time - with Munich having the shortest stay of the three. I now understand why it appears there are no tickets on int.bahn.de - the schedule for May '24 is not posted until December '23. Please keep the comments and suggestions coming, great to hear about others experiences with travel in these regions!

In that case, renting a car is not a good idea. Picking up in CPH and dropping off in Paris isn't going to work. The dropoff fee would be very high.

1/2 nights in CPH isn't enough unless you have been before.

Seems a bit pointless to fly all the way to Copenhagen for only 1 or 2 nights. It's a fascinating city. Surrounds are interesting too.

And yes, trains!

As stated in my original post, we've traveled throughout Europe previously and would like to see Germany and France on this trip, so thank you for your snide comment about Copenhagen - we've been there previously and are just meeting our son at the end of his semester abroad, also noted in my original post. I welcome any constructive comments about places to visit via rail in Germany and France! Curious if anyone has experience traveling by rail from Munich to Paris, and any recommended stops in between.

the internet is often full of confusion. I went looking for snide, saw none.

Perhaps snide is not the most fitting word, but: "Seems a bit pointless to fly all the way to Copenhagen for only 1 or 2 nights," does impugn the OP's judgement - - makes the OP sound thoughtless or foolhardy. The respondent could have written, "If it were me I would want more time in Copenhagen" - - as 'I' statements always sound nicer, but then again it still is neither pertinent nor helpful.

Instead of 'snide', the response could better be termed, 'a bit pointless.'

Thanks dfourh , there is a fine line between trying to help a person asking for help and merely answering their questions. Sometimes just giving answers is wrong even though the the OP insists that is all they want and sometimes offering advice is wrong. The fodorites dilemma. Then there is the whole IMHO issue and the generalisation issue... sigh

In my life I never came across the concept of snide until I reached Fodors. I'm comfortable with concepts like passive-aggressive etc but snide is a closed book for me (not that I don't use it, I just don't know I use it) so all guidance is useful.

The OP did not feel it necessary to answer any questions on whether they had already spent time in Copenhagen or Denmark generally. It was something they thought others reading the post should have automatically understood, because having stated they travelled to Europe many times and having a son who studies in Copenhagen must mean that. Hence their snide reply. They could have nipped that in the bud by answering the question early in the thread.

hi balthy
"many times" could be 20 or 200, or Portugal and Spain all the time.
Still part of the eternal struggle of "I want reasonably priced accomodation" ;-)

I would suggest that you cut out one or two cities as you don't have a lot of time. My recommendation would be dropping Lyon and Munich. I have been to Paris and it deserves more time than a couple of days. We are going to Berlin for four nights in May 2024 and I have been researching it extensively. I am overwhelmed as to the many things one must see in Berlin regarding WWII history and the Soviet era. There are also beautiful parks and Museum Island to see. See this itinerary for some ideas https://www.earthtrekkers.com/5-day-berlin-itinerary/. If you want to go to a fourth city I would recommend Amsterdam on your way to Paris.

"I welcome any constructive comments about places to visit via rail in Germany and France! Curious if anyone has experience traveling by rail from Munich to Paris, and any recommended stops in between."

One option would be Munich to Strasbourg (one direct train, several with one change), Strasbourg to Dijon (direct) then finally to Paris (also direct).
Another possibility would be Munich to Strasbourg, Strasbourg to Nancy (direct) then Paris (direct).
These are what quickly come to mind for me. I'm sure there are others as there are many interesting places between eastern France and Paris.

The places you want to visit are quite far apart and traveling by train would require most of a day. You only have 14 days which I assume does not include your travel to and from Europe? How many nights do you actually have in Europe? I would fly non stop CPH-BER and BER-PAR. Could consider night trains if there are any. You will want at least 4 nights in Berlin to give you 3 full days and at least as much for Paris as you have never visited either city. That's 10 nights if you have 2 in CPH. It will depend on how much time you have left and your interests to decide on a 3rd destination.

@Pilgrim5678 what did you end up doing? I’m planning on Copenhagen, Paris and Berlin as well and can’t figure out the best way to travel between the three.