quick trip thru Europe

[cdao1]

My husband and I are taking a "quick" tour of Europe in July. We don't really want to sightsee on this trip, just determine which places we need to come back to in the future.

We are flying into Paris and have 5 days to get to Vienna for a business trip.

We are buying a Global Train pass!!

Any suggestions?

[madamtrashheap]

cdao1, welcome to the Boards.

I'm a little perplexed as to what you plan to accomplish in 5 days, but will try to help. You're right, that certainly is "quick"!

Paris alone needs 4 full days, so put it on your list for next time. Vienna, too, needs 3 days, so throw that on there too. As for the bits in between - I'd suggest you scrap the rail pass and spend some time in Paris before flying to Vienna for the remainder of your time and do a little reading on European cities and towns that meet your interests for the next trip. By the way, what are your interests? History, art, food, architecture, nightlife, people-watching..? That will help determine where to go next time.

If you just can't abide doing that, then know that a train trip from Paris to Vienna could take you on several different routes, all of which would be determined by your interests and whether you really want to spend time sitting on a train rather than seeing a thing or two in cities. As an example, you could travel from Paris to Zurich in a day, spend a night there, then continue on to Venice. From there, back up to Munich via Innsbruck, then the next day on to Vienna via a short stop in Salzburg. That way you'll get scenery out a train window, but not much else. Of course, if you want to travel only on night trains instead, that's a whole other ball game.

Can you supply a little more information on how you plan to travel - ie day or night time and if not wanting to sightsee this time around really means travelling all day?

[cdao1]

Our plan was to see alot of the countryside via the train.
We usually spend ONE day in a city because we do not enjoy art, museums, etc. We prefer to just get a general overview of the city.

For example, we spent only 1 day in Florence last time we were in Europe....and were happy with that

Our initial thoughts are depending on trains available
Paris-arrive Friday
Frankfurt
Zurich
Munich
Vienna by Tuesday

We will be in Vienna for 6 days. While in Vienna, we will try to see Prague & Salzburg. However I also hear that Budpest is a great place to visit as well.

We will then fly to Amsterdam for 3 days (this is also part of the business trip) We will try to see Brugge or Brussels during that time.

Is this even "do-able"? We understand that we will be spending the majority of our time on the trains.

We have only been to Italy before. We thought we would take this business trip as an opportunity to view the countryside and cities, when we come back it will be on our dime......we will then spend much more time in each city/location.

Thanks for your response.

[WillTravel]

Just to pick on one thing - Vienna to Prague as a daytrip cannot be reasonable. It's a 4.5 hour train trip, just going from train station to train station, never mind seeing anything in the city. This is starting from Wien Sudbahnhof, which is probably not right where you are staying, and the Prague train station is not by the tourist sites.
Vienna to Salzburg as a daytrip is barely possible.

Although trains in Europe are mostly pretty good, it really sounds difficult to me to spend that much time on a train as described in your itinerary. The thought sounds very unpleasant.

[cdao1]

Thanks for the advice.
We were planning to do an overnight to Prague. Thankfully, the business trip is rather flexible.
Would Paris to Zurich, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna be a little more possible?
This would leave more time to take 2 days in Prague.

[madamtrashheap]

That itinerary would allow you more time in Prague, which can only be a good thing. Allow me to qualify the inclusion of Zurich on your train travels - that route would give you good scenery, but Zurich itself isn't a must-see on a list of Swiss cities. The surrounding countryside is pretty, but unless you are into art museums, conventions and other exhibitions, the city isn't for you. By all means keep it in if you want the scenic route, but I don't imagine you'll be adding it to your list of places to see next time. For Switzerland I'd rather see you spend time in either the area to the east of Lake Geneva or in the Bernese Oberland (Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken, Gimmelwald, etc).

Keeping the other cities in will allow you time to see things in each, other than the long Paris-Zurich sector.