This itinerary looks amazing. I’m sure you’ll have a fabulous time.

You mentioned that you used to live in Europe so I don’t know how much of this will be helpful, but I do have suggestions for smaller towns that might be worth day trips.

Near Paris:
Reims is great. There is a beautiful cathedral, and of course, champagne houses. Rough Guides has a good guide online to the different houses and how much they charge for tastings.
Monet’s gardens at Giverny are beautiful. And you’ll be in Paris early enough in your trip to see the fall flowers.

On the Cote d’Azure:
I stayed in Saint-Maxime (across the bay from Saint-Tropez), with friends and had a very nice, relaxing time. We were able to take the boat across the bay to spend the day sightseeing in Saint-Tropez without spending as much money. Nearby Port-Grimaud is also worth a visit. It’s a beautiful little town built on water (like Venice in the South of France), and you can rent a little boat to tour around by yourself.
Grasse, where perfume is made, is also worth a visit.
Menton is very nice as well. I stayed there for about four days. There are lovely beaches, and it is so close to the Italian border we decided to hop over to Italy for dinner one night.

As for Belgium, you might consider adding Ghent. It’s close enough that you’d have time to fit in Brussels, Bruges and Ghent in four days.

I haven’t been yet, but several posts recently have mentioned Hallstatt, Austria as being a beautiful, relaxing place to visit. I did some research and am definitely planning on adding it to a future eurotrip. If you don’t take a night train, you might be able to stop there en route from Munich to Vienna.

Another place I’d like to go is Kunta Hora outside of Prague. There is a church made from the bones of plague victims and I’ve wanted to see it for years…ever since my high school history teacher showed pictures of it to my class.

Hope that’s somewhat helpful!

Thank you very much lbj. Advice on day trips in France is exactly what I needed. I fee like I’m only hitting three corners of France, popular ones albeit, so it would be nice to explore some smaller towns in this country. I love the idea of going to Reims for some champagne tasting. I have been to Grasse, which is nice and I like the idea of Saint-Maxime as well. I have thought about about Ghent so I think I might have to find a way to fit in.

I would recommend Hallstatt to you. I went there a couple of times when I lived overseas as I was living in Vienna at the time so it wasn’t too far. The town really is beautiful. It’s sandwiched between a lake and the base of a small mountain (with a salt mine offering tours at the top) and the town, while it stretches around part of the lake, is still quite small and compact. It’s definitely a good place to relax. I’m not sure about the accommodation in the town but remember sleeping at a hostel across the lake not too far away if I am not mistaken. Hope this helps and thanks again for your insight.

Thanks for the information on Hallstatt. I’m definitely going to try to work it into my next trip.

If you like the idea of Saint-Maxime, I would definitely encourage you to stop there. It’s much more of a “real” town than some of the more expensive places around it. You walk down the streets past schools, local businesses, etc. but it’s close enough to the expensive, tourist destinations so that you can see the sights, enjoy some nightlife, etc.

Another suggestion about France: since you’re going to be in Basque Country in Spain, on you’re way to Bordeaux you might consider stopping in the French Pays-Basque. Saint-Jean de Luz is gorgeous, and Biarritz is a really popular surfing destination. I would recommend staying in Bayonne, just inland from Biarritz, and thus, less expensive.

Thanks again. If it came down to a choice between San Sebastian and the French Pays-Basque (I heard Biarritz is expensive, I doubt Saint Jean is too bad) what would you recommend? Think I want to get to Bilbao for sure as well.

Well I haven’t been to Spanish Basque country so I can’t recommend that you skip San Sebastian. In fact, I’ve heard wonderful things about it and would love to go there in the future. However, If you enjoy your time in the Basque country, it might be worth spending a couple days in the equivalent across the border in France, and perhaps foregoing Bordeaux.

Or, you could stop across the border on your way to Bordeaux for a day, continue to your hotel/hostel in Bordeaux in the evening, and have one full day instead of two in Bordeaux to do the wine thing. In my opinion, Bordeaux itself isn’t one of the most interesting places in France. The wine the region produces is obviously amazing, but that happens in the countryside and it’s hard to explore the region and visit a lot of chateaux if you don’t have a car or aren’t signed up for a wine tour. If you really want to do some tastings, their tourism website offers various half-day or day tours, the cheapest of which are around 50 euro. But personally, I think the second day could be reappropriated somewhere else.

Have you looked into visa requirements. I don’t know if all your destinations are within the Shengen countries or not, and you say your trip is 90 or 91 days. I’m pretty sure that if you try to pass through immigration with a return ticket that shows you will be there more than 90 days, they will want to see a visa, and refuse you admittance without one (assuming they are doing their job). So I would suggest that you look into the 90 day limitation to insure you don’t have an unpleasant surprise.

I’d prefer Luzern to Interlaken, but if you want to see the BO, I think Lauterbrunnen is closer to the mountain attractions, and more attractive, than Interlaken, but it is a much smaller place.

I haven’t been to Europe since 2001 and am raring to return (next Spring, if not this Winter); some of the most amazing places I visited are: Zaanse Schans & Volendam, Netherlands; Fontainebleau & the French Riviera, France; Assisi & Venice, Italy; Austrian Tyrol & Mauthausen (former concentration camp), Austria; Schloss Neuschwanstein & Heidelberg, Germany.