Puzzled . I’ve been places that are hard to get around because they’re not part of the EU, but Switzerland was not one of them. What do you mean? Passport/visa issues? Costs? Language barrier? Please clarify.

I was playing around with Bahn.de english site recently, and found train fares from Frankfurt to Grindelwald for like €49. This train trip is only about 5.5 hours—I thought it would be more (time and price-wise). There were lots of good Germany-Switzerland train specials there. I did not check for September, so check it out if you’re interested to see if they’ve got prices that interest you.

Hard in regards to: currency, border issues, passport stuff.. that it was just harder than the other countries, and that the German spoken is different (not that my german is so great, but hopefully will be better)… I will look into more train options for Switzerland- I didn’t look that much, it was putting me over countries, and I think through rail sites it may have been expensive- but I will play around with it more. A patient of mine said they took a day trip there from Heidelberg, so maybe it will happen- we shall see.

Switzerland is easier to get to/around in than is Poland

Let’s see, one thing I’d point out right off the bat, if you weren’t already aware, is that Ryanair flights typically fly from well away from the cities they supposedly serve. Like, “Frankfurt” is actually “Hahn”, which is like, 70km (?) from Frankfurt…. and the Barcelona one actually flies from Girona I believe, which is like half an hour away. Not too big of a deal, but it can cut into your plans and would be kind of a nasty surprise.

Anyway, if it was me, I’d probably not go to Poland and do a night train from Berlin to Switzerland (Zürich or Basel would get you within striking distance of the Berner Oberland), then it’s like an hour train to Interlaken, where it’s an easy jaunt up either side of the valley (Gimmelwald/Mürren on the west, Grindelwald on the east). Lots of cool hikes and things to do up in the mountains. Just BEING there should be a thrill enough initself though

There is also a night train between Basel and Prague, so you could still do that, and finish off the rest of your trip the way you have listed. Though I think you might wanna pick between Vienna and Salzburg; I’ve only been to the latter but I hear the former is worth a few days at least. Salzburg is a nice place to stroll around (probably a great place to live) but I dunno if I’d wanna visit there more than one night.

Anyway, all just my two cents

Train ~ about 2.5 from either Basel or Zurich to Grindelwald, which is about 30 minutes beyond Interlaken (for time budgeting). I’ve just been searching this for myself—going next week .

To the OP, Swiss are usually pretty good with languages as long as you’re not too far from a major town or rail line. Of course German is just 1 of it’s official languages. I do not speak German, French, or Italian, and I was fine when I was off the beaten-track for a couple weeks. You’ll have to show passport to enter and leave, and withdraw some Swiss Francs from the ATM, but it’s easy and very much worth a visit. You’re right about price levels—it ain’t an inexpensive tourist destination, that’s for sure! But with good planning, I think most budget travellers can manage it well.

ok

to go to Paris for 1 day or less and then to go to Amsterdam for 1 day or less seems dumb to m e Personally, I’d spend 2 days in Paris or Amsterdam and then head to Berlin as you’re doing

When in Auschwitz, don’t hire a tour guide, but wander around the camp by yourself instead. Not only it’s cheaper, but also you can do it in your own pace, stopping here and there, and not be disturbed by your group already moving somewhere else. And if you go to Poland just to see Auschwitz, then you might want to skip Poland altogether and visit Dachau concentration camp on the outskirts of Munich, where you plan to go anyway. True, Auschwitz is the biggest death factory, but Dachau was the first one to be built and served as a model for all other CCs. But Krakow itself is also a very cute and historical city.

Use a bus from Prague to Vienna, not a train, you’ll save two thirds of this particular trip’s fare (EUR 35 by train, EUR 12 by bus with the same journey duration.)

The only difference is, that you have to show a passport at the Swiss border. Nothing more, nothing less. On the contrary – Switzerland has the best and most extensive public transport network in Europe, so “getting around” is extremely easy.

The languages are different all around Europe, and the Euro currency is also not used everywhere. You’ll be using Polish zloty in Poland and Czech crown in the Czech republic, so what does it matter that you’ll have to use Swiss franc in Switzerland?

If you are a mountain person and you want to go to Krakow, I suggest you take a trip to Tatra mountains. These are the highest mountains in the Carpathians, and are located about 50 miles south from Krakow, on the Polish-Slovak border, main portion of these are in Slovakia. The highest peak is 2.655 m (8.710 ft). Next to them there is a small, but very very picturesque area of the Dunajec river valley called Pieniny, where you can ride a wooden raft on the mountain river. Google images of these keywords: “Cerveny Klastor”, “Niedzica”, “Pieniny”, “Trzy Korony”. True, Tatras are nowhere near the majesty of the Alps, but then, Polish or Slovak prices are nowhere near the majesty of Swiss prices

I thought about mentioning this. I think to many people, Dachau and Auschwitz might seem kinda the same, at least in their minds. In reality the two were fairly different; Auschwitz was essentially a death factory, whereas Dachau was kinda like…basically a horrible prison where the point wasn’t necessarily to kill you, but if you died, all the better.

But still, for anyone not necessarily “historically inclined,” both were places where thousands of people had their lives artificially shortened because of the policies of a goverment bent on genocide and power. As such, I’d imagine you kind of get a similar vibe from both of them. Though to be honest, I’ve never been to Auschwitz, so I’m just being speculative.

Still if it was me, I’d cut out the Poland section, as I mentioned in my earlier post. Dachau would be a good substitute.

@Jennsrn

If you’re only spending one day in Amsterdam I would skip the Anne Frank House unless your dead set on seeing it. The line to get in is quite long and to be perfectly honest I thought it to be kind of a tourist trap. But the entry fee isn’t that bad and it is interesting to set foot in a historical place, walk up the annex and look out the same window she did.

So I changed the above quite a bit- not sure if for better or for worst… seems when I take something out it’s only to be replaced with something else haha.

But now i hope to arrive in Germany a day early.. and then go

Frankfurt—Paris (1.5-2 days)
Paris—San Sebastian (1.5 days)
San Sebastian—Barcelona (3 days)
Barcelona—Granada (2 days) on a day train (it’s a super long train ride, but seems like it would be beautiful- down the coast, and over the mountains—anyone know? Can you see anything? Is it worth day trip?)
Granada train to Madrid for a flight to Geneva with Easy jet (any opinions?)
Geneva for i think 2 days then travel to Interlaken/Gimmelwald
interlaken— Zurich
Zurich— Vienna
Vienna for 2 days
Vienna-Salzburg (just day trip, maybe one night)
Salzburg—Munich
Munich— Black Forest (1 day?)
Black fOrest- Nurnberg
Nurnberg— Frankfurt

the only part of itinerary that will have to be pretty strict is spain, but i think i left myself enough room.. nto sure would love some more feedback.

Even with that revised itinerary you are still doing a ginormous amount of travel for two weeks. After a couple of cities you will probably feel exhausted and not look forward to packing up all of your belongings and moving again. Unless you are used to walking a whole lot your feet will hurt a lot and you might even get blisters. And while you will see a lot of things, you will also miss a lot of things. I’m sure you are thinking that you will arrive and then be in a museum an hour later, but I promise that will not be the case. In larger cities it takes time to get around on public transport, you might get a little lost finding your hotel, you might get lost finding the museum, which isnt always a bad thing because you are still exploring, but it will be bad in your situation because you are losing valuable time.

Most train routings to get you from Barcelona to Granada send you inland to Madrid then south to Granada, and include legs on the high-speed AVE which would make the scenery a blur for much of your journey. If you really want to do spend an entire day on the train to take in the scenery I’d recommend you purchase two separate tickets, one from Barcelona to Valencia, the other from Valencia to Granada. This is so that from Barcelona to Valencia you can take the Euromed, a rather nice train, comfortable train that’s reasonably priced and follows a route with some gorgeous scenery. Don’t forget you can also do the overnight train from Barcelona to Granada, fly Veuling or Click Air, or even rework your itinerary to fly to Granada from Frankfurt or Paris.

@ Rob_co2: I’m not going for 2 weeks- I’m going for a month..

@augstin25- the day train goes from Barcelona—Valencia—Albacete—Linares and down to Granada. It’s just a day on the train- so wondering if it’s worth it.. if you can actually see the scenery from the train or is it similar to driving on a highway where you see nothing when you think you’re going to?

I’m struggling with my Spain part of my itinerary- I have changed it MANY times to try and get the best possible deals/times.. will have to look into some other airlines. It’s Granada messing it up, but I hear it’s very pretty there, and worth the stop.

But after looking into Switz. I would like to spend some extra time in Gimmelwald via Geneva flight (which leaves from Barcelona or Paris) Ryanair has no good flights to Barcelona from Frankfurt without having to be at the airport at like 0400, and not sure if i could even get there that early. And no flights to Granada.. Ideally I would go

Frank—Paris—San Seb—Granada—Barcelona —- Geneva or

Frank—Barcelona—Granada—San Seb—Paris… Geneva

just struggling to find the right combo of transportation!

Also- how do I know which trains are free with a rail pass and which will require a reservation?

Will also look into those other airlines! Thank you. Still welcoming suggestions.. people make it sound easier than it is when you sit down to plan, but I have a feeling when I get to Switzerland- I won’t want to leave, so trying to leave some extra time there, but it’s sandwiched in my trip.. so it’s hard. So much to see and do!

Thanks!
Jenn

I know you get to take in some nice scenery between Barcleona and Valencia. I’ve been to Granada, Valencia, Albacete and points in between, but can’t say what the rail journey is like.

Just to confuse you even more: Strasbourg (and Colmar) aren’t far from Frankfurt or Paris, and there are some beautiful villages close to Colmar—— places like Hunawihr, Ribeauville, etc. are within 5-10 km from Colmar, if you can afford to rent a car for one day. There are also beautiful drives into the Vosges Mtns, perhaps only 20-30 minutes from Colmar, where you can find tiny mountain villages—— look for “Chambres d’hotes”, basically bed and breakfast places, where you might find a very nice room along with, possibly, a delicious dinner for a very low price. I remember a place where the hostess cooked trout she’d just caught, and they were served with vegetables from her garden, and a wonderful bottle of Riesling! Many years have passed, but I still recall that wonderful dinner! And the driving time from Colmar was only about 20 minutes.

I realize this was almost a year ago – I wonder how your trip turned out? And what struck me was the comment about how you guess you should go to Paris to see the Mona Lisa – in my opinion, this is a sad reason to go to Paris when there is so much more to see and explore, especially in terms of ART! Anyway – hope it was great – would love to hear how it went!

Since this thread was resurrected, I should mention what’s changed in the past year:

Switzerland is now a Schengen country; getting into and out of Switzerland by land no longer requires passport control, nor is there passport control when arriving by air from another Schengen country. Not that this was by any means a difficult process beforehand; it was no different than entering the UK, or entering the Schengen zone itself. For those of us that remember changing currencies before the euro, and [going even further back] back in the 80s when customs officials on both sides of the Atlantic actually physically searched your luggage…international travel nowadays is a walk in the park.

Unless you travel outside the EU/Schengen. If you go to Ukraine, then goodbye park strolls, welcome fences, visas, exchange offices, luggage and personal searches and hours of waiting.