The only reasonable(??) option by train is spending all day on the train via Montpelier — not really reasonable for this overly rushed trip. Another option might be the overnight ferry to Genoa. The best option is probably to look for a cheap flight. Use www.whichbudget.com to see which low fare airlines fly which routes and check our “cheap flights” forum for more searches, links, tips and help. With your itinerary I would skip Nice and fly to whichever city in Italy had the cheapest fares from Barcelona. I love Southern France, but you don’t have enough time to enjoy it as more than an exhausting stopover, so save that for a future trip when you have more time.

Look into an open jaw flight (into London, out of Rome for example) to avoid the time and expense of backtracking to London. Not sure how that works from Cape Town, but from North America it often doesn’t cost any more than a round-trip ticket.

Re-think your trip with an average of closer to 3 days per city. 9 or 10 cities (9 if you end up having to back track to London) would be a fairly rushed 24 day trip — particularly since you’re visiting big cities.

Thanks for the advice! We would like to go skiing in Austria – I know it’s not really skiing season. Heard from a travel agent that Hintertux glacier in Austria (near Tux – tuxertal) is the only place in June that it is possible. Do you think we should rather skip a 4 day/3 night trip to this part and “invest” these days in visiting some other places?

You should definitely drop something. Paris and Rome deserve more time than you’re giving them, especially if you’re considering going to Rome for just one day. If so, don’t bother because it will be a lot of wasted travel. Brussels is a good candidate for a one day stop.

A quick search didn’t show any easy way to get to Tuxertal. Does your travel agent have a package trip?

As for “Is it worth it?” Why do you want to ski?”. It does not fit well with your current itinerary.

There is a short ski package, but it does not include the traveling. Only travel included is from Zillertal to hotel and ski passes. But it turns out to be a costly exercise for a short period of time. Especially if you still have to learn to ski! From there my concern and question regarding if it is worth it. Is there maybe another scenic route or “cute” picturesque town that we can visit to get the feel of snowy mountains around you? Either Switzerland or Austria – since we are still in the early stages of planning our travel route we can easily do this changes.

Innsbruck and Salzburg Austria are both scenic (though not the kind of tiny, non-touristed village you may be thinking of) and easy day trips from either Munich or Vienna, although you probably aren’t going to find much snow in June. Perhaps visit Jungfrau from Interlaken Switzerland or look into one of the scenic mountain rail trips in Switzerland — Glacier Express, Golden Pass, etc. The well known cities in Switzerland and Austria aren’t in the mountains, so you’ll want to look into smaller cities or taking a day trip or short side trip from the larger ones. I am not familiar with Mayrhofen, but it’s only 2 1/2 hours from Munich, so perhaps you can get in more mountain time if you substitute Munich for Berlin?

It will be hard to visit the major tourist cities you want and to spend time in the mountains in 24 days. There will be lots of time involved in getting to/from Barcelona, so you might want to rethink that.

Thanks for the great reply. I’m really starting to rethink this whole skiing thing although I had a comment today from a friend that suggested we look at Zermatt in Switzerland for skiing but to allow at least 5 days for that alone. What is your feeling on this?

I don’t think you need 5 days for a ski trip, but I think you need a minimum of 3 — 1 day to get to ski area, get equipment and tow tickets, arrange lessons, etc., minimum 1 and 1/2 days to ski (including 1/2 day lesson), and 1/2 to 1 day to get to your next destination. I don’t know about summer skiing, but I researched a winter ski trip a few years ago and the Austrian resorts (usually accessed from Munich) were significantly cheaper than the Swiss or French ones. In winter, the High Tatras in Slovakia and Poland would be even cheaper, but I’m not aware of any summer skiing there (lots of summer trekking, though) and the area doesn’t fit as well with your major city itinerary.

Thanks! Reconsidering this whole skiing idea. If we drop the skiing but still want to stay in a small picturesque little town with pubs etc where in Switzerland or Austria would you recommend? Don’t need museums etc just local food, pubs and culture.

I’d probably do Innsbruck or Saltzburg. Your original suggestion of Mayrhofen would also work. All could be reached by taking an overnight train from Venice, although you’ll probably have a connection around 4:00 in the morning so you won’t get a lot of sleep. Spend a day or so there and go to Munich (my preference) or Vienna (won’t work well for Mayrhofen) for your next stop.

I think you should post this specific question as a new topic in “Favorite Places” to get more input from others, explaining your time situation and where you’ll be before and after your mountain stop.

Thank you. Will start a new post there.