Hey I am going to Switzerland to visit my cousins that live there, they also just recently moved there and we want to check out europe.
Can anyone help me plan a day by day itinerary that includes Switzerland, France and Germany between the dates of December 26 or 27 to January 4 or 5. We would want to checkout major tourist attractions and also ride a scenic train in Switzerland. I am planing on buying a Train pass from eurail.com. Also the trip would included, to Children under the ages of 4, my self at age 18 and my aunt and uncle which are both older than 30. Any help would be appreciated. Or if someone knows a site that has pre-made ones.
Ditch the kids and sign up for one of these tours. If you can't rid yourselves of the children, choose 3-4 locations that appeal to you and focus your energy there.
Let me know when you are in town, I'll give you a "special" tour. You have both kidneys, right? Aunt and Uncle?
There arent any pre made ones but www.Tripit.com is a great site for you and those in your travel party to build up an itinerary together. A trip is best enjoyed when all parties have a say and plan it together.
For reviews and inspiration on where to go, hotels etc, check out tripadvisor.com
Switzerland Travel Centre can provide whatever you need for travel to, and around, Switzerland. As well as the special offers listed, they can plan a tailored trip for you.
From the link above you can also get details of the Swiss Rail Passes.
I don't know...do you really want someone to plan your trip for you? It won't really be "your" trip then, will it?
I think you should dig out your Lonely Planet (or similar) book and decide what you want to see over here. For example, you plan is to be over here when all the snow has fallen in the mountains so it's good for that but maybe some cities will just be misty and grey.
Then, you can get your friends over here to talk to the SBB people. I've found them to be really helpful - one person I spoke to pulled out a big map and highlighted routes, itineraries, the lot and gave that to us!
Thank you all for the replies. Some of those links you guys posted were useful, also if any of you have any premade trips that you went on before that would be greatly appreciated.
One more thing, what places do you guys recommend to visit in the following countries. For France, I want to see the Eiffel Tower, Le Lourvre, what else in France? I don't know much about what I want to see in Germany, what is the like the popular point of interest? For Switzerland I plan to ride the Glacier Express, is there anything else I should check out?
Cologne (Köln) in Germany would make an interesting short trip, if you want to see the impressive Cathederal there. I missed out on a weekend trip there but a few friends have been and liked it.
One tip I have regarding the Glacier Express is that I replicated most of the route using local trains, not the aforementioned. I didn't do the full route (we stopped for too long at a few places on the way!).
On those slower trains (which stopped), you could pull the windows open, lean out and get some fantastic pictures of the beautiful scenery on the way. Nobody minds as they are all doing the same thing!
One of my friends who came with us later took her sister on the Glacier Express and was a bit disappointed and preferred the route we took.
As I mentioned before, the SBB staff really will help you out for these kind of trips.