Four Week Europe Vacation from Paris to Rome.

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Train from Zermatt to Füssen in Germany. Depart at 11:39 a.m. from Zermatt on small train to Visp, Switzerland, arriving in Visp at 12:47 p.m. Ten minutes later, catch the 12:57 p.m. train from Visp to Zürich, which arrives two hours later at 2:58 p.m.in Zürich. Depart Zürich at 3:09 p.m. on a train to St. Gallen, which arrives in St. Gallen at 4:15 p.m., where there is a five minute time to switch platforms and get the 4:20 p.m. train that will take you to St. Margrethen, which is very nearby. After the thirty minute train to St. Margrethen (where you arrive at 4:51 p.m.), you must quickly switch to a train that will take you to Bregenz in Austria, departing St. Margrethen at 4:54 p.m., and arriving at Bregenz at 5:10 p.m. There is a 5:19 train to catch to take you from Bregenz to Lindau Hbf in Lindau, Germany, where you will arrive at 5:31 p.m. St. Margrethen, Bregenz, and Lindau are all situated around the Bodensee, which is a large lake at the border junctions between Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. You'll have over 20 minutes to wait in the Lindau station until your 5:58 p.m. train to Kaufbeuren, Germany, which arrives in Kaufbeuren at 7:38 p.m. Your last train of the day departs Kaufbeuren at 7:56 p.m. and gets you to Füssen at 8:55 p.m.

This is one of a series of approximately month-long tours of Europe I’ve planned. The cost of getting over to Europe is so high, that it is worthwhile to save up and spend significant time (2 to 4 weeks, ideally) over there. There are three approaches to visiting Europe for a two-week to a four-week major vacation. First, you can try to see as many places as possible, to get a variety of experiences and see a variety of places. Doing this, you should try to have two or three nights in each place, and keep the single nights in one place to a minimum. Second, you can pick three places to see and know well, and spend 5-10 days in each of those three places. You would probably pick a couple major cities and a smaller city or town, and see if you could get a discounted weekly rate, or some sort of a discount for staying there for an extended stay. Using these three places as your home bases, you would take day-trips to areas of interest within an hour or two of each of your bases. The third approach is to do a home exchange or stay for your entire visit in one place. You can save money by doing this sort of month rental as opposed to staying a variety of hotels. By staying in one place as your home base, you can get a deeper understanding of one place, perhaps make some friendships, and even perhaps take an intensive language study course for a couple weeks.

I have done all three sorts of visits, and each approach has its advantages. I probably prefer the longer stay in one single place, but I have no objections to a long trek all over the continent.

Car rental and rail travel each have their advantages. I would typically mix the two, using trains for a few long-haul or overnight trips, or for some short day-trips from a base, and using cars for medium-distances or exploring areas away from the rail networks. I also like a mix of visits to areas of natural beauty for hikes, stops in small towns and villages in rural settings, and stays in larger cities with all their cultural attractions. The major European cities such as Berlin, London, Paris, Barcelona, and so forth are each worthy of at least a week or more for a satisfying visit.