Suggestions for a 10-day Eurostar trip beyond Paris in July

[Crispymemes]

We've booked Eurostar in July. We're not intending to stay in Paris, as we've been so many times but we don't get have a plan of where to go on to.

I was thinking Austria/Germany as I've never been but don't know where to start, or whether to trust Copilot to give me an itinerary.

I'd like to see dramatic scenery, swim, taste wine, hire bikes.

Can anyone help? We'll have 10/11 days. Don't mind moving about bit perhaps staying in 3 places maximum.

You could have a look at seat61.com.
It's run by Mark Smith, the god of train travel, though I don't know whether he also recommends locations etc. The site though is an amazing resource when it comes to ticketing, logistics and so on.

I met him- in Bucharest Gara de Nord. Highlight of the entire trip. He was lovely, and so was his wife. We were catching the same train and it was late, and he passed the time by explaining to me the secrets of how stations work (he used to be manager at Charing Cross I think).

But anyway! Strasbourg is a lovely and logical stop if you're heading towards Germany. It takes less than 2 hours on a TGV.

Innsbruck's an easy one by train (on the main Brenner pass line), and easy to get up into the mountains from there.

Lots of lovely stops in Bavaria- we enjoyed Nuremberg, and I wish I'd had time to visit Regensberg.

Or you could go North- Amsterdam, Hamburg, Lubeck/ Bremen, Berlin?

Oh, Germany and Austria are both great for outdoor swimming. Lots of huge, cheap outdoor swimming pools and lakes.

Oh wow, how wonderful! I'd have loved that as not only is his site so great, but I'm also fascinated by transport logistics and so on.