A two-week fairytale tour of Europe, featuring Switzerland, Germany, Poland and Prague

MY HUSBAND AND I FLY INTO GENEVA WITH TWO WEEKS TO SPARE BEFORE TRAVELLING TO BUDAPEST FOR A RIVER CRUISE. WE'D LIKE TO SEE SOME OF SWITZERLAND, GERMANY, POLAND AND PRAGUE. HOW TO GET AROUND AND WHAT COULD BE OUR ROUTE? K. DEAR, NEWPORT, NSW

By far the best way to get around in Europe is by train, and trains work perfectly in your case. You can find everything you need to know about train travel in Europe at the excellent Man in Seat 61 website seat61.com.

Four European countries is rather a lot but starting from Geneva, what you might do is head for Interlaken and then to Lauterbrunnen, take the train up to Wengen to stay a couple of days to take in the amazing alpine scenery, including the train ride through the mountain to Jungfraujoch, Europe's highest railway station at 3454 metres.

Next stop could be Lucerne followed by Munich, a side trip to Neuschwanstein Castle, the incredible fairytale creation of Ludwig II of Bavaria, and possibly another to Mittenwald if you're in the mood for yet more from the fairytales, and it is truly gorgeous.

Take a train from Munich to Linz, possibly with a stop in Salzburg, then take a bus to Cesky Krumov in the southern Czech Republic and continue to Prague. From there take another train to Poland's Krakow and on to Warsaw, from where your best option would be a flight to Budapest to join your cruise.