heySkippy

I am planning a month in Europe for my wife and me, tentatively set for June 9 thru July 7, 2015. It'll be a first time ever for her, and the first time in 40 years for me. It's also likely the only time we'll make such a trip. I'd like to run my itinerary by the group here for feedback.

My plan is to center the trip around 4 main locations. Those would be a pair of cities, London and Paris, plus mountains and the beach. As you look at my timeline, you'll see that the cities get less time than the mountains and beach. This is done to suit our vacation tastes. I felt like we should see the highlights of a couple famous cities, but we won't be spending a lot of time in museums or standing in lines in cities. We would rather sit in a cafe or bar and yak it up with whomever else happens to be there than checking off points of interest on a list.

Also, a chunk of this trip takes place in a rented car. Having done my reading beforehand, I'm certain I'll be advised to look at trains instead. I have tried to make that option work, but failed. I'll be open to suggestions if someone can show me how.

So, after landing in London we will be picked up by some friends who live in Portsmouth. We will hang with them a couple nights to acclimate before jumping a train to Paris.

4 nights in Paris. No big plans for this time, but I think my wife will enjoy just wandering around and taking it easy. We enjoy eating and drinking and talking to people we meet, so I think this is an appropriate amount of time to get a good amount of that done. At the end of the Paris stay, we rent our car and head for Germany (Garmisch-Partenkirchen).

2 nights on the road, probably around Karlshrue or Stuttgart. This are free days. I don't plan to rent accommodations months in advance for these nights. Even though the drive from Paris to Garmisch could be done in a day, I don't want to drive us anywhere near that hard. I figure we'll find ourselves a nice little B&B or hotel and have a day to make day-trips that sound interesting.

5 nights in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. This is the mountains portion of the trip and Garmisch is someplace I remember from the 70s as being quite beautiful, so that's the destination. From here we can make a day trip to Augsburg (where I was stationed in the Army) and Schloss Neuschwanstein and the rest of the time just enjoy the view.

4 nights on the road, probably in 2 pairs of 2. Like the first road nights, these are free days that could be given elsewhere or spit in any combination. The next destination is in the south of France, so I'm thinking a couple nights around Verona (I think my wife would enjoy a day trip to Venice) followed by a couple nights around Nice.

6 nights in Cap d'Agde, France. I want to find us an apartment on the beach and in the naturist village. We are beach people and occasional naturists, so this really sounds like a hoot.

After that, we drive our car to Beziers and turn it in, get on a plane, and fly to London.

4 nights in London, pretty much the same agenda as Paris (i.e., none). After that, get on a plane and fly home.

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Regarding my mention earlier about trains versus cars. Paris to Garmisch (via Munch) is easy. It's Munich to Cap d'Agde that I've found to be hard. Any guidance regarding car alternatives for that leg of the trip would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

bobthenavigator

I think having the car for the middle portion of this trip makes good sense--it seems to match your travel style.

Look at both Kemwel and Autoeurope for quotes. I seem to count 17 days in that portion--if so, get a quote on the buy back lease from Kemwel as well--it will be close.

Sounds like fun to me.

Aramis

"Also, a chunk of this trip takes place in a rented car. Having done my reading beforehand, I'm certain I'll be advised to look at trains instead."

Not by everyone......

You have clear understanding of your goals and likes so do it the way it feels rIght for you and the SO.

A car for GP and for the trip on to southern France will give you maximum flexibility as well the opportunity to explore valleys,peaks, and coastal roads where the trains just don't go.

With 17 or 18 days required for the car do check Renault's short term leasing plan. They do it direct.

kybourbon

I think you should avoid backtracking. Fly into Germany, rent your car, visit Germany, dump the car. Train or fly to southern France for your beach stay. Train to Paris, train to London, visit friends/London, fly home from London. No point in going to London twice.

fourfortravel

Unless you have a particular focus in mind for Venice, or can prepare yourself for soul-crushing crowds, you might find that a day trip doesn't fit your travel style well. The 'day trippers' sway between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge en masse; and we found that area to be the least enjoyable part of our five-day visit this past fall.

swandav2000

Hi heySkippy,

Yes, I'm one who will always and evermore encourage folks to use the trains instead of driving. I live in Garmisch, and we're already seeing some damage from Global Climate Change (glacier melting, no summer snow on the Zugspitze, ski seasons shrinking, etc). I don't have a car and find really no real advantage to having one here. The bus and train networks are terrific, and it's a gloriously slow way to travel (and lots more fun, I think). You get to mix more with locals!

I'm glad you loved how Garmisch looked in the 1970, but I doI think you'll see the difference when you're here --

Anyway, I like kybourbon's itinerary; I like eliminating the backtracking. I think I would consider taking the train from Munich to Lyon (about 8h30 with 1 change in Mannheim), then drive from Lyon to Cap d'Adge. Then train to Paris and train to London.

Have fun as you plan!

s

kja

Sounds to me like you have a solid, workable framework and are "just" finessing the edges. Kudos! And thanks for being so clear about your needs and interests -- that really helps.

I'm with those who recommend that you avoid backtracking if you can.

And I like the advice to rent cars only as necessary -- an issue well worth considering, IMO.

I must be very tired, because I can't make your days add up to a month. Am I missing something?

heySkippy

Thanks everyone.

Here's how the month looks on my super low-tech calendar that I have arranged and rearranged a dozen times so far.

http://techquarium.com/gallery2z/d/55758-1/DSC_5767.jpg

Regarding backtracking to London, I'm only doing this because of what seem to be limited air travel options to/from European cities, and again, I'm open to suggestions for alternatives.

Bottom line, I haven't found a good 2nd city for an open jaw itinerary. We can get a 787 direct round trip flight to London from Fort Lauderdale on Norwegian for $1100 each. When I search for flights to Frankfurt or Munich it seems to invariably add at least $500 to the ticket and involve a 9+ hour overnight layover in JFK or Chicago.

I will look some more at the flights. That's why I'm doing all this 6 months in advance.

Thanks again everyone.

nytraveler

Are you looking only at Fort Lauderdale? How about flights out of Miami (they seem to have a lot of europe flights)?

thursdaysd

I agree that for international flights I would be looking at Miami. Also, though, where are you looking? Skyscanner.com shows a Singapore Airlines flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Frankfurt with a two hour connection in New York at a reasonable one way price.

Aramis

Skippy

It looks like you might be able to return from Copenhagen for $897 or from Berlin for $1026 and Prague from $1046 and, I think, Nice from about $950 - all using FLL and Norwegian.

I realize that each of those is a long way from southern France, but maybe the price is enough to rejig things for you now that you know they are available.. It also looks like TAP, Air Portugal can get you from MIA to LGW and then back from TLS (Toulouse or BCN ( Barcelona) for about $1087.

So, if Miami is an option, using TAP and flying to LGW and then returning from either Toulouse or Barcelona are a good alternative. One connection on all those through Lisbon.

dugi_otok

Hi Skippy
Congratulations on your up coming vacation.

Some thoughts.....

Consider doing London after visiting your friends in England. Then at the end of your trip return to the US from Toulouse which is the major airport in southwest France.

For your stop over 2 nights Paris to Garmish consider Gengenbach at the edge of the Black Forest which is south of Karlsruhe.To shorten the drive Paris to Garmish you could take the TGV(high speed train) Paris to Strasbourg, rent a car there and drive 45 min to Gengenbach.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Geng...w=1266&bih=559

heySkippy

I seem to have had a blind spot regarding Miami. For some reason I was considering it to be too far but now I see Google Maps tells me it's only 17 minutes farther down the road than Fort Lauderdale. I'll definitely look into that.

Maybe I should start a new thread in the Air Travel forum about the pros and cons of direct flights versus layover flights. I have a strong preference for direct flights but to get what I want I have to drive 3X as far to an airport. Worth it or not?

janisj

>>the pros and cons of direct flights versus layover flights<<

You don't mean 'direct' flights -- you are comparing <u>non-stop</u> vs. layover.

A direct flight isn't necessarily non-stop.

kybourbon

Non-stop flights from Miami to Rome, Dusseldorf, Zurich, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid, Frankfurt, London, Paris. Fly into one, home from another.

>>>When I search for flights to Frankfurt or Munich it seems to invariably add at least $500 to the ticket<<<

Perhaps (although open jaw flights typically aren't that much difference - not sure what you are using to search), but you are forgetting to factor in the loss of a day of your vacation time having to backtrack and the cost of backtracking transport.