artemislife

I will be doing a study abroad program in Paris from February until the end of May. My mother is going to visit me and then we are planning to travel for about 2 weeks.

We are planning on staying in Paris for 3 nights and going out from there, but we haven't decided where to go. Our ideas:

- Rent a car and travel around France, heading south and ending up in Nice and possibly taking the train over to Italy before flying out from Nice.

- Travel to Vienna and then fly out from Budapest

- Fly to Rome and rent a car to travel around Italy

- Go to Grenoble or Geneva to see the Alps, Travel to Rome from there and fly from Rome

My mom wants to see famous tourisity sites, but I'm not to keen on hitting all the tourist crowds. I would like to see Eastern Europe, but my mother is concerned about the language barrier. Does anybody have any suggestions?

nytraveler

Do you mean eastern europe (Russie, Ukraine) or central europe (czech, hungary, poland, romania, baltics)?

Travel is very different depending on where you want to go.

In central europe the tourist infrastructure is generally quote strong and you can get along perfectly well with English a few polite phrases and a menu reader. Travel in eastern europe is more complicated (visas, etc) but still doable independently.

But what seems to be a bigger issue is how you and your mom will compromise. You certainly can;t do it all in only 2 weeks - I would do no more than 3 destinations/hotels with day trips.

Michael

Plan for more time in Paris because after spending a semester there, you will discover that 2 days is absolutely insufficient for Paris itself. There are the major sites (Louvre, Orsay, Sainte Chapelle, Notre-Dame, etc.). Then there are the day trips that you might want to consider (Versailles, Giverny, Chartres). You can't do it all, but I think that two days will be too restrictive if you want to show the Paris you discovered during your stay there.

Gretchen

And think about the fact that your mother would like to spend more time in Paris (assuming she hasn't been or been often).
If you go to the south of France, take the train to Provence and rent the car there.

jane1144

Remember that your study abroad visa might expire on the last day of your programme and that you might have to leave the Schengen zone before you can come back as a tourist. There was a recent thread on this topic

artemislife

Thank you for your input!
I've been doing some research on trains, and am thinking they may be the best way to do this trip. My new ideas are:

- Paris (3 days) to Zurich (2 days) to Rome (5 days)

- Paris (3 days) to Florence or Milan (3 days) to Rome (4 days)

What do you think?
(p.s. my visa is valid for the duration of this trip luckily)

PalenQ

I've been doing some research on trains, and am thinking they may be the best way to do this trip. My new ideas are

definitely if going to those cities cars are a liability - banned from the centres of many Italian towns and worthless in Paris due to lack of ready parking and the great metro system.

Going via Switzerland takes longer but is more scenic - I'd recommend a stop in the Interlaken area - just off the main route and the absolute highlight of Switzetrland IMO and many others - stay in a mountain village like Grindelwald, just 20 minutes by train from Interlaken and be wowed by views from your hotel balcony (see link to Jungfrau images below).

For lots of great info on European trains I always highlight these IMO superb sources to help plan such a trip - www.seat61.com (good info on discounted tickets that can save you some money for trains involving France and Italy); www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

You said about 2 weeks but only have 1`0 days listed - I'd add a few to Interlaken area and include Venice if you've never been - to me the world's absolute most beautiful city.

From Paris you can take overnight trains (www.thello.com to Venice also - save on a hotel and travel time but miss the nice scenery in between!

www.voyages-sncf.com and www.trenitalia.com have discounted tickets if you book far enough in advance as they are sold in limited numbers and often sell out far ahead of the train - they are also non-changeable non-refundable so be sure of your dates and times.

You are not traveling enough on train to make an railpass pay off IMO now that France has opted out of the Eurail Select Pass which would have been a nice option but no more.

Michael

<i>- Paris (3 days) to Florence or Milan (3 days) to Rome (4 days)</i>

That's the better option, although I would choose Venice over either Milan or Florence.

PalenQ

Yes unless you can do more than 10 days Michael is right about that just Paris and Italy being the best option and I agree Venice over either if you have to chose, definitely over Milan!