Mel1467

Hi,
Interested in suggestions for a first trip overseas in the late spring. Our picks are The UK and Ireland or Italy and Germany but we can't decide. We thought about doing the UK and taking the ferry or "chunnel" to France as a side trip. We are a family of 3 with 10-12 days and welcome any suggestions. Many thanks...

PalenQ

You could spend most of your time in London and the UK then then hop the Eurostar (proper name for 'Chunnel' train) to Paris, spend say 4 days there and fly home from there - so-called open-jaw - fly into London and out of Paris.

www.eurostar.com is the official site for Eurostar trains and booking early can save a ton of money - like weeks or months early but those discounted tickets are non-changeable non-refundable so be sure of your dates and time.

You may want to just stay in London and do a few day trips like to Oxford or Cambridge or Windsor or Salisbury and Stonehenge, etc.

Andrew

I wouldn't try both Italy and Germany in "10-12 days." Pick one or the other. Either way, you'll barely skim the surface of either country.

You could see three or four cities in both the UK and Ireland in that time if you find good travel connections I guess, but I'd probably stick to one country, unless you want to do say London and Paris (plus day trips) connected by the Chunnel. In any case, try to fly "open jaw" - into one city, out of another, to avoid backtracking. The airfare is usually not much more expensive if at all.

tjhome1

Twelve days isn't long so I'd stick to one country and UK makes sense as the shared language will make a first overseas trip easier. However, if you want to see France as well then getting the Eurostar from London to Paris is fun and gives you a taste of a very different city.

Tony2phones

Any of those countries could fill 10+ days stand alone.. it depends if you want quality or quantity and if you want to see the countries or a couple of cities.. Dublin is not Ireland in the same way that London is not England or Paris, France.

PalenQ

We thought about doing the UK and taking the ferry or "chunnel" to France as a side trip>

Forget about the ferry route - a long bus or train ride to Dover then a few hour boat ride plus boarding and disembarking - then getting to the train station in Calais for trains to Paris - it would take all day and cost much more than the cheapest tickets on the 2-hour direct Eurostar ("Chunnel to you") train.

Taking a ferry sounds romantic in a way but it is if going straight thru a long long tedious day IME of doing it many times in pre-Chunnel train days.