tere8156

My son is going to Spain for a student interchange. We are planning to visit him in May 2015. He's staying in Madrid so we want to start from there , then go to Paris, Londong and Amsterdam. Please make suggestions how should we do this. Where should we go first from Paris if to London or to Amsterdam . If by train for air fare? And suggestions on places to go and stay. How many days in each country? etc....

BigRuss

This is not a trip report - tell the editors to change that and you'll get more responses.

Mimar

I just typed -- and lost -- a long reply.

Trying again, consider flying Easyjet from Madrid to London, take the Eurostar train under the channel to Paris, then train to Amsterdam, then fly home. So you would be flying into Madrid and out of Amsterdam. Flying into one city, out of another, is called open-jaw or, on airline websites, multi-city. It costs about the same as round-trip and saves the time and expense of backtracking.

You can also save money by buying train tickets early, 60 or 90 days ahead of your date. In particular, the Eurostar offers considerable savings if bought early.

As for how long for each country, there's lots to see in each. How much time do you have? Will you consider renting a car in country? What are your interests? Art museums? Outdoor activities? History? Gardens? To help you narrow down, do some research in guidebooks or online. Click in Fodors Destinations in the upper left of this page.

Good luck.

tere8156

How can I do this?

PalenQ

For train info and a good understanding of European trains check out these info-laden sites - www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets which if bought far in advance to get them as they are sold inlimited numbers can cut rail fares precipitously - especially on Eurostar trains London-Paris (www.eurostar.com) or Thalys train - Amsterdam - Paris (www.thalys.com); www.budgeteueropetravel.com (download their free and excellent online European Planning & Rail Guide for lots of ril itineraries in those countries; and www.ricksteves.com.

Madrid to Paris is a long train ride - maybe fly from Madrid to London (you son could fly by himself and meet you there) - take the Eurostar train to Paris and Thalys train to Amsterdam - fly to Madrid from there and back home from there.

PalenQ

www.skyscanner.com and www.whichbudget.com are two sites featuring which airlines fly between any two cities - look for discounted ones like Ryan Air or Easy Jet, etc.

DebitNM

If you use a budget airline like Ryanair, Easy Jet or Vueling, make sure you understand how they work re: carry on bags [much smaller sized bags are allowed], boarding passes etc.

Also, consider travel insurance just in case...

hetismij2

Depending on how early in May your visit is you may like to do Amsterdam first so you can see the tulips, in which case the earlier in may the better probably.

Sue_xx_yy

I'm going to suggest that you look at something like this. It is a self-guided but otherwise professionally organized (hotels, trains, planes) trip London, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid. I think if you call them, they can probably arrange it in the reverse direction, if that is what you would prefer. "Monograms" is the self-guided independent travel division of Globusandcosmos.com - Globus is a moderate, Cosmos a budget, bus tour company.

http://monogramstravel.ca/Booking/Mo...?country=spain

Forgive me, but the nature of your question suggests that you might benefit from a slightly more structured experience. The package offered also gives a starting point for something you've left out: budget. These packages start at $3500 per person, double occupancy (that's Canadian dollars, USD will be likely under $3000) plus airfare. That's for a 12 night trip, 3 nights in each city. It doesn't include Amsterdam, but as someone pointed out, you could arrange to commute to Amsterdam from London, spend a few nights there, and fly home from Amsterdam.

At the very least, studying this option, even if it's not what you want, gives you a starting point. Which, forgive me, you need.