Maisy25

I am spending 4 months traveling trough Europe and the UK and have a few gaps that I would love ideas to fill then with.

I have 5 full extra days to get myself from Venice to London. I plan on taking trains everywhere and have spent time earlier in this trip in Paris so I don't really want to go back to Paris. I love wine and was thinking of stopping a day to do a wine tour (but don't know the best cities to stop in) and do the same thing in Reims. I was thinking of maybe stopping in Lake Como and somewhere in Switzerland. I would love some advice, ideas, or any suggestions of places to stop, and things to do and see for my 5 extra days? I'm at a complete loss of where would be best to see.

I also have 2 and a half extra days in the UK. I was thinking of traveling from London to Wales for the 2 days. I don't know if this idea will fit in the time frame. I will be traveling by train and was thinking of seeing Snowdonia and Cardiff. Does any one have any better ideas of places to stay for my 2 days or things to do and see for my 2 days. Any advice would be appreciated.

janisj

Just a quick comment - Cardiff and Snowdonia are on opposite ends of Wales. 2 days is notr enough time for both. One or the other . .

"<i>Does any one have any better ideas of places to stay for my 2 days or things to do and see for my 2 days. Any advice would be appreciated.</i>"

For any other suggestions/options to be useful, we need to know where else you are going in the UK besides London.

LeslieC

How can anyone make suggestions if we don't know where else (besides Paris, Venice, London) you will have already visited in your 4 months?

albionbythesea

Given that you say you are travelling for 4 months, and then that you have 2.5 extra days in the UK my only concern is how overly structured the trip is. If you spend a lot of time travelling (train/car etc) during those 2.5 days to Wales/Scotland, you won't see much more than Motorways, Little Chefs or train stations. How much time are you spending in London? Perhaps just add 2.5 days to London - and stay local - enjoy the city (or some of the wonderful places in the outer boroughs). If you want ideas for the city just ask.

bilboburgler

Well you could take a wine tour in Alsace, Pfalz, Mosel on the way to Reims.

PalenQ

I am spending 4 months traveling trough Europe and the UK and have a few gaps that I would love ideas to fill then with.

I have 5 full extra days to get myself from Venice to London. I plan on taking trains everywhere>

not on topic perhaps but I note you are taking trains for a long period of time - you obviously are taking enough trains to look at railpasses (which I have used annually for decades now) and there are so so many various passes to chose from - Eurail Global 3-Month but so so expensive and requires traveling a lot - instead look at perhaps two Eurail Select Passes - a flexible pass where you buy a certain number of days to be used at will over a 2-month period or country passes like the bargain Swiss Pass, which covers so so much more than any Eurailpass inside Switzerland - many trains and boats and postal buses not covered by Eurail, etc.

Anyway for some superb IMO sources on getting a fix not only on rail travel but various passes and alternatives check out: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

As for your 5 days - it does seem that wine if of interest so perhaps from Venice take the train to Lyon, France (via change of trains in Milan) and take a train from Lyon to Beaune, the capital in many ways of the Burgundy wine region - a cute smaller city with many Burgundian wine houses, etc.

Then yes wind your way by train to Reims (fastest probably means going into and out of Paris - from Dijon to Paris and Paris to Reims as side rail lines in France can take forever and if you have a pass cost is not a factor.

From Reims head to Brussels and lovely Bruges for your final of 5 days - then hop on the Chunnel (a k a Eurostar) train to London from Brussels or Lille, France - Bruges to many is the absolute highlight of Belgium - so romantic and old-worldish city - take a train from it to nearby Lille and hop on the Chuunel trains from there to London.

charnees

I trust you are a citizen of the European Union and thus are allowed to spend more than 90 days there. Leaving and re-entering the Schengen area does not restart the clock, so if you are not a citizen of the area, be sure you are out of it (in England, etc.) by the 90th day.

PalenQ

And if a European resident then scratch all suggestions about any Eurailpass and instead look at InterRail Passes - Eurails cannot be used by Europeans and InterRail can only be used by European residents - very similar in what you get but also different. With that much travel investigate some kind of pass.

Sassafrass

Extra days in England, I would spend in Bath and the surrounding area. Hard to offer worthy suggestions for other five days without some idea of where you have already been.

PalenQ

well if OP did not go to Belgium or Amsterdam then Benelux could easily occupy five days and then take the Chuunel train from Brussels to London or the High-Speed Ferry from Hook of Holland to Harwich - fares as low as 29 euros I believe for book early on that - trains right from Harwich roll to London in about an hour or so - you can also take trains from any place in Belgium or Holland to Rotterdam and get a train from there to the Hook of Holland ferry port.

sofarsogood

<<High-Speed Ferry from Hook of Holland to Harwich>>

you must be joking, the ferry takes 7 hours , plus 90 minutes on the train from Harwich to London

quicker to swim

PalenQ

I thought there was a high-speed catamaran type boat put into use - thanks for the correction.

Maisy25

I am not an European Citizen but I am using 89 days of my 90 days for the Schengen visa. My trip starts in Paris where I head east. I am spending most the trip in Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and Russia, this part of the trip ends in Amsterdam. Getting to Munich I will be seeing Belgium (Brussels and Brugg) I will be spending 6 days at Oktoberfest, then heading to Venice. This is where my free days start. the last week of September.

I love the suggestion for the wines so far, I really appreciate it.

I will be seeing Bath, Liverpool, York and the Lake District in the UK. I will also be going through Ireland and Scotland.

I didn't think I could fit both Snowdonia and Cardiff, but maybe one? Or is there a better place to see for these free days? These free days will be in the middle of October it that makes a difference.

This trip structured only in the fact i need to be in certain cities dates to meet friends, but the in between is not structured.

Thank you for the advice on Rail passes, I'm still trying to figure out more on that as well.

PalenQ

Venice to Paris via either and the French Riviera - nice cig city Nice is nice but you can also stay in the proverbial dreamy hill towns that dctting the Cote d' Azur - and or Provence - at least the Provence most people have in mind - the wondrous Avignon/Arles area - both are easy to get to by train - Venice to Nice though is slow-going due to older tracks and slower trains than Nice to Avignon - largely via highspeed TGV trains and onto Paris by TGV as well - going up to nearly 190 mph.

The only other route that would make sense from Venice to Paris IMO would be Switzerland or I guess as well Venice - Milan to Artesia day trains to lyon area - with easy rail links to Beaune, the heart of the Burgundy wine district with many neat wine houses in town.

There is also an overnight train Venice to Paris that may go via Dijon - jumping off place to get to Beaune.

LeslieC

Very helpful now that you've explained where else you will have already been. If it were me, I'd take a train from Venice to Rome and visit Rome for five days, then take a cheap flight Rome to London. As for 2.5 extra days in England, it appears that the Cotswolds is not on your list. That's what I would do.

Lucky you to have so much time in Europe. Hope you have a great trip.

Mimar

Will you have a car in the UK? Rural Wales is hard to see by public transportation.

You could spend your 2.5 days in the Cotswolds, enjoying the scenery by car or foot. With daytrips to Stratford-on-Avon, Warwick Castle and/or Blenheim Castle.

You could visit Cambridge or Oxford. The latter, in particular, has lots to see. And is close to the Cotswolds.

3 nice towns close to London with plenty to see: Salisbury (the cathedral and Stonehenge -- plus nice walks), Windsor (the castle and Eton), and Winchester (the cathedral, the castle and the college -- with an excursion to Jane Austen's home if you're interested).

I could go on and on like this: Brighton, the South Downs, Cornwall, the Peaks, Durham, Hadrian's Wall. There's so much to see in England.

PalenQ

Rural Wales is hard to see by public transportation>

well depends what you mean by 'rural' - I have traipsed around the countryside of Wales a lot by bus and or train. Buses run a surprisingly dense and frequent routes - I took buses and or trains to Mt Snowdon (and up the mountain as well on a thrilling train ride) - Caernaferon (sp?); Beaumarais (tremendously dreamy castle on the sea), scneic trains up the Conwy valley that stop at every little town - and the famous Ffestiniog railway - one of the best I've ever taken out of hundreds of scenic or in this case interesting train rides in Europe.
So you do not need a car to explore Wales IME and you can buy day travel passes that make public transports here so so cheap.

TDudette

Venice to Florence by train, explore the area and fly to London from nearby Pisa.

Agree about Bath for extra days in UK. We also enjoyed Oxford, Cambridge and Windsor.