Me and my soon to be husband will be spending our honeymoon and next travel adventure in Europe this September. We have decided on two weeks since the one week we spent in Japan last year felt so short. (We definitely plan on traveling there again, so we enjoyed the time we did spend there.)
I am shopping for airfare now, and I am just up in the air with what I should be looking at. We want to definitely visit Paris (I've wanted to go since I was a little girl) and Amsterdam. We were thinking about adding London too, but I've read some of the forums and many think that its too many places in a short time.
What I need help with is advice on airfare, lodging (hotel vs apt) and transportation. Transportation I am mostly confused in, as a co-worker has said that flying is reasonably less expensive. Also, if you all know of must see places or things to do.
A little bit about us is that we are in our mid-twenties, love to see different places and we seem to always take something away from everywhere we go. We both work in customer service areas and love to meet new people. I am not as spontanious as my fiance, but we are open to try new things/food.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Paris, Amsterdam and maybe London in two weeks?
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Here's some questions that would help us give you better direction. Where are you flying from? Will you just have had a big wedding and so need some down time? What is your budget? You don't have to calculate the whole amount but for example about how much you would like to pay per night for a hotel? What have you enjoyed most about other trips you have taken? What have you not enjoyed so much?
You could easily enjoy an entire week or more in any of those cities (thinking of day trips too) so you won't be bored if you leave it at "just" two cities.
We are in Chicago, IL, we are keeping our wedding small to allow most of our money go towards the honeymoon. Budget is open right now, I mean we want to spend on airfare a reasonable amount, the less expensive the best, gives us more spending money.
What's the average people spend? We don't plan on staying locked up in the hotel, so I wouldn't want to spend too much.
We enjoyed walking through parks, small tours, trying all kinds of food and visiting main attractions. We just want to explore. There really isn't much we don't enjoy when we go to a new country. Well, there was one thing, it was more we were disappointed in ourselves, when we went to Japan, we were not aware of the hours of most restaurants. They had lunch only in certain hours or dinner. So, that was one thing we didn't enjoy, because we would end up eating food from there convenient stores. Which was a small adventure all on its own.
You should have a look at a range of guidebooks. Fodors, Frommers, Lonely Planet, Time Out, Rick Steves all have good online versions. You could also browse hard copies at the public library.
You could find decent accomodation in all three cities for about 100 per night (meaning 100 euro or pounds as the case may be). A reasonable "splurge" would be 200 per night.
Current airfares from Chicago are showing $1200-$1300 for nonstop flights in September on kayak.com (try also momondo.com). You should plan to fly into one city and out another (called "open jaw" or "multi city" on the search engines). Kayak has a feature where you can get emailed when prices drop.
For a honeymoon I would think I would keep it simple to two cities allowing down time and time for a day trip out. (Moving between fewer cities can also save money.) But any combination of the two of the three would be a great trip.
Depending on your style of travel, you can easily do London, Paris and Amsterdam in two weeks. If you spend 5/6 days each in London and Paris and 2/3 in Amsterdam, you will have a great trip.
I would opt for a more leisurely trip, choosing London and Paris for a week each. You might consider an apartment in each of those cities although a hotel staff comes in handy to steer you in the right direction if it is your first trip to a city. Both London and Paris are fabulous cities with an endless amount and variety to see and do.
A week in each city will allow time for day trips. Once you have decided on an itinerary, come back for more help. Happy planning and congratulations!