April trip - advice needed
 

I'm a first timer to Europe. Starting from Paris and end at London. My husband and I will be arriving Paris on 3/4 early morning and taking a night flight from London back to Kuala Lumpur on 17/4/2010.

I was wondering what i can cover in my itinerary:

3 days - Paris
4 days - Switzerland (Bern, Grimmelwald, and maybe Luzern)
3 days - Amsterdam
5 days - London

Would it be faster if i take flight from Switzerland to Amsterdam or take a night train? What is the budget flight from Switzerland to Amsterdam?

You have 15 days total -- but not really. Day 1 in Paris will be after a really long flight so you'll probably be jet lagged/exhausted.

April 17 is a lost day because you have to pack and get to the airport well ahead of your flight.

So you really only have 2 days free in Paris and 4 days in London. Then traveling to Switzerland will take 1/2 a day. To Amsterdam another 1/2 day. Plus any other travel around Switzerland.

When you account for all your travel etc - you'll have about 12 days for actually seeing/doing.

That really barely enough time for 3 cities, let alone 5 or 6. Which places are most important to you -- you are sort of stuck w/ Paris and London because of your flights. Then pick at most ONE other place.

I agree with janisj. I'd pick one other destination in addition to Paris and London.

Can you cover your itinerary?

Yes, but this route is better suited for delivering packages than is might be for sightseeing.

As pointed out, the first day will be a complete loss after a long flight and numerous time zone changes. I am not sure you have fully accounted for the amount of time required to travel among all of these locations.

The key to smart travel is simplification. I strongly agree with the other posters, you'll barely have time for 3 destinations.

That's a lot of traveling for just a short time. You might want to consider skipping Switzerland, as it's a bit further away from the others. It would be easy to start in Amsterdam, then take a high speed Thalys train to Paris (only takes 3h18m), then take the Eurostar train from Paris to London (only takes 2h15m). http://www.visitingeu.com/western-eu...to-london.html

I would drop Amsterdam, but agree with 3 destinations.

Would it be faster if i take flight from Switzerland to Amsterdam or take a night train? What is the budget flight from Switzerland to Amsterdam?>

well it depends what you mean by faster - flying in say one hour is faster than an all-night train but if you are talking about efficient use of time then the overnight train would be better IMO - you leave Zurich (or Bern, Basel, etc) on the spiffy CityNightLiner (CNL) train and arrive in the heart of Amsterdam in the morning, leaving the whole of the previous and arrival day for sightseeing, not schlepping to the airport, thru security, waiting for bags, late flights, etc. Plus you save the cost of a hotel though the typical train fare would be somewhat more than flying i'd think. For fares go to www.sbb.ch - Swiss Railways web site and possible booking there as well. If not familiar with overnight trains then here are some fab sites IMO that are great primers to learning about European trains (trains are the best way IMO to travel around Switzerland in particular and to go between Paris and Switzerland as well and between London and Paris and Amsterdam and London (via the Chunnel train from Brussels to London) - www.seat61.com has an especially good look at CNL trains you would take from Switzerland to Amsterdam - and these sites also are laden with great info about European trains - www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com. I would especially look at the 4-consecutive-day Swiss Railpass that would comport to your 4 days in Switzerland -an absolute bargain that covers not only trains but lake boats, city transports like trams and buses, postal buses, etc.

As for your itinerary - i will say that i think it is a perfect itinerary for a first-time European traveler who wants to see as much as possible - i may take one day off London and put it in Paris - as Janis says on your arrival day you may be too wiped out to do much and you should have three full days in Paris IMO - but the rest is easily doable - traveling thru europe IMO is as nice as city dwelling - seeing the countryside from the superb train system, etc.

Eay Jet flies between Geneva and Amsterdam and Geneva and Paris. Gimmelwald you will find plenty of Americans reading Rick Steves in a tiny village with very few services. One restaurant hotel and a hostel.

Gimmelwald is way too isolated for anything more than a one-night stand IME - i stayed in the Mountain Hostel once years ago and my traveling companions stayed in the local hotel - both were great - though the hotel owner at that time was a bit too Ouf for our tastes.

but staying in such a place! Incroyable - after all the day tourists have departed - such views out in the middle of nothing but glaciers across the valley, the Jungfrau Massif in all its glories - at night you never realized there were so so many stars.

But as a base it's a hassle to get out of here and to such day trips as Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, the Jungfraujoch, the lake boats from Interlaken, Grindelwald, etc. I believe the postal bus to Stechelberg, where the aerial cable way takes you up to Gimmelwald, quits running perhaps around 6pm (not sure but think i found out something like that) - leaving folks in Gimmelwald high and dry.
early - leaving folks in Gimmelwald high and dry.