pittsveggieburgher

Hello Everyone,
My husband and I are leaving for a trip to Europe in just 8 days and we cannot wait. We are highly adventurous and have been to Europe before. We are planning a very loose itinerary (I will layout below) and have no real agenda other than exploring, eating, and spending time together. There are no set destinations that we MUST see or museums that we MUST visit but are hoping that anyone can share their solid travel advice or recommendations.

The Details:
Timeline: Arriving in Paris 6/15 @ 9:00am. Departing Paris 6/25 @ 6:00pm
Travel: Eurail Select Passes: 1st Class: France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands
Accomodations: Booked 6/15-6/18 in Paris. Booked 6/24 in Paris.

The Route / Rough Timeline:
6/15-6/18: Paris - Booked room in Monmarte - Depart Paris for Nice 6/18
6/18-6/19: Nice
6/20: Koblenz
6/21-6/22: Amsterdam
6/23: Brugges
6/24: Brussles / Paris
6/25: Depart Paris for U.S. @ 6:00pm

Yes, we know that we must have reservations for some of these trips but we did not yet aquire them. After much research, we feel confident that we will be able to make them when we arrive and in the worst case scenario, we will be able to take the local (and longer) trains. We want to keep our plans as free as possible.

So have at it. What would you change? What would you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

Ashley

PalenQ

After much research, we feel confident that we will be able to make them when we arrive and in the worst case scenario, we will be able to take the local (and longer) trains>

The Thalys from Brussels to Paris charges a hefty supplement with a pass - about $40 in 2nd class I think - but you can go Bruges-Lille-Paris and just have the normal few euro mandated seat reservation fee for the Lille to Paris TGV. Just as quick as via Brussels- 2.5 hours about.

Avoid Thalys on way to Bruges as well and take the IC trains that take about an hour longer but on which you can just hop on -no seat reservations required - changing in Antwerp to IC train to Bruges - again just hop on.

For loads of good stuff on trains check www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

Nice to Koblenz by train will take all day - you'd have a more leisurely trip by dropping Nice and say staying a few days on the Rhine or Mosel (in a smaller more dreamy town than Koblenz -like Cochem on the Mosel - ah so romantic- check it out.

Cheers!

mjs

Just curious as to how much time do you think it will take you to move from one location to another and how much free time you will have to explore each destination.

PalenQ

Yes seriously consider dropping Nice which means a day on train going there and another whole day from there to Koblenz.

Nice is nice but so is the Rhine area or adding a few more days to other places.

pittsveggieburgher

@PalenQ, Thanks so much for that specific train advice. That will save us so much $ and headache. Yes, I'm considering dropping Nice to save travel time but the hubby wanted to go to the beach. Perhaps I can convince him to sunbathe on the Rhine instead. It is our honeymoon so I'd prefer to make it as relaxing as possible.

@mjs, well I'm figuring that it we must add a minimum of 1-2 hours to each train travel time to allow for delays, getting lost, etc.

Gretchen

Is Koblenz for a Rhine tour? 8 days!! A honeymoon? are we kidding?
Jumping from the Riviera to Germany?
Brussels?

Gretchen

I will add that our DD and husband did their honeymoon much the same way but it was Paris, Amsterdam and Lilles. And their car was robbed with passports, etc.

suze

Well I would choose less places for the timeline, but trust you have reasons for choosing the destinations you list. I just don't do 1 day stays.

For me with 10 days I'd just do Paris and Amsterdam, again but that is neither here nor there for your plans.

hetismij2

You really need to have some concrete plans and book hotels now if you are leaving in 8 days. Especially for tourist hotspots like Amsterdam and Brugge.

It is a shame you have to return to Paris instead of choosing to fly out of another city, it will really cut into your time having to get back to Paris.

Add a day to Amsterdam and visit the Dutch coast if your other half really wants beach time. AS it is you barely have time to book into a hotel and find a place to eat in most of your destinations before you have to move on again.

suze

I'm not so concerned about train reservations but about hotels or places to sleep. Do you at least have a list of suggested places for the cities/towns you are arriving in with no hotel?

pittsveggieburgher

@Gretchen, no Rhine tour. And yes, our honeymoon. No need to be insulting.

pittsveggieburgher

Thanks again for all of the helpful info. Again, we are just throwing out a loose itinerary, a "max list" if you will. I love this site because of the sharing of ideas and experiences of other travelers. We prefer to travel without a specific agenda. We will never see 1/100 of these great places and are content with spending time together, eating, observing, and embarking on a crazy adventure. We did a similar trip years ago heading from Seattle to San Francisco and it was just incredible. As with that trip, we will always plan our route/lodging a day in advance.
Yes, we are crazy, but this type of adventure is exciting to us.

PalenQ

At this time of year you can usually find a lot of hotels with rooms and in train stations there is often a tourist office or hotel booking desk that is at your service-but I would get a list of hotels you are interested in in each stop and simply call or email them a day ahead of time - helps to know where you are staying before you get off the train-heading right to the hotel.

Else you may spend a few hours tracking down a hotel and your schedule is already full.

but I have trained lots of times without hotels lined up and often find something right in the vicinity of the train station -nice if carrying luggage.

I also may put my large luggage in a station locker or left luggage when arriving and leave it there till I depart.

Stations inevitably have free luggage carts to use in the stations only -and you may have to walk a ways changing trains or getting to the exit - carry one euro coins that you put in these carts and get them back if you return the cart to some lock-up rack in the station.

pittsveggieburgher

@PalenQ, I've searched the for hotels in cities that are on the wish list and it appears that you are correct. According to Hotels.com, only 41% are booked for our dates. You bring up a great point about understanding which stop to get off. Great reminder. We have only backpacks and plan to use the train station lockers when necessary.

What German city along the Rhine would anyone recommend keeping in mind that we will not have a car??

PalenQ

First I would stay one full day on the Rhine and do the K-D boat trip from say Bingen to Koblenz- downstream as it is quicker - there are so many neat smaller towns along the Rhine -Bingen, Boppard, St.Goar, St Goarhausen and many more - you can't go wrong. Be sure to take in Marksburg Castle -the boat stops near it -the only castle on this part of the Rhine not to have been leveled in many wars that raged in this strategically important stretch of Rhine (the narrowest part - the Rhine Gorge) -

www.k-d.com for boats -no need to reserve or many not even be possible to do so - I think you get a discount with a railpass.

Trains go from near each boat dock to every town on each side of the Rhine to get back to your starting point.

menachem

Do you think one full day is enough for Amsterdam?
Same with Nice: one day.

Big question: why visit those places when you hardly spend time IN them?

You're all over the map

menachem

You'll be spending time together alright: on trains and in stations

suze

No 1 day for Amsterdam is no where near enough. I wasn't even all that interested before arriving and I easily filled 4-5 days there with no previous plans. But as I've already said I just don't get spending the money/time/effort for going somewhere for a few hours, but maybe you can enjoy that kind of a pace.

DebitNM

IF this isn't tickets; fly into one city {Paris} and home from another {Brussels, Amsterdam or what ever works best}.

This is known as a multi-city tickets and isn't usually anymore expensive than a round trip ticket and it saves you from backtracking to where you started and allows for more time in other cities.

Sometimes less is more.

DebitNM

This isn't for 2017 is it??