Europe first timer: Expert advice needed
 

Hey y'all! I'll be heading for Europe (Paris, London, Italy, and Lucerne) on September and I'm positively clueless on what to do, no flights,accomodations,tours, etc. have been purchased yet! But these would be easy since I've travelled extensively to Asia before (btw, I'm from Chicago). I just need your input on the following:
1.)VAT refund- I'm planning to purchase LV bags in Paris but would be departing from Rome, with a connecting flight in London. Where should I have my papers stamped?
2.)For those who have gone to Mt. Titlis in Switzerland, how cold is it during September? What would be the appropriate clothes/shoes to wear?
3.)I would be going to europe around third week of Sept., will there really be less tourists in the countries mentioned above?
I guess that's about it for now, y'all! You're thoughts would be appreciated, tnx

1. VAT. I'm pretty sure you submit the VAT refund request as you depart your last EU country which, in your case, is Italy. But someone more knowledgeable might have better info. But why do you want to purchase LV bags in France? With the terrible dollar/Euro exchange rate, they may be more than on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. If you do purchase them, keep all the receipts etc. safe until you show them to the VAT official at FCO. Have the bags in their original wrapping and don't use them on your trip or you will be denied the refund. You must have the physical bags with you when you are requesting the refund. If you pack them in checked luggage, no refund.
2. Mt. Titlis is cold even in July and August. Dress in layers, a good windproof jacket on top, and wear sneakers if not hiking boots.
3. Somewhat less, but still crowded.

VAT - you can make a VAT eligible purchase anywhere in the Schengen states (which are borderless for visa purposes) and claim VAT refund on exit from any point within the EU.

Just remember a couple of things:

1) You cannot use the items you have purchased before claiming VAT refund (which actually applies on export and things not "consumed" during your stay). There are times you may get away with this, but could get stuck with an officer who wants to inspect everything.

2) Stamping occurs at exit (you merely go to another window to claim the actual refund)

3) Merchants charge a fee for this, which is usually a fixed amount - hence it makes sence to have your VAT eligible purchases made a single point like a large store, in as much as this is possible.

4) Large stores (like Galleries Lafayette) have in-store VAT processing. Very convenient if you are able to make most of your purchases there (they typically carry most high end brands anyway). Have a look at : http://www.galerieslafayette.com/int...3e9ad3365e624e

Lots of info on VAT in the EU at : http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs...u/index_en.htm

One more thing - for things packed in checked luggage, VAT forms are signed prior to flight check-in and you have to make available items for inspection. There will be VAT refund processing after check-in for hand carry luggage. The latter is usually preferable as it typically doesn't have long lines. Hence, if you can hand carry VAT refundable items, you are likely to have an easier time, otherwise, plan to arrive at airport earlier to allow for VAT processing. It can take a fair bit of time at busy airports.

Yes there will be a lot fewer tourists in Sep than in Aug - still will be lots in places like Rome, Venice and Florence but not nearly so suffocating as August. A fine time to go IMO

<(Paris, London, Italy, and Lucerne) on September and I'm positively clueless on what to do>

With the type of clueless questions as to how to get around i usually refer folks to some good sources: www.ricksteve.com for a good look at rail travel, railpasses, cheap flights, etc. and www.budgeteuropetravel.com where you find lots on rail travel and passes and can also request their free and excellent European Planning & Rail Guide that is a fine primer for understanding the rail system and passes. Passes aren't always a good deal so if thinking of rail travel post your itinerary here and some Fodorites will give you their opinions - perhaps online fares directly from European rail web sites are cheaper than a pass in your case - maybe not.
but IMO the train is the way to go, perhaps mixed in with a long flight or two. the European rail system is super and many Europeans use it daily.

roseannegon appears to be a troll or a second class honky, "positively clueless" as self defined.

<i>going to europe around third week of Sept<i> or would have tickets by now.

</i></i>

Thanks y'all for the quick response! I know I can rely on this forum more than anywhere else...Okay guys, so a couple of questions have come up again:
1.)For those who have gone to Paris, how far would the opera madeleine be from galleries lafayette? From Champs Elysee? How much would a taxi ride be?
2.)Versaille Palace, worth seeing or waste of time?
3.)Gucci belt bag-anyone know where the cheapest one I could buy?
4.)Can anyone make an estimate as to how much does a moderate-sized, authentic, Venetian mask cost (doesn't have to be real fancy)?
5.)Okay, bear with me guys, poll time:
Top souvenirs for the following places:
Paris
Rome
Venice
London
Lucerne
6.)How about &quot;must-eats&quot; in:
Paris
Rome
Venice
Florence
London
Lucerne
I hope y'all won't get tired of respoding to my Q's, ty!

Why are you worrying about the price of short Taxi fares when you're buying LV and Gucci?

&quot;1.)For those who have gone to Paris, how far would the opera madeleine be from galleries lafayette? From Champs Elysee? How much would a taxi ride be?&quot;

Madeleine to Opera - not far.
Opera to Galleries Lafayette - not far.
I can't see taking a cab for any combination of these - it would be ridiculous.

Opera to Champs Elysses - depends where you want to go on the CE, as it's a pretty long avenue. But it's not that far from Opera to the bottom of the CE.

If you want to figure out distances as a pedestrian, go to www.mappy.com and enter the start point and the end point and select Pedestrian.

Any taxi ride of the sort you've mentioned is probably going to be under 10 Euros.

2.)Versaille Palace, worth seeing or waste of time?

???

I agree with hopscotch. A troll.

Something tells me her whole trip will be a waste of time...

Actually, am still waiting for my blue passport so I haven't purchased anything yet...
And btw, if you don't have any input to this thread
apart from useless comments, stay out, please!

let's ban the word 'troll' from the Fodors lexicon!

3) yes there will be less tourists once school is back in session

you want to go to 6 cities in 4 countries - you'd better have 4.5 - 5 weeks for this trip . . . . . . .

&lt;you want to go to 6 cities in 4 countries - you'd better have 4.5 - 5 weeks for this trip . . . . . . .&gt;

why? i doth strongly disagree IMO

As for the Paris questions, I think you'd find it useful to buy a map so you can see how far these things are from each other. If so, you'd know it would be crazy to take a taxi from the Opera to Galeries Lafayette as it's right behind it, literally across the street. The Madeleine to the Opera is just a bit farther, about five blocks.

I know some other folks like talking about shopping a lot, but I am old fashioned and think people should buy souvenirs because they see something and like it and it means something to them, not because someone told them what to buy.

If I am not mistaken, you may be able to get your VAT refund papers stamped at an office in Rome. I did it at the airport in Rome and noticed on the envelope an office location in Rome (I think, near Pantheon) where I could have done it.

PQ: whay? because London 5 days, Paris 5 days, Lucerne/Switzerland 5 days, Venice 4 days, Florence 3 days, Rome 5 days = 27 days w/o any travel time. Adding 1 day each way for transatlantic travel and 1/2 a day each time one travels to a new city brings it up to 32+ days. So even cutting each by one day would still mean 21 days plus travel time still is a full 4 weeks.

oops - &quot;Why?&quot; . . . .

London 4 days
Eurostar to Paris - 2.5 hrs
Paris 3 more days
TGV to Switz - Lucerne 1 d
Lucerne 2 days
Train to Venice 1 d
Venice 2 days
Train to Florence 3.5 hrs
Florence 2 d
Train to Rome 1.5 hrs
Rome 3 d

= 18 days, add three more for a nice 21-day trip - don't think you need spend 5 days in any place - of course you could spend weeks in Rome but three days for most is about right IMO

It's all a matter of how much you want to travel - i prefer a faster pace but i respect janisj's slower approach but neither is mandated.

Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of having a month long vacation like some folks ^... So I really wanna make the most out of my 2 weeks by visiting as many places as I can and get sort of like a little taste of everything. I know that a more in depth trip is better than a quick stop in a city but this is what my job permits, so let's leave it at that. Anyway, thanks for the input y'all!

rose - have you considered a tour?
If you really want to the &quot;little taste of a lot of places thing&quot; in fourteen days, a tour is just the thing for you. Leave the transport and hotels to the tour company and sit back and enjoy.
Most of the 'sperts here stop and stay in one place and that is where their advice is useful.

Hi R,

&gt;I really wanna make the most out of my 2 weeks by visiting as many places as I can and get sort of like a little taste of everything. &lt;

This is a very common 1st-timer's mistake.

Two weeks is a good amount of time for

London and Paris with daytrips,
Venice Florence and Rome, or even
London, Paris, Rome.

What is so important about Lucerne that you would spend 2 days (15% of your time) traveling to/from?

See www.ratp.fr for public transportation in/near Paris.

See www.mappy.com for motor trips.

September is still high season in Paris and Italy. Make your hotel reservations STAT.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

6 cities in 2 weeks is not a very good plan imo. you will spend all your time and money going to and from train stations and airports, checking in and out of hotels, in taxis, planes, and trains. Hardly leaves you any time to do all that shopping!

as ira and suze say - cramming as much as possible into a short time is usually not a good plan. There is <u>absolutely</u> nothing wrong w/ a 2-week trip. Many if not most N. Americans are limited to short vacations. But we still can make a better plan than running around trying to squeeze in too much.

You really need to consider that every time you move from one city/country to another you lose 1/2 to 1 full day (when you figure packing, check out, travel to airport or train station, travel to next city, travel to hotel, check in and get settled)

When you also figure in your jet lag you have cut your actual &quot;sightseeing time&quot; almost in half.

We are not trying to rain on your parade - we are trying to help. Honest.

I like to move around a lot but i now use the base city strategy - doing day trips from a nice base.

Take Munich, i love big cities, especially at night but i love to ride trains and day trip from there to places like Fussen (Mad Ludwig's fantasy castles), Herrenchiemsee castle, Linderhof, etc.

Base city you save time packing, unpacking, getting to hotel in unfamiliar city and you kind of ease into the local culture.

Berlin is another - day trip to Potsdam, Lutherstadt-Wittenberge, Poland for the day, Dresden, etc.

I second the motion of PalenQ. But I prefer smaller cities near the metropoli rather than the big cities. My favorite is Haarlem for visiting Amsterdam.

I would love to hear about similar cities near Paris, Rome, Madrid, etc.

In Jan i stayed some days in Haarlem and hopped not only to amsterdam but other Dutch cities.

I'd stayed in Amsterdam for years and years and i really liked Haarlem - a more real Dutch town and i saved a ton on hotel charges.

Haarlem is a fine fine city

&lt;I would love to hear about similar cities near Paris, Rome, Madrid, etc.&gt;

you won't find any so close and distinct as Haarlem i think

but Paris - Versailles away from the chateau is a great regional town; Chantilly and its famous chateau is near CDG airport and has great rail connections.

and Rome - Orvieto a short train ride away - a great hill town.

or Tivoli, home to Hadrian's Villa and the Villa d'Este is a nice smaller town

or Civitavecchia, where the cruise ships dock - a nice enough seaside town.

or Castelli Romani towns - from Frascati on up to Castle Gondolfo where Pope hangs out in summer

I agree with PQ, Orvieto is only an hour form Rome and a great place to visit.

I can certainly understand traveling such a distance, therefore wanting to experience as much as possible. We took our first trip to Europe fall 2005. I was so excited and couldn't wait to see and experience the places that my family and I had studied about for yrs (we homeschool). Well in 2 wks we visited Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome and sidetrips, Versailles (worthwhile), Siena, Pisa, and Umbria. It was a glorious trip, but guess what I will do differently on this next trip? I think we'll work on 2 cities and a few day trips. I don't regret what we were able to see, but the pace was fast enough that when we asked our children if they would like to return to Europe,my son replied, &quot;I guess so, but this time I'd really like to relax at a cafe and have a really good dessert.&quot;
I like the idea mentioned previously of smaller cities as a base city. Chantilly sounds nice.

Yes whet your appetite perhaps with an ambitious itinerary and then see what you really like and do in-depth subsequent trips.

But if you will never return then i say do it all - better having seen Venice and Rome, etc. for a day or two than not at all!