Europe for the first time
 

Hi,

I am planning to visit Europe ( Paris, London, Brussels) for the first time in September with my buddies. We are planning to spend around 16-17 days, with 1 week in France, 3 days in London, 4 days in Brussels.

We will be exploring other cities of France, like Provence, Lyon. Is one week too long?

And I am stuck on how should I go about in planning the sequence of the itineary, should we go France first or to London first? Which city should we go first?

We are also thinking to have open jaw ticket so that we can save the hassle to travel back to the first city we arrived.

Can someone share your opinions? Thank you.

I would fly into Brussels and out of London. Take the train to Paris from Brussels, then take the Eurostar to London.

Have you been to Paris before? If not, a week is not too long to stay just there, with perhaps a day trip outside the city. I would not try to do Paris, Lyon, and Provence in a week. There's WAY too much to see to do that.

I'd forget about Provence if you plan o doing Paris also. You can always plan for 1 week in Paris, and do a day trip. I think you will find that more time in Paris (and London with less Brussels I had a choice) would work out well.

Perhaps you could tell us your interests/plans. In a real pinch, you could arrive at CDG (from Brussels or direct) hop on TGV and go to Lyons for a day or two.

And you can save a ton of money often on the Chunnel trains between Brussels/France and London by booking far in advance - just show up and you could pay literally $100 or more than the limited number of lower fares that are often exhausted weeks in advance. If under 26 then look for the really cheap one-way Youth Eurostar fares.

We've made a few trips to Continental Europe combined with a London visit and have found that London may be most appreciated on the back end; i.e., There's a certain amount of coping with the non-English speaking experience (sometimes a bit frustrating, but often amusing), and it's relaxing to finish up the trip in London where some semblance of English is spoken (the old saying: children of one mother, separated by a common language). Once you'd had a few rides on the Underground, you'll also find that the Underground is a pretty inexpensive and reasonably quick (but avoid morning and later afternoon commuter rush hours if possible) way to get to Heathrow if that is your flight exit. We think Paris is pretty charming, but for sheer stuff to see, London is the top.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en?

Use this site above, the German Railway Schedule site that has schedules for trains all over Europe, for schedules. And also you can learn a ton about European trains at: www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

I would scrub Brussels and do Amsterdam. Much more action, more interesting, and everybody speaks English. Make a side trip to Haarlem from Amsterdam and a day trip to Cambridge from London to experience some easy going cities.

The open jaw is probably the best plan but a RT to either London, Paris, or Amsterdam and high speed trains to make a triangle of it would also work.

Hi gogo,

I think that 4 days in Brussels is 2 days too long.

Will you visit Bruges?

((I))

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Might consider Amsterdam and give Brussels a miss.

We would like to explore the museums in France and the suburbs/villages.

BTW, is September high season in France? Hotels rates are very high compared to in August. Thinking of renting apartments instead of hotels, which is more economical.

A week is NOT too long to stay inside Paris - especially for a first visit. Good gracious!

Considering your latest change, I would submit:

Fly into Amsterdam
3 nights in Amsterdam,
Train to Paris
9 nights in Paris (including two day trips via train to outlying villages)
Train to London
4 nights in London
Fly home from London.

Some day trip from Paris ideas:
http://www.fodors.com/news/story_3154.html
http://www.eurocheapo.com/paris/feat...day-trips.html
http://www.frommers.com/destinations...062010011.html
http://www.parislogue.com/beyond-par...m-paris-2.html

I like Bardo1's itinerary. Three days would cover AM, including the top 2 museums. Paris...and decide while there if want to leave on a day trip or not. Finish at a London pub.

Although I concur in saving Provence for next time and concur in cutting the time in Brussels, I believe that nine nites in Paris (or seven for that matter) are too many. There are a lot of very charming cities in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands that can be visited by train.

For the first time in Paris, I'd limit my stay to four nites.

Also, I think you are going to want more time in London, as Mohun says. Five days minimum for London, with day trips to Oxford, Stratford, Stonehenge possible.

Bruges, Ghent, Delft, the Hague and Amsterdam at a minimum in the Low Countries.

In France a day trip to Versailles would be great. And in England I would for sure do a trip to Glastonbury after a stop at Stonehenge. It's the Woodstock of Great Britain and they say that King Arthur is buried there.

glastonbury is full of new age nut cases IMO - and a center of crop circles and UFO sightings - enough said but interesting when i was there. And a nice looking town. Nearby Wells i liked more however - esp with the serene cathedral

Palenque - yes glastonbury is full of new age nuts but the Tor is worth a climb. Also a visit to the Chalice well is full of myth. Since they seem to be younger chaps on a holiday I think they might enjoy it. Cheers and sweet travels to you.

If you decide to do day trips from Paris, would especially recommend one to Chartres and one to Versailles.

pauljagman: Glastonbury (and Wells) is terrific. However, w/ just 4 days in London, it is totally/absolutely unrealistic to squeeze in a trip to Glastonbury (and/or Wells)

There is no train service to either place.

As part of your planning you might think about the following. Do you know these friends well? I mean are you all happy to spend the visit looking at historical sites and museums/art galleries. If not sure try a few at home and see how quickly or slowly you each like to proceed through a gallery/museum.

Do you like window shopping in high end fashion areas? Paris is great, London depends on what you like as it is spread out and Amsterdam or Brussels I don't know. Do you like gardens, do you like sitting in cafes and watching the world go by?

If you have differing interests then plan so that you either all go together to a mixture of the options or separate into singles or pairs so that each can follow their own preferences for some of the trip. Finding out preferences also applies to meals versus snacking on the hoof and how much you want to spend.

I would think you might like to spend longer in London but if you think about what you want to see, look at guidebooks for each chosen city and list what you want to see then you can work out what is practical within the time you allow.

As has been said in many previous posts you lose time travelling between cities.

As you are young you will probably try to do a lot and you should have the stamina; you can revisit more slowly at a later date.

I tend to concur with those who say don't go too far on trips from the major cities unless it is an absolute must see for you. Agree with Versailles from Paris and from London you would probably like Windsor and/or Hampton Court. Don't forget the outward trip is interesting but you have to spend the same time coming back unless you can make it into a short tour.

If you stay in the sort of places preferred by young people you will probably receive advice that takes you away from your original plan, so be prepared for revisions of the plan as you travel.

I agree about ? city followed by Paris and ending in London.

Also agree about there being a week's worth of things to do in Paris. If you are wanting a day trip, Versailles, Chartres and even a Brugges (spelling?) bus tour are easy to do.

Amsterdam seems more interesting but that's a personal call. If you wanted to go to Brussells, you should and take a side trip to Brugges from there.

Trip report please!

I went to Paris last year for 8 nights. I stayed in an apartment which was great for having an easy breakfast before a day out, and about a quarter of the cost of a hotel. I did day trips to Versaille and Chartres- both were perfect! I've also heard that other good destinations were Reims for the Champaign, Lyon, Oh, and I also did a long day trip to Mont Saint Michel which is amazing.

dw says,

>I believe that nine nites in Paris (or seven for that matter) are too many.<

chacun à son goût. Over the years, I have spent weeks in Paris and have always loved it. "Age cannot whither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety".

((I))

Amsterdam over Brussels every time if transport allows.

Depends how your team gets on with each other and being abroad. Holland has very high levels of International English available so makes an easy start (like London or Dublin) but is sufficiently different as to give the aborad feel (plus drugs, beer, night life etc).

Paris is clearly aborad and a foreign language. The danger isn only going for 4 days is that just about allows you to see all the top sites but you stay in the safe US state of mind. I reckon add a couple of days to get out say to Monet's garden or go to Epernay for the Champagne. Still world class sites but more the real france.

London a great place to finish.

I like Bardo's itinerary. If you really want to go to Belgium, I would spend one night in Brugges on your way from Amsterdam to Paris. So, you could tweak Bardo's itinerary like this:

Fly into Amsterdam
3 nights in Amsterdam,
Train to Brugges
1 night in Brugges
Train to Paris
8 nights in Paris
Train to London
4 nights in London
Fly home from London.

In my opinion, you can't have too many nights in Paris. I could visit for a month and still not see all I want to see. . . .I definitely would save a trip to Provence for another time. If you want a side trip from Paris, go to Versailles for a day.

Have a wonderful trip!

One other thing to consider -- flying out of the UK costs quite a bit more than other countries. Their exit fees are much higher than France or the Netherlands or Belgium.

So open jaw is your best bet - but you'll save $$$ if you fly in to London and home from one of the other cities.

Good point from janisj. For my spring trip to London the best deal by far was on NW doing a RT to London via Amsterdam both ways, rather than direct in and out of London over the pond.

I like Brussels, but wouldn't spend four days there, either.

AS for Paris hotels, it isn't so much that September is "high" season for hotels, it's just normal season and August is low season. I think August is about the lowest hotel rate season in Paris because there aren't many business customers. It's the same way in most any major city I know of (in Europe or US, anyway), September is never a cheap hotel rate period, it's always high.

"I would for sure do a trip to Glastonbury after a stop at Stonehenge. It's the Woodstock of Great Britain"

Wrong

The Woodstock of Great Britain is...Woodstock. The real one.

It's true that the Glastonbury Festival is mostly patronised by people who would have been active participants at the New York festival in 1969 if they'd have been able to afford the airfare.

But - unlike the deservedly obscure minor village in New York - Glastonbury has been attracting seriously A list visitors (From Jesus Christ, his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Joseph of Arimathea, to King Arthur and Merlin) for around 2,000 years, all doing far more interesting things (like bringing the Holy Grail and Moses' Burning Bush) than just chanting "Give me an F" in a rainstorm.

DEFINITELY worth a couple of days. And several hundred pinches of salt. The real Woodstock's nice too.

In my opinion, 4 days in Brussels is 3 1/2 days too long.

We took a cityrama (I think that's the tour company name) tour from Paris to Brugges. It was one long day but we covered everything but the lace-making place as it was closed that day.

3 changes of hotel is plenty IMO.

99% of people will enjoy basing in Bruges or Gent or Antwerp far better for 4 days than in Brussels, a city that fails to impress most people. Indeed i'd say overall the most blah capital city in Europe by far.

flanneruk - you on about Woodstock, the tiny village where the fantastic Blenheim Palace is located?