ishanarorase

Hello all,

My name is ishan and i am from india ,i am planning euro trip with 3 of my friends.I would like you to help me in planning for the same.

We will be having 7-8 days roughly in the month of july. Our plan is to cover 3 places basically.
1)London
2)Paris
3)Amsterdam (basically for road trip and music festival).

We are in dilemma that how would we travel from london to paris or paris to Amsterdam.

Following are the options that we have
1)By Train
2)By Self Driven car
3)By Harley Davidson

1)If we go by train , though the option is good but we would not be able to enjoy the road experience of Europe.

2)Self Drive car -- We are not sure that whether we will be allowed to drive through multiple countries on our indian driving licence.

3)By Harley Davidson - We are not sure that whether we will be allowed to drive through multiple countries on our indian driving licence and also if motorcycles are allowed to drive through country borders.

Can anyone answer above queries.


Regards
ishan

jamikins

With your timeframe and because you are visiting cities I think the train is really your best option. It is fast efficient and will allow you time to actually see these cities.

London to Paris book at www.eurostar.com as soon as the tickets become available to get the best price.

hetismij2

Train is indeed your best option. You would not be able to rent bikes or a car and drop it off in a different country without paying a big one-way drop off fee, and train will be quicker anyway.

You will need to get a move on with booking accommodation, and your visa applications for Schengen. You must have all your accommodation booked and paid for before you apply.

StCirq

Take the train. There isn't anything particularly endearing about the "driving experience" in Europe, though it's certainly different from the driving experience in India, and picking up a car in one country and dropping it off in another will cost a small fortune. There is no issue with driving on an Indian icense or on driving a motorcyle between countries, but that's not your issue. Just take the train.

Seven-8 days is a very short period of time for three cities. You should plan to buy open-jaw tickets (fly into one place and out of another) to avoid the time and costs of backtracking

nytraveler

You should b aware that you are trying to stuff a 2 week vacation into a single week. I recognize that this may be all the time you have - but you are giving each of these places VERY short shrift. You don't give details on your dates but I suggest thei plan:

Day 1 - London - 1/2 day but with jet lag
Day 2-4 London, taking last eurostar of the day to London (8pm?)
Days 5-7 Paris, taking late day train to Amsterdam
Day 8 Amsterdam
Day 9 fly home

If you really don;t have this much time I strongly suggest you bag Amsterdam and just do London and Paris. You don't give your interests - but London is about 3 times the size of Paris and has way more major sights.

Definitely fly open jaws into one city and back from another to avoid wasting a day returning to your first city.

And buy train tickets far in advance (check 120 to 90 days out) to get the best fares.

Whathello

Wallakam

As said, get a multiple city flight : arrive at Lodon, lease from Amsterdam.

Take Eurostar to Paris from London (fast train) and Thalys from Paris to Amsterdam (fast train). Best is to book about 120 days inadvance for Eurostar, from what I understood and about 90 days in advance for Thalys.

Enjoy.
Namaste.

bilboburgler

good advice above

NYT's "bag" means "avoid" not "ensure you get it" ;-)

nytraveler

"Bag" is to "drop" or "cancel" - as in put it in the trash bag and get rid of it.

bilboburgler

but it can also mean to grab, so "one bags a Munro" or when Americans shout "shot gun" Brit's shout "baggsies the front seat"

Still the important thing is that the OP gets the message

NYT have a great rest of Sunday.

ssander

Ditto with the limiting it to Paris & London and open jaw flights.

The Eurostar can get you from city to city in less that 3 hours. If you do Paris first (which is in a more-eastern time zone) and get an early train, you can be in London before breakfast -- arrival 8:32 -- and have the whole day to enjoy.

Plan on three nights in one city and four in the other...or four in each, if you can do it.

London is bigger than Paris and, therefore, has more to see, but as a first-timer, I would give Paris equal time.

Do you research and pick out the things you would most like to do. With a tight schedule, good planning (that doesn't waste a lot of time traveling between the cities or within the cities) is a must.

You will have a great time!

ssander

ishanarorase

From all of your responses ,it seems like 1 week is really less to cover all the cities.
Anyways thanks all for your kind advises.

Ishan

Heimdall

"Bag" is one of those ambiguous words that means "get" as well as avoid. I could refer you to <i>Urban Dictionary</i>, but some of the definitions aren't suitable for this forum. ;-)

suze

Definitely by train. And with only a week, two cities would be good. My pick would be Amsterdam & Paris.

PalenQ

Like jamikins says book London-Paris tickets ASAP for deep discounts over just showing up and Paris to Amsterdam similarly at www.thalys.com - up to 3 months or more in advance possible. For lots on trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Renting a car in one country and returning in another - especially British right-hand drive cars in left-hand driving vehicle on the Continent may not even be possible.

Don't miss the music festival in Amsterdam - it may be more fun than anything else you'll see -not just another museum.

annhig

if the music festival is a real priority, just go to Amsterdam.

There is loads to do there and you could make several day trips to the surrounding area.

it's reasonably cheap too.

suze

I'd agree with that plan. Skip the rest and just go to Amsterdam for a week for the music festival!

nytraveler

If the music festival is in Amsterdam I would make that one of the 2 cities - then either Paris or London depending on what appeals to you more. I adore Paris but if I could only do one it would be London - but I am a history freak.

And agree that train is the best travel option. We have done numerous road trips in europe - but they work for countryside and small villages - not major cities. For this trip the cost for renting a vehicle would be prohibitive. I don't know the type of license needed to ride a motorcycle in europe - in the US you need a special license not just that for regular autos - or they won't rent you one.

PalenQ

I don't know the type of license needed to ride a motorcycle in Europe - in the US you need a special license not just that for regular autos - or they won't rent you one.>

And the insurance cost? Not worth it for a few rides- a motorcycle trip across Europe can be fun but for a few days forget it.

dominiquejade

Eurostar is having awesome deals right now!! I just got roundtrip from Paris to London for 60 GBP

ishanarorase

Thanks all, it was really a great help.