sso

Hi ,
Have booked our first trip to Europe 5/16 to 5/24.
Planning to visit Amsterdam (May/16 to May/19) and Paris (May 20/ May 24). We love nature, architecture and engineering marvels.
We have read a few books and browsed thru this forum but there is nothing like getting to know from folks who have been there and done that.
A brief summary of our plans
Amsterdam:
Day 1: Bus tour 5/16
Day 2: Canal tour 5/17
Day 3: Visit to TU Delft 5/18 (we are big fans of TU)
Day 4: Rotterdam 5/19
Paris:
Day 5: Paris 5/20 - Road Trip + Eiffel Towers
Day 6: Paris Bus Tour (5/21)
Day 7: Paris one day trip to Chartres 5/22
Day 8: Paris one day trip to Versailles 5/23
Day 9: Visiting HEC Paris (5/24) and departure

Any advise, critiques, insights this forum experts could provide will be very much appreciated.
Thank you very much.

StCirq

"Amsterdam:
Day 1: Bus tour 5/16 - WHAT bus tour? Why?

Day 2: Canal tour 5/17 - WHAT canal tour? Why? The boat tour I've taken in A'dam was about an hour long - what else will you do?

Day 3: Visit to TU Delft 5/18 (we are big fans of TU) - no idea what TU is

Day 4: Rotterdam 5/19 - best thing I've read yet. Rotterdam is fabulous.

Paris:
Day 5: Paris 5/20 - Road Trip + Eiffel Towers - Road trip??????

Day 6: Paris Bus Tour (5/21) - WHAT bus tour? If it's the HOHO, forget it.

Day 7: Paris one day trip to Chartres 5/22 - OK

Day 8: Paris one day trip to Versailles 5/23 - OK

Day 9: Visiting HEC Paris (5/24) and departure - What's HEC and when are you actually going to enjoy Paris?

justineparis

If leaving the States on the 16 th you will arrive on the 17th , and you won't have a ton of energy that day . Instead of a bus tour consider a canal cruise . Walking around is better than a bus tour also .

I would not do Versailles unless you truly have an interest in it , it will be exhausting and crowded ( l love Versailles and have been many times ) but for such a short visit I would not include a day out of city .

AJPeabody

Your time in Paris will not be in Paris. One day will be travel to get to Paris and then getting to and checking into your hotel, so you have at best a few hours. Two days are planned for being outside Paris. Last day will be a travel day. So you have one day and a few hours in Paris, which may be what you want.

Edit: I googled HEC and TU. They are both schools. I therefore think that non-tourist activities are part of your goals.

janisj

Why are you visiting Paris and spending no time at all in the city except sitting on a tour bus?????

What is HEC? And what time is your flight? It is most likely you will have no time at all free on your departure day. Packing, Checking out of your hotel, travel to CDG, Check in / Security will eat up nearly 5 hours -- 4 minimum. None of your Paris plan is what I would do on such a short visit.

And if by 'Bus Tour' in both cities you mean either a H-o-H-o or city bus tour -- I wouldn't. When/how do you expect to explore anything on your own?

janisj

Meant to add -- You mention a 'road trip' on day 5 . . . are you planning on driving from Amsterdam to Paris? Take the train -- driving makes no sense. Even flying would be better, but taking the train is better.

kerouac

HEC = Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, one of the most important business schools in France.

janisj

If that is what HEC is -- and you are flying from CDG -- that had better be one very late afternoon flight. From your hotel to waaaaay SW Paris to the airport in waaaaay NE Paris is quite a long schelpp.

trailandtide

Just use your days in Paris and actually stay in Paris. There is so much to see and do in the city that you would barely scratch the surface even if you walked all day and stayed there 2 weeks. You will get far more out of your trip staying within the city limits and walking/using the metro. There are so many incredible cathedrals, museums (art, history, and so many other niche and esoteric ) gardens, shops, restaurants, cafes, open markets, patisseries, boulangeries, etc that I cannot imagine visiting Paris and feeling even a moment of boredom. The grounds of Versaille are impressive--- but you will likely spend at least an hour or more getting there and easily 1 to 2 hours in line. As for the palace itself and the much lauded Hall of Mirrors--- I think there are many buildings in Paris proper that are equally grand. Let us know your particular interests and perhaps we can give you some ideas for how to spend your days in the city

menachem

Same with the NL part of the trip. You might consider staying in Rotterdam, not in Amsterdam. Rotterdam: cool vibe, lots of culture, architecture, Delft is 15 minutes away by train, Amsterdam 40 minutes by Intercity Direct. AND Paris is 2.5 hours by train.

sso

Thank you for the wonderful feedback. Will keep an open mind for all the suggestions and tweak our itinerary. Understand we have made some Rookie mistakes.

janisj: Seen some opposition to HOHO tours. Any particular reason? We thought that's the best way to get to know and scale a city like Paris. By Road Trip, we meant the walking tour.
menachem: Thank you. Agreed, planning to change our stay to Rotterdam.
trailandTide: Thank you for the wonderful tips. We are more into science and less into history (we know the French Revolution but love the Concorde and Renault more). Also love the architectural wonders.
justineparis: We are reaching 16th morning. Thank you we will consider the walking tour.
AJPeabody: TU and HEC, are part of our visit to look at options for higher studies.

Thank you all again for your time and great recommendations.
Best
sso

janisj

>>Seen some opposition to HOHO tours. Any particular reason?<<

H-o-H-o buses are pretty useless in cities with heavy traffic -- and if you hop off anywhere to see/visit site(s) it takes hours for one loop. Spend your time actually seeing / doing / visiting places, not sitting on top of a bus listening to lame recorded commentary. Plus . . . they are expensive. If you simply want to 'ride' somewhere -- take a Vedettes du Pont Neuf boat ride after visiting Notre Dame and Ste Chapelle.

If visiting HEC is a must -- do NOT do it on your departure day. What time is your flight home?

justineparis

I am not anti hoho tours.. I have taken my kids on them .. and they enjoyed them. Yes, they are not good for transportation as they move slow and in Paris you really need the two day pass to get full use of doing all the routes. But the problem is you only have a few days in Paris not a week or two.. so using a whole day just to get the lay of the land is wasting time you dont really have.
I suggest you sit down, list the 4-5 main sights you want to visit and then work a rough scedule around that.. and route( so you dont have to double back from area to area). I also suggest you note that musuems close on a monday or a tuesday so if you want to see them plan ahead.

PalenQ

I visited the Delft Technilogical University to see some museum there - it's right in town and a nice area.

Now about trains - Book Thalys trains to Paris from Rotterdam ASAP for huge discounts off normal fare. www.thalys.com. In France those are just short regional trains that can be bught the same day at a flat fare. For lots on trains check www.seat61.com (tons of advice on booking discounted fares); BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

Be sure to try to get one of Malcolm Miller's legendary tours of Chartres Cathedral - most days once in morning and once after noon - Malcolm is getting long in the tooth so no sure he is still giving tours but was last year.

eastenderusvi

I have to say yours is one of the first "First Trips" I have seen that actually has you staying in a doable number of places and doesn't overdo on the activities. Good job!
If you aren't into history, why do you want to see Chartres and Versailles? I agree with staying in Paris and exploring without a bus. Paris is about walking and soaking up the vibe.

PalenQ

Yes IME Paris especially is very walkable - I rarely take the metro and go over all the center city and often what I see in between the main sites on foot is as interesting as the sight I'm heading to.

(Like one memorable encounter between a young lady who was parked and a delivery truck stopped to deliever a package and blocked her from getting out. She yelled at the driver to move his truck and he proceded on his delivery with a shouting match in which his memorable phrase he screamed loudly at the gal: "a seche, a seche" whist pointing to his groin area -I learned a new French term that day!)

AJPeabody

Apparently Google is unwilling to translate the memorable term. I shall remain ignorant, at least for a while. Maybe the accent marked vowels would help.

StCirq

sèche

It means a number of things, among them, "dried up," but I don't know what "a" would be doing there, or "à". Probably a mistake and Pal heard "as," as in you (informal) have...

PalenQ

but he was pointing to his private parts and maybe I jumped to conclusions, nothing being all that versant in colloquial French or proper French! I took it to me xxxx me dry.

StCirq

Then you misunderstood, except you got the "dry" part right. He wasn't talking about himself, he was talking about the woman. He likely said "As sèche," meaning roughly you dried-up old hag....