France early April 2011 question
 

I will be in France for about 2 weeks at the beginning of April next year, as part of a larger trip that starts in the Netherlands and Belgium and will finish with a couple of days in London. I figure about 4 or 5 days in Paris, which leaves me enough time for about 2 or 3 other stops (probably 2) I am looking for suggestions as to good places to go region wise, as I am finding the choices a little overwhelming at the moment.

A few points:
1. No car, so I will be traveling by train.
2. Not a fan of organized tours, though I could be persuaded to try one or two if there was no other way to get somewhere particularly interesting.
3. Primary interests are architecture, history and art (though not modern art). Not much interest in food, and essentially none in shopping or wine. The chance to find somewhere to go hiking at least once during my stay would be nice, but is not essential.
4. Traveling by myself, if it is at all relevant.
5. As mentioned above, trip will take place in early April.

As suggestion you can offer would be appreciated.

Thanks

Glen

Something completely different !

Take the TGV to Montpellier (3 hrs) and use it as a base to visit Nimes, Arles, Carcassonne, Sete, Figueres etc for the architecture and art. You can also go North into the Cevennes for gentle hiking and South to the Pyrenees for more adventurous exercise.

The other bonus is that April weather in the South is much better than in the North.

Photos of the area : http://the-languedoc-page.com/photos...ry/gallery.php

Peter

mpprh is right. The weather can be quite chilly in early April. We were there one year in the first week of April, and it was cold. It snowed in Paris right after we left!

Thanks for the suggestion. I have been reading through various other threads regarding itinerary planning for France, unfortunately it would appear that a great deal of the country is inaccessible without a car (or doing some sort of tour). So now I am rethinking the entire trip. (Oh, I am going to be in Europe somewhere come the end of March, I need something to look forward to otherwise dragging myself to work everyday would quickly become impossible :) Just not sure where now. )

glen - maybe keep it simple, London , Paris, Rome - fly in between (check out Ryan Air's prices) or take a high speed train. taxi from Airport to Hotel and walk/subway your way through all 3 cities. enjoy the art and architecture each city has to offer - your 2 weeks will be filled!

If traveling both in Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) and France by train for a few weeks investigate the France-Benelux railpass - good in all 4 countries - the more train days you have the cheaper per day the pass becomes. If doing just a few trips then try for the PREM type fares in France from www.voyages-sncf.com but these lock you in far in advance to non-changeable non-refundable trains and even the ever too frequent transit strikes then can cause havoc with such tickets - which can be changed but subject i think to being able to get on the trains that are running and thus already full.

Anyway for lots of things to help plan a rail trip in those countries I always highlight these superb sites - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - you can download the latter's free and superb IMO European Planning & Rail Guide that has good chapters on Benelux and France by train. For schedules all over Europe I always use the Wunderbar www.bahn.de or German Railways site - easiest and most reliable i have seen for schedules.

The notion of just hitting a few large cities is the way I am leaning currently. Starting with my week in Belgium/Netherlands, adding Paris, one city in Germany (Munich?) ending in London for a couple of days.

I was in Rome for a week earlier this year(actually 10 ten days thanks to the volcano), probably don't need to go back so soon. Although, it might be worth it just to spend 2 hours in the company of Bernini's exquisite sculptures again. I have a poster of Apollo and Daphne up in my office, I look at it when I need a reminder of why I bother getting up each day. Of course, the poster is pale imitation of the real thing, but...

I have lots of time, I will go read some guides and come back with a better plan.

Glen

The way I would do it would be to fit in cities that are on the high speed rail network. So, on the Thalys network there are Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris, and you might want to add Cologne in Germany, as it has an ICE link from Amsterdam and travel back via the ICE to Frankfurt on to Paris. Then, Paris - London is only a few hours by train. Rome is really out of the way if you're traveling by train, but you might like Geneva from Paris. From Geneva you could make Milan a day trip even.

How about London-Paris-Bruges-Amsterdam-Berlin?
I like this itinerary. You could take the train between all of them, and maybe even a plane from Amsterdam to Berlin.
In my opinion, Berlin has more history than Munich.. and should not be missed.
And that way you visit all the countries you wish to see..

why not take the TGV train to Nice and then fly to London. From Nice you can cover a large part of southern France by bus/train cheaply. Plenty of history, architecture and art in that region to keep you busy.

Ok, I think I have the beginnings of a plan.

Munich (4 nights)
Berlin (4)
Amsterdam (4)
Belgium (4)
Paris (6)
London (2)

A couple of notes

1. Will spend a few hours in Cologne between Berlin and Amsterdam (long day, I know).
2. I might try an overnight train from Munich to Berlin. I usually don't sleep well in moving vehicles, but just this once.
3. This leaves me with 2 unallocated nights. Not entirely sure what to do with them, but as I fill up the my itinerary it is possible that an extra day may be needed in one place or another.

May I suggest a hike in Hempstead Heath, or someone within greater London or just beyond?

The weather in April could be lousy, as noted, but around London, it never stops the committed trekkers and even runners who head out for some tromping around the many wooded and very enjoyable areas of greater London.

A hike up to and around Kenwood House can be quite a joy -- lovely ponds, foxes, waterfowl, spring flowers and the glory of Kenwood House and some warming food as a reward. Parts of Richmond are still woodsy and bucolic.

There are some people posting here who live in London and they might give you fine-tuned and recent advice.

But I would give your two "unallocated" nights to London or just beyond if London is too pricey.

Are you allowing travel time in those days? It takes nearly 6 and a half hours by train from Berlin to Amsterdam - so a whole day out of your planning. Cologne is not on the route and would make it far more complicated. If you want to visit Cologne as well use one of your unallocated nights and stay there before going on to Amsterdam.

Or add Rotterdam into the mix for something different and modern.

Oh and it is Hampstead Heath in London, not Hempstead ;).

Sorry for that typo!

I have to confess, I do it all the time -- even though I lived a stone' throw from Keat's house on in the village of the same name for several months. It is really a case of hardwiring a misspelling in right at the beginning, and it is the devil to undo it. Even when I tell myself -- "no, it's the other way", I almost invariably screw it up.

Anyway, it is still a great hike, over hill and dale, in mud or dry weather.

Meaning, that is, Keats' house. In HAmpstead. Near the heath. :-(

OK, updated (and nearly final) plan:

Munich (4 nights)
Berlin (5) Fifth "night" is overnight to Paris, will splurge and try out a single sleeper.
Paris (7)
Amsterdam (4)
Belgium (4)
London (4)

The exact number of nights spent in each location is still not certain, will depend on my assessment of how much time I will need to hit the highlights.

PalenQ - thanks for the rail links, very helpful! Based on the pricing I have done so far, it looks like a 3-country flexi pass might work well.

hetismij - I had worked a viable transit plan that would let me spend 4 hours in Cologne, which a rail guide had suggested was worthwhile (apparently some of the big attractions are close to the train station). However, since I have moved Amsterdam closer to the end of the trip (trying to maximize my chances of catching the tulips in full bloom), I had to drop Cologne. :(

zeppole - One of the things I did not get to during my first trip to London was the RAF museum, which as I recall it is out that way, so Hampstead Heath sounds like a good plan.

Anyway, the tag for this thread is increasing not relevant to it's content, so when the inevitable next round of questions come up, I will probably start a new one. :)

Thanks all!

Glen