HELP with Europe Itinerary
 

THANKS to all on the advice to dump my grumpy travel agent on plan it alone.<BR><BR>My wife and I (age 31 and in good health) are planning to go to Europe May 20 - June 8 (19 days). We already have our airfare form MN to Paris and Frankfurt to MN.<BR><BR>Please feel free to comment on anything, you won't hurt my feelings. I so appriecate your time in helping us. Specific question are in caps. Our overall focus is wine tasting, castles, historic sites, and world war II sites.<BR><BR>Here is a rough plan for itinerary:<BR><BR>May 20/21 travel to Paris, sleep, get oriented (WHERE TO STAY, HOW TO GET FROM CDG TO THE HOTEL)<BR><BR>May 22 Paris, day trip to Caen for Normandy beaches (HOW TO GET THERE?)<BR><BR>May 23 Paris, Museums in Paris (IS THERE A CENTRAL LOCATION FOR A HOTEL)<BR><BR>May 24 Paris, Day trip to Reims for the champagne region (HOW TO GET THERE, IS RIEMS THE BEST PLACE FOR THIS)<BR><BR>May 25 Train to Dijon for burgundy region<BR>(BEST PLACE TO STAY, IS DIJION THE BEST PLACE FOR THIS)<BR><BR>May 26 DIJON (DO WE NEED A CAR HERE TO SEE THE AREA TO DO WINE TASTING AND GO TO VINEYARD)<BR><BR>May 28 Train to Luzern, Switzerland<BR>(WHERE TO STAY, WHAT TO DO AND SEE, SHOULD WE GET A CAR)<BR><BR>May 29 Train to Luzern, Switzerland<BR><BR>May 30 Train to Munchen, Germany (WHERE TO STAY)We have friends who live here so they will be taking us around, but we need to find a place to stay.<BR><BR>May 31 Munchen, Germany<BR><BR>June 1 Munchen, Germany<BR><BR>June 2 Munchen, Germany<BR><BR>June 3 train to Stuttgart, Germany Rhien river and wine road (IS THE TRAIN THE BEST WAY, SHOULD WE GET A CAR AND DRIVE, WHERE TO STAY)<BR><BR>June 4 Car to Baden-Baden, Germany more Rhien and wine (WHERE TO STAY AND WHAT TO SEE AND DO)<BR><BR>June 5 Car to Strassbourg, Germany more Rhien and wine (WHERE TO STAY AND WHAT TO SEE AND DO)<BR><BR>June 6 Car to Freiborg, Germany Rhien and wine (WHERE TO STAY AND WHAT TO SEE AND DO)<BR><BR>June 7 Train to Frankfurt, Germany museums (WHERE TO STAY)<BR><BR>June 8 Fly out (HOW TO GET FROM HOTEL TO AIRPORT)<BR><BR>I was planning on getting a eurorail pass for 15 or 21 days. Looks like I have to get the 21 since it is consecuative days.<BR><BR>Anything else????

Hi<BR>You're only allowing one day to see in Paris beside your arrival day?<BR>I would vote no to that.<BR><BR>Also are you sure you will be doing enough train travel to make the pass worthwhile? I'm not at all a pass expert, just wondering if you've checked out the cost of point to point tickets vs a 21 day pass?

Check your itinerary at railsaver.com. Probably don't need as much railpass as you think, if at all.

Hi<BR> Elaine has a good point about tickets. <BR> Check with www.railsaver.com. I think you will save money on Point-to-point tickets.<BR><BR> If you have friends in Munich, they might be your best source of where to stay.<BR><BR> You needn't worry about a central location for a hotel, as Paris has a terrific metro system. The 5th, 6th and 8th seem to be the favorite places to stay. I recommend the Hotel Bonaparte, 61 rue Bonaparte.<BR><BR> Let us know how your wine tour went.

Hello areinert,<BR><BR>I'm really looking forward to seeing how this develops; it should be an interesting thread.<BR><BR>Anyway, for your Luzern portion, let me say clearly that you don't need a car. The town is very, very compact. You can either walk to most places of interest or take the beautiful, scenic ferry.<BR><BR>I don't recall if you've mentioned a price range for hotels; please let us know if you're looking for $100 or $200 or whatever per night. Also don't forget the text search here -- enter &quot;Luzern&quot; and click on &quot;Switzerland&quot; and you'll get lots and lots of posts on Luzern hotels.<BR><BR>Now, as for activities in Luzern, here are my suggestions:<BR><BR>Take time to see the old town with its many historical buildings, squares, &amp; bridges: Kornmarkt, Weinmarkt, Hirschenplatz, Rathaus, Jesuitenkirche, Kapellbruecke, &amp; Spreuerbruecke. These are are very close together, within a few blocks of one another. A bit farther away are the Lion Monument and the Musegg Ramparts, the old town walls dating from the 1300s. Of course, there are many more sights and museums, but these are the ones that grabbed me. Info at www.luzern.org.<BR><BR>Of course, a ferry ride on the lake is a pure spectacular delight, and they can range from a two-hour tour of the upper lake or an all-day trip to Fluelen. There are many small towns and villages around the lake where you can interrupt your jouney for a leisurely walk through town or a long walk along the lake: Weggis, Vitznau, &amp; Brunnen. Check the boat schedules &amp; options at www.lakelucerne.ch. See these towns at www.brunnen.ch, www.weggis.ch, &amp; www.vitznau.ch. <BR><BR>You can also combine a ferry trip with a mountain excursion. Take the boat to Vitznau, then the rack-railway to Rigi; the trip takes about 1.3 hours. You can also get to a lower slope on Rigi via Weggis, and connect to the rack railway to the summit. Another mountain excursion is to Mt. Pilatus, south of Luzern; this trip takes about an hour. Finally, there is the excursion to Mt. Titlis and Engelberg. In addition to being the start point for the cable car to Titlis, Engelberg has a fabulous Benedictine monastery. The train to Engelberg takes about an hour. The websites are: www.pilatus.ch, www.titlis.ch, &amp; www.rigi.ch, and www.engelberg.ch.<BR><BR>Have a great time!<BR><BR>s<BR><BR><BR>

Didn't you used to have a different name? Well, I'll try a few of the Paris questions, briefly (as you will find tons of info on these things on Fodors by using the search, there is too much to repeat).<BR><BR>1) you can get from CDG to hotel via RER/metro, Air France shuttle bus to central stops, city Roissybus to Opera Garnier, taxi, private van shuttle service that takes several people. There have been a zillion threads on this--depends on where you're going, how much baggage, attitudes to paying a few extra dollars for convenience, etc as to best method. For two people, a cab won't be that expensive and makes it easy. that's what I would do. YOu can find all this info by searching on airport and paris within france.<BR> <BR>2) central area for museums: arrondisements 4-7 will do it. Given your train trips, you might pick a hotel nearer the train station(s) you need. <BR><BR>3) you can easily get by train from Paris to Caen (from gare St-Lazare) and to Reims (gare de l'Est). Both of these stations are on Right Bank. St-Lazare fairly direct from 7th arr (sev metro lines); gare de l'Est from Marais/Bastille or St-Germain metro line, or St-Michel (Latin Qtr) stop. Of course, you can get to those stations from anywhere by transferring.<BR><BR>4) I haven't done champagne tours, but I know you can from Reims and also from Epernay, which is sort of a small town dedicated to that (the city hall is on ave de Champagne). It is also on the rail line from gare de l'Est. see www.epernay.net for all details. There are several famous champagne houses/caves there you can tour.

areinert,<BR><BR>Have you looked at a map for the Germany portion of your trip? It appears you will be doing more of a circle after leaving Munich.<BR><BR>It would seem to make more sense to leave from Munich and go to Freiburg, then Stasbourg, Baden-Baden, Stuttgart and finally Frankfurt.<BR><BR>Personally, I would pick up the car in Munich and do the rest of the trip by auto.<BR><BR>Curious

I have done two champagne tours , Mumm's and Taitinger's. Both were excellent and included a tasting.<BR>The Mumm's tour is closer to the cathedral (slightly north of it) and Taittinger's is very close to the Basilique St Remi and has some Roman ruins (they all look alike!). If you are driving, Epernay and Hautvilliers are 2 interesting towns nearby, you can also follow the Marne valley and view the vineyards and chateaux. I would second the suggestion about staying in Paris longer unless you have already been there. There is a reason why France has the most tourists visit in a year than any other country and IMO that reason is Paris.

Christine, I used the mexico thread before, but never europe. I did post a message a few days ago about my travel agent. <BR><BR>I would like to budget $100 max a night for hotels. Reading Rick Steves I would say 2 or 3 stars. Not opposed to b and b's

Can only comment on Paris-<BR>Arr. 7 near Eiffel Tower for Hotel- Be sure to ask for a room on back of hotel whenever you stay in a city to avoid street noise. Rick Steves' book has good suggestions especially on the &quot;how to&quot;s of connecting different locations. Deffinately see the Rodin Museum in Paris especially the garden for beutiful sculpture and peacefullness of surrounding and for people watching. Monet's house is worthwhile but difficult with a limited time schedule as getting to eats up a lot of time.

Take a taxi from CDG to your hotel. After a transatlantic flight I find it well worth the money for the ease. The Latin Quarter (5th e.) is convenient to the museums. I'd add another day or two to Paris in-town.

I also think you're shortchanging yourself by allowing only one day in Paris.<BR><BR>Also, you can get to Caen and back from Paris easily enough by train, but how do you plan to tour the D-Day beaches? That's a lot to do in one day, even with a car. &Aacute;re you planning to take a tour starting in Caen? That will be one long day.<BR><BR>And do check point-to-point fares. Those Eurrail passes can be expensive.

Anyone have additional ideas? What about tips on the train?

I am leaving with my family for France in 2 weeks. We are staying in Paris, Loire Valley, and Burgundy. We chose to stay in Beaune for the Burgundy portion of the trip. My sense is that it is more centrally located for wine tasting than Dijon, and more charming. Also, I definitely think you will need a car. We are staying at the Hotel le Parc. It was recommended in a Charming Inns of Distinction and Charm (or something like that) and was quite reasonable, even for four of us. Good luck.

If possible I would go from Dijon to Strasbourg, Freiburg and then on to Luzern. From Munich I would stay east and then north of the Black Forest. I would guess that a Dijon Luzern train passes by Basel (also worth a visit), which would indicate that Strasbourg/Freiburg is not that much of a detour.

Hi <BR> I recommend the Hotel Bonaparte at 61 rue Bonaparte in the 6th.<BR> This is where my wife and I stay.

I noticed on their website that Parisvision offers a daytrip tour to the Normandy area. It's a 13 hour trip. Seems like a long day, but maybe taking a bus tour is the easiest way?

Any additional comments? I am going to try and book things this weekend

Dear areinert:<BR><BR>At least get your hotel in Paris set, you are running out of time. Then play with the rest of your trip. <BR><BR>Michelle

Anyone else care to add before I start booking things?

Hmmmm (I'm no expert but) I'd get my hotel(s) booked, especially in Paris, as the first thing on your to-do list. Once you are in Paris your hotel front desk may be able to help with your other questions. Or check the library or bookstore for guidebooks to figure out the smaller details. You can most likely purchase your tickets in person at any train station. Ask your friends in Munchen to recommend a hotel. Take taxi(s) from and to the airport, unless your hotel can suggest a shuttle.

Maybe too late, but I'm up with insomnia, so here goes anyway.<BR><BR>I'd rearrange your itinerary just a bit and add the estimated travel times:<BR> <BR>21-May arrive in paris <BR>22-May Museums<BR>23-May Paris sites <BR>24-May Day trip to Reims (1.5 hrs each way)<BR>25-May Train to Caen (2 hrs), D-Day stuff, sleep in Caen or Bayeux<BR>26-May Train to Dijon (4.5 hrs)<BR>27-May Dijon wine tasting<BR>28-May Train to Luzern (4-5 hrs)<BR>29-May Luzern<BR>30-May Train to Munich from Luzern (5.5 hrs)<BR>31-May to 2-Jun, Munich <BR>3-Jun Drive from Munich to Stuttgart (2.5 hrs)<BR>4-Jun Drive to Baden Baden (1.25 mins)<BR>5-Jun Drive to Strasbourg (45 mins)<BR>6-Jun Drive to Freiburg (60 mins)<BR>7-Jul Train to Frankfurt (2.5 hrs)<BR>8-Jul Fly out<BR><BR>For the last three days before leaving for Frankfurt, do you plan to use one of the three towns as a home base? They're very close.