MrsG1717

I would like to spend two days in London,three days in Paris and two days in Venice during November. Air fares are quite high but I thought I could take the train to Paris then on to Venice and back to London. We only have a week!Any help out there?

Intrepid

As a resource I would check out the following website
www.seat61.com
A lot of people will tell you this is an "impossible" itinerary but you can do the Paris-Venice and Venice-Paris segments overnight on the train if you wish.

erinb

Hi MrsG,

From your post I am assuming the following is what you are suggesting:

day 1 arrive london early morning
day 2 london
day 3 travel to paris arrive afternoon
day 4 paris
day 5 paris
day 6 travel to venice arrive evening
day 7 venice
day 8 and/or 9- travel back to london fly out of london that day or next?

If this is the iteniary you are suggesting, I would not recommend it.
I do not know your traveling history, but unless you have been to some of these places before and are just revisiting, this schedule would put you just having a teensy taste of these cities without ever really experiencing them.

Are you locked into having to do all three for some reason? are you locked into having to fly in and out of london? If not, with only a week I would pick just two of these cities. London-paris or paris-venice.

my reasoning is this; London-paris is do able in 6-7 days and easy via eurostar and chunnel to go between these two cities and return to fly out of london. Venice in the equation is what will cost you valuable time. if you are taking trains to venice we are talking a full day of travel from paris. (11 hours, 9 express). Then to return to london from venice add 4 to that. even if you were to fly from paris to venice, then venice back to london, we are still talking alot of time in airport and transfers from airport.

this three city visit would cost you at least 1 1/2 to 2 days or more in transportation time.

if by "a week" you mean that you only have 7 days once you arrive in london, then even your 2-3-2 would not work. it would have to be 2-2-2, then last day travel to london and fly out same day. of this 7 days you would lose at least 1 1/2-2 days in transport time leaving you only 5 days to really see the sites. that is not enough time for 3 cities. Barely enough for 2 cities, but it can be done.

my suggestion would be the following iteniary for two cities:

day 1 arrive london
day 2 london
day 3 london
day 4 travel to paris
day 5 paris
day 6 paris
day 7 travel back to london and fly out
or
day 7 travel back to london spend night
day 8 fly out midday

or

day 1-arrive paris
day 2-paris
day 3 paris
day 4-fly to venice
day 5 venice
day 6 venice
day 7 fly back to paris spend night
day 8 fly out of paris

with the first scenario, it would take the earliest eurostar on day 4 and try to arrive in paris by noon, do the same on day 7 to return to london. or just substitute paris and venice for above.

Eurostar would add about $125 roundtrip to your transportation from london to paris and return. I am not sure on the paris-venice plan.

flying between the three cities would not save time...mandatory early arrival at airport, airport transfer to main city area and then to hotel would cost you the same amount of time between london-paris. I am not sure of travel time from paris to venice, or return venice to london. I am assuming about the same or more.

sorry for not being any more help!

hanl

You could take the overnight train from Paris to Venice (leaves at 8pm, arrives 8am) and when you leave Venice, fly one-way to London with one of the low-cost airlines such as Ryanair (www.ryanair.com - who actually fly from Treviso) or VolareWeb (www.volareweb.com - from Venice Marco Polo).

ben_haines_london

Hanl?s suggestion looks the most practicable. The book Eurostar from London to Paris costs more from the States than it does in London, where Eurostar presently offers a return ticket at 60 pounds or about 90 euros. You do not buy a single ticket, which costs more, but just a return ticket, of which you jettison the second half. You can book your sleeper from Paris to Venice on-line with French Rail on http://www.sncf.com/indexe.htm
, but it is easier to phone their US office, buy tickets to be picked up in France at the railway stations, or sent to the US 011-33-8 36 35 35 39. If that fails please phone Eurail. Site http://www.euraide.de/. Telephone 1 941-480-1555. Telefax 1 941-480-1522. e-mail [email protected]

For flights back to Stansted you take a credit card and book on-line
Treviso Ryanair, http://www.ryanair.ie, ++44 870 156 9569
Venice Easyjet, http://www.easyjet.com, ++44 870 6 000 000
You need to be perfectly sure when you will fly, as these tickets are not normally replaceable. Five minutes after you book the software sends you an e-mail to show your booking record number: this number and your passport is all you need at the booking-in counter at the airport. Busses run from both airports to central Venice, from where water-busses ply to San Marco and to various hotels. From Stansted to central London the rail plus tube fare is about eight pounds or 12 dollars.

Please write if I can help further. Sorry you have only a week, but you can pack it with memories, so welcome to Europe.

[email protected]

GeoffHamer

The overnight train from Paris to Venezia seems the best option to me - it will actually be quicker than flying as it leaves the whole day free for sightseeing. It would also be possible to return the same way: the most direct train route from Venezia to London is via Paris, and if you take the overnight train from Venezia, a Eurostar from Paris to London will get you into London before lunch, or you could have a few more hours in Paris before returning to London. Bear in mind that the weather in November is often miserable, and that daylight is limited.

ira

Hi MrsG,

Unless this will be your only trip to Europe, I agree with erinb - do London and Paris this time and do Italy on another trip.