LONDON...NEVER BEEN.
 

My husband and I are planning a trip throughout Europe. We will start our trip in London with 2 1/2 days there and we'll end it 2 weeks later with 1 more day there.

If you had that time frame, what would be the best way to make the best of our time. We are interested in seeing museums, art, eating great food, just seeing the real London. Of course we want our trip to include Big Ben, London Eye, Windsor Castle, Nottinghill, Trafalgar Square. Just want to know the BEST way to do these things as well as any other GREAT suggestions.

Is it too much of a hassle to go out to Ireland for a little while...or Amsterdam??? We are young, active & adventurous.

Please let me know. I greatly appreciate it. We have NEVER been to Europe.

What is your full itinerary - I see 2.5 days in Paris and 2.5 in London. You seem to be moving around a lot. Both these great cities deserve at least 5 days - you may want to think about your trip as a whole and ensure you are not spending too much time in transit.

You definitely cant do Amsterdam, London and Ireland in 2.5 days.

With 2 weeks I would recommend 4 locations tops as you will lost 1/2 a day each time you move and you want to spend time enjoying the places you are in - not spending the whole time in airports and train stations. I know its tempting to see everything but approach this like you will come back and that you want to experience each place you are in.

Jamikins eloquently took the words out of my mouth!

I soooo understand that urge to see it ALL but t you and your husband really will enjoy it more at slower pace. Quantity is not quality!

Agree with narrowing it to your top 4 or at the most 5 places/bases in the 2 week period.

Think in terms of a BASE. YOu can make little half -day trips from the base if you feel the need to see more. But schlepping your luggage and changing hotel rooms is NOT the best way to do it.
For example, within a 5 or 6 day stay in London, you can easily make a day trip to Cambridge or Oxford, and get a taste of something different in England, but return to your hotel at night. Or with Paris, you can make a side trip to Giverny, then return to your Paris hotel.

No, seriously, jamikins is right: Ireland and Amsterdam are not "day trips". You'll probably need half a day just for Windsor Castle as it's outside the city center.

One trade-off to consider with your itinerary is how much you want to "get a feel" for places versus spending time in museums and actually touring historical sites, etc. You can easily spend two (or more) days walking around London, Paris or Rome and have a great time, and never see the inside of the Louvre or the Tower of London. Again, you just have to decide what type of experience is most important to you. You simply won't be able to do it all -- or anything close to what you've sketched out so far.

Oh, I just commented on your Paris thread and then saw this. Is it too late for you to rework your itinerary and slow down?

I agree with everyone else - 2.5 days is not much time to see London itself, much less go to Ireland or Amsterdam.

<i>We are interested in seeing museums, art, eating great food, just seeing the real London. Of course we want our trip to include Big Ben, London Eye, Windsor Castle, Nottinghill, Trafalgar Square.</i>

"Seeing" Big Ben and Trafalgar Square will take you ten minutes each. Maybe just five for Big Ben. Windsor Castle, on the other hand, is more like a day trip. What do you want to see in Notting Hill? The blue door? For a first trip, I'd skip it - it's a couple hours (at least) you could use elsewhere. Museums are in London in abundance - any particular interests? The British Museum is a great general history museum. The National Gallery is the main art museum (though I prefer the National Portrait Gallery next door). There's also the Victoria & Albert for textiles, jewelry, decor, entertainment; the natural history museum and the science museum; and tons of smaller ones.

It might be more beneficial to you if you can post one thread with your entire trip itinerary, rather than chopping it up. Once you get the times in each city nailed down, separate threads with specific questions about each city will be really helpful. At least, with my own questions, that's seemed to work best.

Oh - I see you did do that; I just hadn't seen the other thread. But this doesn't seem to have London? Is the London time in addition to this?

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...and-advise.cfm

London and Paris have a LOT to see. I've been to both multiple times and cannot say that my list of to-do's is getting smaller.

You really need to listen to the advice being given here. There is a limit to the number of places you should visit. Technically you could visit a country every day for 2 weeks, but your memories won't be of the good times, but the stress of moving every day.

Less is more.

I'm sorry but you really do need to go back to the drawing board <u>for your entire itinerary</u>.

What is already booked?

Unfortunately some posting on your other threads won't see the full picture.

2.5 days in London is really only about 1.5 actual awake/free time. Day one will be for jet lag/getting acclimated/etc.

Your last day will be partly filled w/i packing and tying up loose ends.

You will see a LOT of airports and train stations but not a lot in many of your destinations

Without knowing you entire itinerary it's not possible to really make recos. IMHO either London or Paris takes 4 full days (5 nights) to really begin to get to know the city. Also - you should look into open jaw tickets - into London and out of your last city - to avoid wasting a day trekking back to London.

And no - neither Amsterdam nor Ireland is a day trip from London.

I just checked your other thread. How are you proposing to get from place to place?

Your itinerary is ridiculous. If there is any deviation whatsoever in any flight or train plan that you have, your whole day of travel is screwed and the time you have to visit that next destination is even more limited.

If you really are young and adventurous and want to go all over the place, book a Contiki tour. At least you'll have other companions scrambling at your breakneck pace and built-in down time that will help you relax, which you may not do as novice travelers.

If you actually want to see and learn and experience the places you visit, don't go to so many. First, it's not like you could really experience Boston, NYC, Philly, and DC in 10 days, which is the equivalent of your 2.5 days maximum at any stop on your itinerary. Second, unlike those American cities, you have no frame of reference culturally for your European destinations. And third, you're young, therefore you have plenty of time to see more later.