jilove21

I'm flying into Germany early morning in late June. My mom and I decided we want to see Heidelberg and the Romantic Road and take out Berlin. Is that a bad idea?

Then, we'd like to visit Paris and Marseilles for 4-5 days. We'll be flying back to the UK after those 5 days. How should I go about moving from Paris to Marseilles? Do you recommend some other place we see after Paris that's closer to the UK? I would like to see nice scenery (preferably the beach) with my mom for a few days.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

StCirq

Forget Marseilles. The only reason a first-timer to France should go there is if Dear Aunt Wilma lives there and has mentioned you in her will. You need all 4-5 days for Paris. If you want to scramble over to Normandy for a night or two to see the ocean, you could do that (at the expense of Paris) - and even go back to the UK by boat.

adrienne

You've added the Romantic Road and swapped Nice for Marseilles?

How are you going to fit in the Romantic Road?

I think you should stick to one thread rather than having two threads going at the same time with two different itineraries.

jilove21

Thanks, Adrienne. I didn't think people would read this post again so I posted up a new question.

How about seeing just Heidelberg and Frankfurt in Germany then Paris and Nice?
From what people say, it sounds impossible... I realize there's a lot to see in Paris but I don't know when my mom and I will be back in Europe again.

StCirq

You appear to be just throwing darts at a dart board at this point. No, I wouldn't pick Heidelberg and Frankfurt for a first trip to Germany, though I'm sure you'd enjoy them once there. Nor would I divide 4-5 days up between Paris and Nice, which are at opposite ends of the country - you'll lose an entire day, basically, getting between them, and you're already short on time.

Why not spend an afternoon in a library or bookstore and read up on all these scattered places you keep tossing out - and look at MAPS??

StuDudley

>>I don't know when my mom and I will be back in Europe again.<<

If you try to see all those 4 places in 10 days, your mom might not want to return to Europe. When my wife & I first went to Europe in '77, we took my mom. We had an 'active" itinerary. My mom "bailed out" half way through the trip & flew home (my sister was a flight attendant - free fares for mom). She was exhausted.

What's so special about Frankfurt (compared to Paris)? On our first trip to Europe in '77, we stopped in Heidelberg, looked around, didn't see much that interesting, and headed on.

My wife & I retired early so we could travel more. Since '99 we have spent 2 months each year vacationing in Europe - mainly France & Italy, but some England, Belgium, & Eastern Europe. We've spent weeks in Germany on pre-'99 trips.

If I were to take mom on a "see Europe" trip that included Paris, I would only visit 1 other "place" besides Paris. I would land at CDG, take the 3 1/4 hr TGV to Avignon, rent a car, spend 5 nights in Provence, then take the TGV back to Paris & spend 5 nights there. Even 5 night in Paris & Provence is short-changing them.

Less is more !!!! Spend you limited time "being there" not "getting there".

Stu Dudley

igemini48

When we don't have much time we use "ho on-hop off" tours. They usually sell tickets for two days to use. So two days will cover major landmarks and you can pick places you like to "hop off" spend some time there and "hop on" back to continue. They usually work until 6:30 pm so you could have relaxing evening to have dinner, walk, visit a concert, perhaps in the park for free...
We had an afternoon in London between two planes and did just that. We saw the most famous places and we happy with it.
Using maps is not that easy unless you are super with it. Takes too much time.
In any case, enjoy your trip.

igemini48

I would to join opinions of those who recommends not to kill yourself by trying to cover so much in so little time. Once we did that with my hubby. Planed to spend a week in Florence, visit Luka and Piza, they spend few days in Sorrento and finish in Capri. Include to it trip to Posetano and Pompei along with Vesuvius - by the time we got to Capri - we where dead. Did not even go to see Grotta Azzurra... After that we are taking it easy - there are still many places that we might never see but when you see it - enjoy it.