gwenjunebug

my husband and I have a 10 year anniversary trip planned for next may/june. flights are already booked arriving in Brussels on may 27 and departing paris on june 4. this will be our first time in either Belgium or france.

my original plan was to spend 2 night in bruges (taking the train straight there from Brussels airport) then take the train to paris and spend 6 nights. I am still leaning towards this plan, but every now and then I wonder if we should do 2 nights bruges, 2 nights <other france>, and 4 nights paris. other france ideas are probably wine related, perhaps the burgundy area, but I've also entertained ideas of the loire valley.

what do people think? for a first time, is it better to spend all 6 nights in Paris like my gut says? I am 99.9% positive we will return...also, most likely with our daughter next time (she is 4 now), so that may slow our roll.

MmePerdu

It's always personal, of course, but first visit or many visits later, 6 nights in Paris is a very nice stay. And certainly not too many. I'd encourage you to not bother adding another stop.

scdreamer

I think you are being a bit ambitious. With only 7 days (each of your international air travel days will not allow you to do much more than get to and from airports and onto the train in Brussels), you have pretty much filled them without adding more travel hours to and from Burgundy or the Loire Valley. Checking in and out of hotels is never as quick as we hope it will be!

Two days in Bruges is more than enough, in my opinion. One can walk through the entire central part of Bruges in half a day - it's very charming, but in the two times I have visited, I have never found it to be a place I wanted to spend an inordinate amount of time. Others may disagree.

Especially since you know you will return to France one day, why not just settle into Paris once you arrive, and enjoy the city? My first time in Paris - my husband and I had ten days and we packed every day to the max with places to see and things to do and never ran out.

You didn't mention where your departure city is - if you're coming from more than a few time zones away, you will be catching up for the first day or so, so take that into account.

Have a wonderful anniversary celebration - and take it from one who is well past 30 years of marriage - there will be plenty of "trips of a lifetime" ahead.

PalenQ

the Loire Valley is close to Paris -just an hour by TGV train to Tours - rent a car and drive around chateau country a few days and take train back to Paris -ditto for Burgundy - train to Dijon and rent car - sans car hard in a few days to see much.

Burgundy is IME a much better vineyard experience - Loire better for chateaus but win for vineyards Burgundy is much better IME.

Anyway book trains to Paris from Bruges and in France early at www.voyages-sncf.com for sweet discounted fares - check www.seat61.com for insights on booking your own online discounted fares; for general info www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

I think it's nice to see a bit of France outside of Paris not that you could not easily spend all 6 days there.

rs899

My opinion, stay in Paris six days. I doubt you will be bored, but if you are, take a day trip to Chartres, Giverny, Versailles, Fontainebleau.

StCirq

I would not gallivant off to Burgundy or the Loire Valley for an extra stop on this trip, though you might consider them as daytrips along with other destinations. 6 days is never, IMO, too long to stay in Paris. And 2 nights in Bruges is plenty - not my favorite place, but of course many disagree.

travelhorizons

Go with your gut ... 6 days in Paris!

tuscanlifeedit

I like the 2 and 6 plan. I understand overactive planner brain because I get it, too.

But your trip is short, it's an anniversary, you'll want to take it just a little slower and I don't like the idea of the 3 stops in a short trip.

Paris and day trips can more than fill 6 nights.

Happy anniversary!

xcountry

I’m not a big believer in “we’ll be back”. It’s a big world. Lots of places to see. Things happen.

I’d rather spend 3 days in London (two hour and a bit train ride from Brussels but maybe you’ve been there) and 3 days in Paris than all 6 days in Paris.

PalenQ

You could easily do a day trip to Loire Valley if you hook up with mini-bus tours that go from Tours' train station.

Not sure Loire or Burgundy worth it for a few days - factoring in travel time to get there and relocate you really have about a day.

Do a day trip from Paris perhaps

and yes a day in Versailles.

greg

>>> for a first time, is it better to spend all 6 nights in Paris like my gut says? I am 99.9% positive we will return...also, most likely with our daughter next time

This is something you have to decide on your own. Optimize this trip only or optimize over ALL the trips you plan to take to Europe? Choose the itinerary matching your needs. If you ask a question whether additional nights in Paris this time are worthwhile, you get certain answers. The question on whether it is worthwhile FOR YOU to spend time elsewhere instead this time is something only you can decide within the realm of your constraints.

While there are many things to do in Paris, there are other parts of France and Europe. Take my sister for example. She has been to France -- for 4 weeks. She wanted to go to other part of France other than Paris, but she couldn't. Why? She was "told" to spend most of her first visit in Paris. That is what she did. But on her all her subsequent visits, she was with someone else visiting France for the first time, so she ended up staying put in Paris on all of her subsequent visits.

I realized this on my first visit to Paris, so I put Paris into my itinerary when my itinerary required me to include Paris, which has been quite often. Think of all the trips to Europe. How many would start, end or passing through Paris requiring staying in Paris whether you need one or not for that trip? I have stayed in Paris close to 2 months even though I have never stayed there more than 3 nights at any one time. If you read posts here, there are quite many of the type, "I am arriving/leaving from Paris, but I have been to Paris many times, where should I go now?" Understand that if you are leaving Paris, especially to catch a transatlantic flight, you would probably need to spend at least the last night in Paris even though you have spent many nights there already in your previous trips.

gwenjunebug

thank you all very much for taking the time to give me your thoughts, especially scdeamer and greg. the rational part of me says the original plan is best, but crazy gwen wants to have all the things!

I like the idea of doing the loire as a day trip, so perhaps i'll research that and a few other feasible day trips more.

Southam

Each time you move to a different location costs you time (and at least a little money) -- packing, transport to train or plane, find next hotel on arrival, unpack. In such a short vacation, one dislocation will be enough time exhausted.

Envierges

Out of curiosity, why are you not spending any time in Brussels? Good food, great museums, excellent people watching, Art Nouveau architecture,super chocolate, and . . . nothing like mussels in Brussels. Unless you've read Bruges la-Morte or have seen Korngold's opera of the book, Bruges is just a pretty walk of an afternoon through a touristy city.

gwenjunebug

envierges-because this really started out as a paris trip that my <overactive planner brain> already added onto by adding in Belgium. I considered Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp as well, but with only a day and a half, I thought bruges was more romantic and manageable.

it pains me as well, and I would love to see Brussels. next time! next time!

NewbE

I was going to say the same as Envierges--Bruges is lovely, but two nights seems a lot to me, especially at the expense of giving Brussels no time at all.

The question of 6 nights in Paris is difficult. Of course, in some sense, 6 nights isn't enough, but I think it would be nice to spend 2 nights in France in the countryside, or at least in a smaller city.

So am I saying one night Bruges, one night Brussels, 2 somewhere not Paris, and 4 Paris? No, that seems like too much packing/unpacking even for me. I suggest 2 nights Brussels, with a day trip to Bruges; 2 in French countryside; 4 nights Paris.

But I like this idea, too, with 6 nights in Paris:
<take a day trip to Chartres, Giverny, Versailles, Fontainebleau.>

Kathie

If you want to have any experience of a place you need to spend more time there and not waste time in transit. You already have tickets into Brussels and out of Paris, so do visit both of those cities. You could take a day trip to Bruges from Brussels (Frankly, that was enough of Bruges for me, but some people love the place). We found it way too touristy for our tastes.

Six nights in Paris is only 5 full days - enough to get a flavor of the city, but likely not enough time to see all of your top places. Our first trip to Paris was 10 full days (11 nights) and we couldn't tear ourselves away to even do a day trip.

Envierges

Does anyone else think that "touristy (other posters) and romantic" (OP) is an oxymoron?

gwenjunebug

what is it about bruges that divides people so? I hope to soon find out which side of the coin I fall on. ;-)

also, using the famous fodors math, we will not be in bruges for 2 days, but really only 1 full day, which is in essence a "day trip" with a chance to see the city once the tourist have left.

and lastly, I would posit that there are many cities that could described as both touristy and romantic.

MmePerdu

Your instincts are good, gwenjunebug. Trust them.