Barodian

I am planning a 10-12 day trip in April 2013 to Europe with my wife kid and parents. I would fly out from Mumbai to London-Paris-Switzerland- Italy and fly back to Mumbai. (3-2-3-2 nights stay in each country)

I am planning to rent a car through the trip and do the sightseeing myself at popular destinations in each country. We don't mind staying in hotels or rental apartments or villas to accommodate 4 adults & 1 kid (2 yr old)

While planning I need the following help from the knowledgeable members of this forum

- Is car convenient to travel across all these countries? my goal is an optimum budget as the other option is to travel in a group on coach basis with a pre-decided itinerary with no flexibility at all..

- How is parking in general in europe at different sightseeing places.. is there any website to look for this information?

- need your suggestions to places I should visit in each of the countries keeping in mind I would be driving to these places..

- vegetarian food options around where i can have dinner around in the places suggested...

- Can local guides be booked in advance who would guide us upon arrival at those venues (in english or hindi (??)

This is our first time into Europe as a tourist (i have been before for business).. so any suggestions w.r.t to how I should plan are more than welcome

thanks in advance!

goldenautumn

You need a guidebook to answer your questions regarding what cities and sights to see. You can find lists of vegetarian restaurants online once you have decided where your family is going.

For April, taking a train would be much better than attempting to drive. Poor weather can really slow you down, especially in the mountains. You also have the problem of the expense of picking up a car in France and dropping it off in Italy. It generally involves excess costs.

Local guides can be booked in advance but I would expect that only the biggest tourist cities have ones who speak Hindi.

annhig

Hi Barodian,

i hope that you will not mind my pointing this out, but this is a pretty hectic itinerary, particularly for a mixed age group including a child.

by the time you factor in the time taken to pack, check out, travel to your next destination, find your hotel, check in, and orientate yourselves in the next place, that's more or less a day gone. if you are moving every 2-3 days, that's approx 4 days out of your 10. when you're coming such a long way, IMO it's not an efficient or pleasant use of your time.

I would strongly suggest picking a maximum of 2 places [london and Paris for example] and sticking with those.

you would certainly find hindi speakers in London, and probably in Paris, though it might be a good idea to ask the tourist information offices for recommendations for approved guides,.

and for a trip of this type, I'd agree that the train may be the best way to travel.

nytraveler

A couple of notes:

You have listed way too many different places for such a short time. You would end up spending a large part of your time in transit rather than actually seeing or doing anything.

Car does not make any sense. Many european cities have centers that are pedestrian only and the major sights do NOT have parking facilities. You would have to put your car in a public garage (street parking is very limited) at perhaps 25 or 30 euros per day - on top of the cost of the rental. Car makes sense only if you are traveling around the countryside (which you just don;t have time to do). To get from city to city train is much more convenient and there are many budget fares if you buy tickets in advance.

Agree that with your time I would do 2 hotels - no more. That way you could see some of the major sights in each city and perhaps do one day trip from each to see a major sight outside. (You need to understand that there is now way you can travel as fast as a tour - they can do that only because they have drivers and guides who know all of the routes and the cities in detail - and the tour members spend large amounts of time just sitting on a bus - while the driver rushes them from one city to another. Also bus tours typically have very long hours with luggage outside your door by 7 am and breakfasted and on the road before 8 am.)

Also, if you are looking at tours:

1) "View" or "see" means you see something out of the bus window as you drive buy
2) "Stop" means a 5 minute photo op out front
3) Only "visit" means you actually go inside

So they may cover many fewer sights that they seem to.

In major cities you should be able to find Indian restaurants and Italian restaurants also often offer vegetarian dishes. And you can google and find lists of vegetarian restaurants in any sizable city or town.

If you stick to only two places you might be able to stay in an apartment versus hotels. If you are staying only 1 or 2 nights in each plaace apartments or villas will not be available - they typically prefer a week rental at a time - and while they may do less - 1 or 2 nights is very rare.

You can get local guides in advance - but their cost for a single family would typically be quite high. Not sure about Hindi - I would check with the tourist office in each city you decide to visit to find out if this is available. And I assume this is a guide for each specific sight. If you are talking about having a guide spend the whole day with you - that gets very expensive - and an overnight guide requires you pay for their hotel and meals as well as fees and travel.

Gretchen

'Way too much and not practical to drive it at all. You really might look for a tour that suits your needs and does it for you AND only covers two places, as has been suggested by others.

thursdaysd

I agree that you trying to cover too much ground. Would you travel that way in India? You could easily spend all you time in London, or Paris, or Switzerland... I would suggest London, where you will have no language issues, and one other location, connected by plane or train. You will have no trouble with food in London either, with lots of Indian restaurants available, and should be able to find vegetarian food elsewhere in Europe, although you may want to have a card made up in the relevant language being specific about your requirements.

Rather than tour guides you should look into walking tours. London Walks has a lot of excellent walks.

Barodian

Thank you guys..I am now thinking through all these suggestions... the idea of doing only 2 or 3 countries is making sense to me. I would drop one.. may be italy for this trip. it now sounds hectic to me as well.. i will extend myself to add 2 more days to this trip now..

Once I arrive into london, I wish I could only use trains and buses to travel and do all the good sights/places. Assuming I pre-plan bus/train passes and have a good understanding of the maps and the routes, is there a good connectivity that you can use buses/trains with luggage for 4 adults and 1 KID.

Any places where I should pick my hotel or villa in london, paris, switzerland where the train stations are nearby..

@nytraveller -which website can I use to rent appartments/Villas in London-Paris-Switzerland can you suggest any reliable places you have exprienced.

I would come back again..soon.. and put my thoughts here as I develop my itinerary further..

thanks again... look forward to your views.

iowamom

You really should pick 2 or 3 cities, not countries. I would recommend London and Paris. Look to fly into one city and then return from the other city, taking the train between.

Renting a car doesn't make sense - trains / subways work very well within these cities and to travel from one to another.

http://www.eurostar.com for travel from London to Paris or vice versa.

I would strongly suggest you purchase a guide book (Fodors, Frommers, Eyewitness) for Paris and London to help you focus on these cities.