Hi All,

Long-time lurker but first time poster here. Wanted to say thanks for all of the info you guys have provided. I have a question regarding an upcoming trip and I’m unable to find a good response when I search through the forum, so here goes.

My future wife and I will be heading from the US to Western Europe for our honeymoon in a few weeks and due to some issues with scheduling we’re planning everything out very last minute. We will be spending about 16 days spread out between London, Paris and Amsterdam. Flying into London and out of Paris. Our itinerary is as below:

Day 1-5 - London
Day 5 - Travel to Paris
Day 5-9 - Paris
Day 9 - Travel to Amsterdam
Day 9-14 - Amsterdam
Day 14 - Travel to Bruges
Day 14-15 - Bruges
Day 15 - Travel to Paris
Day 15-17 Paris
Day 17 - Fly out of Paris

We originally planned on booking Eurostar from London to Paris and then Thalys for the remainder of the trips but given the fact that this trip is being planned so last minute, the total fare is about $840 USD for both of us. My family owns a car that we house in a city near London (no, not some rich socialite, just a car my dad fell in love with during a trip to Europe a few years back). My question is, do you think it would be more economical for us to just drive between the above cities? I know driving can be a hassle but I was wondering if there might be options to park the car in an area outside of the cities and then just take public transportation into the city where our hotels are? We would likely be using the car only while in London to visit some of the surrounding sites (Oxford etc.) but otherwise will mainly stick to the cities.

Sorry to be long-winded, but thanks in advance for your responses!

First thought - why go to Paris twice? Route yourself London-Amsterdam-Paris and save most of a day and have all your Paris time together at the end.

Second thought - have you looked into flying? Maybe less than trains and certainly more convenient than the car which you'll also likely have to pay to park. And will you need to get the car back to London?

No 3rd thought yet.

Where did you get your train fare?

Since you did not indicate which days you are traveling, I assigned day 1 = 9/1 to get some figures for the itinerary as stated:

9/5 London-Paris $103 at www.eurostar.com
9/9 Paris-Amsterdam 54EU=$65 at www.thalys.com
9/14 Amsterdam-Bruges 49EU=$59 at www.b-europe.com
9/15 Bruges-Paris Nord 44.90EU=$54 at www.voyages-sncf.com

Total = 103+65+59+54=$281 per person, $281x2=$562 total

However if you eliminate staying Paris twice but still flying back from Paris.

9/5 London-Bruges $68 at www.eurostar.com
9/7 Bruges-Amsterdam 49EU=$59 at www.b-europe.com
9/11 Amsterdam-Paris 54EU=$65 at www.thalys.com

Total = 68+59+65=$192 per person, $192x2=$384

>>> My family owns a car that we house in a city near London
>>> do you think it would be more economical for us to just drive between the above cities?

Are you talking about the same car or different cars?

If same car, do you realize that

1. The itinerary as indicated does not make sense with a car
2. The steering wheel would be on the wrong side
3. There is channel=water between U.K. and the continent

You could cut out one train trip if you routed as MmePerdu suggests:
London-Amsterdam-Bruges-Paris. I would look into flights between London and Amsterdam then take trains to Bruges and Paris. If days 1 and 2 are travel to London and day 5 a travel day you only have 2 days in London. You could add 1 day that you gain to London.

First of all it is actually:

Day 1-4 - London
Day 5-8 - Paris
Day 9-13 - Amsterdam
Day 14
Day 15-16 Paris
Day 17 - Fly out of Paris.

Which doesn't make a lot of sense. Consider London > fly to Amsterdam > train to Bruges > train to Paris > Fly home.

How does a car that is stored n the UK help if you are flying out of Paris??? How would it get back to some <i>mysterious</i> town in England?

If you take the car get it on the train you'll pay less for the car than 2 tickets in eurostae.

Is the car taxed and insured?

I can't see how you would get it back to the UK if you are leaving from Paris. A car is a nuisance in any of the cities you want to visit, and could be a problem with congestion and environment charges.

Either fly from London to Amsterdam or take the train and ferry if you want something different.

As others have mentioned, flights are often cheaper than the train. If you are looking at low-cost options, the Flixbus is populair and cheap, and these are comfortable busses with wifi.

Thanks for all of your responses! The car is currently housed in a classic car storage not far from London and given that my dad goes over to Europe (far more frequently than I), it is road worthy with all of the checks and balances covered. Regarding how it would get back to the site, if it turned out to be more economical to just drive then I would have re-routed to just fly back to the US out of London instead of Paris.

That being said, it seems pretty clear from your advice that we should forego the car. We will look into flying and train ASAP as our travel date to Europe is actually 08/14 (again, short notice of the trip was out of our hands). We'll also look into switching our itinerary as you all have suggested. Thanks again!!

If you haven't already booked the flights then London Paris Amsterdam makes a more logical order. You can visit Brugge on your way from Paris to Amsterdam and use the Eurostar between London and Paris.

>>> if it turned out to be more economical to just drive then I would have re-routed to just fly back to the US out of London instead of Paris.

"re-routed"=already have plane tickets? Then even if driving cost nothing, the change fee plus paying the difference in fare would wipe out any perceived saving by driving.

However, if you have not booked flights until this time, that wait alone wiped out any saving maneuvers you are trying to do now compared to booking several months ago.

Short advice: book your flight ASAP.
It is the most costly thing in your trip. After that, moving between Europe cities is no big deal. You can try flight that fly into London and fly out from Paris or Amsterdam, whichever cheaper for you. After that, between these 3 cities you have lots of options: train, bus, flight,... They are the 3 most frequented cities of Europe, in term of traffic.

We originally planned on booking Eurostar from London to Paris and then Thalys for the remainder of the trips but given the fact that this trip is being planned so last minute, the total fare is about $840 USD for both of us>

If doing all by train check out the France-Benelux Railpass-valid in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg - can take any train once there - even valid on Eurostar Lon-Par trains ($35 supplement over using day on pass) and Thalys (another $30 or so supplement) and on trains to Bruges, etc.

Not a good deal in light of discounted fares but if you can't get those check this pass out- www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

Not sure it would be a good deal but saying to check it out.

There is also an overnight boat Harwich-Hook of Holland with train links at each end -could be a novel way to do London-Amsterdam.

Note that you are not going to use the car, but just fyi, you need a vignette now to drive into Paris. This is only available online and takes at least 2 weeks to order. Old cars (including classics) are no longer allowed entry into Antwerp. No such rules for Amsterdam yet. London of course has the congestion charge, but only in central London.

you are aware that August 15 is a holiday in France? Shops and maybe museums could be closed.

Familiarize yourself with ABS - All (Any?) Belgian station add-on fare of a few euros in conjunction with Thalys and Eurostar trains - within 24 hours can go from any Thalys/Eurostar station with it -meaning could stay in Brussels a day and practically go on to Bruges for free the next day -on any train- just hop on. Works other way as well -24 hrs before Thalys/Eurostar train go to any Thalys/Eurostar station you will be departing from.

Like Bruges to London -quickest way may be via Lille-Europa Eurostar station but Lille, being in France won't qualify for ABS fare but going by Brussels would.

www.thalys.com www.eurostar.com

you are aware that August 15 is a holiday in France? Shops and maybe museums could be closed.>

Good time to catch a High Mass at say Notre-Dame?