Rachel_Peterson

My friend and I are planning a trip to Europe in September 2012. Neither of us have been to Europe before. We are planning to stay for 3 weeks and would like to visit Paris, Rome and Barcelona. Any suggestions on where to fly in/out of, where to stay, places to visit, how to get around, etc.? Any general tips for first time travellers would also be appreciated! I look forward to hearing your responses!

ira

Hi RP,

Suggestion 1
Fly into Barcelona and out of Paris or VV

Suggestion 2
Look up your 3 cities under "Destinations"

Suggestion 3
After you have a draft itinerary, let us help you tweak it.

Suggestion 4
Start making reservation last February

jomagpie

Check this site for travel between the cities, gives prices for a bunch of different airlines: http://flights.traveleurope.com/

I'd go Paris-Rome-Barcelona, but you should check flights from where you're coming from to see which one would be cheapest.

Are you planning on staying in hostels or hotels? For hostels, go to http://www.hostelbookers.com/ for hotels, http://www.booking.com/ (I'd also reference Tripadvisor on the places you do end up choosing).

Are you guys just planning on those 3 cities? 1 week in each with a day trip here and there would be a nicely paced trip.

Robert2533

Yes, you can do Paris, Rome and Barcelona easily in three weeks. One week at each destination, with day trips, as recommend by jomagpie, will allow you to discover enough to want to return.

wanttogo

You need to start planning right away for both transportation
to and from Europe and for hotels. Determine your probable dates to and from Europe and plug those into Kayak to find
out about flights. Then go to a couple general booking sites
like venere dot com or booking dot com to get a general idea
about hotel costs and availability. Of course, you should also
buy a good guide book for each city. For new travellers, I recomment Frommers.

Remember that hotels in Europe are often not air conditioned and that it likely will still be hot in September in Rome and Barcelona.

Pat

Robert2533

Having a hotel with A/C will depend on the class of hotel you choose. Most of the one's I'm familiar with do have A/C. Only the least expensive hotels, those with 1 & 2-stars, will not have A/C.

Anna_Galea

I guess it does not really make any difference where you start and end your holiday. The important thing is that you find the best fares for the flights you need and that the dates and time of arrival/departure of flights suit you, maybe avoiding a very early departure or very late arrival.

Where to stay - your budget for each stay must be taken into account, as well as whether you prefer to rent apartments, or stay in B&Bs or hotels.

Getting around - you can use the tourist open bus tours which make stops at most major tourist sites, underground trains, or public buses or trams in centre of cities.

Places to visit - it also depends on your preferences and tastes, maybe if you elaborate a bit or make a little research and give some indications quite a few Fodorites here will be able to help you out.

charnees

Buy the Rick Steves guidebooks for Paris, Rome and Barcelona. The are good for first-timers and will give you loads of info about various kinds of sights, local bus travel, local customs, etc. They are not very big so it's easy to carry them with you. And they have maps in them.

tailsock

europeandestinations dot com

kybourbon

I always try to fly into the city that is farther away (more time to sleep on the way over). I would fly into Rome, overnight ferry to Barcelona, then overnight train to Paris (or find a budget flight).

Strawberry_fields

I agree with Ira on the reservations front...
I would recommend www.hostelworld.com for accommodation. It has never let me down.

Rachel_Peterson

Thank you everyone for your responses! I went to a travel agent yesterday (just to get some ideas) and she suggested that my friend and I do a European tour with "Topdeck." I am still weighing the pros and cons of this idea, it does eliminate the stress of planning/getting around, but then we would be following their itinerary...thoughts?

jomagpie

Do it on your own! Planning is part of the fun. Plus you'll get to do what you want to do, not what the itinerary says. And as with most of those tours, they'll take you to too many places in too little time and you'll have hardly seen anything in each place.

If you're planning to only see those 3 cities you mentioned, there won't be that much "stress of planning/getting around".

As already said above, get a guidebook (Lonely Planet is my go-to when researching). Guidebooks will usually have all the basics covered, such as: when to go,where to fly in/out of, where to stay, places to visit, what to see and do, how to get around, etc., as well as maps & sample itineraries.

Anna_Galea

If you and your friend are the type who like to have everything organized for them from A to Z and prefer to travel in a group, or if you are inexperienced in travel, have never travelled far alone, even in your own country - then maybe you should take a tour. It might be a bit overwhelming for you to visit three major cities for the first time in Europe and to organize it all if you still very young and without experience.

On the other hand, if you are the adventurous type, enjoy planning things for yourself, making a lot of research before your holiday on destinations, means of transport, booking accomodation yourself, insurances, etc, and do not like travelling with a group, whose leader will decide everything for you regarding your holiday - then you might lean more towards individual travel with your friend.

Micheline

Sorry if it's already been suggested but you should look into apartments for your stays. I like homelidays.com for Spain and Italy and there are many suggestions for Paris on this forum.

Rachel_Peterson

We have decided to plan the trip ourselves! We would much prefer to explore each city in depth as opposed to having only 1 or 2 days in each and feeling rushed.

We are thinking of flying into Rome on September 9th, flying to Barcelona on the 16th (with a possible 1 or 2 nights in Ibiza), flying to Paris on the 23rd and then home to Vancouver from Paris on the 30th. I have heard that these cheap flights within Europe charge extra for baggage? So, do I need to take this into consideration when budgeting for the trip?

Also, I have been looking at hostelworld.com (which is a great site), but really have no clue as to where are good locations to stay in each city. We would like to be able to walk to most of the attractions as much as possible, and preferably in areas with an array of restaurants/bars.

CathyM

You may want to visit Barcelona last and time it with their largest festival of the year, La Merce. I think you made a wise decision to go without a tour.

I personally will never do a large group tour again. I enjoy planning and also don't want someone to dictate to me when I have to wake up, eat (and also where), and be blurred with so many sites. Some people enjoy but it's definately not my cup of tea.

jomagpie

Try vueling.com, they fly to all 3 of those cities. Baggage fee is about €12-15, as opposed to Ryanair's ridiculous fees for anything and everything.

As for "good locations to stay in each city" that's where researching some guide books or googling "where to stay in ____" will help. Hostel World is great, Hostelbookers is slightly cheaper than them though and have the same listings.

You can also try couchsurfing.com if you & your friend are comfortable with that.

Anna_Galea

Agree with you completely CathyM - I would add that I wouldn't enjoy being in a large group, following a leader wherever I go, or not being able to choose many of the restaurants where I eat. I even recall a couple of years ago that there was a group tour on our plane and the tour leader, after they landed and they were waiting for their bagages even advised them that they should now go to the toilets, at the airport before boarding the bus. And everyone obeyed and headed for the toilets. Seemed really funny to me at the time.

But I guess each to his own. My mother went with a group tour every single year from her late fifties till she was well into her seventees. She loved having everything organized for her, and it was a relief for her that everything was taken take care of, and felt safe as part of a group and with a group leader who dealt with any problems that may crop up, especially since my dad was not that keen on travelling abroad on holidays. She also enjoyed the long drives in the coaches chatting away with two of her best friends that she always went with, and also enjoyed the lovely scenary, or tours around city centres. I guess it is also convenient that you have a coach waiting for you wherever you are.

I went twice with her on a group tour in my teens, and I really enjoyed the first trip, as I visited for the first time quite a few major cities in Europeon countries in two weeks, like Rome, Paris, Lyons, Lugano, Turin, Milan, Florence, etc. On the other group tour I went with both my mum and dad (in my late teens) on a tour to Tunisia. I guess that was rather convenient, as it is not that easy to go around in an Arab country, especially since tourism was not that popular there in the early eightees.

But I never considered whether I should join a group tour when I was older. It was always with my friends or later on my family. Now that we have got used to renting cars, I do not know whether we can without one during a holiday. We find it so very convenient - although it still does require some planning. But I guess not everyone feels confident in driving abroad - then trains, buses, air travel are sure other good options to travel around. Just as I did in my younger days with friends - it was a real adventure for us

Regarding OP's last question - Yes low cost airlines do charge for extra baggage checked-in (with a weight limit - you will be charged for every extra kilo it may weigh), but also allow in-flight bag (also with a weight limit) that you can carry for free with you to the plane. I guess it is still worthwhile to catch these low-cost flights, especially if you manage to get a good deal. Check the easyjet and Ryanair (right now they have an extra special offer for Spain) websites, and book flights that are the cheapest, as they differ from one day to the other, depending on how many passengers would have already booked that particular flight. If you do not wait too much to book you might get very good fares, since September is not the very peak of tourist season, like in July and August, and most schools in many countries of Europe would have started on the days you would be travelling. That is why I love taking my holidays in September.

Personally, if I were on a low budget, I would prefer to stay in an affordable B&B or maybe in a one-bedroomed self-catering apartment than in a hostel. There are many sites from where you can book, or maybe go and check on Tripadvisor, read reviews on the accomodations that you prefer to make sure that past visiters enjoyed their stay and did not encounter problems, and that they are affordable, and then find their website and book directly with the owners.

Rachel_Peterson

OUR TRIP IS BOOKED! We are flying out of Vancouver on September 9th and arriving in Paris on the 10th! We are then flying directly to Barcelona (we are meeting friends). We fly out of Barcelona on the 15th to Rome, from Rome back to Paris on the 22nd and then home from Paris on the 30th.

Any things we simply must see/do/eat while in these places???