lkemerson

Yes, a vague title, but we are in "OH MY...where all can we go" mode?

We would kind of like to do Northern Ireland and maybe spend the rest of the time ryanair, or train hopping to places of interest in (any, some, or all of the following) Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland...even England.

We are basically looking for some guidance as to how we could do this. Yes, yes...I know, some folks like to spend a lot of time in one place and really get to know the area, but we kind of feel while there, we'd also like to get a feel for two or three areas and see if there is a place we may want to come back to.

Our thought was to fly into Heathrow, spend 2 days in London (we love the museums and theatre there), then perhaps get a flight to Paris, then take trains to various places in the list above for a week and a half. Fly from our last spot in the above list, to Ireland where we would spend a week exploring Northern Ireland.

We have been to England, Scotland, and Ireland before. We did not spend any time in Northern Ireland, or the islands there, so we will rectify that this trip if we choose to take this, which I shall call option 1.

Option two is a trip to Italy and Greece. Something way out of our box, but intriguing!

I apologize that it is so vague, but I do seek opinions and thoughts on if option 1 is do-able or not. We loved our week and a half in England-Scotland and our week in Ireland.

jcoz23

I would definitely do other countries if you can afford it. Why not? From your list, I would say do either France and Switzerland, or Germany and Austria to keep things in the same area. Italy and Greece are pretty far apart to get to one another by train so I wouldn't suggest both of those unless you want to pay for yet another flight... But maybe fly to Northern Italy and you could combine it with Switzerland or Austria by train. You could maybe fly to Milan and then do day trips to Florence and Venice from there, as well as Lake Como, then continue on by train to either Switzerland or Austria. If you fly initially to London, there are so many flights available to all over the continent from there. My husband and I normally do that as well. We'll fly to London, spend a day or two, then catch a flight elsewhere in Europe. Once we get to our second destination, we normally take trains or rent a car. It's normally cheaper than flying, and prevents us from spending TOO much of our valuable vacation time at the airport!

jenblase

My husband and I did 2.5 weeks last year (left on a Tuesday, returned on a Sunday). We broke it down like this:

Weds/Thursday - Grindelwald Switzerland
Friday/Sat morning - Montreux Switzerland
Sat afternoon - following Sat - Paris (rented an apartment)
Sat night to Thursday morning - Provence
Thursday night to Sunday morning - French Riveria (Nice)

We felt like we saw a lot but the good thing about our plan was everything was relatively easy to get to via high speed train. We considered trying to fit in other regions of France (I really wanted to go to the Alsace region) but in hindsight I'm glad we didn't try to cram even more in.

We even considered throwing in Amsterdam too!! Glad we nixed that.

If you're going to Northern Ireland already, why don't you do some other spots like Scotland and England - keep it in the UK. There'd be plenty just in those three countries to keep you occupied.

Or you could take the Eurostar train from London to Paris and fit that in too - I think it's 2 hrs roundtrip and would save the hassle of having to go to the airport.

Amicita

If you've already been to England and Ireland, I'd go with the Italy and Greece option. Why not try something new? Ryanair and other discount airlines tend not to fly to Greece though, so you may want to look into that.

I suggest www.whichbudget.com to get a feel for potential routes of budget airlines. If you're going to be country-hoping, alot of it will depend on where you can get the best deal on flights.

lkemerson

thank you all...

Hubby is liking the idea of the Germany/Switzerland/Austria thing a lot.

I am off to look at the link left here for me...you guys are DA BOMB. Thanks...all ideas and thoughts are GREATLY appreciated.

Karen

kammie_joy

Hi Karen,

If you are going to take a cheap flight within Europe, there are a few things to look out for. One is that the budget airlines usually fly out of more obscure airports that are not close to the city. These airports are sometimes expensive to get to. Also, the luggage allowances are sometimes more restricted. Just a few things to watch out for. Some good resources I have found are www.harefares.com for finding flights, and if you're looking for lodging, www.hotels.com and www.venere.com. Happy travels!

suze

I'm unreasonably infatuated with the Lac Leman area of Switzerland, so I'd definitely suggest you include that!