Kim27

Hi Everyone,

I am planning my/our first trip to Europe with Mom in May and need some advice.
We plan to arrive in London perhaps May 2 and leave May 16. The first 4-5 days in London. During this time i hope to get to at least Bath.
On day 5 we'd like to travel via train to France and spend maybe 2 days then the next 3 days in Italy since we hope to see Venice and Rome.
I doubt we'd be able to fit in any other countries given the time frame. Any suggestions on specifically trains and must sees would be appreciated.
We'll be staying with relatives in London, btu need to research accomodations in France and Paris.
We're very excited and hope it will be a great trip!

janisj

OK - you need to step away from the computer for a minute and look at a map. You are talking about 4 major cities plus Bath from one side of Europe to the other - in two weeks.

3 days for Rome and Venice? 2 days for "France and Paris"?

W/ 2 weeks and wanting to do a day tour to Bath - 4 days really isn't long enough for London. Day 1 will probably be a jet lagged fog - leaving you just 2 days for all of London. So I'd plan on 6 days for London minimum. One to get over the jet lag, one for Bath, and 4 or more for London itself.

Why not just plan on London and Paris (w. a couple of day trips each) -- OR -- London and Rome/Venice. Either option would totally fill your 2 weeks.

yk

Hi Kim-

If I count it correctly, you'll have 15 days total, which is really 13 full days.

With less than 2 weeks, I definitely suggest you keep it to UK & France only. It'll be difficult to fit in Italy within your time frame, esp this is your first trip to Europe!

4-5 days in London is barely enough for a first visit (you need to realize you'll be tired/jetlagged on your arrival day); so if Bath is a must, I'd consider spending 4-5 days IN London and then perhaps 2 days in Bath.

Do you know where in "London" your relatives live? Unless they are very well-off, chances are their place is out in the suburbs and may require easily a 30 min + train ride just to get into the heart of London.

After your first week in London/Bath, you can then take the Eurostar to Paris. If you buy the train tickets in advance (3 months), you should be able to find relatively affordable tickets. The longer you wait, the more expensive they get.

Once in Paris, I suggest you look into renting an apartment in Paris for your second week. Nice thing about an apartment is that you get more space for your $ compared to a hotel room. Unless your hotel budget is $$$, hotel rooms in Paris tend to be quite small (compared to US hotel rooms). Also, with an apartment, you can easily fix breakfasts there and save $ on dining out every meal every day.

7 days in Paris is not a lot of time, and you can easily spend one day heading out to Versailles.

Here's a link to a Paris Apartment thread to get you started:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35159017

Also, here's a compliation thread of many London trip reports. You can get an idea of how much there is to see in London
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35162023

sf7307

Even on a whirlwind trip, it is very difficult to do London, Bath, Paris, Rome and Venice in 13 days (by yk's count!). Assume you arrive and spend the first 5 days in London (one of which will likely be at least in part a jet-lag recovery day, not that you won't do anything, but less than you'd do otherwise). Then a day trip to Bath (I think one day in Bath is plenty). On the 9th, you'd take the train to Paris. You won't see very much of even the most-talked-about-and-visited tourist sites if you don't stay at least 3 days (I'd personally stay much longer, but it depends what you want to see and do). On the 12th, you'll fly I assume to Venice or Rome, which will take half a day by the time you're done, let's say Rome. You'll spend the arrival day and the next day in Rome. Then on the 14th you'll train to Venice and spend the rest of that day and the next day in Venice, and presumably fly home from Venice on the 16th (this schedule doesn't allow for backtracking).

Result:

5 days London (including jet lag recovery)
1 day Bath (including r/t travel from London)
2-1/2 days Paris
1-1/2 days Rome
1-1/2 days Venice

If that schedule looks okay to you, then go for it!

sf7307

Sorry, I had not seen janis' post before I posted!

Kim27

Wow quick responces and all appreciated. So just from reading this i can tell i won't be able to do it all. Bath is not a must see but i just planned on 1 day there.
I figured jetlag would set in the first day. Not sure where my grandfather lives-just know it's East London.
My mom's interested in museums more than anything else.
If i had my way i'd do London only, then visit all the other countries on separate vacations.
Thanks for all the feedback. I will be doign alot of research between now and March since i plan to have everything purchased and booked by then.

Cathinjoetown

I'll add that I think you will be much happier with London and Paris only. If your mom likes museums, she will be in double heaven. Plus, assume she wants to spend some time with your GF?

If you opt for sf7307's itinerary, you will have reasonable overviews of all four cities, which isn't a bad thing. Really a matter for you and your mom to decide but keep in mind--MUCH time eaten up in travel between the cities.

yk

I agree that if your mom is a museum-lover, there's nothing better than to spend your time in London and Paris, plus 1-2 day trips from each city.

London is great because majority of its museums are free, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Imperial War Museum, Tate Britian, Tate Modern, British Museum, British Library, John Soane's Museum, Wallace Collection, Geffrye Museum, Natural History Museum, Victoria & Albert Musuem... just to name a few off the top of my head. She can fill a whole month's time just going to the museums in London.

For Paris, your best bet would be buy the Paris Museum pass, which lets you skip the long lines at museum entrances, and can be a good deal if you are a devoted museum-goer. They come in 2, 4 or 6 day duration. Here's the website for more info:
http://www.parismuseumpass.com/en/home.php

In addition, the Municipal museums in Paris offer free admission.
http://www.paris.fr/portail/english/...t?page_id=8229

PalenQ

for novices who have little understanding of the fantastic European train system i always refer two good information sites that unlike most have lots of objective info and not just railpass prices: www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - the latter has to download their free European Planning & Rail Guide that is a fine primer for novices to understand the nuances of European trains. And janis and others following her are giving you great advice that your plans are a bit too ambitious, even if you fly back to London from Rome.

kpilling

Two years ago my husband and I spent 2 weeks in Europe.

We started with 4 days in London, 4 days in Northern Wales, 1 day in Birmingham England with relatives, 1 night in London and then on to Paris for 5 nights. We had a terrific time, but really felt a little cheated on time in Northern Wales which was my favorite place. The next year flew to London for 2 nights and then we spent 2 nights in Florence, 5 nights in Tuscany (beautiful) and 4 nights in Venice (too touristy) and one night in Milan.

I would advise as the others have said and split it between London and Paris or London/Bath and Italy.

You will miss so much in your traveling and it is the journey not just saying that you have been there.

Kim27

Thats my point exactly i didn't want to just say i have been there i want to explore different places.
So i will definately be discussing a change of plans to include London/Bath and Paris.
Thanks all for your replies.

yk

sf7307 has implied in her post already, but I'll say it out loud for you here, given that this is your first European trip.

Whichever combo of cities you decide on (which looks like London/Paris right now), try to book a open-jaw ticket. That means flying into one city but out of another. Most of the time, the airfare for open-jaw cities isn't much (if any) more expensive than a regular roundtrip ticket; the benefit of course is that you don't have to waste time and money to backtrack to your first city.

so, look into flying into London and flying out of Paris; or vice versa.