Europe itinerary (hotel, England, desert, surfing)

[Minato ku]

Originally Posted by yankinscotland

I'd also skip Brussels and go to Brugge. And take a day from Paris and add to London. You can easily spend a week in London.

As you can easily spend a week in Paris It depend what you want to see the hollywood cliché of Paris that only exist in a very few places or the big 12 million multicultural city that is Paris.

[k374]

Originally Posted by NYMTman

I want to take a three week long trip to Europe in May and have the following in mind:

fly into London
2 days in London
5 days in Paris
2 days in Amsterdam
1 day on the train
4 days in Rome
1 day on the train
2 more days in London
fly out of London

This leaves me with two or three extra days and I don't know where to stick them. Right now I figure I have three options: either tack them onto the time spent in London/Paris/Rome, spend them in Florence, or spend them in a Swiss alpine village (not sure which one though). Suggestions welcome

London to Paris on Eurostar is nice since it departs and arrives in central stations (St. Pancras to Gare du Nord I believe).

Paris to Rome seems like an overnight train.. and it's expensive, why waste time and money on trains, just catch a cheap EasyJet flight from Paris to Rome, I did the exact same thing years ago..it was cheap and efficient and only 1 hr of travel, depart Orly arrive in Ciampino

I would also take a day off Paris and add it to Amsterdam if you're into Museums and Art. Amsterdam has some stunning museums including the Van Gogh, Rijksmuseum and don't miss the Diamond museum.

Otherwise the itinerary looks good.

[NYMTman]

Thanks everyone! Now I'm leaning in the direction of spending some time in Florence. I wanted to take the train between Paris and Rome simply for the scenery; I've heard the ride between Zurich and Milan is pretty spectacular. Plus I'll probably have a Eurail Pass although I still need to crunch numbers to see if that is actually financially advantageous.

[Housemartin]

London 4 days, Paris 5 days?
London 3 days, Paris 3 days and Florence/Venice 3/4 days, please!

[NYMTman]

haha. Is there actually much for a single guy to see in Venice? It always struck me as being mostly a romantic getaway or something.

[sponger42]

Venice is kinda like a big theme park nowadays. Seems like there's some wine/bar life that might be fun for singles as well as couples. Otherwise wander around snapping pictures like everyone else.

Good choice with Florence. Very nice city to walk around. If you're looking for a hostel, I have one I can highly recommend.

[Housemartin]

I mean Florence/Venice both 3/4 days: Florence 2/3 and Venice 1, more or less . But don't worry, one day here, two days there... it doesn't matter travelling on holidays!

[Jezer]

Just bear in mind that when you finally arrive in London from the US you won't feel at your best for at least a couple of days.

[NYMTman]

Originally Posted by sponger42

Venice is kinda like a big theme park nowadays. Seems like there's some wine/bar life that might be fun for singles as well as couples. Otherwise wander around snapping pictures like everyone else.

Good choice with Florence. Very nice city to walk around. If you're looking for a hostel, I have one I can highly recommend.

Hostel recommendations are always appreciated!

[AzDesertRat86]

I just did a 16 day Eurotrip in september. I started in Sweden-1 day, Norway-3 days, Belgium-1 day, Paris-3 days, Italy-5 days, and ended in Germany-1 1/2 days. Got everywhere by train, minus flying into and out of Europe. It is very doable with your Itenerary. I highly recommend the Night train 1st class from Paris to wherever in Italy you are going to go. If you want to go see the leaning tower of Pisa, it is not really worth it. I do recommend Florence, Michelangelo's home is there, as well as many of his sculptures.

Rome is pretty amazing, I recommend a guided tour of Palatine hill and the Vatican. Unless you want to wait in the 2 mile long line to get into the Vatican. With a guided tour you get into the VIP line, which is the guided tour/VIP entrance, no line. The Vatican is closed on Sundays of course, and you will need a full day in there.

Also, wear walking shoes on this trip. I wore a pair of old DC's and I bout died. I wasted 1/2 a day in Rome sitting down because my feet and back hurt so bad.

Screw Belgium. I was in Brussels for a day, and it is the MOST DISGUSTING CITY I HAVE EVER BEEN TO. Birds fly upside down over Brussels because it ain't worth sh*tting on. The only thing it has to offer is a church to **** on, great food and chocolate. Other than that there isn't a da*n thing there.

I really enjoyed Norway. If you can squeeze it in there, DO IT. I took me a little over a day to get from Norway to Belgium by train, so if you can swing it, hit it up. I didn't like Oslo, but I loved Bergen. If I were Rich I would move there. The most magnificent place I have ever seen. The simple way of life, the kindness of the people, and the hotness of the women!

Now onto Paris. As famous as it is, I think it sucked. I saw it all, Notre Dame, De Louvre (sp) Museum, Eiffel Tower. All those were great, but can be done in 2 days. Be careful of the Gypsies and the fellas who claim to be from Jamaica. There are allot of crooks in Paris. Get a great hotel, don't check into anything under 3 stars. The wife and I stayed at a 2 star, and it was just horrible in so many ways I don't even want to think about it.

Be prepared to spend allot of money. We spent around 8K on this trip, and that does not include the plane tickets, those were free (R&R from Iraq.)

Enjoy the trip, and bring a quality digital camera, with LOTS of batteries.