Suggestions for my Europe Holiday

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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:54 pm

I am in the very (very very) early stages of planning a trip to Europe in the middle of next year. I would have about three weeks away, flying to London and then probably plane hopping to various other fun spots around western Europe (which should be pretty cheap thanks to Ryanair).

What I'm curious about are suggestions for places that people think are a "must visit". It's my understanding that quite a few people in the forums are from some part of the UK or western Europe so a little local knowledge would be awesome.

My interests are generally related to architecture, natural wonders (mountains, lakes etc.) artwork (to a certain extent) and just general cool stuff in these countries.

If you have any hidden gems about the following places that you reckon I just "must see" that would be most appreciated:

-London (plus places within a day-trip of London) - got about 3-4 days there possibly
-Paris (plus day-trip possibilities) - again about 3-4 days
-Barcelona - 1-2 days
-Rome 2-3 days
-Rome to Venice by train (includes Florence) - again 3-4 days (if that fits still).

I know the main attractions obviously (Eiffel Tower, Notre Damme, St Peter's, Cistine Chapel), but hidden gems would be awesomely appreciated.

Hopefully this is an acceptable thread for the mods.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:00 am

Ask Standard Procedure. We went through all of this with him. Very Happy

Go to Paris by all means. Great Freedom Fries! Cool

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:02 am

HAve a look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Santa_Eulalia and scroll down to [Barcelona landmarks] You'll need a year Smile

And most cities have a list like that Rolling Eyes

Just take the next five years off and see it all Laughing

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:02 am

yrubraj wrote:

-London (plus places within a day-trip of London) - got about 3-4 days there possibly
-Paris (plus day-trip possibilities) - again about 3-4 days
-Barcelona - 1-2 days
-Rome 2-3 days
-Rome to Venice by train (includes Florence) - again 3-4 days (if that fits still).

That sounds like loads of fun. May I come too Very Happy

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:07 am

^^^ Indeed it does sound like fun. Feel free.

My time is rather constrained as I have a 3 year old daughter who doesn't live with me, and I don't really want to be away from her for that long. Furthermore, it's about what my budget and work leave can provide for.

Thanks for the tip on the Barcelona cathedral bill. The main reason I want to go to Barcelona is to see the Sagrada Familia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam�lia) so that will tie in nicely.

@ KD. Along with Venice and London Paris was the definite first choice city to base my travel around.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:31 am

That itinerary covers it pretty well, but you are going to be VERY busy!

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:34 am

^^ Yeah it is going to be fairly hectic. To save on time I plan to do lots of flights though. London to Paris, Paris to Barcelona, Barcelona to Rome, then Venice back to London. The only real long travel overland is likely to be between Rome and Venice.

That's unless my plans change (which is about 99.999999% certain, what plans don't change?).

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:39 am

Ryanair and Easyjet are very cheap and offer frequent services to the main European cities BUT you absolutely must check-in on time or you will be spending a lot of your precious time waiting around in airports (and probably have to buy a new ticket too). When they say "Use it or lose it" they mean it!

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:41 am

Thanks for the tip. I've been amazed by some of the airfares on offer - 15 Euros from Barcelona to Rome for example. It's those airfares that are going to make this holiday possible, from a financial point of view at least.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:52 am

Check their websites but I think check-in is usually 30 minutes before departure. If you turn up with 29 minutes to spare they can and will refuse to let you go, even if the plane is still at the gate. They will sometimes transfer your ticket for free to the next flight, but that may not go for several hours so you are stuffed.

Also, read the small print very carefully on the Super Cheap deals. They often tack on various surcharges, taxes etc which bumps the price up considerably. Generally speaking if you can avoid travelling at the 'commuter' or 'weekender' times, eg 8-10am and 4-6pm, especially on Mondays and Fridays you get a better deal. Monday lunchtime is often a quiet time so the drop the prices to get bums on seats.

Oh yes, and remember that travel agents aren't usually interested in booking these budget airlines because there's nothing in it for them. You have to book it for yourself online. The websites are usually very user-friendly but again I would stress that you must check the small print. The devil is often in the detail.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:53 am

I'm quite used to having to show up 2 or 3 hours before departure so that shouldn't be a problem. Useful to know though, I guess there's always that "if it sounds too good to be true then it possibly is" feeling inside my head, which I probably share with all baiters out there.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:56 am

yrubraj wrote:

... I've been amazed by some of the airfares on offer - 15 Euros from Barcelona to Rome for example. ...

Read the small print. That's plus taxes, an airport fee, etc. Any bet you end up paying EUR 50.

But so what? It's still cheap.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:58 am

^^ Yeah I found those out too... generally work out to about 40EUR I think. Funny that the taxes are more than the flight... but yeah as you say still amazingly cheap.

See how far that much would take you on a train....

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:59 am

I suspect that Meyer will probably pop in sooner or later with this opinion, but you might want to consider limiting your destinations so that you really have time to get a feel for the places you visit. It will be very tempting to try and see everything cool that will be suggested here (if I know our members), but you will probably enjoy the trip more if you keep "quality over quantity" in mind when making your reservations. Wink

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:04 am

^^^ It's a very tough call though because London/Paris/Venice/Rome/Barcelona fulfill all the criteria for architecture, art, culture, atmos. I'd hate to pick just one or two if I'd never been to any of them before.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:05 am

Yeah I'm caught between how much stuff I want to see and how long I want to spend at each one. Of course one could spend weeks at each place for every day that I'm planning.

Unfortunately when you live on the complete other side of the world to Europe you don't really have the opportunity to say "oh... I'll do 3 weeks in France this year, three weeks in Italy next year, maybe Switzerland the year after that etc." because it costs over $US2000 to get from New Zealand to London alone.

I guess my plan is to cherry-pick the best sites this time, as although it will hopefully not be my only opportunity to see this part of the world, I want to see the best stuff.

I did 3 weeks in the Canadian Rockies + Seattle, Vancouver and San Francisco a few years ago, and while it meant we were almost always on the move I didn't feel too much as though I was skimming the surface to an unsatisfying degree.

Edit:

Gnasher wrote:

^^^ It's a very tough call though because London/Paris/Venice/Rome/Barcelona fulfill all the criteria for architecture, art, culture, atmos. I'd hate to pick just one or two if I'd never been to any of them before.

The plan isn't to choose between these, as I want to go to all these places, but rather get an idea of the best things to do in each city. Or those hidden gems travel guides don't tell you much about.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:10 am

I was actually just anticipating a bazillion posts trying to persuade you that you have to see this and that, resulting in a 10 countries in 20 days type trip. Laughing

. What you have so far looks pretty good.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:14 am

I guess that was kind of what I was hoping for in a way. I'd rather be aware of what I have to cut, than to get back to NZ after the holiday and go "damn I would have so gone there if only I had known about it". Doing some good Lonely Planet research too...

A climate question:

I was considering going in late August or early September rather than the 'peak' season of late June hearly July. Obviously it would be a bit colder in London and perhaps Paris, but what do you guys think of that idea? Obviosuly the advantage is to get a time that isn't so overrun with tourists.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:24 am

If recent years are anything to go by the summers seem to be getting longer so late Aug/early Sept is often still quite warm in all those cities, yes, even London! I'd guess an average temp around 25C? give or take?? (Our local posters will know - I'm only going on what family and friends have told me). You certainly won't need to take winter woollies (famous last words). But be prepared for rain virtually anywhere in western Europe so take a showerproof jacket.

Paris will be STUFFED with tourists in late Aug. It's the height of the summer school holidays so while all the Parisiens desert the city for their holidays on the coast, the tourists flood in.

If I could choose a time to go to all these places I'd pick late (northern) spring in May/June. The weather is usually OK, mother nature is looking at her best and it's not too crowded (although there will always be tourists wherever you go).

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:31 am

Climate is just a synonym they use in the UK/Scotland/Ireland for rain. Sometimes they say 'tis a tad nippy out', meaning when they opened the front door the snow stopped piling in when it reached knee height.

That said I've always wanted to go the most remote parts of Scotland and Ireland for some reason (possibly a daft one). You could do some recon for me.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:31 am

Thanks for the info Gnasher. I hadn't thought that early June would be better than late August, but you're right I do want to avoid school holiday times and the like. Also means I don't have to wait quite as long Very Happy

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

I might be wrong, but I think that a lot of national museums in Italy are closed on Mondays. We went there for our honeymoon, were only in Florence for one day (a Monday) and I couldn't go to the museum I wanted to. So, if art is one of your interests, you might want to check on that. Also, you can't go into the Vatican if you are wearing short sleeves/shorts type of clothing. There were people in line outside trying to tie sweatshirts on themselves to cover up so that they could go in.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:43 am

Try these - I'm going through Eastern Europe in August and these sites are pretty useful..

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

http://www.virtualtourist.com/

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:00 am

Don't forget that if you fly Ryanair, the airport location is somewhat confusing.
For example, Belgium's national Airport is Zaventem, which is located just outside of Brussels (5 min train ride).
When you fly from London to Brussels, they say that you'll arrive at "Brussels South Airport"... which is actually Charleroi Airport about 70km away from Brussels. Charleroi is indeed located south of Brussels, but it's still quite misleading.
They do the same in Spain, pretending to fly to the very popular Alicante Airport, only for their passengeers to arrive over 80km further south in Murcia Airport (or "Alicante South" according to Ryanair).
70km and 80km might not seem that far, but take into account the accessability of that airport and how do you get to where you intended to go?

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:32 am

GordonBennett wrote:

Try these - I'm going through Eastern Europe in August and these sites are pretty useful..

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

http://www.virtualtourist.com/

I would definately recommend that you get your hands on the LonelyPlanet gudies to these countries. The times I've travelled to Tiurkey & the States I swore by them for general sightseeing.

Also Bobo is right. One of the ways Ryanair makes their flights cheaper is to go to airports which don't have such high traffic and therefore have cheaper landing fees. These are more out of the way as he said. I can't remember which of the Budget airlines flies to Istanbul. But the airport they use is about 50 - 60 KM south of the Bosphorus and therefore getting to the cheap stay areas of the 'Old City' like Sultanahmed and Aksaray are more difficult.

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