My husband and I and our eight-year-old son are spending two weeks (14 nights) in Europe this summer. We have round trip tickets flying into Heathrow. I would like to fly down to Barcelona first and spend 4 nights. Then, I would like to fly up to Paris and spend 5 nights in Paris and then take the train to London and spend the rest of the time in London/Bath. (5 nights)
Does this sound like too much? Also, would you change the length of nights in any of the cities?
Thanks,
Cindy
It sounds as if you plan to buy the London-Barcelona flight separately from your trans-Atlantic flight. That can be tricky, because it's impossible to know how long to allow at Heathrow before you'll be ready to board another flight. Your inbound flight might be late, for one thing. Others here can perhaps suggest how you might proceed. I've never taken a same-day intra-European flight.
I assume you can get a very decent airfare for the Barcelona-Paris leg buying far in advance, but taking the train wouldn't be too bad an option. The current schedule shows departures at 9:25 AM and 1:20 PM, both taking about 6-1/2 hours, and you wouldn't have to deal with airports. If you purchase tickets when they are initially offered, it appears from current pricing that you might pay as little as 39 euros per person. Last-minute rail tickets can go at least as high as 139 euros.
All three of your cities are great destinations, so I don't think you need be concerned about running out of top-flight things to do in the time you have allotted to each one.
Since you are in London, why not spend a few days there? Then you can take the train to Paris. From Paris the high speed train to Barcelona is 6 1/2 hours. Considering getting to the airport, waiting, flying, it's not a bad choice. Then enjoy Barcelona, fly back to London, overnight, then fly home.
It would make far more sense to purchase open jaw tickets, rather than spending a precious day of your holiday back tracking to London. You could easily spend the entire 2,weeks in London or Paris, so a maximum of 3 destinations is sensible or cut Barcelona. You will lose half a day every time that you move locations.
Bath isn't that interesting for an eight year old compared to London.
Eurostar tickets are available 6 months out for the London - Paris leg. Flights are already available and prices usually only head in one direction, so book as soon as your itinerary is finalised.
Frequently, Americans post on this website with proposed European travel plans and try to do too much on their trips.
Barcelona is nice, but frankly, London, Paris and the surrounding areas of both cities are super.
I suggest dropping the trip to Barcelona. Save it for a trip to Spain, and visit Madrid, Seville and Grenada as well.
You can spend a week in Paris and not see it all. Same with London. While in London, you can visit Cambridge, Canterbury, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Bath, Avebury, Oxford and more.
