I'm planning my family's first trip to Europe visiting London, Paris, with a couple of days trip outside city. We will travel from July 11th to July 26th. I've been reading a lot of forums and the big lesson seems to be - avoid trying to cram too many things in. There is so much too see! We are a very active family (two athletic teens) and plan on spending lots of time walking and taking trains for transport. Beyond London and Paris I'd like to take a few days exploring the Alsace area (Colmar) or debating going into Swiss Alps Berner Oberland or some other area. While I think everyone would enjoy the hiking and it would be wonderful to end our trip out of the city in nature, I think a few days in Switzerland adds too much train time. Here is the itinerary. Would love your recommendations especially for hiking outside city that fits into the schedule.
July 11 - Air Travel: Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, London
July 12-16 - London
July 17 - Train Travel: London to Paris
July 18-21 - Paris
July 22 - Train Travel: Paris to Colmar (2 hrs)
July 23-24 Colmar and Alsace region
July 25 Train Travel: Colmar to Paris (2 hrs)
July 26 Air Travel: Paris to Seattle, WA, to Portland, OR
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15784 posts
Unless you have an early flight home and are planning to stay at an airport hotel on the 25th, consider going from London to Alsace and spending your last days in Paris to save a hotel change. EasyJet has cheap flights from London Gatwick to Strasbourg. Or you could take Eurostar to Paris/Gare du Nord and then the TGV from Gare de l'Est. It's about a 10 minute walk between train stations. There aren't very many trains direct to Colmar, you could go to Strasbourg and then to Colmar by local train, either right away or after spending a few hours in Strasbourg (there are luggage lockers in the train station). While it's possible to visit Alsace by bus, it may be time-consuming. Consider renting a car in Strasbourg and staying in one of the small towns, in a B&B instead of the big city of Colmar. The roads are good and driving isn't difficult. You won't be tied to bus schedules or limited to bus routes. If you want to stay in a B&B, try to book as soon as possible. The bargains (and they definitely are) go quickly.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11776 posts
I like Chani's idea of going right to Colmar 6+ hours in train from London, then back to Paris. So you itinerary would look like this:
July 12 - arrive London, 5 nights
July 17 - EuroStar to Paris/change trains to Colmar or Strasbourg. See SNCF.com for planning. Buy EuroStar tickets as soon as sales are open for the best price. 3 nights
July 20 - Train to Paris, 6 nights, in a row, no changing :-)
You could go to the Berner-Oberland on July 17, It is a 9+ hour train trip. That also makes July 20 a long train day, but doable.
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
TGV9225 departs Paris at 18:23, arrives in Interlaken at 23:53. A journey time of 5hr 30min.
Lunch in Paris, dinner on the train and breakfast in Interlaken ready to face the Alps.
5 nights London
5 nights Paris
4 nights Interlaken/Berner Oberland
Zurich Airport is 2hr 16min by train from Interlaken via Bern
Posted by
washington, dc
395 posts
if you decide to add Switzerland, you could fly London-Basel for $50+ bag fee. Then continue after SW to Colmar. Based upon RS advice, we took our teens to Wegen via train and stayed/ate at Baeren hotel. Very fun train ride, esp. the end with a cog wheel train. A Swiss transfer ticket would cover all of your SW travel to/from. Teens under 16 are free. Wegen is a great town to base for hiking. Everyone loved it. FWIW, we are doing Paris, Colmar, fly out of ZRH in July with active teens also (the week prior to you). We are planning to walk/bus/bike to Equisheim (3.5 miles) from Colmar. We are also going to Haut Koeningberg and Requewhir, but will have a car. You might consider renting a car in Colmar and then dropping outside of Paris. Marne le Vallee (Chessy) France is the Disney Paris train stop. It is well outside of Paris. Avis and Hertz have rental there. You can drop and then take a local commuter train into Paris. With a car, on the way from Colmar are Meaux (WWI museum), Reims (cathedral/WWII surrender room), Verdun (WWI battlefield), Nancy---just to add to the mix of possibilities. But, as a 1st trip, I understand wanting to stick to the trains, which you can easily do via Basel. I always try to go in one direction and not backtrack to see more areas. I assume you already have plane tickets. If not, then just reverse and do London-Paris-Colmar-SW, and fly out of Zurich.