4 Days in Europe

PARIS! You can go " downtown " to " downtown" on the Eurostar, takes 2 hours 40 minutes. Then you are right in Paris where there is enough to keep anyone busy for weeks, but in four days you can still see lots. The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Musee D'Orsay, the Louvre, Arc De Triomphe, Champs Elysees, the cafes, the restaurants, the Seine, you won't regret it! And as I said it is so simple. Purchase the Eurostar tickets ahead of time, the sooner the better as you can get deals, try to travel on a tues , weds, or thurs for cheapest tickets, and not rush hours. Play with the site a bit and get different prices. Pick up tickets there, don't have them mailed, costs more and not ness. Use your London Hotel as your address, if you put USA it ( the program) sends you to the RailEurope site which often is higher prices. I purchansed online for pick up and was a bit nervous, just having a printed confirmation, but no ticket, but it worked out just fine.
Good luck.

I second Paris - quick and easy to get there from London, tons of things to do indoors if the weather is bad.

Hi HB,
Nearly everyone would say PARIS! ... copy and paste the following into your Internet address box ... these are a few of the reasons . . .

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/08/10_insanely_del.html

bon voyage ... P.

You didn't mention whether you have to fly back home out of London, or if you can fly out of another city. You might think about hopping a one-way flight to Barcelona, a really fun city where the temperatures in November (according to www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com) are in the high 50s or low 60s Fahrenheit, and it's not typically rainy. It'd be about a two-hour flight. I just checked the British Airways website and found a one-way flight from London to Barcelona on Nov. 17th for 29.50 pounds! Some deal!

You'd either have to fly back from Barcelona to London or arrange to fly back home from Barcelona, which might get expensive.

Paris is a great idea too -- very convenient and plenty of inside activities to keep you busy. Of course, it all depends on what you like to do.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the replies.
I have to fly out of London. What about places in switzerland. I am not a skier but would like to see some mountains & good scenery. Being from Chicago, i would'nt mind a little cold weather as long as it does'nt get wet & rainy.

Would any place in switzerland be an option?

--HB

You can get a round-trip flight from London to Zurich for less than 100 pounds. Then you could take a train to a smaller city or town in the Alps, if that's what you're looking for.

If the weather in Switzerland is like last year was, most areas were gray and rainy through November. Wasn't much snow. Went down to go skiing and stayed at the hotel bar. Don't mean to discourage you with that, because I am going back again over Thanksgiving to try again, but just a warning. My suggestion, besides agreeing with everyone about going to Paris, is to get on ryanair.com and just throw a dart. You can fly from London Stansted (Stansted Express runs from Liverpool station) to almost anywhere in Europe for dirt cheap (i.e. Venice, Rome, Salzburg, Barcelona, Dublin). In some cases, 20-40 dollars to fly. Options are endless.

I can NOT second Paris. We had a miserable time on our one visit. I strongly recommend Scotland or Wales. Get a BritRail pass. Take the train up to York then Edinburgh or Inverness. Marvelous in the fall. Or take the train to Cardiff. Maybe do a day in Swansea. Or go to the Snowdonia area- absolutely beautiful and rual. If you really want to go to the contient- Go to Austria. You can get good flights to Vienna from Heathrow. Vienna, Salzburg or Innsbruck - all are wonderfull

I agree with those that are suggesting Paris, but if you don't like that idea, then how about Barcelona or Madrid. Cheap flights are available through Ryanair and Easy Jet to Spain. Madrid has great art museums and the National Palace which you can visit should it rain. And weather in Barcelona is moderate in winter.

I completely agree with everyone on the Paris suggestion... It's easy to get to by train and is very different than London. You would have a fabulous time and see a lot of amazing things. Switzerland would be hard to do in four days - save that for a longer trip. Another suggestion would be Rome. You could see all the major sights and soak up some of the Roman culture, not to mention food in 4 days. There are flights on BA and easyJet. I'm sure no matter where you pick, it will be great!

Cool. Paris seems to be the unanimous choice.
Ticket's from luton to paris are for about $80 pp & seems to be much cheaper than the train.

What's a good location to stay that's central to the main attractions, The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Musee D'Orsay, the Louvre, Arc De Triomphe & such?

Do you guys think i could find a hotel for under $100/night in those areas? Any Suggestions?

I've been asking a lot. Thanks for all the help.

Before you book your plane tickets, figure in the time and cost of getting to and from each airport for each flight. Sometimes the more expensive train ticket saves time and the cost is comparable. Check Rick's Paris book for his sleeping recommendations. You should be able to find something in a good neighborhood close to your budget.

Yes, be careful, Eurostar is city center to city center, your flights are NOT! I think if you figure in extra transport costs and time( you MUST be at airports earlier then at the Eurstar) you may find for a four day trip you will be wasting too much time on transport.

PS. You do realize Paris could be cool and rainy at that time of year also, , I mean , come on, it is November and you do realize that unless you travel quite a bit south you will encounter the same sort of late fall early winter weather in most western cities that are in the same climate lattitude as the American ones. Right?
You would find a lot to do in Paris that would take your mind off the weather though!

I LOVED Switerland, but it deserves more then three and a half days,, make it another trip.

I agree with Julie and Pat. The train to Paris is so much better than the flight. It is much faster (when you take into account getting to airport and going through security). And like prior posters said, you go city center to city center. Make sure to use the U.S. website www.raileurope.com to buy your eurostar ticket as the eurostar website is usually more expensive. I would always choose the train to Paris over the flight ... even if it cost more.

I vote for paris. A lot to see in 4 days.
Or Rome.Rome is a great walk.
Paris has an wonderful subway system you can use to move around. Get a weekly pass, it will save you a lot of money.

Since we are not too much into museums, we'd rather see some great architecture & some countryside, would rome be a better choice than paris?

What would be a good quaint country place for a one day visit from Rome?

Thanks.

I haven't been to Rome, but I still think that Paris is the place to go. There are so many great architectural things to see in Paris, and there is a country side close; you could daytrip to a chateau such as Chantilly or Fountainebleu to see some countryside that's close to the city. I think some of the architectural highlights (as a non-expert) include the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower of course, Sainte-Chapelle, any of the cathedrals really, the Pompidou Center, the Opera House, the original metro stops(such as the Cite stop)...plus, I found the Hausmann restructuring very interesting. Although there are some neat museums in Paris, you don't have to "be into museums" to enjoy Paris.