Hey there fellow beautiful humans of the world-
I will be traveling with my girlfriend through Europe from June 28th to July 16th of 2017- we were curious if you had any suggestions on things to book/reserve now (3 or 4 months in advance).
This is our itinerary:
London - June 28th -July 2nd
Paris - July 3rd - July 6th
Bruges - July 7th - July 8th
Antwerp - July 9th
Amsterdam - July 10th - July 13th
Copenhagen - July 14- July 16th
Thanks for all your help!
Zach and Sage
Can I assume you have your airline tickets? Always the first thing I do. Now the trip has bookends. Next hotels, so I know where I'll be. Then trains, because I know where I have to get to.
Haha thanks Sam
We've booked all flights, trains and hotels (with the exception of Copenhagen hotels). But completely agree with you, always good to start with a strong foundation
Thanks for the reply!
Assume you have also read several good guidebooks and reviewed travel DVDs for the areas you are visiting. The Rick Steves' DVDs are very good but there are others. Often the prime attractions in each city should be booked in advance but that can force you into a fixed schedule.
For London theatre, if you want to see a show with a famous star, book ahead.
For London, if you want to get the free view at the "Walkie Talkie Building" Sky Garden, book ahead. https://skygarden.london/booking
For Paris, if you want advance tickets to the Eiffel Tower, these are reported to sell out within minutes of going on sale online. http://www.toureiffel.paris/en/preparing-your-visit/buying-your-tickets.html
For Paris, if you're going to Versailles, you may want to book a King's Apartments tour, as these bypass the long security lines. http://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/palace/king-private-apartments
If you are going to Versailles, will not be taking the King's Apartment tour, and will not have a Museum Pass, you will definitely want to get advance tickets online for the main palace, to bypass the ticket buyers lines (you'll still have to wait in the security lines, though). http://en.chateauversailles.fr/plan-your-visit/tickets-and-prices?public=10&visite-tid=1
For Paris, if you are not getting the Museum Pass, you may want to get advance tickets to the Louvre http://www.louvre.fr/en/buy-tickets or Musee D'Orsay http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/visit/admission/ticket-purchase.html.
For Amsterdam, it can be very difficult to get advance tickets to the Anne Frank House, and there are long lines for non-ticket holders (only admitted now in the afternoons). Look into the latest policies. http://www.annefrank.org/en/Museum/Practical-information/Online-ticket-sales/
For Amsterdam, if you're not going to get some kind of pass, you may want to book online advance tickets to the Van Gogh Museum https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/plan-your-visit/ticket-prices or Rijksmuseum https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/tickets to avoid the frequently huge lines.
Other than that, I can't think of any sights that require advance booking, but do look at Rick's listings for each place to be sure (he's pretty good at flagging these).
My process is similar to Sam's except in most cases I already have a pretty good idea of places I want to go to and what I want to see. That's why I'm going in the first place.
About the first things I do is pick places I want to go to and go to the town website and look for acceptable accommodations. I make a listing of these accommodations on a spreadsheet with links to their websites and email.
Next I make sure the public transportation between venues works. Then I make flight reservations based on where I want to start and end.
For my next planned trip, I originally was going to start in the Allgäu, then go the the Spessart, then to the Middle Rhein. It made sense to fly into Munich and out of Frankfurt. However, I couldn't find flights I liked to Munich, so I changed my itinerary to into FRA, then the Spessart, then the Allgäu, then the Rhein, and out of FRA.
Once I have my flights, I pull the trigger on accommodations. Only rarely has it taken me more than a few days to get room reservations. In 2008, I wanted to stay in Cochem. I started writing well in advance, but everyone said they were booked. I ended up finding accommodations in a small town a few train stops from Cochem. When I got to Cochem, there were "Zimmer Frei" signs all over town. It was a festival (Federweiss) weekend, and I wanted a room for one person. Most places had only double rooms. I think hosts were just reluctant to commit a double room for one person so early when they might rent it for two.
Anyway, the last thing I do is book any train tickets that require advance booking. For the most part, I use local tickets or regional passes that I can buy as I go.
