Feedback Request for Switzerland/France/UK Itinerary

Hi Emma - Thanks for your reply. We have tickets to one of the Llangollen festival concerts, which is the only reason we are including the UK at all. Manchester is the logical departure point after being in Llangollen. The rest of the UK is just getting to Llangollen, really.

Our standard advice is that you don't need two nights at MSM. You can apply that extra day in whichever section of your trip has flexible timing, whether that's Switzerland, Paris, or England. I don't know whether the ferry schedules run daily or whether you've already bought your TGV tickets - they are on sale now for summer travel and cheapest fares can sell out quickly.

If we do this route, I planned to spend day 9 in Normandy, arrive in MSM in the evening, spending the night and the next day in MSM. The second night at MSM was just to get up early the next day and travel rather than starting out in the evening.

Thanks, Emma. I'm looking at that (although flights look expensive) or reworking it to go Caen to Portsmouth and spend a couple of nights in Bath to do Stonehenge and Bath. Your suggestion sounds appealing.

If we stay in Chester, it sounds like it is best to take the train to Liverpool. What is the best way to get to Conwy Castle and Plas Mawr? Is there good train service or is it better to rent a car? It's looking like taking a short flight from Paris to Manchester and basing in Chester is the best way to handle that part of the trip (thanks for your suggestion!).

Playing with www.skyscanner.com, I see a budget flight from Caen to London Southend airport (with train service into London), operated by Flybe. Paris airports would give you more choices but also more transport connections needed to backtrack to them.

I think you are right. Thanks for all your help!

You have been well advised on the U.K. portion as well as Normandy/MSM. I have to question your decision to include Switzerland at all. You say Geneva is a high priority but you are not even spending time there. Days 1-3 seem like a lot of expense and time that could better be spent either in France or the U.K. Why not fly right into Paris? Save Switzerland for a time you can actually spend a few days or a week (if not more!) in beautiful Switzerland.

Hi Laurel - My daughter desperately wants to include Switzerland, and I don't know when or if she will ever get back there. She will be happy with the 2 days there, and I am willing to sacrifice the first 3 days to make that happen for her. It does take away from Paris, but this is probably the only trip all 4 of us will be able to do together so I want to include it for her. Hopefully she will be able to return later, but I want to do at least those couple of days for her.

"My daughter desperately wants to include Switzerland, and I don't know when or if she will ever get back there."

Per your first post, she's either 18 or 21. So, unless she has some physical illness that will prevent travel later, she will certainly have a chance to go to Switzerland at some point.

If you really want to include Switzerland, then see it properly - and drop part of France. Paris, Normandy, and MSM will also be there for a later trip, if you choose to focus on Switzerland instead. If you even cut two days off of France, that will give you a much better Switzerland experience.

I do understand how painful it is to cut part of a "dream trip." But it's even more painful to have a bad time because of a determination not to miss anything. Given how far apart your destinations are, something's gotta give - or else your trip will be a blur of trains, planes, and automobiles.

I would suggest Chartres for overnight on Day 10, then drive to CDG for an afternoon flight the following day.
Caernarfon and Beaumaris can also be managed on Day 12 with judicious use of time.

Thanks, djp_syd. I'll look into Caernarfon and Beaumaris. I think I'm going to skip Chartres and go the other way around to CDG. I can squeeze in seeing my4x GGF's ancestral village if we drive through Montdidier and stay in Roye (he was born in Montdidier in 1808).

With all of the suggestions, I have to grudgingly acknowledge that we need to drop Switzerland. :/ I really wanted to make that happen, but I know you all are right about the jet lag and planes, trains, & automobiles (no one will ever be able to accuse me of not being optimistic). I switched MSM around because it was the only time I could get an affordable room (although now that I am trying to reserve, the server is down - I hope it's still available).

Thoughts on this arrangement and suggestions for Days 2&3 (a Thur & Fri)? I'm not married to staying in Paris Days 1-6 (a base further out for 2-3 days would be fine), and the activities for those days can be switched around as long as the venue is open.

Day 1 (Paris) - Arrive Paris, spend day recovering & evening exploring

Day 2 (Paris) - ??

Day 3 (Paris) - ??

Day 4 (Paris) - Historic Paris Walk (Rick Steves), Louvre, Twilight tour up La Tour Eiffel

Day 5 (Paris) - Champs Elysées, Arc de Triumph, Orsay Museum (closed Mon), Night cruise of Seine

Day 6 (Paris) - Verseilles or Giverny or wander Paris (need to check dates these are closed)

Day 7 (MSM) - Travel day, Paris to Caen by train & rent a car, drive to MSM

Day 8 (Bayeux) - Drive to Caen in afternoon, see WWII museum & Tapestry in Bayeux (if not time, see tapestry morning of Day 10)

Day 9 (Bayeux) - Omaha or Utah Beach

Day 10 (Roye) - Drive through Montdidier and stay at Roye

Day 11 (Chester) - Drive to CDG am, fly from CDG to Manchester early afternoon

Day 12 (Chester) - Plas Mawr & Conwy Castle (Caernarfon and Beaumaris?)

Day 13 (Chester) - Liverpool by train

Day 14 (Chester) - Explore Chester/free day to fill in with we something find in the area

Day 15 (Chester) - Llangollen, festival concert

Day 16 (Manchester) - Travel day, drive to Manchester

Day 17 - Fly out of Manchester

Looks good to me. I would stay in Paris for five nights. So much to see and it will be less stressful. You could do Chartres as a day trip. And don't miss Sainte-Chapelle. It's my favorite thing in Paris.

Seems like a great new plan! If you are going to have 6 nights in Paris -- and after having spent a total of 10 there ourselves we still have not seen all we'd like to see or done all we'd like to do -- I would suggest a money-saving apartment since you are four. We've taken to preparing a couple of dinners in when we are somewhere for 5 to 7 nights and in an apartment and it save oddles of Euros.

I also just discovered Good Morning Paris, a site for B&Bs, where I found a surprisingly affordable Parisian B&B for a short stay we have there this fall.

Emma - I planned to take the train from Manchester Airport to Chester - any idea how much a mini-cab would cost? We are staying within the city walls in Chester and although we'll need a car to get to Llangollen & the castles, I planned to take the train to Liverpool. The order of the items in Chester isn't important, so you are right about rearranging the days. I did want to save the free day to explore Chester for Day 14 in case we see something on the previous days that we want to add. So I'll probably move Liverpool to Day 12 so that I can wait to rent a car until day 13 or 14. I 'm sure about the timing of the flight out of Manchester, so until I know I didn't want to play to drive in that morning on the last day. An overnight flight the night before was something I was considering, but it doesn't look like any are available.

Laurel, I am planning on looking at apts. in Paris - I used AirBNB on a genealogy trip to New Orleans last year and it worked out really well. With 4 of us, I think it would be much more comfortable and like you said, it will give us the option to eat in some meals. I'll check out Good Morning Paris, thanks.

Carroll, thanks for the reminder about Sainte-Chapelle.

Right now multi-city flights (IAD -> Paris, MAN ->IAD) are between $1100-1300 each for Jun/Jul. Any thoughts on whether I should go ahead and reserve or wait? I have no idea what to expect the prices to do. (Should I start a different thread for that?)

Hello vatraveler -

This looks like an awesome itinerary. One small thing though. You start out with Geneva to Montreux. You mention spending the night, then catching a chocolate train. You don't say anything at all about visiting the Chateau Chillon. In my opinion, this castle is the best reason to go to Montreux. (See Lord Byron's "The prisoner of Chillon.) it is just east of the city and will only take about 90 minutes to tour. Do yourself a favor and at least consider this activity.

Are you picking up a hire car on arrival at Manchester Airport?
There are a number of spectacular historic houses in the Peak Disctrict you can visit. The standout of course is Chatsworth House, but also consider Kedleston Hall, Haddon Hall, Lyme Park and Hardwick Estate. Perhaps an overnight near Bakewell on Day 16 instead of in Manchester City, then drop your car directly at Manchester Airport before flying out the following day.
The potteries, such as Wedgewood, offer visitor tours from their bases near Stoke-on-Trent.