London-Paris-Switzerland-London?

1- I'd limit it to 1 or 2 places- don't add a third. You only increase your costs and loose time to travel. 2- If you do decide to include Paris, you WILL want to purchase the tickets for the Eurostar well ahead of time. The discount tickets go on sale about 12 weeks ahead of travel dates. Walk up prices are very expensive. 3- If you do decide to add a third country a EuroRail pass will probably NOT be cost effective. The one place I'd consider adding would be Amsterdam or Brussels as the Eruostar goes there and you could possilbly get deals. If you should find the pass would work you MUST purchase it here before you go. 4- Check out Citadiens (http://www.citadines.com/). They have multiple locations in central London. They may also have locations in Paris. You could also check out university accomodations. London School of Economics rents spare dorm rooms and apartments to tourists (http://www.lsetopfloor.co.uk/). Just be careful which internet browser you use as some always show everything booked - just call or email if that happens. They also have multiple central locations.
5- If you do multiple locations, plan to fly home from your last destination. Do fare searches on multi-city (sometimes called open jaw). Now- my personal preferences- I'd stay in London and the UK. But that's just me. If you are interested, I wrote an article a few years ago about doing day trips by train from London. Private message me with your email and I'll send you a copy.

With 2.5 weeks, you have plenty of time for 3 places. 1) The logical places to add on would be somewhere that is a short distance by train which includes the Netherlands and Belgium. Your third place could really be anywhere in Europe ... even somewhere you can get to on a cheap flight like Venice or Rome. A couple of years ago I did a short trip Bruges - Amsterdam - London on a 10 day trip which was a nice circuit. You could add Paris to that. But if you want to go to Switzerland, that is quite doable. Zurich would not be my first choice in Switzerland though. 2) Between London and Paris, I'd suggest using the Eurostar. You should defininitely buy your Eurostar ticket as soon as you firm up your plans. Tickets go on sale 120 days out and the price just goes up as you get closer to the date. I would not necessarily buy a R/T. If you go to 3 places, you don't necessarily want to circle back through Paris to get to London. For example, London, train to Paris, train to Switzerland, fly back to London. Or London, fly to Switzerland, train to Paris, train back to London. It sounds like you have already bought a R/T ticket to London. If you have not, then fly home from your 3rd city. 3) A Eurail pass would likely not be economical for 3 places. Individual tickets are probably more cost effective. 4) In Paris, I've rented twice from vacationinparis.com and they were quite easy to work with. 5) I would probably fly Switzerland to London if you can find a reasonably priced flight. I always recommend to people that they arrive in London at least the day before their return flight home and spend their last night there when they have a R/T rather than an open jaws ticket.

Toni, as always, has good suggestions. I'll open on 2. Yes. and 3. Probably not. If you plan ahead you can get very cheap fares, almost certainly cheaper than passes. If flexibility is more important than savings, go with the pass. BTW - its Eurail not EuroRail. Euro is the money. 4. Not suggesting them because we only stayed one night in Brussels. I do, though, know that Citadines are also in Paris. They have 16 locations. 5. I agree open jaw.

I will speak up for Switzerland. I think you would all enjoy it, and it adds a different dimension to you rtrip which would otherwise be very big-city oriented. Instead of Zurich, head to Luzern. It is only 4.5 hours from Paris on the TGV (via Basel). It is a lovely little city on a beautiful mountain lake, rimmed on several sides by mountains. You can see the sights in the city as well as take boat rides and cogwheel trains or cablecars up the nearby mountains (Rigi or Pilatus). Luzern and nearby Rigi were visited by Mark Twain and his account of his time there in "A Tramp Abroad" is hilarious. Definitely get your London-Paris Eurostar tickets EARLY. There are youth fares for the girls. And BTW, your 12-year-old will travel for free in Switzerland if one or both parents get some kind of pass (Swiss Pass, Flex Pass, Half-Fare card, etc.) There is also a Youth price for the Swiss pas for your older daughter. I second the nomination of VacationinParis for apartments there. We spent 5 nights in the 1-bdr. Eiffel Hideaway with our teen daughters and wee very happy (and comfortable). They have lots of others from which to choose.

With 2.5 weeks I'd certainly take in a 3rd country if my budget could swing it...and I'm with Lola, Luzerne is a beautiful city, and doing something like the Golden Round Trip( search Mount Pilatus Golden Round Trip) while there is a great way to spend a day. Like others have mentioned, a Eurail pass may not be as cost effective as purchasing point to point tickets( at least based on your schedule and potential train usage), but if you choose the Eurail pass option, I'm pretty sure you would have to purchase the pass prior to departing North America. Another option you could possibly consider is go from London to Amsterdam via Stena Lines Rail and Sail package http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferry/rail-and-sail/holland , then train to Paris and Eurostar from Paris back to London...

Thank you all! These tips are so very helpful...I'm so happy I got into this site. I'm trying to see if I can get my AA Frequent Flyer miles to do an open jaw and go in via London and return via Paris, or vice versa.... that'll save us some money as we don't have to buy the two-way Eurostar tickets for four. Thanks again! I will probably be posting more questions as the trip firms up.

In my opinion no European vacation is complete without visiting Switzerland! High speed trains link Paris to both Geneva and Basel. If purchased in advance, really good fares can be had on that train. I just traveled Geneva-Paris-Geneva last year for 25 Chf each way. Switzerland is an expensive place, but if you head to the Interlaken area and go on up into the high Alpine villages you'll find amazing scenery and afforable housing can be had. Look at the Chalet Fontana in Mürren or the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald. Zurich is an ok place to visit - put you will have already spent some time in large cities like London and Paris. Give yourselves a dramatically different perspective on Europe by visiting these wonderful little Swiss villages. The train ride is well worth it. Your 12 year old will travel free with in all of Switzerland and the 19 year old will qualify for youth price tickets. Do not buy Eurail Passes. I would probably fly back from Switzerland to London via Geneva or Basel. You can get some really good airfares on EasyJet.

Yep, in my opinion Switzerland would be very high on the list of places to experience, and while I like the Netherlands, if you're debating a 3rd country Switz would be my recommendation as well. And while Luzerne is closer for you, if you can manage it( from a travel time and budget perspective) the Berner Oberland is without a doubt one of those iconic "postcard Europe" places that you should not miss, and would not regret.

If you haven't got the tickets yet, and you are considering Switzerland, then why not just commit to that and fly open jaw into London and out of Zurich?

We did this trip two years ago and loved it. Spent a week in Paris to start off with and then took the train both ways to Murren, Switzerland and back, mainly to enjoy the beautiful view. I'm not going to tell you it isn't a long ride because it is but we found it was worth it. I think taking the early trains helped. We finished in London. We only spent three days in Murren and the budget did moan a bit but only because we also made trips to Montrose and Bern. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

I totally agree about Switzerland murren wengen lauterbrunnen area we will be going in June and are so excited. It looks so beautiful and we found very reasonable lodging in Lauterbrunnen and plan to do day trips to murren and wengen
We did not even know about open jaw tickets so have to return to London but I think the ride to from should be lovely and all part of the experience

Oh and we have rented apts for all the places we are going and have stayed within a budget of 100 per night through vacation by owner and airnib

Again, thanks so much for all of the replies - keep them coming! So far our itinerary looks like this: Houston to London LHR on June 12 for 6 nights; then we take the EurStar to Paris on the 18th (my BD!) and stay there for 6 more nights, and finally we get the last 3 nights in Lucerne, Switzerland, leaving out of Zurich back to the States on June 27th, which is my husband's BD. The bad news is that he will be spending it on a plane and traveling for over 24 hours given the many stops we get on the way back... :o</p> Any good recommendations for our stay at Lucerne? I think I have enough information to rent good apartments in London and Paris thanks to all of your great advice. Kind Regards, Alina

Alina, Luzern is expensive but Swiss hospitality standards are high. I see only one place listed on VRBO and they say by the week, but you might inquire about a shorter stay. For hotels, the trick is to find a place with quad rooms. I used the search function on Venere.com to find places with quad rooms available for 3 nights in June on your dates. Here are the results, with the price (3 nights) and customer ratings: Hotel Bellevue, 9.1, $885 for 3 nights Falken, 6.1, $892 Balm Meggen, 8.8, $918 Baslertor Poolhotel, 7.2, $901 The only one I would consider is Hotel Bellevue. It looks really sweet, highly regarded, and is right on the lake (with views). It is about 10 minutes out of downtown but right on a busstop. If you want to be right in th edowntown (Oldtown or near the train station), then I think you will need 2 rooms. Or you could ask a place with triples (like Waldstaetterhof) if they will add a bed to a triple, but that would be really crowded. For two doubles, the best-priced place downtown is probably Hotel des Alpes. You could also consider staying in one of the towns on the lake (Weggis or Viztnau), reached by boat from Luzern, or up on Rigi. There are several family-friendly hotels at Rigi Kaltbad. Views from there are gorgeous. We stayed up there once and loved it.

Another thing to consider would be addiing a couple of hours to your trip from Paris and going to Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, or Mürren. Lodging is less expensive in the mountain villages, and as for scenery, it is unbeatable. Here are some chalet apartments I found on the search engine for 3 nights in late June, for 4 people: In Grindelwald: Engi, 360 CHF for 3 nights; Kirchbühl, 891 CHF; Mettenberg, 285 CHF; In Lauterbrunnen: Nussbaumer, 435 CHF; Knöpfel, 390 CHF. All prices are for the 3 nights. There were lots more. Also lots of listings on Homeaway.com, like this one in lauterbrunnen: http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/Switzerland/holiday-apartment-Lauterbrunnen/p63573.htm