We are group of four and wish to spend 7 days in Paris with side trip to London and Amsterdam by train. We'll then take an overnight train to Venice and spend two days. Then catch a train to Rome and spend 5 days. I don't think this is too hectic of a schedule. What do you think?
Posted by
roswell, ga, usa
1501 posts
I'd skip the side trips to London and Amsterdam, and enjoy Paris and the surrounding area. The rest of your trip sounds fine. That's just my opinion. You can easily be entertained for a full 5 days in Paris or even more, and take a train to Normandy and enjoy that, or take a day-trip to Versailles or somewhere else. Are you renting an apartment in Paris? That would be my advice. There are many day trips you can easily do from Paris by train, and you'll definitely cut your expenses by basing yourself in Paris and doing side trips. Two days in Venice is adequate in my opinion, and five days in Rome would be very nice.
Posted by
Seattle, Wa, USA
663 posts
London as a day trip? You could easily spend a week there and wish you had more time. I don't know what you'd do there for one day that would make the expense of crossing the English Channel worth the time and money. Better to start your vacay in London (at least 4 days), then to Paris, Venice, and Rome. Again, Venice is a bit of an outlier for a measly 2 days. With only 2 weeks, perhaps you should just stick with London, Paris, and Rome? And then a cheap flight between Paris and Rome would be most ideal.
Posted by
Imperial, Missouri
1004 posts
The part that sounds hectic to me is London and Amsterdam as a side trip. I am assuming you mean as a day trip? Those cities are too much to really see in a day trip, and especially Amsterdam is too far for me for a day trip. I would also skip them on this trip and just do closer side trips in the areas around Paris. The Italian part of the trip sounds good.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
If you don't mind the expense of getting to London or Amsterdam as day trips from Paris, and you don't mind that you will be very limited in what you can see in a single day in these cities, you can certainly do this. But unless you just want to see a few things in each place, I think you will do better to choose places closer to Paris (and cheaper to get to) for your days away, or else restructuring your trip to start in London or Amsterdam for a few days, before going to Paris.
If you do want to see London or Amsterdam as day trips, it is imperative that you book your trains as soon as possible. These trains start out reasonably priced for advance purchase, non-refundable, non-exchangeable tickets. But the prices go WAY up closer to travel. Actually, that's true of all your trains, but particularly for a day trip, you probably don't want to spend hundreds of dollars, per person, each way (not an exaggeration for last minute tickets on these routes).
Trains between Paris and London: http://www.eurostar.com/
Trains between Paris and Amsterdam: http://www.thalys.com
Also, while Rick likes night trains, opinion here is very divided. Some like them, others say "never again." If you don't sleep well on the night train (and you won't know until you try it), you arrive tired, unwashed, and cranky. Consider flights, which you can find on Skyscanner: http://www.skyscanner.com/