My husband and I are traveling to Frankfurt to visit family that are nearing their end of a 2 year stay in Germany. We will be arriving on Friday April the 27th and returning Tuesday May 8th. We will do some local and regional day trips with the family but want to branch out on our own for a few days - they have young children and work obligations. My husband has never been to Europe, and isn't big on museums and art. He prefers beer and sports. Our interests in travel don't exactly match. When asked where in Europe he would like to go his only answer is London. I think that is mainly because they speak English and he don't know much else about Europe. I, on the other hand, went to Europe when I was younger and would love to return to Paris. We also need to be very economical about this trip - it appears that Ryan Air would be cheaper than the train for some trips but then I know the airports are often outside the city and that causes more transportation issues. I also love the idea of train travel but don't know if a Rail Pass is the best way to go. I'm interested in Amsterdam, Salzberg, Brugge, and any where in France or Italy. But I do know that I need to narrow down to just a few areas and not try to do to much! I'll appreciate any advice you guys have to offer!
Jennifer
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19275 posts
You want to get familiar with the German Rail (Bahn) website. If you book soon, you can get discount tickets to many places in Germany as well as outside of Germany as long as it's at the end of one train that starts in Germany. Right now I can see a ticket from Frankfurt Hbf to Paris by ICE in less than 4 hours for €49/p. These discounted ticket can be purchase 92 days in advance, so that's right in your time frame. The longer you wait, the more likely the lowest tier of tickets sell out, and the next ticket will cost more. Frankfurt to Paris by RyanAir would really be a pain. The airport RyanAir calls "Frankfurt" Hahn is hours away from Frankfurt and you can only get there by bus. Then the flight goes to Beauvais, which is an hour out of Paris, also only by bus.
Posted by
Honolulu/Seattle, HI/WA, USA
2787 posts
You arrive on the 27th and leave on the 8th, a total of 11 days minus the 27th - jet lag, getting settled, etc. and minus the 8th - packing to leave and transport to airport - basically leaving 9 full days for exploring. You could spend several days just in Frankfurt sightseeing and visiting your family. That might leave 6 remaining days. If you choose to go to Amsterdam, Brugge, Paris or Italy, you will loose most of a day in traveling back and forth. I would reduce your itinerary and only visit places close by so that you don't come home trying to remember just what you saw so fast. Remember, you can always come back. Do you have any RS Guide Books yet? If so, good. If not, you should get one for Germany and wherever else you pick to see in case you decide to go to only one other place for a couple of days.
You might also want to get his "Europe thru the Back Door" book as it has lots of good information for "not-frequent" travelers to Europe.