Where to go in Europe - suggestions please
 

Hi,

We have been to London, Prague, Amsterdam and Munich before and are taking 2.5 days in between the upcoming Xbiz and WA shows (London and Amsterdam) to go somewhere ale that is not far from either. Is Paris the way to go or what do you all suggest?

Thanks, Mitch

Maybe Brussels and Paris.

Rent a car in Amsterdam, drive to Brussels (less than 3 hrs) spend half a day and night there and drive to Paris the next morning (takes another 3 hours).

Or take the hi-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris directly.

There is also a train from London to Paris, so you could also take the train from London to Paris and then from Paris to Amsterdam two days later.

Thanks - I am interested in taking a train London to Paris and then from Paris to Amsterdam two days later. Is it a high speed train? Is there alot to see along the way? Where do I get train info to do so?

Thanks, Mitch

you obviously want to go to the paris catacombshttp://i.imgur.com/wmvGk.jpg

What Konda said is good advice. I think it was Waterloo to Paris and not sure about Paris to Amsterdam, Google it. Yes High speed train, nothing much to see unless you like fields.

If you are with a GF/wife with you, and have 2 days go to Brugges, Belgium.
I have heard so much abt the place for many yrs, finally went last year, exceeded already high expectations. Very charming place, a perfect relaxing rest stop between London and AMS. I then took the train to AMS through Antwerp, it was very easy.

And, more importantly, it has one of the best beer bars in the world called "'t Brugs Beertje".
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/964/?view=beerfly

I'm on my mobile now, will post links later.

Eurostar has a direct train from London to Paris, takes about 2hrs. Goes trough the tunnel between UK and France.

NS Highspeed has Paris to Amsterdam. I think it takes less than 3hr.

Not much to see scenery wise, but much more convenient (and cheaper and faster) than having to deal with airports, especially the airport in Paris is the worst.

Edit, links:
http://www.eurostar.com/ for London to Paris
http://www.nshispeed.nl/en/travel-wi...route-thalys-1 for Paris to Amsterdam

Both also have luxury classes ("business class") available

All excellent advice. Keep the ideas coming!

You could visit Berlin in Germany or Zurich in Switzerland.

What area shall we stay for our 2 days in Paris? Hotel recommendations?

Can we take a train from paris to Brugges and then to Amsterdam in a day and see a good amount?

I love Brussels, gets ignored a bit but it's a great city.

The Amsterdam-Paris train is a bit boring as the scenery is flat as fuck, but the quickest way to get down there.

I think Brugges is on a sub line, you cant get direct Amsterdam-Brugges. it was a few years ago but I remember alot of waiting about at stations.

Wondering...?

Yes, Brugges is small.
Brugges to Amsterdam on the train was a breeze, it took maybe 3 hrs or something.

But if you only have 2 days and are deadset on going to Paris, stay there.
Keep in mind The Louvre alone will probably take 2 days to walk and see every exhibit.
I would not go to Paris myself because I think 2 days really isnt long enough to see everything.

It all depends on what you want to do during those 2 days off, run around a big city or just relax and chill. The other thing that's good about Belgium is everyone speaks english, in France not so much obviously.

I have never been to Paris so want to see it even for a couple of days. With the time limit we have, maybe we will save Belgium for next time and take the train from Paris to Ams.

I would say Paris if you have never been, plus getting there from london is pretty easy :)

Mitch, last December I drove from Germany through Belgium to Paris and we were planning on one day in Brügge - we stayed 3 days - even for a European it is one of the most beautiful places and the drive to Paris was great as well - so the other way around - Paris to Brügge will be just as nice.

Reims - not far from Paris is beautiful as well and you get a lot of Champagne there :)

Since everything is really short distance (for an American :) ) you can do a lot in 2.5 days!

Brilliant advice. Thanks for sharing.

An expert on travel now too!

Mitch, seat61.com is the very best train information site there is.

I took the train last year from London to Paris after the XBiz show. I spent less time traveling by train than I would have by air because you don't have to check your bags and be there hours earlier. It was way comfortable, lots of leg room, really nice change of travel.

Totally suggest it. Nadya met me there and took the train from Amsterdam, while it has one stop it was quick, it was a total of three hours travel time or so.

Excellent food and Dom. :)

http://www.shangri-la.com/paris/shangrila

Lisbon! :thumbsup

Berlin, awesome city.
Copenhagen too :)

While in Paris be extra careful with cabbies and STAY away from Pigale.

:thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup:thum bsup

+1 for Brugge, very nice place with some real good restaurants if you go off the tourists streets :thumbsup

Beautiful City, you guys must check it out! :thumbsup

Belgium has a couple of lovely cities that are worth checking out!

+1 :thumbsup

Awesome and thanks for the email earlier as well!

Thanks Damian! I will check that out.

Dublin . . .

For hotels in Paris, there are so many choices.
Hotel rooms in Paris are usually fairly small. There are a lot of nice boutique hotels.

The Shang is really nice (views of the Eifel tower), but also pricy.

Last time I was in Paris I stayed in the Intercontinental at the Opera which was pretty nice.

Since it's your first time and you only have 2 days stay anywhere close to the Champs Elysées or Opera. You can do a lot by foot and there is a pretty good subway net to go around as well.

Go see:
Champs Elysées / Arc de Triomf / Louvre (all in walking distance of each other)
Eifel Tower
Sacré Coeur / Montmartre (very nice to walk around)

If you have time: Catacombs, Notre Dame

Versailles is also really nice, but it takes quite some time and is not in the center, so you have to go their by train (40 mins I think).

I didn't go inside the Louvre, but just walking around in the parcs and around it etc is already really nice.

If you want to try some really nice French gastronomic food try the restaurant in the Shangri-la (L'abeille), I went there last time and it was awesome. very expensive (I think our bill was like $600+ for 2 persons), but it's a nice experience if you're into that.
There are also plenty of other Michelin Star gastronomic French restaurants, but I can really recommend the one in the Shang.

When in Paris use the Metro, not cabs. To me being in the Metro is very interesting. Buy tickets by the 10 ("carnet") not singles. Even if you don't use them all it'll still be cheaper.

Do try not to look too much like a tourist (e.g. spending too long reading the map on the wall) though, to avoid the pickpockets. Have a Metro map in your pocket, it's ok, even French people do. Not like London Underground where the locals pride themselves in having memorized the entire system!

Yes there are even guys playing Piano accordion in the trains for tips, I thought it was only in movies, but no it is real.

Big tip for the Louvre - the queue you see at ground level is the queue to get into the ticket hall (via the pyramid), it isn't the queue to get into the museum. You can skip the queue by going down the escalator at the side into the museum shop then through the shop into the ticket hall. Now you have the real queue for tickets.

<date-warning> all data years old, sadly long time since I've been to Paris </date-warning>

was there few weeks ago, the line up is between 2-3hrs unless you're a celeb :2 cents:
however, the line might not be as long in late Sept/Oct

I've been to Paris a few times, I'm probably the only person on the planet that is not a fan. However, it is close by to the area where you'll be. If you had more time, hands down nothing will compare to Rome Italy :)

I also would prefer Rome or Venice, but it isn't quite on his route the way Paris is. Trains London-Paris and Paris-Amsterdam are just so amazingly good compared with just about anything in Italy.

Brazil is the best ;) :W

asia.....

If you do end up in Paris, I totally recommend a night of magic at this place

http://www.placesinfrance.com/le_dou...gic_shows.html

really small and intimate and amazing magic, even if you speak no french at all it's still a great night out.

paris, geneve, bern, vienna, copenhagen i cant be wrong in any of those cities :2 cents:

http://rt.com/files/news/prime-time/...36cb082f.n.jpg:2 cents::2 cents::2 cents:

now imagine if he go to kazakhstan :upsidedow

I've done the london->ams->london route and its very relaxing compared to flying. http://www.nshispeed.nl/en/ is the best price for tickets, even beating the eurostars own site and it is the same trains. You can select the routes either from or to holland and they don't care. Thalys is worth the extra on the Brussels to amsterdam route avoiding stopping at all the stations in between, more expensive but also has wifi. Paris however would be worth the extra stay compared to brussels unless you like a lot of TinTin museums.

->North East Coast,
Lol, definitely the best answer ahaha. But quite far from London

Konda I totally agree with all your suggestions.
And for the Louvres, people really need a whole day to visit it all but at the end you should probably suffer from Art-Overdose.
If you wanna go to Versailles (but I think your time in Paris will be quite short for that), you can take the train (RER) close to the Eiffel Tower.

Enjoy your time there.

Thanks all of you for the great info. We are booking it all this week.

If it's not the England its going to be a shit hole wherever you go

Lake District in England is nice: http://www.lakedistricthotels.net/in...lake/index.php

Gonna stay overnight in brussels too. Where?

Ireland will blow your mind if you're in to history and nature. (The hills/fields/forests are gorgeous.