How to plan travel in Europe?

ccip82

I was hoping to get some of your advice! With both our families coming to Europe for the first time ever this spring and summer, they want to see more than just Scotland.  They have left all the major planning to me, gee thanks...So my questions are, How do you go about planning travel around Europe? Are there reputable travel agencies/websites to go through, or is it best planning on your own?

Trip one with the inlaws will be in May and they want to see Germany, Paris, Scotland, and England in 3+ weeks.

Trip two will be with my mom, aunt and uncle and they would like to see Ireland and Scotland and will be here 2 weeks. 

I can handle all the travel in Scotland and have ideas, but I am pretty clueless about how best to book things and plan an itinerary outside the UK.

TIA for the help and advice!

kelly321

I hate it when family doesn't realize how difficult it is for you to plan all these arrangements!! When my family has come in the past, I've limited them to one other destination / country and otherwise just done day trips from where we were based. But, the longest they've been here was 10 days. For 3 weeks it would be reasonable to plan a couple of trips.

I'm sure planning on your own would be cheaper than going through travel agencies, but the question is whether the time and frustration is worth it to you. With your ILs, you could probably fly to Berlin, then take the train to Munich and maybe Heidelberg (always hot with the tourists), then take the train to Paris, the Eurostar to London, and make your way back to Scotland for their return trip from there. That's how I'd plan it, anyway, but you could also do it the other way around and they could fly home from Berlin or anywhere else in Germany. It's usually easier to book round trip tickets from the same airport, though.

What you could consider is some package trip of Germany that hits the sites they want to see so you don't have to worry about navigating around a country where you don't speak the language (I'm assuming). Then maybe book the rest yourself?

If you get more definite about then when, where, and how of Germany and don't want to do a package trip, though, there are several of us here who could help you. And are you on the proboards board? If so, there are a couple women there living in Paris who could probably help you on that.

ccip82

Thanks Kelly!  I would like to attempt to do this on my own to save money-which is one of the reasons I am looking at this now so I have time to prepare. I have been working on a rough itinerary for trip 1 with the inlaws that looks like this

DH, DD, and I flying into Munich the same day as the inlaws. Hiring a car for 5 days, traveling through southwest Germany.  Drop off car in Frankfurt. Train to Paris. Stay in Paris 3 days. Flight from Paris to Aberdeen (non stop)- I would love your input on things to do in this area of Germany if you are familar.  The number one thing on everyones list is visiting historic places and beautiful landscapes.

DH then will have to go back to work while I will have the fun job of taking the inlaws on day trips in Scotland. (7 days) I have this part covered.

Lastly, either flying or taking the train from Aberdeen to London. (5 days) This will most likely be without DH. Staying in London, with maybe one day trip outside the city.  Inlaws would fly out of London back to the States.

Thank god, they are only planning one big trip to see us while we live here. Because they have never been to Europe, they want to see as much as possible while they are here and be able to see DD at the same time.

ETA: They are coming the middle of May, flying in most likely on a Friday.

 

kelly321

Around Munich you would probably want to see Schloss Neuschwanstein - that's the Disney Castle all the tourists want to hit. It is very touristy, but it's also in a beautiful region and worth spending time hiking on the trails near it if you have time and your in-laws are up to it. Also around Munich is the concentration camp Dachau - you can arrange English-speaking tours to both (on separate days) very easily through the city's tourist bureau. I'd look it up online beforehand - I remember when my cousin visited and we went to Neuschwanstein, I ordered the tickets in advance so I didn't have to worry about it on that day.

Then if you want beautiful scenery and don't mind it taking a little longer, then I would recommend not taking the Autobahn from Munich but instead traveling along Lake Constance to the towns of Meersburg and Constance. You could take a ferry from Constance to the island called Mainau - it's basically a huge garden and I'm sure it's gorgeous in May. From Constance you could either pop into Switzerland (Basel, maybe) so that they can add another country to their list, and then head up through the Black Forest to Frankfurt, hitting Heidelberg on the way. I personally would do 2-3 days of Munich, 1 morning traveling to Constance (along the lake it's probably about a 4-5 hour drive) and then an afternoon trip to Mainau, then the next day up to Heidelberg (3-4 hr drive) and the final day up to Frankfurt and leaving. Just my suggestion :-)

ccip82

Sounds lovely, and I cannot wait to research more about these areas! Thank you again Kelly!

bandwife

We've done a fair bit of travel while living here and before we moved over (we're in a UK territory).

Things that have worked for us now that we have kid(s) and that we would also do with in-laws or parents with us that are not up for 8-10 of breakneck site seeing:

• Minimum of three days in big cities.
• Rent apartments where possible. Saves money and you have more space for downtime between seeing/doing things (so helpful with kids).
• The hop on hop off tourist bus is your friend. We've done them in at least a dozen European cities. Sounds cheesy but it gives you a great lay of the land for seeing things on foot and you cover a lot of sites and attractions that wouldn't be possible otherwise. Day 1 we usually just ride the complete tour and Day 2 we use the hop on hop off bus to visit 2-3 things we really want to see.
• Walking tours are also good value. Means you can actually take in the sites instead of getting lost or thumbing through a travel guide.
  
• 2 hour limit on galleries and museums. After that you're really not absorbing things anyways. Again, if there is a walking tour or audio guide shell out for them. I've found them to be worth it.
• Ireland: rent a car or book a bus/coach tour. Dublin is great but to get a feel for the country you want to see the small villages and the beautiful coast line. Oh, and Dublin is freak'n expensive!
  

So fun! You'll have a blast.

Oh, I love Viatour.com for booking walking tours and checking out options in different cities. 

 

Publius

I hate it when people do that.  You are a far better hostess than I.  When we have guests I plan a couple day trips, maybe one trip out of the country and offer to drive them to the airport should they want to go anywhere else. 

Ditto pps about it generally being cheaper to book on your own than as part of a packaged tour.  I've always used a site like trip advisor to gauge a hotel and then gone to the hotel directly to book.

Just a heads up: the TGV (French high-speed trains) are cheaper if you buy your tickets directly from them as opposed to from a third party booking site.  That being said, their website is sometimes down.  Hopefully they've got that figured out by now.  The tickets are also cheaper if you book well in advance (we used to be able to get tickets from Geneva to Paris for 25-30 Euro if we booked two months out). 

How much luggage are you guys planning on taking?  That will probably have an impact on the cost effectiveness of plane vs. train between Scotland and London. 

Lest I give you the impression that I speak out of my rear, before KL we spent four years in Switzerland and the Czech Republic 

kelly321

Publius:

Just a heads up: the TGV (French high-speed trains) are cheaper if you buy your tickets directly from them as opposed to from a third party booking site.  That being said, their website is sometimes down.  Hopefully they've got that figured out by now.  The tickets are also cheaper if you book well in advance (we used to be able to get tickets from Geneva to Paris for 25-30 Euro if we booked two months out). 

Same with the German railway system (Deutsche Bahn) if you decide to look into trains in Germany, although with your schedule I think a car might be your best option. Booking train tickets at least several weeks in advance can get you a deep discount, but you're then also committed to that train, rain or shine (or, in train speak - delay or no delay). I prefer to pay the full price and be able to hop on whatever train comes first and have been very thankful for having done that in the past when the train I planned on taking was 1.5 hours late.

ccip82

Thanks for all the great suggestions! This summer will be our busiest one here.  DH and I have only been to the UK, (other than Amsterdam's lovely airport) so we are looking forward to travelling around this summer.  I am hoping it settles down with the visitors though because we will be using the majority of DH's vacation time this year with all the family visits...

 

PittPurple

We always plan our own trips and are always on a budget! An absolutely fantastic website is www.skyscanner.net - it searches the cheapie airlines as well as the standard ones and you can look at ranges of dates (or even ranges of places!) and figure out what would be cheapest. 

You can book National Rail tickets 3 months in advance exactly and it will be cheapest on that day. I got round-trip tickets to London for ?30 that way. If you're flexible with times of day or what day of the week it's best but it will definitely be cheaper to lock yourself into a set train. 

I replied to the wrong message so now I can't remember what you were looking for specifically...  will see if I have any other specific advice.

PittPurple

Right...

Sounds like you have Germany sorted. I absolutely adored Schloss Neuschwanstein, it's beautiful. We actually did a coach tour from Munich that went to Linderhof and Neuschwanstein, it was a great day. I think it would be a beautiful drive too. Munich has been one of my favourite cities we've visited actually, it's really, really flat and walkable and there are tons of gorgeous churches, etc. 

Let me know if you want any Scotland help, DH and I have (DH more than me) have done a bit of travelling around. My absolute favourite spot I've seen in Scotland is the Isle of Skye, it's just gorgeous. 

So for Ireland... I've been a few times. Dublin, to be honest, isn't my favourite city. It's pretty similar to Edinburgh but much more expensive. There's a bizarrely entertaining Museum of Natural History that you really must go to if you're in the city - there are just rooms of stuffed animals and birds that are older so they're vaguely creepy looking.

The best parts of Ireland (IMO) is the countryside. We did one trip where we flew into Belfast, rented a car and did a road trip along the coast. Went to Giant's Causeway and went to a couple castles and did some hiking along the coast. My favourite trip though was when we flew to Shannon with my mom, rented a car and drove the Dingle Peninsula. Since my mom and I are obsessed with the Princess Bride, we also went to the Cliffs of Moher. We spent a couple nights in Dingle, a night somewhere close to the Cliffs and a couple nights in Ennis. 

We flew into Dublin this summer to meet up with DH's parents and had a car to see some castles in the area.

So really... for me it would depend on where you can fly to easiest and how much time you want to spend in Ireland. There are gorgeous things to see in any direction. Personally, I just loved the SW, tons of pubs with live music and that sort of thing which my mom loved.

And I second the recommendation of renting apartments. We do that now without a baby and I imagine it's even better when travelling with kids. You could rent a 2-bedroom and put the baby to sleep and still have a living room to hang out with your family.