BristolUK

And break my computer screen?

A tad too far out of the way without increasing the length and cost of the trip.

DandNHill

You initially mentioned Greece. I would have suggested Santorini. It's the stereotypical island that has all the blue domed roofs and white washed buildings...definitely a lovely place to while away some time... but staying closer to France... Again, was going to suggest the Orient Express but even that has stopped now...

Having grown up in Eastern France that is where my heart is... you could travel through the Alsace and then pop in to Switzerland before making your way down to Nice? The old mountains in the Vosges are beautiful and there are many lakes there where the water is crystal clear...

caretaker

Find Novo and eat him out of house and home.

scrubbedexpat091

We are saving for a trip to Europe. Wife want's to go to London, and Austria. Probably wouldn't have enough time, but I'd also like to see Paris (go to the Disney park) Norway, Iceland, Germany, Italy, Greece, and others...

I'd need months....lol

BristolUK

That was in the Groceries thread - bizarre as that sounds


That sort of thing probably needs a road trip though.

I had a stop in Colmar once. That was a lovely place.

CFAmovingsoon

If you fly Icelandair, you can stopover a few days in Iceland for 'free', mind: Iceland's an expensive place. Iceland air offers great prices on these tickets if you book well in advance!
Disney Paris is really not worth the trouble IMHO, I mean, Disney is US, the best version is there if you like that kind of thing. Much more interesting is Legoland Billund. The Danish are mighty friendly!

@BristolUK If you take a TGV from Nice to Paris, you could make stops in Avignon, a really nice place, bit hilly.... Lyon, quite different, good for some French food. Vienna is something completely different, Austrians are quite friendly. Oh and a cottage in the Champagne region that's on my want to do it again list. You'll need a car though.

Stuttgart comes to mind, it's different from France, it has water too, so bound to be able to find a boat ride, it's not your everyone goes there travel destination....

And I get what you say about Amsterdam, think Leiden or Haarlem, they've got canals and the canal houses, they've got museums and are much friendlier places to be in.

scrubbedexpat091

Iceland Air is actually who we would take for that stop over in Iceland... I only want a couple days in Iceland, nothing long.

London and Austria would be the main places we would visit.

It's several years away, gotta save up for it....

quiltman

Paris to Geneva on TGV, takes 3 hours, Geneva to Munich - takes most of the day but superb scenery, goes via austria, Munich to stuttgart, stuttgart to amsterdam, amsterdam to Paris, Paris back to Nice. go look here for info on continental trains The Man in Seat Sixty-One - the train travel guide... a brilliant site. I used to travel all over Europe and used trains 85% of the time. Lovely way to travel, quite cheap if booked in advance or interail , not bad food.

Shard

Wow, that's a superb site!

quiltman

Yes, and it's kept fairly well updated too. Just remember that certain travel concessions are only available if you book them OUTSIDE Europe. so investigate carefully when you've built an itinerary to ensure you get the best deal before leaving Canada.
I used to work for Canadian companies and my bosses all loved travelling by train in europe. Less security and no problem with luggage - or silly carry on liquids rules!

quiltman

Oh, and don't forget you can do a side trip to London on eurostar from Paris in 2 hours - so a day trip is quite feasible.

scrubbedexpat091

I was on one booking site and they were asking 2nd class and 1st class, is 2nd just a different term for coach? I assume that it is, but not fully sure.

Shard

Yes.

And "coach" means bus.

scrubbedexpat091

When the time comes, I'll have to make a list of terms that mean different things over there, I am sure there are a few more, don't want to get confused when booking hotels and such...

BristolUK

Went to Leiden a few times. It was a transfer point from the train to bus for Katwijk aan zee Delft is nice too.

Will do, thanks.

I've never been that keen on single days in London. It would seem weird to take the 'kids' and mother in law to Europe and not "call in" on England but if I did that you can be sure I'd be expected to go to Bristol and that would just take too much out of the time or require more time and money for the rest.

Years ago the original plan was to make an extended visit to the UK, stay in Bristol and do a series of things from there, like a few days in Paris or other 'city break' style, a Swiss/Austrian trip, a week in Greece or Spain...

But then my wife's health made that impossible