10 day vacation - Where to go?
Apr 11th 2003 | 4:38 am
#1
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Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
"Sb083459" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> We have 10 days to travel.
That means about 8 useful days. The first day in OK for going "past"
places, but you'll probably not be in condition to be serious tourists.
Much of the last day will be lost getting to the airport early for your
return flight.
> Never been to Europe before. I'm thinking
> Paris/France is the first choice.
Good place to start, IMO.
> Where would you go if this was your first
> European vacation? What would your itinerary be?
We'll need to know more about your interests to answer that. Roman things?
16th/17th century castles? Knocking about quaint towns, not tourist places?
Walled-towns, generally tourist places? Art galleries? Rugged coastlines?
WW2-related things? Scenic river valleys? High-speed rail travel? etc etc
I'd forego mountains and beaches, since they are not that much different
from "home", wherever that is.
> How much can be seen in 10 days? Thanks!
Too much ;-)) By that I mean you can try to see so much that you'll whiz
by or through every place - and be in the "Today's Tuesday, so this must be
Belgium" mode.
news:[email protected]...
> We have 10 days to travel.
That means about 8 useful days. The first day in OK for going "past"
places, but you'll probably not be in condition to be serious tourists.
Much of the last day will be lost getting to the airport early for your
return flight.
> Never been to Europe before. I'm thinking
> Paris/France is the first choice.
Good place to start, IMO.
> Where would you go if this was your first
> European vacation? What would your itinerary be?
We'll need to know more about your interests to answer that. Roman things?
16th/17th century castles? Knocking about quaint towns, not tourist places?
Walled-towns, generally tourist places? Art galleries? Rugged coastlines?
WW2-related things? Scenic river valleys? High-speed rail travel? etc etc
I'd forego mountains and beaches, since they are not that much different
from "home", wherever that is.
> How much can be seen in 10 days? Thanks!
Too much ;-)) By that I mean you can try to see so much that you'll whiz
by or through every place - and be in the "Today's Tuesday, so this must be
Belgium" mode.
Apr 11th 2003 | 5:02 am
#2
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Posts: n/a
10 day vacation - Where to go?
We have 10 days to travel. Never been to Europe before. I'm thinking
Paris/France is the first choice. Where would you go if this was your first
European vacation? What would your itinerary be? How much can be seen in 10
days? Thanks!
Paris/France is the first choice. Where would you go if this was your first
European vacation? What would your itinerary be? How much can be seen in 10
days? Thanks!
Apr 11th 2003 | 5:09 am
#3
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Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
"Sb083459" schreef in bericht
news:[email protected]...
> We have 10 days to travel. Never been to Europe before. I'm thinking
> Paris/France is the first choice. Where would you go if this was your
first
> European vacation? What would your itinerary be? How much can be seen in
10
> days? Thanks!
If you like mountain climbing, Paris would not be your best choice. In other
words, we need to know more about you and what you like to do before we can
give any meaningful advice.
Sjoerd
news:[email protected]...
> We have 10 days to travel. Never been to Europe before. I'm thinking
> Paris/France is the first choice. Where would you go if this was your
first
> European vacation? What would your itinerary be? How much can be seen in
10
> days? Thanks!
If you like mountain climbing, Paris would not be your best choice. In other
words, we need to know more about you and what you like to do before we can
give any meaningful advice.
Sjoerd
Apr 11th 2003 | 5:28 am
#4
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Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 19:09:33 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, "Sjoerd"
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :
...
... "Sb083459" schreef in bericht
... news:[email protected]...
... > We have 10 days to travel. Never been to Europe before. I'm thinking
... > Paris/France is the first choice. Where would you go if this was your
... first
... > European vacation? What would your itinerary be? How much can be seen in
... 10
... > days? Thanks!
...
... If you like mountain climbing, Paris would not be your best choice. In other
... words, we need to know more about you and what you like to do before we can
... give any meaningful advice.
The stairs leading to the Sacré Coeur don't count ?? ;-)
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :
...
... "Sb083459" schreef in bericht
... news:[email protected]...
... > We have 10 days to travel. Never been to Europe before. I'm thinking
... > Paris/France is the first choice. Where would you go if this was your
... first
... > European vacation? What would your itinerary be? How much can be seen in
... 10
... > days? Thanks!
...
... If you like mountain climbing, Paris would not be your best choice. In other
... words, we need to know more about you and what you like to do before we can
... give any meaningful advice.
The stairs leading to the Sacré Coeur don't count ?? ;-)
Apr 11th 2003 | 5:37 am
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery, sample
great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be spontaneous. There's no
specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do, nor do we want to
try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2 cities and that's
it.
>In other
>words, we need to know more about you and what you like to do before we can
>give any meaningful advice.
>Sjoerd
great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be spontaneous. There's no
specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do, nor do we want to
try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2 cities and that's
it.
>In other
>words, we need to know more about you and what you like to do before we can
>give any meaningful advice.
>Sjoerd
Apr 11th 2003 | 7:25 am
#6
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Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
Sb083459 wrote:
> For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery,
sample
> great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be spontaneous. There's
> no specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do, nor do we
> want to try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2 cities
> and that's it.
Then Paris is a great choice, perhaps with a day trip or two.
Some interesting day trips: Versailles (palace and grounds); Rouen (charming
historic old Norman city); Chartres (cathedral and old town); Chantilly
(chateau). All reachable by really excellent rail, with perhaps a taxi
needed at Chantilly.
You could also sample another city for a few days if you flew into, say,
Amsterdam or London and out of Paris, connecting by rail. Or the TGV puts
Provence within reach (fly home from Marseilles). But I think you would have
a better trip if you just make Paris your base. There's plenty to see and
do.
Have a great trip!
> For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery,
sample
> great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be spontaneous. There's
> no specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do, nor do we
> want to try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2 cities
> and that's it.
Then Paris is a great choice, perhaps with a day trip or two.
Some interesting day trips: Versailles (palace and grounds); Rouen (charming
historic old Norman city); Chartres (cathedral and old town); Chantilly
(chateau). All reachable by really excellent rail, with perhaps a taxi
needed at Chantilly.
You could also sample another city for a few days if you flew into, say,
Amsterdam or London and out of Paris, connecting by rail. Or the TGV puts
Provence within reach (fly home from Marseilles). But I think you would have
a better trip if you just make Paris your base. There's plenty to see and
do.
Have a great trip!
Apr 11th 2003 | 7:47 am
#7
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
"Sb083459" wrote
| For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery,
| sample great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be
| spontaneous. There's no specific activity like hiking or biking
| that we need to do, nor do we want to try and sqeeze too much into
| a short trip. Probably 1 or 2 cities and that's it.
You won't get 2 cities done in 8 days. (In fact, you won't get one.) Why not
spend the first 6-7 nights in Paris, 2 nights outside Paris (in one
location), to see small-town and rural France and enjoy a slower pace after
the preceeding hectic days of sightseeing, and then the last night back in
Paris. If you choose a small town location on one of the TGV routes from
Paris you'd only 'lose' a couple of hours on the train - and it wouldn't be
lost because you can see some scenery on the journey.
Owain
| For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery,
| sample great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be
| spontaneous. There's no specific activity like hiking or biking
| that we need to do, nor do we want to try and sqeeze too much into
| a short trip. Probably 1 or 2 cities and that's it.
You won't get 2 cities done in 8 days. (In fact, you won't get one.) Why not
spend the first 6-7 nights in Paris, 2 nights outside Paris (in one
location), to see small-town and rural France and enjoy a slower pace after
the preceeding hectic days of sightseeing, and then the last night back in
Paris. If you choose a small town location on one of the TGV routes from
Paris you'd only 'lose' a couple of hours on the train - and it wouldn't be
lost because you can see some scenery on the journey.
Owain
Apr 11th 2003 | 8:03 am
#8
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
Sb083459 wrote:
> For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery,
> sample great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be spontaneous.
> There's no specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do, nor
> do we want to try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2
> cities and that's it.
In that case I'd recommend Istanbul. Has the most culture, scenery, great
food, and nice people of any city in Europe. And at a quarter of the cost of
Paris.
miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
> For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery,
> sample great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be spontaneous.
> There's no specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do, nor
> do we want to try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2
> cities and that's it.
In that case I'd recommend Istanbul. Has the most culture, scenery, great
food, and nice people of any city in Europe. And at a quarter of the cost of
Paris.
miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Apr 11th 2003 | 9:45 am
#9
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
Sb083459 wrote:
> We have 10 days to travel. Never been to Europe before. I'm thinking
> Paris/France is the first choice. Where would you go if this was your first
> European vacation? What would your itinerary be? How much can be seen in 10
> days? Thanks!
Like some others have said, we don't know what you would like but Paris/France
is a great choice. You are smart in thinking to limit your trip to a relatively
small area and take each day for what it can bring. Many others try to stretch
10 days into an eight country trip. We call this "trophy tourism". They have
all the photos with them in front of all the right backdrops but that's all
they have because everything else is a blur of travel.
Nothing wrong with the above when in moderation. Who doesn't go to Paris and
not get a photo with the Eiffel Tower/Notre Dame/insert other landmarks here/
in the background but most of the time is spent experiencing the people, the
city , the culture. All things which can be experienced but very hard to
photograph.
We've been to Europe 8 times and the first trip back in the '80's was to
France. We had two weeks so we spent 5 days in Paris and 7 days in the Loire
Valley and Normandy.
For your time budget I would suggest 4 days in Paris (this includes the day
you fly in so you can get over the flight) and 5 days in the Loire Valley. Use
Tours as a base (we rented a car and left Paris and stopped by Versailles in
the morning before it got crowded, had lunch in Chartres and got down to Tours
by 4PM).
You could cut the Loire down to 3 days and then go to Normandy. See Mont St.
Michel etc. Many choices here.
Two pieces of advice: Don't try to cram in too much and always go to Europe
with the certainty you'll be back. That's what we've done and have eight great
trips.
Doug Burke
> We have 10 days to travel. Never been to Europe before. I'm thinking
> Paris/France is the first choice. Where would you go if this was your first
> European vacation? What would your itinerary be? How much can be seen in 10
> days? Thanks!
Like some others have said, we don't know what you would like but Paris/France
is a great choice. You are smart in thinking to limit your trip to a relatively
small area and take each day for what it can bring. Many others try to stretch
10 days into an eight country trip. We call this "trophy tourism". They have
all the photos with them in front of all the right backdrops but that's all
they have because everything else is a blur of travel.
Nothing wrong with the above when in moderation. Who doesn't go to Paris and
not get a photo with the Eiffel Tower/Notre Dame/insert other landmarks here/
in the background but most of the time is spent experiencing the people, the
city , the culture. All things which can be experienced but very hard to
photograph.
We've been to Europe 8 times and the first trip back in the '80's was to
France. We had two weeks so we spent 5 days in Paris and 7 days in the Loire
Valley and Normandy.
For your time budget I would suggest 4 days in Paris (this includes the day
you fly in so you can get over the flight) and 5 days in the Loire Valley. Use
Tours as a base (we rented a car and left Paris and stopped by Versailles in
the morning before it got crowded, had lunch in Chartres and got down to Tours
by 4PM).
You could cut the Loire down to 3 days and then go to Normandy. See Mont St.
Michel etc. Many choices here.
Two pieces of advice: Don't try to cram in too much and always go to Europe
with the certainty you'll be back. That's what we've done and have eight great
trips.
Doug Burke
Apr 11th 2003 | 9:45 am
#10
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
[email protected] (Sb083459) wrote in message news:...
> For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery, sample
> great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be spontaneous. There's no
> specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do, nor do we want to
> try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2 cities and that's
> it.
>
> >In other
> >words, we need to know more about you and what you like to do before we can
> >give any meaningful advice.
> >
> >Sjoerd
I did a great 8 day trip around Switzerland tracking down Michelin
"one-star" restaurants and saw a lot of out of the way places in the
process, had fabulous meals (mid-day) and thought it was a grea trip.
Did it with an 8 day First Class Swiss Rail Pass and some heavy train
route internet planning ahead of time. It was really "Switzerland",
not tourist Switzerland.
If this sounds interesting, I can give you more specifics on my
choices. Meals ran for the menu du jour about US$40-60 each w/o wine.
But that was the only meal you needed. Breakfast was included in the
hotel, and just a yogurt and some fruit was enough in the evening.
> For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery, sample
> great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be spontaneous. There's no
> specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do, nor do we want to
> try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2 cities and that's
> it.
>
> >In other
> >words, we need to know more about you and what you like to do before we can
> >give any meaningful advice.
> >
> >Sjoerd
I did a great 8 day trip around Switzerland tracking down Michelin
"one-star" restaurants and saw a lot of out of the way places in the
process, had fabulous meals (mid-day) and thought it was a grea trip.
Did it with an 8 day First Class Swiss Rail Pass and some heavy train
route internet planning ahead of time. It was really "Switzerland",
not tourist Switzerland.
If this sounds interesting, I can give you more specifics on my
choices. Meals ran for the menu du jour about US$40-60 each w/o wine.
But that was the only meal you needed. Breakfast was included in the
hotel, and just a yogurt and some fruit was enough in the evening.
Apr 11th 2003 | 10:21 am
#11
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 19:28:33 +0200, Magda wrote:
> The stairs leading to the Sacré Coeur don't count ?? ;-)
Yack. Proximity to Pigalle is the only redeeming value of the Sacre
Coeur.
> The stairs leading to the Sacré Coeur don't count ?? ;-)
Yack. Proximity to Pigalle is the only redeeming value of the Sacre
Coeur.
Apr 11th 2003 | 5:53 pm
#12
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
Miguel Cruz wrote:
>
> Sb083459 wrote:
> > For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery,
> > sample great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be spontaneous.
> > There's no specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do, nor
> > do we want to try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2
> > cities and that's it.
>
> In that case I'd recommend Istanbul. Has the most culture, scenery, great
> food, and nice people of any city in Europe. And at a quarter of the cost of
> Paris.
>
> miguel
> --
> Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Sb...,
Miguel has the hammer right on the nail for your specifications. Go to
Istanbul. There's nothing like it.
John Bermont
--
------------------------------------------------------
* * * Mastering Independent Budget Travel * * *
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/
------------------------------------------------------
>
> Sb083459 wrote:
> > For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery,
> > sample great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be spontaneous.
> > There's no specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do, nor
> > do we want to try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2
> > cities and that's it.
>
> In that case I'd recommend Istanbul. Has the most culture, scenery, great
> food, and nice people of any city in Europe. And at a quarter of the cost of
> Paris.
>
> miguel
> --
> Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Sb...,
Miguel has the hammer right on the nail for your specifications. Go to
Istanbul. There's nothing like it.
John Bermont
--
------------------------------------------------------
* * * Mastering Independent Budget Travel * * *
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/
------------------------------------------------------
Apr 11th 2003 | 8:07 pm
#13
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 22:21:43 GMT, in rec.travel.europe, "devil"
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :
... On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 19:28:33 +0200, Magda wrote:
...
...
... > The stairs leading to the Sacré Coeur don't count ?? ;-)
...
... Yack. Proximity to Pigalle is the only redeeming value of the Sacre
... Coeur.
And yet each and every foreigner friend of mine visiting Paris wants to go there ! I fail
to see the attraction, and after going all the way up to that church a good hundred times
more than I'd care to, I understand it even less.
Maybe it's the view of Paris from there. ;-))
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :
... On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 19:28:33 +0200, Magda wrote:
...
...
... > The stairs leading to the Sacré Coeur don't count ?? ;-)
...
... Yack. Proximity to Pigalle is the only redeeming value of the Sacre
... Coeur.
And yet each and every foreigner friend of mine visiting Paris wants to go there ! I fail
to see the attraction, and after going all the way up to that church a good hundred times
more than I'd care to, I understand it even less.
Maybe it's the view of Paris from there. ;-))
Apr 11th 2003 | 8:09 pm
#14
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 05:53:43 GMT, in rec.travel.europe, John Bermont
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :
...
... Miguel has the hammer right on the nail for your specifications. Go to
... Istanbul. There's nothing like it.
As long as he does not see anything else in Turkey *before*.
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :
...
... Miguel has the hammer right on the nail for your specifications. Go to
... Istanbul. There's nothing like it.
As long as he does not see anything else in Turkey *before*.
Apr 11th 2003 | 8:36 pm
#15
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: 10 day vacation - Where to go?
"Miguel Cruz" schreef in bericht
news:[email protected]...
> Sb083459 wrote:
> > For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery,
> > sample great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be
spontaneous.
> > There's no specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do,
nor
> > do we want to try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2
> > cities and that's it.
> In that case I'd recommend Istanbul. Has the most culture, scenery, great
> food, and nice people of any city in Europe. And at a quarter of the cost
of
> Paris.
I don't agree. Istanbul is an OK city, IMHO, but Paris, London, Prague,
Barcelona, Venice, Rome, Siena, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Berlin, Krakow, and St.
Petersburg have a better combination of culture, scenery, great food and
nice people.
And what I didn't like in Istanbul is that there too many touts. You can't
sit somewhere quietly or someone will want to take you to his shop, bring
you to a bar (be careful or you'll pay 1,000's of dollars/euros for a few
drinks !), etc. Just annoying.
Sjoerd
news:[email protected]...
> Sb083459 wrote:
> > For this first trip, we just want to absorb the culture and scenery,
> > sample great food, meet nice people, do some shopping and be
spontaneous.
> > There's no specific activity like hiking or biking that we need to do,
nor
> > do we want to try and sqeeze too much into a short trip. Probably 1 or 2
> > cities and that's it.
> In that case I'd recommend Istanbul. Has the most culture, scenery, great
> food, and nice people of any city in Europe. And at a quarter of the cost
of
> Paris.
I don't agree. Istanbul is an OK city, IMHO, but Paris, London, Prague,
Barcelona, Venice, Rome, Siena, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Berlin, Krakow, and St.
Petersburg have a better combination of culture, scenery, great food and
nice people.
And what I didn't like in Istanbul is that there too many touts. You can't
sit somewhere quietly or someone will want to take you to his shop, bring
you to a bar (be careful or you'll pay 1,000's of dollars/euros for a few
drinks !), etc. Just annoying.
Sjoerd
