In article <[email protected]>, Douglas W. Hoyt
<[email protected]> wrote:

    > >>>>That said, I probably wouldn't want to be on the train for 6 hours every
    > >>>>day during a holiday, but in my work, I do it quite a lot, and I enjoy
    > >>>>it. I get to catch up on reading, work on the computer, email, all that
    > >>>>sort of thing.
    >
    > My experience doing multiple daytrips from one city is that 90 minutes on a
    > train each way starts to seem like a very long time after a while.
    >
    > That said, I left out one great spot for daytrips: Bologna.
    >
    > From Bologna you can get to Florence in an hour, Venice in two hours,
    > Ferrara is close by, Ravenna is easy, and the beach at Rimini is an hour.
    > You can even slip up to Verona and Lake Garda easily in a day.

and Modena. Modena is cool.

--
Dan Stephenson
Photos and movies from US Parks and all over Europe:
http://homepage.mac.com/stepheda

EuroTravel wrote:
    > Which cities in western Europe are a good home base best suited for
day
    > trips (reasonably priced local food and lodging with plenty of varied
    > and interesting things to see and do within a 2 or 3 hour train
ride)?

Well, I'm kinda an "anti-day trip" proponent. (I think that might
be a double negative or something). I've done them, and come away
unsatisfied everytime. I don't even like staying just outside
a city and commuting in each day.

That said, Kilarney and Galway are probably good starts. I
did some "day tripping" out of Sorento which was only mildly
objectionable. Truth is the whole Amalfi Coast is probably
day trip central. I know Florence gets used for visiting much
of Tuscany although I'd probably "do" Sienna and day trip
Florence.

My problem with day tripping is that one spends their time
transporting more than visiting. I'd hazard a guess that the
most common general mistake tourists make is traveling too much
and visiting too little. I understand that sometimes the journey is
the destination, but if it involves a bus, that's just hard to see.
If you day trip, you don't have dinner, you don't have breakfast,
truth is you probably concentrate on some specific feature of a
town. There is a bit of "trophy tourism" in day tripping. Show
up, take the photo, hop back on the bus.

On 10 Jan 2005 15:01:22 -0800, "EuroTravel" <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >Which cities in western Europe are a good home base best suited for day
    >trips (reasonably priced local food and lodging with plenty of varied
    >and interesting things to see and do within a 2 or 3 hour train ride)?

Bruges? It's much recommended on this group
--
Martin

On 10 Jan 2005 16:07:56 -0800, "EuroTravel" <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >3 hour max time including commute time to train station (so the train
    >trip itself would preferably be under 3 hours).
    >I have done a day trip to Paris from London via Eurostar and that is
    >about the longest day trip I would want to plan.

I have a done a one hour in a suburb of Milan day trip from A'dam for
reasons I'd rather not go into. The trip out and back was in the same
scheduled flight plane.
--
Martin

"EuroTravel" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > Which cities in western Europe are a good home base best suited for day
    > trips (reasonably priced local food and lodging with plenty of varied
    > and interesting things to see and do within a 2 or 3 hour train ride)?


I see you are getting quite a few answers and quite some debate over the
merits and definition of day-travel. You don't say what interests you on the
outings; variety of culture, experiences possible, scenery?

None of the major centres in Europe will really fall within your guidelines
for reasonably priced food and cheap lodgings. Some have cheap food - Prague
and Lisbon - but accommodations are pretty consistent with spikes of
outrageousness possible.

I would focus on choosing the city that best met my needs for the day trip
experiences and then work hard to research the best deals on accommodation
and food.

If you want some variety on your daytrips, using Munich as a base would
allow you to visit Salzburg - 1 1/2 hours, Innsbruck - 2 1/2 hours, many
many great Alps location; Berchtesgaden, Konigsee, Neuschwanstein,
Oberammergau, and also travel up the Romantic Road ( I hate the name and
prefer to stay in the towns rather than day trip them, but love the sights)
north of Munich.

nitram <[email protected]> wrote:

    >On 10 Jan 2005 15:01:22 -0800, "EuroTravel" <[email protected]>
    >wrote:
    >>Which cities in western Europe are a good home base best suited for day
    >>trips (reasonably priced local food and lodging with plenty of varied
    >>and interesting things to see and do within a 2 or 3 hour train ride)?
    >Bruges? It's much recommended on this group

Are you implying that it's a place to get out of as much as possible?

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 15:15:59 +0000, Padraig Breathnach
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >nitram <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>On 10 Jan 2005 15:01:22 -0800, "EuroTravel" <[email protected]>
    >>wrote:
    >>>Which cities in western Europe are a good home base best suited for day
    >>>trips (reasonably priced local food and lodging with plenty of varied
    >>>and interesting things to see and do within a 2 or 3 hour train ride)?
    >>Bruges? It's much recommended on this group
    >Are you implying that it's a place to get out of as much as possible?

I think you are :-)

Magda is going to set Baston on you.
--
Martin

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 16:24:42 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, nitram <[email protected]> arranged
some electrons, so they looked like this :

... On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 15:15:59 +0000, Padraig Breathnach
... <[email protected]> wrote:
...
... >nitram <[email protected]> wrote:
... >
... >>On 10 Jan 2005 15:01:22 -0800, "EuroTravel" <[email protected]>
... >>wrote:
... >>
... >>>Which cities in western Europe are a good home base best suited for day
... >>>trips (reasonably priced local food and lodging with plenty of varied
... >>>and interesting things to see and do within a 2 or 3 hour train ride)?
... >>
... >>Bruges? It's much recommended on this group
... >
... >Are you implying that it's a place to get out of as much as possible?
...
... I think you are :-)
...
... Magda is going to set Baston on you.

Gaston is a little terror... LOL

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 16:43:02 +0100, Magda <[email protected]>
wrote:

    > ... Magda is going to set Baston on you.
    >Gaston is a little terror... LOL

    :-)

The Dutch X-files

Aliens landed in NL in 2001
http://www.knmi.nl/webcam/Archief/we...0718045318.jpg

Alien gobbled the control tower
http://www.knmi.nl/webcam/Archief/we...0719121056.jpg
--
Martin

EuroTravel wrote:
    > Which cities in western Europe are a good home base best suited for
day
    > trips (reasonably priced local food and lodging with plenty of varied
    > and interesting things to see and do within a 2 or 3 hour train
ride)?

If you wish to change train for a bus, Cordoba is also a good base for
visiting Seville, Granada and the coast, besides being an attraction on
its own and having an interesting cuisine.

Accomodation tends to be more expensive, more crowded and less value
than in other nearby places, though.


J.

"Dan Stephenson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:110120050712296172%[email protected]...
    > In article <[email protected] .com>,
    > EuroTravel <[email protected]> wrote:
    >> Which cities in western Europe are a good home base best suited for day
    >> trips (reasonably priced local food and lodging with plenty of varied
    >> and interesting things to see and do within a 2 or 3 hour train ride)?
    > Oooh, ooh, I know! :-)
    > From Paris you can day trip to Chartes, Versailles, and probably
    > Bayeaux.

Rouen, also. I did it back in 1990.

"Dan Stephenson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:110120050712296172%[email protected]...
    > In article <[email protected] .com>,
    > EuroTravel <[email protected]> wrote:
    >> Which cities in western Europe are a good home base best suited for day
    >> trips (reasonably priced local food and lodging with plenty of varied
    >> and interesting things to see and do within a 2 or 3 hour train ride)?
    >..............................................Pis a was a good day-trip for
    >me from
    > Florence, but Sorrento was the best of all day-trip cities for me. And
    > its is cool by itself. From Sorrento I day-tripped to: Naples
    > (archeological museum is a MUST, plus some churches), up Mt. Vesuvius,
    > Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Paestum. The later 3 are ancient ruins, so
    > if you like that sort of think I highly recommend Sorrento (take the
    > train to all 3).

More daytrips from Sorrento: the Amalfi Coast (Positano, Amalfi, Ravello)
and Capri.
And Sorrento is very nice.

Marianne

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] ups.com...
    > My problem with day tripping is that one spends their time
    > transporting more than visiting. I'd hazard a guess that the
    > most common general mistake tourists make is traveling too much
    > and visiting too little. I understand that sometimes the journey is
    > the destination, but if it involves a bus, that's just hard to see.
    > If you day trip, you don't have dinner, you don't have breakfast,
    > truth is you probably concentrate on some specific feature of a
    > town. There is a bit of "trophy tourism" in day tripping. Show
    > up, take the photo, hop back on the bus.

Generally I agree with you about day-tripping, but what do you have
against busses? I can remember some wonderful daytripping bus trips,
one out of Florence past Fiesole, another along the Amalfi Coast, a
third into the Alps on a Swiss Postal bus.

Marianne

Mimi wrote:
    > <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected] ups.com...
    > >
    > > My problem with day tripping is that one spends their time
    > > transporting more than visiting. I'd hazard a guess that the
    > > most common general mistake tourists make is traveling too much
    > > and visiting too little. I understand that sometimes the journey is
    > > the destination, but if it involves a bus, that's just hard to see.
    > > If you day trip, you don't have dinner, you don't have breakfast,
    > > truth is you probably concentrate on some specific feature of a
    > > town. There is a bit of "trophy tourism" in day tripping. Show
    > > up, take the photo, hop back on the bus.
    > Generally I agree with you about day-tripping, but what do you have
    > against busses? I can remember some wonderful daytripping bus trips,
    > one out of Florence past Fiesole, another along the Amalfi Coast, a
    > third into the Alps on a Swiss Postal bus.

Mental handcuffs. You can scratch your nose, even read a book,
but your hands are still constrained quite heavily. In a bus
you get to see everything on the left side, and don't blink.

"Jordi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > EuroTravel wrote:
    >> Which cities in western Europe are a good home base best suited for
    > day
    >> trips (reasonably priced local food and lodging with plenty of varied
    >> and interesting things to see and do within a 2 or 3 hour train
    > ride)?
    > If you wish to change train for a bus, Cordoba is also a good base for
    > visiting Seville, Granada and the coast, besides being an attraction on
    > its own and having an interesting cuisine.
    > Accomodation tends to be more expensive, more crowded and less value
    > than in other nearby places, though.
    > J.
Has anyone mentioned Madrid? It meets your criteria for reasonably priced
food and lodging, and there are several easy daytrip possibilities by either
bus or train including Toledo, Segovia, El Escorial, Avila, Cordoba and even
Seville which is a two and a half hour trip on the high-speed AVE train.
I'm usually reluctant to do too much daytripping since there are usually so
many interesting attractions in the base city, but I find it easy to get out
of Madrid after a couple of days since apart from the art museums I find
little of real interest there.

GG