Europe Vacation: advice?
 

A friend and I are planning a 10-day trip to Europe in early June. We really want to see London and Rome. Any recommendations on tours to look into/avoid?

Thanks!

Re: Europe Vacation: advice?
 

I went to Europe several years ago and going back this summer 2005 (just put down the deposit!!! WooHoo!!!)

Don't miss....Rome, Venice (especially Venice!!!), actually any part of Italy is wonderful!!! Switzerland (we went to Lucerne, but I hear Zumatt is wonderful too!), London...

Miss...Cannes, Nice, Monte Carlo (all of South of France for that matter). I wasn't thrilled with Paris, but I'd go back to give it a 2nd chance and see more of the museums that we didn't get to see again.

Hope this helps!

Stop over in Amsterdam. ;)

If you are only in Europe for 10-days, I'd pick one of London and Rome - trying to hit both will be very hectic.

I looove Lonely Planet books.

Are you looking for a guided tour with a tour group, or to DIY?

A tour group, since we haven't been before.

Traveling is my passion. I lived in Rome for a while, so pm me if you really need advise to see hidden treasures of Rome (believe me, it is more that the tours and books tell you).

Depends on what you would like to see, touring Europe could be tricky. You have to decide what you want to see/to do there: typical tourist stuff (riding Venezian gondola, top of Eiffel Tower, pictures with Coloseum, Loch Ness), cultural stuff (weiner eating in Munich, sailing in Amalfi Coast/Mediteranean, "coffee shopping" in Red Light Distric of Amsterdam, eating at cafe along the Seine), outdoor recreation (paragliding in Interlaken, hiking in Cinque Terre, ice climbing in Jungfrau), or art seeing (Accademia in Venice, la Giaconda in Louvre, British Museum, Musei Vaticani, Musee d'Orsay). Or maybe the Nazi camp tour (Dachau, Auschwitz), Christian tour (Vaticani, Roman catacombs, Asisi) or architectural tour (Familia Sangrada in Barcelona, Fred Ginger in Prague, Pampidou in Paris).

It seems that you will be in Europe early June, that says a lot. If you are happen to be in Rome for the Pantecost, you HAVE to attend the 11 am mass at the Pantheon. They have annual red rose petal droping from the Occulus (the top opening of the Pantheon). Once in a lifetime opportunity to see this touching moment (I've heard so many people cry because it is so beautiful)

I missed it this last year, since I chosed to attend the Venesian choirs for Pantecost. In every corner of the city, there are groups of people singing, and the peak is at 6 pm at Piazza San Marco, where they gather (more than 300 people) and sing. It ends where several honor Venesian guards march into the piazza to lower down three flags in front of San Marco, putting them in three huge chests. We're talking about maybe 30 by 10.

Good luck planning your trip. ;)

I loved Italy and Prague. Everything in Prague is just so.......not American. And the girls there dress so chic. It's awesome I loved it there I didn't want to leave.

Since you're only going for 10 days, I would almost recommend going to just those 2 cities, or maybe with one more in between. Big whirlwind European tours feel so hectic, and you're left with only a brief confused impression of each place you visit.

It might be easier to go to London and Paris instead, or Rome and somewhere else in Italy like Florence or Venice. London and Rome are pretty far apart -- 20 hours by train! It would probably also be easier to find a tour group that went to those sets of places together.

Sorry I'm no help on specific company recommendations -- I'm a DIY kind of girl, myself. But I do know that Rick Steves has a lot of tours. I've never been on a tour, but his guide books have some of the best advice I've ever found. Check out the website at least for packing advice, too.

I'm doing that too! I'm going to go with Contiki Travel. But I think I am going on the 14 day tour, rather than the ten.

Re: Europe Vacation: advice?
 

My advice is not to go on a tour and to DIY, you will probably have more fun that way. If you have questions or need help planning feel free to PM me, I just recently spent 5 weeks in France. I've never done a package tour, except a few years back when I took some of my students to Europe, but that is a whole different ball game.
I've been to Europe more times than I can count. Rome is great! London is great! But in the same trip for only 10 days, it might be hard travels...they are kind of far apart inasmuchas you would waste a lot of time traveling between. If you can, maybe stick to London and Ireland, or London, Paris, Amsterdam. Or just stick to the UK.

I'd tell you not to miss the south of France, but that is because I love it there and have a lot of friends who live there as well. There is a lot of beautiful stuff to see. There is also a ton to do just in the UK. If you can get up to Scotland, do! It's beautiful and the people are lovely...almost as great as the Irish people! =)

If you are doing a tour, I've heard great things about the Rick Steves and Contiki tours. Contiki is more for the "partying" age folk. Rick Steves seems to be less so.

www.ricksteves.com Read up, as much of a square as he seems to be, his books and website have been really great and he gives a lot of really great tips.


Happy travels!

I did two tours with Trafalgar Tours. One was traveling around Great Britain. The other was traveling the European continent. I loved both tours!!!! The hotels we stayed at were great - in Great Britain we even stayed in castle. They give you enough time to see some of the cities on your own or you can book option day tours with them. Not all meals are included but most of them were.

I will only do Europe on guided tours since I love to learn about local history etc. I would have missed so much about the various places I visited with the tour if I had done it myself using a guide book. The Trafalgar Tour guide was constantly pointing out points of interest or interesting history of various areas. Plus your tour guide is usually someone from the region who can tell you about the areas the locals hangout. In London, the tour guide took some of us to a local pub that she and her friends hang out in.

I stronly suggest you check out Trafalgar Tours. Also, if you belong to the Auto Club contact a local office and see what their travel agents have set up. Or even better contact the airlines, such as British Airways, to see if they have any package deals.

On a side note, if you do make it to London check with the hotel Concierge desk to see if their is still a city tour of the Dark Side of London. It is a nighttime tour that takes you to sites of all the jack the ripper murders, it takes you to some areas reportedly to be haunted, etc. It was a weird tour but fascinating at the same time.

Thanks for all the great advice so far!

I agree. Rick Steves is the way to go. Europe Through the Back Door is a great book!

I backpacked solo around Europe for 6 mos and I am a girl! It's a LOT of fun. I would avoid the tourist groups.

IM or email me if you wanna chat!

Rox

We took a Trafalgar tour and were pretty happy with it. Hotels were not 5 star, but nice, food was decent.

The tour guide was an absolute stitch -- a Brit living in France who spoke about 450 languages as far as I could tell. Got his whole take on the history of Western Europe in a really funny presentation.

On that tour we went to Frankfurt, Innsbruck, Lucern, Venice, Florence and Paris.

Went on a business trip to London three weeks later. I actually really enjoyed the double decker bus tours -- and just walking around.

If I had the chance to hang around any city I've ever been to for a few days, though, it would be London.