And so it begins! First-timers to Europe, timing/flight questions

Right now, we're looking at Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Amsterdam. We have two weeks to spend and don't want to feel rushed so we thought a EuRail pass for all those countries would be best, so we could linger wherever we wanted.

First, we're thinking about flights. DH said in his reading, May and September were good months to go, to avoid high tourist crowds. I'm a little concerned about Paris because I hear towards the end of summer, many shops start shutting down. What do you think about those months?

If anyone could give suggestions on how to book flights, where to fly out of/into, and airlines they like, I'd really appreciate it.

We thought we would fly into Amsterdam and make our way south through Belgium - France - Switzerland - Italy. Or fly into Italy and do the reverse. But the only prices I'm seeing that are less than 5k (through Travelocity) seem to be ones with 1 stop.

Re: And so it begins! First-timers to Europe, timing/flight questions

kayak.com and cheapoair.com have multi-leg flight options.

If you'll be in Paris, try to visit Laduree for macaroons.

Seat61 has been really helpful for train info.

Re: And so it begins! First-timers to Europe, timing/flight questions

I went to Paris it September and your DH is right, it's a beautiful time of the year and it wasn't too crowded. We flew out Friday at midnight on XL Airways, it's a small local airline to CDG and it was really affordable.

Re: And so it begins! First-timers to Europe, timing/flight questions

May and September are not peak season, but it's still a touristy time of year because the weather is beautiful.

Whenever flying to Europe, we do night flights so we sleep and get there in the morning.

Re: And so it begins! First-timers to Europe, timing/flight questions

I've done a big trip with a Eurail pass, and to be honest, my gut feeling is that with only two weeks, you will be wasting quite a lot of time on trains, internal flights in Europe are very cheap these days. Train travel is amazing and romantic and relaxing, but time consuming! I say go to a good website and book flights instead.

Re: And so it begins! First-timers to Europe, timing/flight questions

Right now dh and I are looking into going to Paris and Amsterdam this May. I've been checking flights on Orbitz to fly into Paris and fly home from Amsterdam and its pricing out to be $1603 for both of us ($800 per person). We would take the train from Paris to Amsterdam.

We went to Amsterdam a few years ago and loved staying close to the Dam Square. We stayed at De Roode Leeuw Hotel Amsterdam...the room was a little small, but the location was perfect. The Swissotel is right across the street...a little more expensive, but we might try to stay there this time. Good luck with the rest of your planning!

ETA: they are direct flights too

Message edited 1/23/2011 10:54:28 AM.

Re: And so it begins! First-timers to Europe, timing/flight questions

before we decided to go to europe for 10 days instead of two weeks, we were going to sleep on the eurail overnight trains. it wouldve been kind of fun experience that DH and i could do together. i think it sounds like a really great idea as long as you're not "wasting" too much time on the trains during good times. its really amazing to see the european countryside which you obv cant see at night.

most europeans go on vacation in august, so september's a good time to go.

Re: And so it begins! First-timers to Europe, timing/flight questions

May can be cold, I think September is much better.

I would use trains between Belgium, Holland and France, but would definitely fly down to Switzerland or Italy. It would take about 10 hours to get from Paris to Rome by train, for example. Throw in a train strike, and it will make it longer. France and Italy have been known to strike.

Re: And so it begins! First-timers to Europe, timing/flight questions

Re: And so it begins! First-timers to Europe, timing/flight questions