England and Europe Travel Questions and Answers
Travel FAQ
Visitors to the site do send me queries on England and Europe Travel. Here, I have published some questions. Hope you find these useful
Q: I have 4 weeks for Europe Travel. I will Fly into Switzerland and want to Fly back from London. Please suggest some itineraries.
Ans: am suggesting 3 options for you. See below.
Option 1: Swiss, Germany, Italy, France, England
Option 2: Swiss, Italy, France, England, Holland
Option 3: Swiss, Italy, France, England, Spain
For such a long trip, we need to use the top-down approach.
i.e. to decide to top-level option first and then use sheet 1 in the spreadsheet to fill up the detailed itinerary.
Of course, it depends on your liking, but I would do option 3. It gives a good overview of Europe – from the Alps in Swiss to Beaches in Spain. Also, it reduces the number of Long train travels as you would take Easyjet on two long journeys. I just checked on the site and the flights are available at very reasonable prices if booked for June / July now. (From Basel to Barcelona and then from Barcelona to Paris)
Summary Option 1:
Covered countries: Swiss, Germany, Italy, France, England
Nights in Hotels: As below
Day 1 Basel
Day 2 Basel
Day 3 https://myenglandtravel.com/switzerland_travel.html
Swiss – other places
Day 4 Swiss – other places
Day 5 Swiss – other places
Day 6 Swiss – other places
Day 7 From Berne Go to Munich
Day 8 Munich – the Olympic stadium, BMW museum, Rathaus
Day 9 Neuschwanstein castle (Fairytale castle) back to Munich
Day 10 Travel to Basel
Day 11 Basel
Day 12 Basel to Venice
Day 13 Venice
Day 14 Venice to Pisa. See Pisa. Go to Rome. Night in Rome
Day 15 Rome see myenglandtravel.com for suggested itinerary
Day 16 Rome
Day 17 Rome to Basel
Day 18 Basel
Day 19 Basel to Geneva. Geneva to Paris on TGV train
Day 20 Paris
Day 21 Paris
Day 22 Paris
Day 23 Paris to London
Day 24 London
Day 25 London
Day 26 London
Day 27 London to Mumbai
Summary Option 2:
Covered countries: Swiss, Italy, France, England, Holland
Nights in Hotels: As below
Day 1 Basel
Day 2 Basel
Day 3 https://myenglandtravel.com/switzerland_travel.html
Swiss – other places
Day 4 Swiss – other places
Day 5 Swiss – other places
Day 6 Swiss – other places
Day 7 Basel to Venice
Day 8 Venice
Day 9 Venice to Pisa. See Pisa. Go to Rome. Night in Rome
Day 10 Rome see myenglandtravel.com for suggested itinerary
Day 11 Rome
Day 12 Rome to Basel
Day 13 Basel
Day 14 Basel to Geneva. Geneva to Paris on TGV train
Day 15 Paris
Day 16 Paris
Day 17 Paris to Amsterdam by train
Day 18 Amsterdam / Den Haag
Day 19 Amsterdam
Day 20 Amsterdam night Euroline bus to London
Day 21 London
Day 22 London
Day 23 London
Day 24 London
Day 25 London
Day 26 London
Day 27 London to Mumbai
Summary Option 3:
Covered countries: Swiss, Italy, France, England, Spain
Nights in Hotels: As below
Day 1 Basel
Day 2 Basel
Day 3 https://myenglandtravel.com/switzerland_travel.html
Swiss – other places
Day 4 Swiss – other places
Day 5 Swiss – other places
Day 6 Swiss – other places
Day 7 Basel to Venice
Day 8 Venice
Day 9 Venice to Pisa. See Pisa. Go to Rome. Night in Rome
Day 10 Rome see myenglandtravel.com for suggested itinerary
Day 11 Rome
Day 12 Rome. Rome to Basel train in the night
Day 13 Basel
Day 14 Basel to Barcelona Easyjet Flight – Its available
Day 15 Barcelona – See myengland site for itinerary
Day 16 Barcelona – See myengland site for itinerary
Day 17 Barcelona – See myengland site for itinerary
Day 18 Barcelona to Paris Easyjet Flight- Its available
Day 19 Paris
Day 20 Paris
Day 21 Paris
Day 22 Paris to London
Day 23 London
Day 24 London
Day 25 London
Day 26 London
Day 27 London to Mumbai
Q: I have heard Trains in Europe were better simply because the airports are typically way out of the city and u end up spending a bomb to get to the city by cab.
Ans: Most, if not all airports have cheap coaches and trains running from the airport to city center – Have seen it in Barcelona, Munich, Geneva, London (Heathrow Express or Tube), Paris etc.
So once you decide the top level itinerary, it’s a matter of minutes to see whats on offer.
e.g. If you decide to take Easyjet, their site itself has information on how to travel from Airport to the city center. http://easyjet.com/EN/Planning/Destination/bcn.html
In this case, it costs just 3.20 Euro. So if you take all printouts and timetables with you, you should be fine.
Sometimes if the Airport is quite away from the city, still I have seen trains/tubes (e.g. Munich) running. Once you decide what you want to see, you can look at these. If you want to see it before deciding to see the Easyjet link above, which should have most information you need.
Q: Whats the best thing to do – let us know economical ways to survive me veggie, co-traveler non-veg is fine so I will have the larger prob I guess..?
Three major contributors to cost are:
1. Travel – use cheap flights and buy the correct train passes to save money
2. Stay – Do a mix of hostel stay (typically 11 pounds per person per night) on few nights and hotels on some nights (assume GBP 45 ~ 50 per room). Often I have seen that if you stay slightly outside the city center, hotels are 25% cheaper. And typically there are cheap fast tubes in most cities in Europe. I have used this technique in Rome, Paris and it worked fine.
3. Food – Since I’m a Veggie as well, it can be an issue. However, if you stay in a hostel (it’s a misnomer, there are people of all ages, with family as well) mostly they have an included breakfast. You can have a heavy breakfast and have a light lunch and a good dinner. It also helps if you buy stuff from supermarkets (like Pizza) and corner shops which are cheaper than hotels.
You can also take pouch food with you like noodles, fried rice etc.(you just need to put boiled water in). Where ever there was no free breakfast in hotels, I had bought my own bread, cheese, butter, Ketchup from a supermarket on the previous night. That saves as well.
Q: We plan to stay in Basel (Swiss) managing most on a day trip types (except Paris for which they are booked for 2 days at 275euros return tick for two ppl and for 225 at some hotel there for 2 days – is that a reasonable deal? Any tips for travel/sightseeing/mode of transport there?)
Ans:
1. Stay in youth hostels rather than hotels: (approx. 15 Euros per day per person) – Breakfast is generally included – its clean, comfortable and you get to meet visitors from all around the world and make new friends. Anyone of any age, with family, can stay.
www.hostelworld.com, YHA international etc.
2. If staying in hotels, hotels in suburbs are much cheaper. Most of the countries in Europe have excellent local transport(and fast as well). This proves much cheaper.
3. travel overnight – saves on the hotel. Sleeper trains are quite comfortable. E.g. Basel to Venice overnight – just checked, there is a train around 9.30 pm via Zurich which reaches Venezia at 7.15 am
4. This is if budget is still less – I have tried doing this on a couple of days on an 11-day tour of Europe in 1998. Food – buy packed food for breakfast from super shops and cook in a microwave – may be for a day or two – saves time taken in the hotel and serviced breakfast is very expensive in places like Geneva. You can have a proper meal later in the evening.
Question:
We are keen on doing Italy and spending 3-4 days there and I wanted to check with you if you know of absolutely cheap places where they can stay and any suggestions/tips that you can give.
Ans:
For Italy in 4 days, here is what I suggest.
Overnight train from Basel to Venice reaching in the morning. See Venice in a day (I have suggested what to see in www.myenglandtravel.com under Italy section). Stay in a hostel.
Leave early morning to Pisa (2.5 hours), see Pisa for 7/8 hours, proceed to Rome (2 hours) Stay in Rome.
Skip Florence.
Day 3 – Day tour of Rome on the hop on hop off bus (details of bus and what to see again on myenglandtravel.com).
Day 4 – Vatican + other leftover places from yesterday. Overnight train to Basel
Q: Have 4 days – what shall I see in Holland? Would be based in London
Ans:
Try to do Paris with Amsterdam (around 3 hours). Else you’ll again spend more on traveling back.
If not possible, I’m not sure if you would really like Amsterdam in this season (October). In April, there are Keukenhof gardens. Otherwise compared to other European cities, it’s not up there.
Places you can see are – Anne Frank house, bridges, and canals, Rijksmuseum etc.
You may like the overall atmosphere though – bicycles, coffee shops, narrow streets etc.
One place you can visit is the miniature garden in Den Haag (go by train from Amsterdam CST) and if you get time to visit Rotterdam.
Question: Going to Rome month end.. if not a prob, can u please let know the must see in Rome and Munich…please only if u have the time
Ans:
Munich(Bavaria) -fairytale castle Neuschwanstein, BMW museum, Olympic stadium, Konigsee, Rathaus etc. – will need at least 3 days
Rome: I have added an itinerary on www.myEnglandtravel.com under Italy travel section
Traveling by Train in England and London – Information on getting and reading your train ticket, the high speed, and regional train system; a link to training schedules.
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