Expert: Alun Hill MCIJ - 2/5/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hi Alun
My husband and i are planning to travel to UK for our honeymoon. We will be flying from Malaysia to London. It is a free and easy holiday. We would love to visit Paris, Monaco and Amsterdam. Can you provide advice on how we can get from London to Paris, Monaco and Amsterdam. What would you be your best recommendation in terms of cost and travel time?

ANSWER: Hi - thanks very much for your question!

Can you give me an idea of your timescales for the honeymoon, please?

Monaco, to the south of France is a 2 to 3 hour flight from London (but doesn't have an airport, so that's more travelling - basically allowing for "hotel door London to "hotel door Monaco" will take a day.

Paris, France, is 2hrs 15 mins from  London by Eurostar train, and Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, is over 3 hours on the train from Paris, or a 1 hour flight from London.

Again, allowing hotel to station and destination station to hotel or to and from airports, you'll spend a large part of each day travelling.

If you're here for at least 2 weeks, you can do this, but any less may be difficult.

Let me have a little more information, please - are you happy to spend so much time travelling, where are you flying back home from, is the cost of all these flights / trains OK, etc?


Happy to help!

Alun Hill, MCIJ

http://www.ShortEuropeBreaks.co.uk



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks Alun. Im very happy to hear from you and your advice is very much appreciated as this is our first time to UK on our own.

Our honeymoon will be 2 weeks from the day we depart from Malaysia to London. We are planning to travel beginning of May 2010. We will depart from London back home again. Therefore from your advice it seems like travelling to Monaco is abit of a hassle and also we need to get back to London to catch our flight back to Malaysia (which would take another day if by train).

Our initial plan is to stay in London, depart to Paris and Monaco then head to Amsterdam and then back to London. But it seems that the travelling time is taking quite abit of our time and we may decide to forgo it.

The train ride from London to Paris and Amsterdam is perfectly fine (preferably because it would be cheaper than internal flights). Is it advisable to purchase the train tickets in advance or get it at the station?

What are your suggestion of the places of interest in London, Paris and Amsterdam?

Answer
Thank you  - just to be clear:

* London is in the UK, Paris is in France and Amsterdam is in the Netherlands - three separate countries, with three different languages.

* In the UK, the currently is the pound, the other countries use the Euro.

* It isn't necessarily cheaper to take a train - flights can be had for a few pounds, especially if you book early; Remember though that airports are out of the cities, so you need to add time to get to and from them.

* www.Eurostar.com will get you London to Paris (about £30 if booked in advance, on certain trains) and www.Thalys.com will get you Paris to Amsterdam. They have regular offers on off-peak trains. In all cases, if you get a cheap ticket, you must travel on the train on your ticket.

It's impossible to say what to see in each city, as  I don't know what sort of things you're interested in, but do ask you that you get yourselves some guide books and decide what you'd like to see.

I'll be very happy to help you with London and there are experts on here for the other 2 countries.

All that said, the sooner you book your hotels, flights and trains, the cheaper you will get them - May can be very expensive for international flights.

I would suggest day 1 arrive London  - day 5 train to Paris - day 8 or 9 train to Amsterdam, fly back to the UK, have the last days in London.

(My only problem is that your train from Paris to Amsterdam goes through Brussels in Belgium - much as I love Amsterdam, Brussels arguably is much nicer  especially on a honeymoon! You can also take the Eurostar from Brussels back to London, city centre to city centre in under 3 hours (actually 2 hours, because of the time difference!)

One further immediate suggestion - if you stay at my favourite hotel - base2stay in London's Kensington (one of the nicest parts of London) - before and after you visit the other countries, you should be able to leave some luggage with them, which will make your travels easier.

Does this help so far, please?

Alun Hill, MCIJ

http://www.IsParisExpensive.com
http://www.IsAmsterdamExpensive.com
http://www.ShortEuropeBreaks.co.uk
http://www.base2stay.com