Expert: Emoor - 11/11/2011

Question
Dear Emoor,
We are a fmly of 3 - 2 adults and our daughter 15 yrs planning to visit Europe. We thought of combining London/ Paris and Switzerland or Amsterdam whichever is better in terms of connectivity and cost.
Since this is our first visit to Europe, we would like to get a real feel of the place and plan to spend 3 nites in London/ 3 nites in Paris and 3 nites in Switzerland. Is that enough ? also we are looking for economical studio apartments or hotels close to the tube stations so that travel is easier. Please can you guide us to the best itinenery and recommend some good apartment hotels in above places with just an indicative cost. Also please advise on the internal travel and travel within city.
Thanks so much

Best wishes
seema

Answer
Your question indicates that you have nine nights to spend in Europe, and want to spend three nights in each of London, Paris, and Switzerland or Amsterdam.

That is trying to do a lot in just a few days.  Your first day will be spent getting rested and getting over jet lag.  Most travel days will not give you time to do any real sightseeing.  That means you will have only two decent days in London, two in Paris, and two in Switzerland or Amsterdam.  Frankly I would limit myself to a maximum of two sites (say London and Paris), which will give you four good London days and three good Paris days,  That is not more than enough but a little more doable.

I take it you will fly to London from the US, and get a return flight from Paris or wherever you end up.  If you want low budget accommodations, get a Rick Steves or Arthur Frommer publication which has suggestions.  Ask me or someone who knows about the neighborhoods where you intend to stay -- some are much more comfortable than others.  Also, give me an idea how much you actually want to spend; what is your budget.

There is far more to do in those European cities than you can begin to fit into less than a week or ten days.  Three or four days just lets you hit the highlights, and not much of them.  Nevertheless, you can see the “big” sights.

My recommendation is to get a good travel guide, or check out travel guides online.  Pick the spots you consider “must sees”.  Think about your personal interests rather than trying to discover standard tourist spots.

The old line tourist sights in London are the Tower of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, British Museum, Hyde Park, National Gallery, Greenwich Observatory, and Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.  The “new” tourist sites are  London Eye, South Bank, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.  If I had just a couple of days in London I would not travel all over town, but instead stay near Westminster and see some old and some new sights.

In Paris, the old line sights are Notre Dame, Louvre Museum, Eiffel Tower, Napoleon’s Tomb; new sights are Musee D’Orsay, Museum of Decorative Arts and the Louvre.

If you determine what you want to do and what you want to pay, I can be more helpful.