The first thing you want to do when planning for a EuroTrip is to decide which countries you would like to visit. I wanted to see as much as possible in two weeks. After knowing I had two weeks to travel, I purchased the 15 day continuous global rail pass on eurail.com (interrail.com if you are an EU citizen) and got 2 extra days for free since they were having a sale. https://www.eurail.com/en/eurail-passes/global-pass This pass allows you the freedom to explore all your dream European destinations using the Eurail Global Pass. This convenient train pass gives you access to rail networks in 28 fascinating countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, although be aware that you will have to pay a reservation fee in specific countries or for night trains. Once I knew which cities I wanted to visit, I downloaded the Rail Planner app to see how long it was from each city and which cities would not be direct trains. I took notes beforehand and had a general idea of when I would be traveling but still had the flexibility to plan as I went if I needed more time in a specific location. The great thing about Eurail passes is you don’t have to worry about missing a train. You can hop on whatever train you’d like without a timed ticket. You can download the apps here – IOS, Android. Rail planner shows you all the available times, type of train and possible connections for the city of your choice. The application is done by Eurail and the cool thing about it is that it is available offline! I used the app the entire time during my travels and was fully satisfied with it! There are some cases when you will need to reserve a seat on your trip and pay a reservation fee. This can be done at the train station. For example, it is mandatory to book your seat on a night train. We did this a few times. The average cost of a bed on a night train is around 20-40 Euros. We had time to sleep while traveling, which was awesome to wake up in our next location! One example of when we did this was from Madrid to Lisbon. You will also usually need to book your seat when using a fast train that is marked with an R on the Rail Planner App. This can be as low as 3 Euros or as much as 30 Euros. Sometimes you will have the option to take the same route on a slow-speed train but I think it is worth it to just pay the fee in some instances. High-speed trains are common in France, Italy, and Spain. Additionally, you will need to reserve your seat on popular routes that may not have free seats. Stop 1: Amsterdam https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/06/20/amsterdam-netherlands/ Stop 2: Berlin https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/06/20/bamberg-germany/ Stop 3: Prague https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/06/22/prague-czech-republic/ Stop 4: Vienna https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/06/22/vienna-austria/ Stop 5: Bratislava https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/06/23/bratislava-slovakia/ Stop 6: Budapest https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/06/24/budapest-hungary/ Stop 7: Lake Bled https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/06/25/bled-slovenia/ Stop 8: Florence https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/06/27/florence-and-pisa-italy/ Stop 9: Nice https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/06/30/nice-france/ Stop 10: Marseille https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/06/30/marseille-france/ Stop 11: Barcelona https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/07/03/barcelona-and-montserrat-spain/ Stop 12: Madrid https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/07/01/madrid-spain/ Stop 13: Lisbon https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/07/03/lisbon-portugal/ Stop 14: Porto https://mandytravelstheworld.news.blog/2016/07/03/porto-portugal/ Check out the links to each city’s blog for more information on the specific places. If you have any more questions about the Eurail pass or planning a EuroTrip, please comment below!
The first time my husband (boyfriend before the trip and proposed in Paris) and I travelled to Europe, we visited his twin brother, who was stationed in England, where we are actually now stationed. The planner that I am, made a complete itinerary full of activities for us to do and the destinations I wanted to visit. I will go into more detail on another blog post about the specifics but I will give you the general idea of where we went and a few things to do in each country. We flew round trip from RDU (Raleigh, NC) to LHR (London) round trip for $900 a person from Tuesday, December 17th to Thursday, January 2nd and had a budget of $1,000 per person for additional expenses (we bought all of our Christmas gifts while we were there). This trip can definitely be done for a lot cheaper, but we thought we would never be travelling back to Europe so we splurged a lot! Day 1: Stateside to EnglandTravel Day Day 2: EnglandRelax Day 3: GermanyLeft England and drove to Germany. We planned to stop in Cologne on the way to Frankfurt but I got sick in the car so we decided to drive straight to Frankfurt. It ended up being about an 8 hour drive but we stopped a lot. When we arrived in Frankfurt, we checked into our hotel and ate dinnerHotel Alleenhof in Frankfurt, Germany Day 4: GermanyMain attractions: City Hall, Cathedral of St. Bartholomew, Main Tower, Christmas Markets Day 5: Germany to BelgiumWe checked out of our hotel and drove to Brussels, Belgium. We got to drive on the autobahn! It was definitely a terrifying situation. When we got to Brussels after the 4-hour car ride, we ate dinner and went to the Christmas Markets and walked around the City Centre.Brussels City Centre Apartments Day 6: BelgiumMain attractions: Musee Royal del’armee, Autoworld, Town Hall, Medieval Square Day 7: Belgium to EnglandThe drive from Brussels back to England took about 5 hours and we were able to stop at the Cliffs of Dover on the way back. Day 8: England (Christmas Eve)During the next 3 days, we just spent time visiting with family and friends and exploring the town we were in. Day 9: England (Christmas) Day 10: England – Day in Cambridge Day 11: England to FranceWe took a 3-hour train ride from London St Pancreas to Pairs Gare Du Nord. We got the Paris Pass for the four days we would be there. We went to Montparnasse, Luxembourg Gardens, Pantheon, Latin Quarter, the Love Bridge, and Saint-Chappelle all in this day. It was very easy getting around.De La Vallee Hotel in Paris, France Day 12: FranceMain attractions: Notre Dame, Orsay Museum, Opera, Grand Palais/Petit Palais, Alexander Bridge, Invalides, Rodin Museum.We also had dinner reservations on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower which was magnificent! I highly recommend it. The food was absolutely amazing! Day 13: FranceMain attractions: Palais of Versailles, Eiffel Tower (we wanted to see it during the day), Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge Day 14: FranceMain attractions: Le Louvre, Palais Royal, Camps-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Christmas Market Day 15: France to EnglandTook the train back to London St Pancras and went to Winter Wonderland (open from mid-December to a few days after New Years), London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey.We were right next to Big Ben for the New Year’s Eve fireworks and that is definitely something I will never forget. I plan to go back again! Day 16: EnglandNew Year’s Day Parade, St. Pauls Cathedral, Tower of London, Buckingham PalaceThe Master Robert Hotel in Hounslow, England Day 17: England back to the States This was our first big vacation that taught us a lot about travelling. There are definitely better routes, but because of the holidays, we wanted to be in England for Christmas and New Years. Ask me anything about my trip and check back to see more in-depth travel blogs that will also include Italy, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, as well as the many other countries I plan to go to this year!
Paris has been one of my favorite cities that I have been too. It was definitely the most memorable, as it was the place where Phillip proposed to me. The “City of Love” definitely lived up to its name! I studied French for 5 semesters, from middle school through college, but I definitely am not a fluent speaker. Taking French classes helped me appreciate the culture and gave me a couple skills while I was there, such as reading menus and signs and asking for directions. Although you can see the main attractions in a couple days, I think 4 days was a good amount of time for the first visit. I definitely want to go back at a different time of year to experience the city in a different season. We went at the end of December so got the chance to go to the Christmas markets. It was cold, but not unbearable. Day 1:When we arrived, we headed to get our Paris Pass that we previously ordered. Although this had its advantages, I don’t know if it was truly worth it for what we wanted to see and do. After that, we took the metro (best mode of transportation everywhere) to our hotel. We stayed at Hotel De La Vallee, which was very cheap and in a good location. If you just plan on sleeping in the hotel and aren’t picky, I would recommend this hotel. After checking in, we set out into the city.In the afternoon, we were able to walk the streets of Montparnasse, take a stroll in the Luxembourg Gardens, see the Pantheon, walk around the Latin Quarter and Saint Sulpice, put a lock on the Love Bridge, and end our night in Saint-Chappelle and seeing City Hall. Day 2:After some sleep, we went out and searched for breakfast. In Paris, this is not a very hard thing to do. All of our eating breaks, we just picked something that looked good and everything was good for the most part. First thing we saw was Notre Dame. We opted out of climbing the tower, but next time I go back, I will definitely add this to the list of things to do. Going to Paris in and Off season would definitely provide a different experience as there were long lines everywhere we went. After Notre Dame, we took the Hop-on Hop-off bus that was included in the Paris Pass. We took the bus to the Orsay Museum, which was neat but something I could have done without. Next, we took the bus to the Opera, which was just something we looked at from the outside. Next, we went to the Wax Museum, which was very crowded, but something that I found very interesting. If you haven’t been to a wax museum before, this is a good one. The bus then took us to the Grand Palais and Petit Palais which was the area where the Christmas Markets are. We grabbed a bite to eat, walked to Alexander Bridge, walked to Invalides Dome Church, and then went to the Rodin Museum. After taking the bus tour, we took the metro back to our hotel to freshen up for dinner. We made reservations at the restaurant on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, 58 Tour Eiffel. Our reservations included a lift ticket to the first floor, which we picked up at the welcome desk 30 minutes before the time of our booking. This dinner was absolutely fabulous! It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience so we tried to think about how pricey it was. This was a great way to end the night!! Day 3:We thought if we were in Paris, we might as well go see Versailles too. We took an 8 A.M. train to Versailles, and did a self-guided tour at the Palace. Man, oh man, was it crowded. I do not like crowds, so we tended to rush through all of the rooms, because of how much I hated being shoved. The line was about a 2 hour wait to get in the place, which just wasn’t worth it for me. One day, I may go back in the off season, but I don’t recommend going in December. Luckily, it was a sunny day out, or I would have froze waiting outside in the line. After we finished, we headed back to the Eiffel Tower, where we grabbed lunch at one of the food trucks. We wanted to go back, because we hadn’t seen it during the day yet, and we wanted to go to the very top. Again, this was another very long line. The line for the stairs was about a 3-hour wait and the line for the elevator was about a 5-hour wait. We decided to take the stairs. This was a great decision. The climb was not very hard. After waiting that long, we were ready to get moving. It only took about 15 minutes to get to the second floor, and from there, we bought a lift ticket to the top (only way up from there). The view was absolutely gorgeous. By the time we got up, the sun was setting, and this is when Phillip proposed to me!! Best moment of my life!! After hanging out by the Eiffel Tower for a while, we headed to the area of Trocadero and then to the Arc de Triomphe. Afterwards, we took the metro to Sacre Coeur, where we walked around and stopped in quite a bit of souvenir shops. Then, we headed to Montpartre and Moulin Rouge. The next time I go back to Paris, I also want to see a Moulin Rouge show! Day 4:Today we went to Pompidou and then the Louvre museum. Again, not the time of year to go, as the line to the Louvre was forever long. We decided not to wait in line. Next trip to Paris, this will be a priority of mine. We took the classic tourist pictures at the Louvre and then went to
