Europe Travel Advice Please

[Superman]

Inspired by this thread from Shaun @ Tru6 and having never been to Europe my better half and I have booked flights:

Trip to Paris

In April. Landing in Florence, Italy and leaving from Paris three weeks later. The purpose of this thread is to get tips and advice. Our plan is very loose, and will hopefully stay that way. We want to see some art, but mostly we just want to drink in the ambiance. We want to see what it feels like to eat at a Parisian cafe, or to grab a bottle of wine and take a snack to a piazza in Italy, or a park in Paris.

We have secured no accommodations so far. Hoping that is not a huge mistake. Perhaps we should book some places ASAP, but we had hoped to just stumble our way from Florence to Rome to Paris.

ALL suggestions, advice, ideas, musings, perceptions, stories or recommendations will be sincerely appreciated.

[creaturecat]

lucky you.
take good walking shoes.
i suggest a hotel in Paris. we have had a few bad experiences wth airbnb in Paris.
Metro is great.
Versailles is a great day trip - with excellent picnic opportunities.
Musee d'Orsay in Paris. Rodin, hang out in Le Marais. Napolean's tomb and accompanying museum. Pere La Chaise - a great place to wander - see Jim Morrison's gravesite, Sacre Coeur,
we once took a trip to Monet's garden - it was worth it.
took a high speed train to Avignon - rented a motorcycle - went exploring - it was friggin sublime.
on and on it goes ......
wish we had taken a train to Rome, while in Florence.
did take the train to Sienna - Sienna worth a trip (Hotel Certosa di Maggiano - highly recommended) San Giminana? mostly a tourist trap feel to it. YMMV.

[jyl]

Fun trip ahead!

I've been to Europe a lot -lived there for some years of my life, probably cumulative two years touristing around over the other years, last year spent around three months in France and Italy. It is my favorite place in the world. I wish I were living there now.

Some questions to start

1) What standard of accommodations do you two need, to be happy? Only nice hotels in nice areas, okay with the occasional grubby place by the train station, want to spread out in an AirBnB apartment, okay with a 12'x12' hotel room?
2) Do you want to see a lot of museums, monuments, and other stuff listed in guidebooks, have a list of very specific things you already know you want to see, or do you prefer to just poke around, hang in cafes, randomly run into interesting stuff some days or on other days nothing at all?
3) Thinking more of seeing cities or seeing villages?
4) Plan to travel by train, car, or plane? If rented car, how are you with driving in unfamiliar cities that are like, say, the most chaotic parts of NYC x 2?
5) In general, what's your tolerance for unforeseen and frustrating things going wrong and forced improvisation?
6) Are you thinking of this as your one trip to Europe ever, or more of a scouting trip to find places to go back to on future trips?

[oldE]

In April in the south of France, the leaves on the grape vines are about the size of a squirrels ear.the weather is getting quite warm and in the small towns the folks are fantastic. We got along with our fractured French. I loved the secondary roads through the countryside and, if you need them, the auto routes are first class.
Our method was to stay in a place for a week and explore the area.
It was great walking into a tiny local grocery store and picking out bottles of local wine.
Best
Les

[Dr J]

Congratulations on your trip. It will be amazing. Everything is centuries old and you can go back a decade later and everything is pretty much the same.

From Florence take a trip to Pisa. Its about half a day or so. In Florence you have to see Michelangelo’s statue of David. If you can make it to Venice it would be great. It is one of my favorite areas of Italy. The food is great and once you have pizza in Italy you will realize that what we call pizza here is something else.

In Paris, you have to spend some time at the Louvre. Minimum a day and you won’t be able to see everything. I found the coronation of Napoleon impressive.

If you can, do a tour of the Loire valley. There are several castles like Chenonceaux and Chambord. Very nice.

These suggestions are in addition to the recommendations you received above. In winter, the gardens at Versaille are not as nice as in the summer, but it is still worth a visit.

[javadog]

If you want to eat at any of the high-end restaurants in either France or Italy, and I highly suggest that you do a few of those, you will want to book the reservations now.

[PorscheGAL]

It's been some time since I was in Paris but this hotel is where we stayed. Just for kicks I looked at availability this weekend and tomorrow they have rooms at 190 Euros.

Honestly don't remember the hotel itself much. What I do remember: It is located on a street that doesn't allow cars except for deliveries. There is a butcher, a florist, a patisserie, and a wine store on the same block. We bought pastries every day. There is a metro station at the end of the block and the Eiffel Tower was a short 8-10 min walk.

There was a little cafe across the street from the steps leading to Sacre Coeur where we had the best service.

I've never been to Florence. It's on the list. I hope you have a great time!

[wdfifteen]

Do the touristy stuff, but you will be there long enough to also rent a car and get out into the country.
I know Paris has a good hop-on hop-off tourist bus that will take you around the city and up to Montmarte for a few bucks.
I found Florence to be relatively laid-back. Could have stayed there a month.

[Superman]

Whoa! You folks are as reliable as gravity. Much appreciated! Perhaps the best I can do for now is to answer jyl's excellent questions:

Originally Posted by jyl

Some questions to start

1) What standard of accommodations do you two need, to be happy? Only nice hotels in nice areas, okay with the occasional grubby place by the train station, want to spread out in an AirBnB apartment, okay with a 12'x12' hotel room?

No special luxury needs, but just a comfortable place that is relatively safe. No gold bathroom fixtures....No herds of cockroaches. Shaun mentions, in his thread, of an AirBnB that is walking distance to most places. This would be good.
Doesn't have to be large or fancy. Just safe and comfortable. I'm going to be looking into Stephanie's suggestion(s).

2) Do you want to see a lot of museums, monuments, and other stuff listed in guidebooks, have a list of very specific things you already know you want to see, or do you prefer to just poke around, hang in cafes, randomly run into interesting stuff some days or on other days nothing at all?

Not a lot of specific things, but I want to see David and I'd like to see St. Paul's and the Pieta. Sculptures in Florence. Paintings in Paris. It will be breathtaking just for me to see the architecture alone. Really looking forward to Paris.
I want to "be" in Paris. Just "be" there. If that makes sense.

3) Thinking more of seeing cities or seeing villages?

Good question. Lisa and I will have to talk about that. Again, we just want to "be" in these places. Rural settings might be wonderful, in addition to the standard "sights."

4) Plan to travel by train, car, or plane? If rented car, how are you with driving in unfamiliar cities that are like, say, the most chaotic parts of NYC x 2?

You are good at forming questions, aren't you? I think a motorcycle would be a blast, but I think Lisa will prefer trains. Trains are a good plan for us, perhaps. They have them there, I hear.

5) In general, what's your tolerance for unforeseen and frustrating things going wrong and forced improvisation?

These are my preference!

6) Are you thinking of this as your one trip to Europe ever, or more of a scouting trip to find places to go back to on future trips?

I think I am going to fall in love. With Paris, certainly. We plan to travel. Ireland sounds fun. This is not a one-and-done thing.

[908/930]

I would suggest renting a car in Italy to get to some of the small fortified towns, the highway driving there is quite good and lots of great food. Out of Paris I would suggest a train to Epernay or a plane to Bordeaux for a couple of days, easy to walk around once you are there or do day trips. Should be a great trip, so much to see and drink there.

I was in Paris three years ago and really felt unsure with the area around the train station, keep your wallet hidden.

[cassisrot]

Pick up the red guide michelin and enjoy a couple of one stars.

[Bill Douglas]

Wow. What fun.

I think the best restaurant I went to in Rome was in a funny little coblestone back street. Probably where the chariots were parked while the centuions went boozing hundreds of years ago.

The guy who owned the hotel phoned his friend and demanded (I don't speak Italian but it was an aninimated phone conversation) the best table for his most esteemed guests LOL

It was fanatastic. And everyone else seemed to be locals.

So ask the hotel manager what he thinks, and don't be afraid to go to his cousin Gino's restaurant. Unlikely to be scammed, they are pretty honourable people.

[hbueno]

We visited France back in November. Spent a few days in Paris and then visited Normandy (Omaha Beach). and the Loire valley. Loved Paris so much that we're going again in a few weeks for a long weekend. Last time we stayed in Montmartre, this time we'll be in the Latin Quarter staying at the hotel Les Dames du Pantheon. We've already booked several restaurants and got tickets for the Musee d'Orsay and a musical performance at Eglise Saint Ephrem. There's so much to do that you really should research and plan ahead.

My suggestion: learn some basic French phrases and always say bonjour when entering an establishment. We found the people to he friendly and helpful.

We visited Siena and Florence back in the early 2000's just after Christmas. New Years Eve in the square in Siena was a blast. If it's still there, I recommend a restaurant called Il Cateni in the town of Orgia.

I'd recommend renting a car in Italy. Forget about a car in Paris, the Metro is excellent.

If your cell plan doesn't work overseas, I suggest getting an Orange Holiday Eurpoe SIM from Amazon. A fully functional smartphone is very helpful for using Google Maps to navigate the Metro, buying tickets, translation, etc.

[Rick Lee]

Driving in Paris absolutely sucks. I still think I should get a special endorsement on my US DL for having survived it. Go see some WWI memorials and cemeteries. Get your Louvre tix online in advance. Do not wait in those lines.

[MMARSH]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Driving in Paris absolutely sucks. I still think I should get a special endorsement on my US DL for having survived it. Go see some WWI memorials and cemeteries. Get your Louvre tix online in advance. Do not wait in those lines.

I was just in Italy, I thought driving in Naples was the worst I've seen in all of Europe. Scooters were literally going the wrong way on the street. Paris seemed completely civilized in comparison, except the traffic around the Arc de Triomphe is pretty insane, went around a couple times trying to get out. 😳

Have fun Superman, your gonna have a great time. Nothing really to add. We rented a car this last time and drove from Venice- Piza- Rome-Positano-Pompeii and then flew from Naples to Greece for 2 weeks on a Motorcycle.

There really is so much to see, that you wont see it all on one trip. I'm going back again in September to explore Southern Italy and Sicily. Just seeing your going, makes me wanna pack a suitcase.

[Rick Lee]

I drove around Arc de Triomphe a few times just to say I had done it. The Germans say you can go hungry doing that.

[Alan A]

You couldn’t pay me to visit Paris. Dirty, smelly and full of tourists.
I’d do Reims, Dijon or Limoges before there any day. Nice is worth stopping into too.
You won’t make it that far, but the north coast of Spain - Bilbao to Galicia is very pretty and San Sebastián is always worth stopping in on if you like seafood.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by Alan A

Bilbao

Bilbao

[MBAtarga]

How long will you be in Rome? We went to Italy 3 years ago and will be back in late April. We bought a copy of a Steve Rick's book for walking tours and spent a good 6 or 7 days sightseeing.

[mjohnson]

Our first trip to real Europe was with a 20-mo old girl (yes, poor life choices there).

With a little planning/coaching on "local" languages, Munich was easy (of course), Paris was doable but Mrs J had a conference in Tours where they were having none of that "Englais" crap. We were game for that and did OK until a few things got tight and do you know who's happy as a clam to talk english? The dude in the kebab shop. That guy hooked us up so well and he was thrilled to help us out.

One funny story of perception vs. reality in Europe was that a massive windstorm brought down trees and killed the HS rail from Munich to Paris. Panic ensued - Mrs J was on official travel and didn't care what the $$ impact was, kiddo and I were on "travelbitz.com" cheap tix and were nearly screwed. Our hotel desk guy knew a guy who knew a guy to get us tix by air to Paris. Wires got crossed and my name really didn't match my passport - and on a mainline (KLM?) carrier too. I panicked and at the check-in the nice lady said "don't worry, this isn't the USA - enjoy your flight).

And the Air France/Sky Club lounge at CDG is quite OK...