...my wife to be and I are taking our Honeymoon in Europe...landing in Stansted Airport in London.

We'll have 10 days to travel around Europe, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Eurail, what would you suggest?

We our going to spend at least 3 days in Ireland, what are our options of travel from London to Ireland? How is Ryan Air? From Ireland, what would be your next move?

All tips are welcomed.....Thanks, Bingo

Hi bingo,
YOU and your wife must go to HARRODS IN LONDON,one the best store in the
world (i work in harrods) and STICKY FINGERS RESTURANT and many more beautiful
places to visit,email me if you want any information.kish.
my e.mail adress is kish_stoned@hotmail.com good luck.

avoid Ryanair if you have any amount of luggage.

Fortunately there are several other alternatives

i'm biased - but I would bump up the time in Ireland to at least 5 days.

Don't listen to Tod and A. You want to maximize time in France!

I don't know if you need to maximize the time in France, but if this is your first trip and it's your honeymoon, for god's sake, then you MUST go to Paris, even for one evening. The first time you walk along the Champs Elysee towards the Arc de Triomph during the evening - it will take your breath away. If you are really pressed for time, you can even do a day trip from London - take the early morning Eurostar from London to Gar du Nord Station in Paris -- see the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, have cafe on the Champs Elysee, a quick dinner and back to London.

I agree with drbryant. The eurostar from London to Paris is the easiest way, pretty cheap if you get your tickets in advance. And you go from city center to city center, which is very comfortable. Check this link [www.eurostar.com]

For all your travels from country to country, you'll find a few low coast companies like Ryan Air or Easy jet which will propose you cheap flights, as far as uou book them in advance. From London to Ireland, if you have time, i would suggest you to flight from LOndon to Liverpool, then to take the ferry to Dublin.

I hope to meet some dudes from ''tell Me'''!!!Have a fine Sat!!!Im of to work.

Ten days is useless for such a complex continent, if one would find some representative areas. Stay at the British isles;
maybe a trip over to Paris for the standard attractions
including Morrison's grave.

From Dublin you go to Wales-Liverpool, stay there go see the fab Beatles sites;
then the same with Stones in London. On yer way back you could fo to Scotland.

I'd steal a day from London to go to Belgium and either visit a
beer-brewin' monastery (Trapisten); maybe Chimay, VestVleeteren or Westmalle
and taste this divine drink... You could go there buy Oostende - Brügge (beautiful medieval city) O R (or: A N D) go to Antwerp and have a ball at Die Volle Maan, Bierland and other bars with 1 500 - 2 000 brand of beer.....

Save Scandinavia and medittereanean contries to another trip.
Same with central Europe with the Alpes & Hungary.

Is this still too few destinations, you could go see Berlin or
Copenhagen.

Just go to Italy asap

Bingo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>> We'll have 10 days to travel around Europe, any
> suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


yes. extend it to 10 months...

Now we're talking my specialty and BINGO, you have already boxed yourself in. 3 days in London + 3 days in Ireland + 1 for travel(inter UK) / jet lag ? You have 3 days left.As far as I'm concerned this is your only option. Use the Eurostar (under the English Channel high speed train) and take it round trip to Paris (totally agree with nikkibong and drbryant). I recommend staying in the 7th. If you're on a budget stay at either HOTEL DU CHAMP DE MARS (about $100 US per night for room) or HOTEL GRAND LEVEQUE (about $90 US) the rooms are VERY clean and quiet with nice white tile modern bathrooms. Rooms at the first hotel are a bit more charming but it's hard to get in there - they're VERY popular.the neighborhood is great with rue Cler (no cars charming cobble stone Street Market 6 days a week) going right through the center (both hotels are steps away). Cafe du Marche (right across from Hotel Du Champ de Mars) is a great place for casual dinner and drinks. It fills up everynight. The food is really good for the price (Chicken Curry salad is great !) plus they have a great selection of Wine and Beer on tap (Leif Begium beer is a good one IMO). If you want to spend a bit more money on a Hotel check out HOTEL MUGUET (about $120 pernight/per room) and rated #91 out of 1500 Parisian Hotels. For more info Check out www.ricksteves.com / www.tripadvisor.com. / www.paristriptips.com These are great for a ton of info including photos and more details about the hotels. All the famous Paris sites are very easy to get to from this area I mentioned.The Eiffel Tower is less then a 10 minute walk. The 7th is were people stay that want a true non touristic experience. If you stay in the very high tourist area's everything is much more expensive and the food is not as good in general - believe me, I've done it in the past. In this area (rue Cler) in the 7th you won't find any funky little tourist shops full of crappy little garbage stuff.

This is exactly the info I was looking for, THANKS to all for your input. You're right 10 days isn't enough, I'm sure 30 days wouldn't be enough as well.

It looks like we're going to extend our Honeymoon a few days, we're going to try to do 12 or 13 days this trip and 2007 try to set aside more vacation time and do 3 weeks?

MicksBrain, Thanks for the precise info on hotels and Cafe's...what you described sounds like it will be our reality, your suggestions sound wonderful!!

Baboon Bro, I think we're going to do your suggestions in 2007, thanks for your input!!

drbryant, nikkibong, Jumpinjackflash59, kish_stoned, Gazza, StonesTod, Harm and rooster....thanks for adding to this thread, all suggestions are very appreciated, you guys/gals are allright!!

If any of you folks ever find you need info on NYC or San FRancisco I could give you all the info you need, I grew up in NYC, put spent 8 years living in Northern California and now back in NYC.

I've been to Europe before, but it was a quick 2 week trip centered around sports with no time for sightseeing, or very little. On that trip I had the oppertunity to vist (very quickly) Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Yugoslavia and Amsterdam.

Looking forward to October and please feel free to add more suggestions...once again THANK YOU

EasyJet flies out of Standsted and Luton (you can take a train between the two airports).

Two cities I recommend EasyJet flies to: Edinburgh and VENICE! Italy in general.

Go two months earlier and see the 2 London shows and the 2 shows following london. If she get tired of seeing the Stones, send her home early!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-03-19 07:02 by georgeV.

Paris. Take your wife to Paris. Go to the Louvre, or the Picasso museum, if you like it smaller. Go up the Eiffel tower. Eat in a modest "brasserie", near the Bastille they are best.
If you can make it: Venice.

Whale's got some good advice I think. Venice is really special. You can take the EN - the Euro Night train from Paris to Venice (or at least Milano but I think it goes all the way to Venice) It's a high speed, Private sleeper compartments (for 2) only Train that Maybe stops once (or twice at the most) If you're adding more time I would give Venice 2 days and Paris 4 days. Also the Bastille area Whale talked about is really interesting. You can take the Metro from the 7th and go straight to Bastille (no switching). I think it's line 8. Every hotel has free maps and metro maps.If you can even add a bit more time I would do a stop in Amsterdam. Great, interesting city.

Hey, MicksBrain!
Do you have any good tips (fresh rooms) at budget hotels in the Montmartre area?

Ignore them Bingo, just go to Amsterdam for the entire trip. Everything you need is there for you.

Bingo, I grew up in Amsterdam, and it is a nice town. But for a romantic trip go to Paris. And Venice if you have time.

Thommie, I always stay in the 7th now but if you want any questions AT ALL answered by a woman who just knows everything about PARIS go to www.paristriptips.com. She has a list of clean, nice budget hotels (and great places to eat) in every area and / or district and you can always leave a question and in less then 24 hours (sometimes much faster - a few hours) she'll tell EVERYTHING you want to know - she has her act totally together (her name is Lesley). Also on www.tripadvisor.com you can put in an area in the search (Trip Advisor is worldwide advice so get to Paris first) and they list the hotels by star ratings and there's plenty of reviews by Americans / Europeans / Australians that have stayed there. Some post pictures of the hotel (rooms, bathrooms, lobby, front, eating at the hotel, etc) and area (street out front, places close to the hotel, etc.) and give you the straight story on a place. Every once in a while out of many people giving a hotel a 4 out of 5 rating one person will give it a 1 or 2 cause they had some bizarre problem or had unrealistic expectations - I would take those out of the equation (if the overall rating is an average of 3.5 to 4.5 without that one) cause theres always a few people that are never happy traveling. Also, just a good place to get a crash course on traveling overseas (When in Europe do as the Europeans) is www.ricksteves.com who's spent his entire life traveling all over Europe and has found those great over looked hotels and neighborhoods that not many know about (but 10 years later turn out to be one of the happening spots in a city). I discovered the Rue Cler / 7th through his books and website (plus he has a ton of DVD's and was on the TRAVEL CHANNEL and PBS in the past). I've stayed all over Paris with friends and in hotels and to me the 7th is a great balance of some tourists but more so the daily street life of Parisians. It's very quaint, super safe, and great at night for eating and drinking (without getting too noisy and crazy) Taxis, Buses, and the Metro will take you everywhere until about 1 am (Taxis all night long of course) so getting around is SO easy. One last thing, Again, I must agree with Whale that for a romantic trip Paris and Venice are the places to hit. BUT if you have extra EXTRA time the city Brugge (hope I spelt that correctly) in northern Belgium is called the Venice of the North and is quite a romantic little town (1 hour, maybe a bit more train ride north out of Brussels) Hope that helps out. MB. PS One last thing, if anyone is an American going over there do all of us a favor and "When in Rome do as the Romans". Forget about STARBUCKS, McDONALDS (once in a while is fine but go for the local food and drink first IMHO), etc. and enjoy all the wonderful food, coffee, tea (in UK), alcohol that Europe has to offer. In Paris you will find that tomatoes ACTUALLY have a taste to them -LOL. Rick Steves is really good for picking up this attitude adjustment super fast. America's been acting a bit like the big world bully lately so we must turn that back around with a bit of modesty and going with the flow. You'll find how great the European people are so lets return the favor and appreciate all the great things Europe has to offer (and there's PLENTY) !! No matter how many visits you've done there there's always more to see....

Thanks a lot, Mickbrain!

Hey MicksBrain, if it wasn't our Honeymoon I would invite you as a tour guide. LOL

We are avid viewers of Rick Steves, he's the best! Hell, we don't even go to Starbucks or McD's in The States, I loathe big business and the bullshit American attitude when in other countries, I know what you mean.

Our early plan may be, land in London and fly right to Venice, from there get a eurorail and do a little of Northern Italy and then on to Paris.

However long in Paris, then fly to Ireland and finish the trip there? OR

Maybe after Paris take the train to Brugge? I have to look it up and figure the logistics, your post was the first of me hearing about that place.

Luckily, we have a few months to plan this.


Once again, you folks have really given wonderful advice...maybe The Stones will surprise us all and play a European show one of those days, and then we can share a beer/wine and a fun evening?

Thanks everyone!!

In October, visit Southern France, it's still warm and beautiful there. Even though I'm German I wouldn't recommend Germany in these days. Can be cold, rainy and windy.

No problem you guys, glad to help. BTW, if anybody is possibly interested in bumping into Bono and Edge they have a place in the South of France exactly where Keith lived and "Exile" was recorded in the basement. The name escapes me at this moment but you see it from the train between NICE and MONTE CARLO. When they did interviews for the last album they meet in about 3 different restaurants - who's names were mentioned - that i just need to piece together.(interviews were in ROLLING STONE, and Q, MOJO, AND/OR UNCUT if anyone remembers the articles...

Cap Ferrat not far from St. Tropez.
[fr.wikipedia.org]
[www.grand-hotel-cap-ferrat.com] If ya got the dough...

Thommie I get you some tips from a bunch of trips to Paris 1982-99,
get ya my phone number soon.

Bingho, glad to be of some help. Later I get ou my pm-adress,
so that I can get you more detailed info.

i'd say venice before paris. and don't overlook the easyjet flights if you're short on time - the train trip between paris and venice is at least 7 hours.

Thommie: There are some nice hotels just ´South from Pl. Pigalle,
between metro stations Saint-Georges and Notre Dame de-Lorette
(green line or Line 12, next and 2nd next station after Pigalle)
think they are a little cheaper/more price-worthy than
thre Montmartre-ones. Not in the hottest of red light street either...
Alas I dont know how to find them, have to search on the web or thru a travel agency. Clean & nice hotels with good prices.
[www.parisinfo.de]

And Nellcote is the castle...

Thank you, Baboon!
I've been to Paris several times, stayed at different areas but find 9th and 18th
arrondissements very nice.
And the subway net is terrific. The RER and subway completes each other perfect.