Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with europe and Paris

2 weeks driving around Europe at Christmas - what not to miss?

allkindsoftime — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:12:48 -0800

European road-trip for the holidays (filter). Meeting up with a friend in Paris on the evening of the 19th - both of us traveling there from different continents and wrapping up on Jan 2nd back in Paris. Here's the current plan:

Week 1 (Road Trip!):
12/19 - Arrive Paris, stay overnight.
12/20 - Drive to Munich, staying with friends.
12/21 - Explore Munich, Christmas markets, etc.
12/22 - Drive to Vienna with a stop in Steyr, Austria*.
12/23 - Explore Vienna, Christmass markets, etc.
12/24 - More Vienna, Christmas Eve Mass at St. Stephansdom*.
12/25 - Drive to Venice.
12/26 - Explore Venice.

Week 2 (based out of Geneva, where we have a free apartment):
12/27 - Drive to Geneva.
12/28 - Ski Chamonix, stay in Geneva
12/29 - More skiing, still in Geneva.
12/30 - More skiing, last night in Geneva.
12/31 - Drive to Paris for New Years.
1/1 - Explore Paris
1/2 - Friend flies out, I'm off to London for a day then flying out myself on the 3rd.

*Both of these were "local recommendations" given by friends - cool things to see and do. I am particularly interested on these around our route.

My questions:

1. Cheap / decent hotel near the airport in Paris - any suggestions?

2. Driving - we're both pretty set on it because a) we both love driving / road trips, and b) we crave the flexibility of being able to stop off in this or that place along the way, stay at a B&B outside the city rather than a hotel in it, etc.. We realize trains are good around here but would really need a strong argument against driving to sway us at this point. Any tips on tolls / etc. appreciated, as well as things along our routes not to miss.

3. Hotel in Vienna - same as above, we are looking for something more local / small, preferably on the city outskirts. From what I understand most of Europe will shut down on the 25/26th, so I figure on spending Christmas day on the road.

4. Hotel in Venice - see above.

5. Best skiing recommendations within reasonable driving distance of Geneva? I'm pretty set on Chamonix as I've been reading about skiing there my entire life, and extreme skiing is my "thing," although not my friend's, so I'm only pushing for one day there - the other 2 days we're looking for something more enjoyable to ride together.

6. New Years Eve in Paris - where to go? What to do? Where to stay?

Any input on the above or anything I'm not thinking of is appreciated in advance. I've only been to the UK and Greece before so if parts of (hopefully not all!) my plans are idiotic, please hope me. We're pretty much going off of the Lonely Planet guide and the AskMe tags (i.e. Vienna, Venice, etc.) for things to do in the cities we are at, but any other suggestions on stops along the way that are don't-miss are appreciated.

Propitious places to move to & unusual living situations for having 3 or 4 days a week free to work on personal project

cotesdurhone — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:39:38 -0800

I'm working on a project that requires at least 3 or 4 full days attention each week. What are some places in the US or world I could move to, &/or unusual living situations, that would give me a good chance of doing this? Other considerations:

• Part-time job terminating Jan 1, and definitely want to move elsewhere (currently live in Boston)
• Have $5000 savings. Will probably also be able to continue receiving unemployment (about $1,000 month) if I move out of state (but not country, obviously)

• Age 30. US Citizen.
• Languages: English, Russian
• Skills: Writing and editing, visual art, Russian translation (but no graduate-level degrees to show this)
• BA from Liberal Arts college + semester (2 terms) at Oxford

Any and all reasonable options considered.

• Preferred urban environment: vibrant arts scene, inspiring architecture, not overrun with college students or sports fanatics, ethnically and age-ally diverse
• 'Ideal' destinations: Montreal, France
• Hypothetical order of preference: 1. Montreal & France (tie) 2. EU, Scandinavia, & Turkey 3. Eastern Europe 4. USA & Canada 5. South America 6. Asia 7. Australia/New Zealand 8. other

• Preferred rural environment: the more (interesting) people around, the better

• "unusual living situations" = housesitting - caretaking - living in some cabin - (earnest) meditative community - collective farm - kibbutz - teaching abroad - or anything else

• If it's helpful to know— the project is of a literary nature (a novel and other writings)

Finally, what are the very best resources (books, websites, magazines, etc) that might be of help?

Yelp a Paris?

kenzi23 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:48:48 -0800

Is there a Yelp-type site for restaurants in Paris (or Europe, as a whole)? Ideally I'd like a restaurant guide for Paris that is based on user reviews, is easy to search and bookmark like Yelp to make my meals in Paris a breeze. I'll even take a blog or a list if that's all I can get. Any suggestions are welcome.

Planes, trains, and lots of bags; Germany, France, and the UK.

Devika — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:35:17 -0800

InsaneLast-MinuteEuropeanTravelFilter: How to get one procrastinator and three bags from Berlin to France and England. Read on, it's probably crazier than you think! I'm coming from Canada to do a semester abroad in Glasgow, and I'd like to do some traveling before the start of term. Currently I'm finishing up a summer program in Berlin. The plan is to meet a family friend in Reims, travel around France with them, visit my aunt in London (with a few days in Hampshire to see the partner), then head up to Glasgow.

A couple of problems with this pretty good plan. The first hurdle is that none of the tickets are booked yet. Strictly speaking I should be out of Berlin by the 17th, but am considering spending a night in a hostel or begging the institution to let me stay another day if the saving is significant enough.

The second complication is the three bags I brought over. I'd started out one hard suitcase and one soft bag, but added another suitcase to keep under the weight limit. The two hard suitcases weigh 30 and 50 pounds (about 14 and 23 kilos) respectively, and the soft bag weighs 50 pounds (23 kilos). Lugging three bags around Europe seems like it would be a nightmare, and very costly if I fly an airline like EasyJet or Ryanair. It seems around 108 GBP to ship two suitcases from Germany to the UK according to this site, assuming the same rate applies backwards. Is shipping one or two heavy bags to London a good idea, or not cost-effective?

If I'm traveling by train, I'd think that the bags would be less of an issue. However, booking by train at the last minute seems rather costly. I've been poking around the Deutsche Bahn website for ages and can't get it to tell me how much money a ticket would be before asking me to put in a credit card number. I remember seeing a fare of around 230 euros (Berlin-Reims) on another rail site, as opposed to 88 euros (Berlin-Paris, assuming Paris-Reims will be a cheap train journey) from EasyJet on the 18th. A random thought also occurred - would it be more cost-effective to fly on a better airline, even perhaps first class, if I can take my bags with me?

My question in all its barely suppressed hysteria basically boils down to this - when making travel plans within Europe at the last minute and with considerable baggage, is it better to take the train or fly, and should I keep my bags with me the entire way or ship two of them up? I'm having trouble conceptualizing all of this, and the partner and I have been at our wits' end trying to figure it all out at the last minute. I hope the all-knowing hive mind can give me some much-needed guidance!

Are there any affordable one-way tickets to Europe?

msbrauer — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:23:25 -0800

Are there inexpensive one-way tickets from the US to Europe? I'll be in NYC and want to get from there to Europe inexpensively around Sept. 1. My final destination is Paris, but anywhere in Europe served by the cheap airlines (RyanAir, et al) will work in a pinch. I only need a one-way ticket, and any return ticket will be useless to me. There are plenty of deals to Europe at the moment, but as always, they seem to be for roundtrip flights. Is there anything to be done?

How do I get from Paris to Innsbruck?

iguanapolitico — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:54:58 -0800

How do I get from Paris to Innsbruck? Traveling to France and Austria later this month. We need to get from Paris to Innsbruck on a Thursday. My traveling companion and I are having trouble finding airfare that even approaches "reasonably priced" ($1100 one-way, $450 round-trip). She has made this trip before and didn't pay those kinds of fares, but the dollar *is* in the toilet.

So we're looking at rail. We're kind of having trouble finding a definitive answer on whether we need to book this now or if we can get a ticket on our day of travel. Some MeFites must be familiar with European rail travel, hopefully specifically from Paris to Innsbruck. Any specific advice you can offer? Thanks.

Best cheese in Paris?

ransom — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:10:01 -0800

What cheese shops should not be missed in Paris? We're in Paris in early April and want to have great cheese experiences. Where should we go?

Looking for a European holiday apartment.

DirtyCreature — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:54:09 -0800

Where is a good place in a European city for a non-European to buy a small but nice two bedroom apartment for holidays? Looking for a city environment. How much would I need to spend? Are there any regulatory hurdles? Where do I find them? I was kind of leaning towards Paris but am fairly open. I am also open to Eastern Europe in safe areas and don't want to have to worry too much about the apartment when I am not there.

Paris, London, Switzerland in a week - recommendations?

Malad — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:16:20 -0800

I want to do Paris/daytrips (1-2 days), Switzerland (4-5 days), and London/daytrips (1-2 days), all late this January. I'll be traveling alone. I'd love some advice. I've done a lot of the main Paris/London touristy stuff, and also seen Nice, but I've never visited Switzerland.

Recommendations in my itinerary for great:
-hostels/B&Bs/budget hotels?
-must-see scenery?
-must-see attractions?
-must-taste restaurants/pubs/wineries/etc.?
-amazing classical music/other concerts/film festivals/etc.?
-other must-sees on your personal list, in whatever category?

Oh, and -- a great travel guide or two I should buy before I leave? Any other tips welcome too.

Thanks!

If it's MyAir.com, why can't I book a flight?

Scram — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 19:06:06 -0800

Why can't I purchase a cheap air ticket on Italian MyAir.com from the US? MyAir.com seems to have the only cheap flights from Bologna to Paris--as little as .01 Euro with tax. I have my eye on a 19.99 Euro flight on October 29, but every time I try to complete the purchase through their web form, I get an error message that says "you seem to have entered the wrong credit card details" (which I haven't) and warning me that if I do this three times I'll get bounced out of the system.

So I stopped after two times and called the airline number (0044 2073651597) a couple of times in business hours, but it was always busy.

Then I asked a travel agent in LA if she could make the booking, and she said neither she nor any travel agent in the US could book with MyAir, and suggested an AirFrance flight for $350 instead. This would put quite a crimp in our honeymoon budget, so we said nix.

So, great hive mind, I ask you: Is there an international travel agent I can hire in Italy or elsewhere in Europe? Or can I ask someone in Italy to buy tickets in someone else's name? Are there other cheap airlines flying Tuscany - Paris (Florence would be okay too) that I am overlooking? Can American Express handle this? Or is there an alternate way of communicating with MyAir?

Any suggestions much appreciated. Thanks!

Where are the cheap Eurostar tickets?

k8t — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 18:11:50 -0800

How can I get really cheap Eurostar tickets (London-Paris and back)? I'm taking my sister to London. I want her to see a bit of Europe too. We're going to Rome for a few days, but she is dying for Paris. I'm going to do a day trip, as described in EssexJan's post.

I want to go on Sunday, September 17, but am willing to go on Saturday, September 16.

Where are the top secret cheapo tickets?

Where can we go from London for a few days in Europe?

k8t — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 14:24:43 -0800

[EuroTripFilter]What European city can we go to CHEAPLY for a few days from London? I lived in London for a year, but now I'm back in the States. I'm going back to London for 10 days [September 8-18]. I'm bringing my never-left-the-US twin sister with me. I know that this may very well be the last time that she ever travels at all. As such, I'd like us to leave London for a few days to see something on the continent. Paris or Brussels via Eurostar is the obvious destination, but I was there just last month, so I'm not all that interested. I'd love to go to Rome, Florence, or Prague. She does want to see Paris though. (And I'm willing to do 24 hours there.) So, Hive Mind, how can we get from London to Paris and then onto Rome (or Florence or Prague) cheaply? Would taking the Eurostar to Paris and then flying or taking the train to the next city work? Should we just skip Paris altogether and wait for cheap flights to other European cities? Which would be cheapest? Advise for cheap travels preferred!

Enjoying NW Europe on the cheap?

knapah — Fri, 19 May 2006 10:14:22 -0800

TravelFilter: This summer I and 3 friends are planning on travelling around part of Europe by train and are looking for advice on the main areas we plan to stay in. Information on hostels or other cheap accommodation (first hand if possible) would be great (more inside) We are students in the UK and are planning on getting the Interrail pass for Zone E (France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) so we can travel with relative freedom for 16 days.

We plan to stay in these cities primarily (although advice on other places in the general area would be accepted):

Lille (2 nights)
Brussels (3 nights)
Amsterdam (4 nights)
Luxembourg City (1 night)
Northern France including Paris (6 nights)

What I am looking for in particular are cheap (in the vicinity of €20 to €30 per night) hostels in each of the first 4 cities and also general advice for places to stay/see in Northern France.

Any other advice from people who have had InterRail or Eurail passes before would also be appreciated.

Many thanks

Recommend good deals on disposable phones in the UK & France.

bcwinters — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 19:13:46 -0800

European disposable mobile phones: My parents, who are American, are going to Edinburgh, London & Paris later this week. They've asked me what I know about disposable/rentable phones since their phones won't work over there. I know nothing. So now I'm asking all of you: What do you know about good deals on disposable/rentable phones in the UK & France? (I believe they're looking to use the phones for a period of 7-10 days, and if it makes things simpler I think they are willing to do without during the French portion of the trip if necessary)