Western Europe in May for 3 weeks, any advice with this itinerary?

[Hondaracer]

So me and the GF going to be going to Europe next may for 3 weeks, we will be doing France, Italy, and Switzerland in that time

So far our basic itinerary looks like this:

YVR-Montreal-Paris

From Paris we will most likely be flying to Nice right away

each stop is pretty much 5 days +/- depending on where we want to allocate time

so it will be first 5, south of france - Cannes/Nice/Monaco

next 5 will be between the Cinque Terra, Milan, and misc. Italy

from Milan we will be taking a train though the italian Alps into the Jungfrau region of switzerland, there we will be checking out Interlaken, Grindelwald, etc.

from there we will be training to Berne, then from Berne directly back to Paris for the last 5 days of the trip

any tips, recommendations, places to eat you guys would recommend?

[vancitylove]

In Paris, buy the 4 day Paris Museum Pass. It'll likely cover all the sites you want to see except the Eiffel tower. If you hit 1 site each day you nearly break even and you skip a lot of lines too. Not the security checks though, which every site seems to have.

For the metro, buy the 10 pack of tickets. It's a 30% savings. You can buy it at the ticket machines.

[Lomac]

If you do the museum pass, be prepared to wait in line. Hell, be prepared to wait in line at any tourist attraction. I went to Europe during the "off season" (Feb? March? Something like that, anyway lol) and managed to luck out when we went to the Louvre (no line up), but the Eiffel Tower had a line so long that we almost didn't do it. Don't forget to check out Versailles while you're in the area.

In Italy, avoid the touristy restaurants. Generally speaking, the food is only "okay." If you want a true Italian cuisine experience, seek out the tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurants. In the Cinque Terra, if you find yourself in Riomaggiore, check out La Lanterna. Or, in Monterosso, try La Cambusa. If you find yourself in Venice, go to Osteria Boccadoro (Ostaria Boccadoro). I seriously had the absolute best meal I've ever eaten there.

In Paris, try to get a table at the Restaurant Guy Savoy. It's near the Arc de Triomphe, so a good natural stopping point to grab some food. The food is also fantastic. Easily beats anything you can find in Vancouver.

[strike66]

Originally Posted by Lomac

If you do the museum pass, be prepared to wait in line. Hell, be prepared to wait in line at any tourist attraction. I went to Europe during the "off season" (Feb? March? Something like that, anyway lol) and managed to luck out when we went to the Louvre (no line up), but the Eiffel Tower had a line so long that we almost didn't do it. Don't forget to check out Versailles while you're in the area.

In Italy, avoid the touristy restaurants. Generally speaking, the food is only "okay." If you want a true Italian cuisine experience, seek out the tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurants. In the Cinque Terra, if you find yourself in Riomaggiore, check out La Lanterna. Or, in Monterosso, try La Cambusa. If you find yourself in Venice, go to Osteria Boccadoro (Ostaria Boccadoro). I seriously had the absolute best meal I've ever eaten there.

In Paris, try to get a table at the Restaurant Guy Savoy. It's near the Arc de Triomphe, so a good natural stopping point to grab some food. The food is also fantastic. Easily beats anything you can find in Vancouver.

I'm a noob when it comes to travel in non-english speaking countries. How do you get around especially with ordering food from non-touristy places? Always wondered that, you could point, but I would have no idea what I'm picking.

[Lomac]

In our case, most of us spoke a second language (French, Spanish, German, etc), so if we needed to have a conversation with a local that was more indepth than "Where's the train station?" the duty usually fell onto that person.

That said, plenty of people in Europe speak English. Not well, necessarily, but definitely passable. Even in places that are off the beaten path, you can usually find someone that speaks English -- or whatever European language you may have. Those that don't, especially if you're at a restaurant, will simply have you point at the meal you'd like. You'd also be amazed at how well you can make each other understand one another using just hand gestures and the odd word here and there.

The best thing to do is to either learn a few basic phrases before leaving (ie: "Do you speak English?") or bring along a portable translator book or app in your phone. Honestly, if you're going to visit a country where your mother tongue isn't their native language, it's to the benefit of both yourself and those you'll run into to learn as much of their language as you can before visiting, especially if you plan on doing the trip without a travel guide.

[Hondaracer]

Kind of a general question but is there like a general size bag all airlines will accept as a carry on? I plan to pack pretty light only a backpack
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[sdubfid]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Kind of a general question but is there like a general size bag all airlines will accept as a carry on? I plan to pack pretty light only a backpack
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I use asolo wayfarer as carry on for all airlines, all my stuff for 1 month is about 15lbs

[duc_evo_sp]

who's paying?

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by duc_evo_sp

who's paying?

Me, girl said shed only fly first class but I convinced her to go business so was only about 8k for flights

Spoiler!

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[Hondaracer]

So booked our flights yesterday! Booked with my RBC avion points which turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment..

With 100,000 points we still had to pay $1300 for two round trip flights, so essentially it covered one ticket

13 hour total trip lay over in Montreal leaving May 9th!
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[Amaru]

Way late responding to this thread, but maybe my thoughts will still be of some help... (sorry to bump old thread)

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

So me and the GF going to be going to Europe next may for 3 weeks, we will be doing France, Italy, and Switzerland in that time

any tips, recommendations, places to eat you guys would recommend?

If I understand your post correctly, are you saying you're not going to spend much time in Paris at all? IMO, that is a mistake, because Paris is one of (if not the) world's greatest cities. It has so much to offer that you could easily spend a month there and still feel like you've only scratched the surface.

At the very least, you should try to hit up the major sights (Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe / Champs Elysee, Pont Neuf / Notre Dame, The Louvre, Montmartre, and Versaille). A hop-on, hop-off bus tour is a great way to get a feel for the city and see some of the must-see stuff.

Originally Posted by strike66

I'm a noob when it comes to travel in non-english speaking countries. How do you get around especially with ordering food from non-touristy places? Always wondered that, you could point, but I would have no idea what I'm picking.

In Northern Europe (Netherlands, Denmark, Scandanavia, western Germany, Switzerland, and Austria) the vast majority are nearly fluent in English. Language will almost never be a problem in these wealthy Northern countries.

In France and Italy, anyone who works in the tourism industry will speak English. Staff at hotels, tourist attractions, museums, etc almost always speak excellent English. Younger people and university educated folks in big cities also tend to speak at least some English, but many older people (especially outside big cities or touristy areas) often speak minimal English.

My general advice is to learn 3-5 words of the local language (ie. "hello", "please", "thanks", "excuse me") and use them whenever you can. Beyond that, you should be fine, but if you need a translation then ask people around you for help or go to a large hotel and talk to the concierge.

Big, brand-name hotels are your best friend when traveling... they have nice bathrooms, English speaking staff, local maps & brochures, and beach towels.

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Kind of a general question but is there like a general size bag all airlines will accept as a carry on? I plan to pack pretty light only a backpack
Posted via RS Mobile

Yes. I assume you're flying Air Canada? They are generally decent for carry-on luggage, but there's both a weight and size limit. Check their website for details. You can usually get by with a carry-on bag that's slightly larger than their 'maximum allowed' size, but don't push it too much.

This isn't as much of an issue on trans-Atlantic flights, but the airplane's overhead bins tend to fill up quickly. If you're like me and you wait until the very last possible minute to board the airplane, then you run the risk of all overhead bins being full, and the airline staff will force you to check your bag at the gate. This is free, and there's no chance of your bag being lost since it will go straight down the stairs and into your plane's cargo hold.... but it means you need to take out all your airplane essentials (ie book, water, food, etc) and won't have access to the bag until you land. Also, it means you'll have to pick up the bag from the luggage carousel (no big deal, but adds an extra 20-30 mins at the airport when you arrive).

Anyway, hope that helps, have a great trip.

[Hondaracer]

Were spending the last 5 days of the trip in Paris, so yea it was kind of a priority sorry for the confusion lol
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[Amaru]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Were spending the last 5 days of the trip in Paris, so yea it was kind of a priority sorry for the confusion lol
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Ahh, ok... good call :-)

By the way, forgot to mention... since you're going to the Cote d'Azure, you absolutely *must* spend a day in Monaco.

Nice is pretty cool too, but it's a decently big city and the beaches are very rocky... if you want to check out another place that's more quaint / less expensive / has gorgeous beaches, spend a couple of days in San Raphael. It's about an hour (IIRC) west of Nice by commuter train.

San Raphael in pics: