DVC in Europe? Advice please.

[stings]

Good afternoon,

We are planning a Summer 2007 trip to disneyland Paris. We would like to spend two days in London, two days in DL Paris, and then travel to Munich to visit friends.

We have never been to Europe before. Have any of you nice people been on a similar itinerary before? And, if so, can you give us any helpful hints regarding traveling from London through DL Paris and on to Munich? We were hoping to take the Eurostar to Paris, and then a train to Munich.

Please give us any advice, or your experiences with this type of trip. Any and all will be greatly appreciated.

P.S. We are DVC members and plan on staying on points in London and DL Paris.

Thanks!

 

[Didney Daddy]

We have not been to DL Paris but we have been to London, Paris and Munich. The Channel train is a blast so we would recommend that from London to Paris.

If you have not been to London, please stay at least 3 days. Must see's are the Tower of London, Buckingham, Windsor, WWII museum, catch a play in the Theater district, take the Jack the Ripper tour (yikes). So much to see in this great city.

Paris is nice but in my opinion no where near the city London is. Versailes, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower and of course DL Paris.

The train from Paris to Munich is a bit longer trip than you may think so a quick flight is in order if you are short on time. If not, the train would be wonderful. Munich is a treat. Take the time to visit Dachau (sobering).

If time permits, we would suggest renting a car and driving south to Bavaria. Garmish, Mittenwald, cross the border and drive into AUstria - it is so beautiful and the people are very warm and nice. No trip to Bavaria would be complete unless you stop at Ludwig's Castle which is the inspiration for the Disney castles. They are virtually identical. YOu can even arrange to stay in the castle. We love Bavaria and if you enjoy small towns in Europe, it does not get any better.

 

[tic-toc-croc]

Last summer, we spent a week in London and Paris before our curise to Scandanavia/Russia out of Dover, England. We flew from SFO to London, then went to Paris by Eurostar same day and arrived late afternoon. We chose a hotel near Gare De Lyon in Paris rather than at DL because it was more convenient logistically. It allowed us to do everything we wanted to do while we spent 3 nights in Paris. It was easy getting to DL Paris from the hotel. After Paris, we went back to London and spend 3 nights there. We stayed near Victoria station. It was convenient to the tube, bus and train stations. We went everywhere on public transport.

We had originally planned to use DVC points to stay in London and DLP. But decided against that as we found more info about the 2 cities.
We started our planning with city maps of London and Paris. Then with public transport routes maps, etc. Our DD11 helped with planning the trip and she learned quite a bit by reading about these places.
PM or email me if you have any questions. I'll be happy to share info we collected during that trip. Let me know what info you're looking for.

 

[Caskbill]

We've been to Europe a number of times, including GB, France, Germany, and about 5 other countries in the area.

Train travel in Europe is excellent. Remember that whole countries over there are similar in size to some of the States over here.

We usually rent a car. In GB it's left hand drive so you have to be especially careful that you stay on the 'correct' side of the road. Warning: As a pedestrian, before crossing any street with traffic, look RIGHT for oncoming cars, not LEFT, before stepping out onto the street.

Last trip we just used public transit in London, then took the train to the coast, took the ferry across the channel, and got the rental car in France. Did a lot in France before going on to Paris, and eventually off to Germany.

Munich is in the German state of Bavaria, which is the beginnings of the mountains, and quite beautiful. Be sure to check out the Olympic areas (unfortunately Munich is remembered where the Israeli team was kidnapped and killed) As someone else mentioned, Dachau will be worth the trip, but keep in mind it was probably one of the smallest concentration camps the Nazi's had.

Getting back to happier thoughts, be sure to visit NeuSchwanstein castle. (One of the homes of Germany's mad King Ludwig). That's one of the real castles that Disney imagineers used as a model when they designed the original castle for Disneyland back in the 50's.

Assuming your friends will be your tour guides around Bavaria, you might suggest taking the short trip to Salzburg Austria. Check out where 'The Sound of Music" was made. But seriously, Salzburg has a lot of history to it.

DLP is a few kilometers outside of Paris. If you won't have a car, you can take the train right at DLP direct to the city. Of course you have the two theme parks at DLP which you might want to see.

The only thing I see wrong with your trip is you're not leaving enough time to do much. One could easily spend a full week in London, a full week in Paris, and a lot of time throughout Germany.

Have a great time though.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

I would echo the suggestions of others -- the OP isn't allowing enough time for what could be an amazing trip. Assuming the first two days would be spent in London -- they would spend much of the 1st day getting used to the time change and miss out on so many lovely attractions and part of the next day getting ready to move on to Paris.

If the OP could manage to swing it, take more time in one place. The other city that was "given up" to make more time will still be there the next time.

Both London and Paris probably need at least 4-5 days each to just begin to scratch the surface and get used to the surroundings and how to get around the city. Two days in both will do little more than provide frustrations and disappointment at not being able to see more that each city has to offer.

 

[wintergreen]

On the other hand, if you are not sure that you will make it back to either city, do both. It can be done! I agree with others that in the best of all possible worlds, it would be better to spend more time in one place, but sometimes we don't have the best of all possible worlds. The only piece of advice I would offer is that if you want to do mostly DLP, stay there, but if you want to see Paris, you might want to stay in Paris itself. Another caution, if you are travelling with kids, it is difficult to find hotels that have two double beds in one room. The DLP hotels do. In Paris, we've stayed at the Holiday Inn in the Place de la Republique, and you can get two beds in a room there. If you plan to use points in London, you may run into the same issue with the two CC hotels there. We haven't used these specifically for that reason (would have to get two rooms, yikes!). I've stayed at the Renaissance Chancery Court in London, and you can get two double beds there. I think that most of the Marriotts also offer this.

I've never been to Munich, so I can't comment on that.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope that you have a fabulous trip!!!!!