Let's try this again-Europe 2022

[liv2ski]

Last year we were skunked on our trip over the pond, so we are hopeful to go for 20 days end of May 2022. Wife is humoring me with allowing us to fly to and from Amsterdam so I can check that off my list with 3 nights there to start things off while I try to get over my jet lag. Next up is 2-3 nights in Venice, followed by a couple of nights in Florence and the maybe 2 nights in Tuscany before returning the car to Florence and flying to Bordeaux France where we will likely stay 3 nights and then take the TGV to Paris for 3 nights. That leaves us a few days before flying out of AMS, so what do you guys suggest? What adjustments to the itinerary would you suggest? We appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

[m2711c]

yer gonna want your ski n boots for amsterdam of course...

https://www.snowworld.com/amsterdam/en/ski-slope

[old goat]

Last year we were skunked on our trip over the pond, so we are hopeful to go for 20 days end of May 2022. Wife is humoring me with allowing us to fly to and from Amsterdam so I can check that off my list with 3 nights there to start things off while I try to get over my jet lag. Next up is 2-3 nights in Venice, followed by a couple of nights in Florence and the maybe 2 nights in Tuscany before returning the car to Florence and flying to Bordeaux France where we will likely stay 3 nights and then take the TGV to Paris for 3 nights. That leaves us a few days before flying out of AMS, so what do you guys suggest? What adjustments to the itinerary would you suggest? We appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

spend it in Amsterdam. If you run out of things to see from Amsterdam there are plenty of day trips by train to do. If you happen to be there on May 27--King's Day--you won't regret it. Just don't plan to get to major tourist sites that day. Even if they're open getting there may be difficult. But it's a great street party. Or a complete waste of time depending on the covid. We spent 11 days in Amsterdam and it wasn't too much, but we like leisurely travel. You could also of course stay longer in Paris. You wouldn't regret that either.

[bennymac]

Some nice beaches near Amsterdam if you need a chill day of book reading in the sun.

[Buster Highmen]

Burgundy:
https://beaux-arts.dijon.fr/
https://www.beaune-tourism.com/

Bruges:
https://www.visitbruges.be/en

Paris:
https://www.davidtoutain.com/

[MarcusBrody]

Burgundy:
https://beaux-arts.dijon.fr/
https://www.beaune-tourism.com/

Bruges:
https://www.visitbruges.be/en

Paris:
https://www.davidtoutain.com/

If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't.

Maybe that's what hell is: the entire rest of eternity spent in fuckin' Bruges.

[abraham]

It would be helpful to indicate what you're interested in, what things you're already planning or wanting to do. Are you looking for suggestions in that window of a couple days or for the entire trip? Do you like museums, shopping, walking, eating, biking? Do you want to take a train to get back to Amsterdam or drive and get off the main roads?

This feels like the "I'm 6' 200 and ski everything, what ski should I get?" of travel threads.

[Buster Highmen]

If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me .
.

My bad; I couldn't tell.

[MarcusBrody]

My bad; I couldn't tell.

It's from "In Bruges," in my mind one of the best movies of the past 20 years. Certainly one of the best dark comedies.

[abraham]

It's from "In Bruges," in my mind one of the best movies of the past 20 years. Certainly one of the best dark comedies.

You might like Calvary too.

[Kevo]

First off- it's important to know that you can book what is called an open jaw itinerary, usually for no additional cost. This would allow you to fly into Amsterdam and fly home out of an entirely different city- E.G. Paris, Venice, Geneva, Zurich, etc. This would allow you to start in AMS, take an easy train to Paris, then do Bordeaux, then go move on to Italy and fly home via Venice or Milan.

Open jaw means that you don't have to connect between your two gateway cities. To book this, you'd book something like LAX-AMS, CDG-LAX by selecting "Multi city" on Google flight or with whatever airline you want to book. You don't need to book, LAX-AMS-CDG-LAX. You're US-Europe and back flight will be within the same airline alliance. Any intra-Europe flights should be booked separately to save money.

If you are committed to flying home out of AMS, I'd recommend spending time in Haarlem (first choice) or Utrecht. Both are better versions of Amsterdam.

Haarlem is right next to the coast. It's very walkable and there is easy biking to the beach. It's got nice little restaurants and pubs that rival UK style pubs.

Utrecht is like gothic architecture meets Dutch canals. One advantage to Utrecht is that it has easy access to the Amsterdam Central station and on to the AMS Airport by rail. Haarlem is off the rail line (this can be a good thing though, since there are less tourists).

For other open jaw options-

-If flying home via Paris, maybe spend a few days in Normandy after Bordeaux. You could easily add in a trip to Mont Saint-Michel

-You could fly home via Geneva and spend a few days in Chamonix. So much to do there, and it is an absolute gem.

Last thing I'd say is buy travel insurance. With so many connections, it's nice to have insurance on baggage and missed connections. I've had good luck with Travel Guard. For best coverage, purchase separately from your airline ticket.

[Buster Highmen]

It's from "In Bruges," in my mind one of the best movies of the past 20 years. Certainly one of the best dark comedies.

My double bad.

[schindlerpiste]

A few days in Strasburg, FR. Best food in the world.

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/fr...in-strasbourg/

[old goat]

RE open jaws--last time I did this it was no harder to book than a RT. You do want to book both legs in the same session so that they're linked in the carrier's system.
When we were in Amsterdam some years ago we took a train to Haarlem. Maybe that's changed.
You have to be careful with trains at Amsterdam Central--they come every 5 minutes and a given platform will have trains going to many different places. Make sure the sign at the platform says the next train is going where you want to go.

[bennymac]

There are some cool star forts in the countryside around there.

I miss Europe.

[liv2ski]

Thanks for the responses so far. We like to do everything, but picture two younger 60ish people that like to take it easy, drink wine, eat nice meals and see the sights. Nothing to strenuous when I am with the misses, other than a long walk and der poopenhausen.
The airfare is already booked. We got a great deal on black Friday, so I really doubt we are changing anything. Maybe we will check out Utrecht and Haarlem the last few days before leaving? What do you thing about 2 nights in Florence and then Tuscany? Is that enough? Would you do more than 2 nights in Venice?
From AMS we will fly to Venice. Train to Florence and then fly to Bordeaux. Train to Paris and then AMS is the plan so far.

[Kevo]

Thanks for the responses so far. We like to do everything, but picture two younger 60ish people that like to take it easy, drink wine, eat nice meals and see the sights. Nothing to strenuous when I am with the misses, other than a long walk and der poopenhausen.
The airfare is already booked. We got a great deal on black Friday, so I really doubt we are changing anything. Maybe we will check out Utrecht and Haarlem the last few days before leaving? What do you thing about 2 nights in Florence and then Tuscany? Is that enough? Would you do more than 2 nights in Venice?
From AMS we will fly to Venice. Train to Florence and then fly to Bordeaux. Train to Paris and then AMS.

Cool. If you are committed to flying out of AMS, Haarlem and Utrecht would be nice stops.

Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp and The Hague also come to mind as options between Paris and Amsterdam. All will be larger cities than Haarlem and Utrecht, which will be more relaxed and slow paced.

[dunfree]

If you’ve never been Venice and Florence should be stopped at, but there’s many other places worth stopping at in northern Italy. Siena in Tuscany, Verona, etc etc

[54-46]

I’d spend more time in Tuscany/Umbria, fewer days in Venice. Stop in Bologna for lunch!

[liv2ski]

If you’ve never been Venice and Florence should be stopped at, but there’s many other places worth stopping at in northern Italy. Siena in Tuscany, Verona, etc etc

Noted and thanks for the input. Benny, we don't mind flying around. Granted, I would rather do the trains, but some distances are easier by plane. I would of preferred the Northern Yurp trip but my wife had her heart set on Italy and France, so I lucked into getting to go to AMS period.

[altasnob]

If you are training from Paris to Amsterdam with a detour to Bruges you will be changing trains in Brussels (Paris to Bruges) and Antwerp (Bruges to Amsterdam). Easy to schedule in a few hours to explore the central core of both of those cities before you jump on the next train.

I enjoyed staying in the De Pijp neighborhood in Amsterdam. The central core has been overrun with obnoxious Brits (it's like their Las Vegas).

This dude is the god of international train travel. He'll set you straight.

https://www.seat61.com/

[Danno]

I haven't been to Europe in 30+ years, but your itinerary looks like mine when I was a college student. Looks like a fuckton of travel and very little in the way of settling in anywhere. It was fun but exhausting when I was 20, I can't imagine doing it now. If that's your intent and you know you can handle it, great. But if I were in your shoes I would pare the itinerary down a bit.

[skaredshtles]

I haven't been to Europe in 30+ years, but your itinerary looks like mine when I was a college student. Looks like a fuckton of travel and very little in the way of settling in anywhere. It was fun but exhausting when I was 20, I can't imagine doing it now. If that's your intent and you know you can handle it, great. But if I were in your shoes I would pare the itinerary down a bit.

What this guy said.

Also - I'd recommend *not* staying in Bordeaux proper. When we traveled there, we realized in about 10 minutes Bordeaux was NOT what we were looking for, so we headed to St Emilion - that little town is incredible.

[bennymac]

Please post a TR in this thread when you get back - even a short one - will help mags with future travel planning like this

[liv2ski]

LOL Danno, I guess I suffer from Short Attention Span Disorder, so 2-3 nights is usually it for me (unless I am on a ski or surf holiday). Bouncing around works for us, but at some point I guess that will change.

Please post a TR in this thread when you get back - even a short one - will help mags with future travel planning like this

Will do