Looking Tips for My Upcoming UK Trip

[Uramasa]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for tips to my upcoming UK trip (first timer ).
Planning to visit these four country:
1. Paris, France (Arriving flight), stay for 4 days
2. Netherlands stay for 4 days
3. Germany, stay for 5 days
4. Rome, Italy (Departure flight back to SG), stay for 5 days

Any suggestion/recommendation on which city is sort of nice to visit?
I would like to try explore their local food, culture, beautiful scenery, and historical places/library/cathedral (perhaps some of the theme park as well).

Another matter is transportation, I've been reading around on how to transit via train, my initial finding is Eurail Global pass for 15 continuous day ($800 EUR) best bang for bucks but I'm not sure whether this ticket is inclusive transport inter-city within the same country e.g. Frankfurt to Munich? and Do the ticket is inclusive of their public transport as well?

or should I drop the Eurail pass and look at point to point ticket instead?
really need some advice on this.

Thanks guys for the help

 

[SniperMarksman]

I can only help for Paris. My first trip there was also 4 days. If you want, you can try the Paris Museum Pass, for 2 days (it gives u free entry to a lot of attractions, including Versailles etc. - so you save entry fees ; the more u go the more u save but of course if it's too rushed then you won't really get to appreciate it properly).
But if you are going Versailles, note that that's practically a day trip so your entire day may be gone

+ point also is that you get to skip the queue (but not security queue. Regardless, for the Louvre, recommend you go early before the huge crowds come.

As for food option, I just walked into any restaurant that looked appealing in Paris - avoid within a 1km radius of major attractions since those are more touristy. Also take note lunch hours in Paris (or France) are 12 - 2pm usually. After that, most restaurants (except those touristy ones) will not serve any meals. Dinner is late also, around 8pm.

For such restaurants, look for a "formule" which is like a Lunch set/special usually Appetizer + Mains or Main + Dessert with a fixed selection. It's cheaper than buying à la carte.

As for transport, I walked everywhere in Paris, it was quite walkable even in Summer so I can't help you much on it.


Also helps to learn a few French phrases, you can try google translate or http://www.acapela-group.com/
especially food related.

Phrases:

Bonjour - Good day/morning/afternoon

Bonsoir - Good evening (even the french can't agree when it becomes bonsoir but generally around 6+; don't be surprised if you say bonsoir but they reply with bonjour or vice versa)

Merci - thank you

Au revoir - bye

L'addition - the bill or mimic the bill sign when you want it. Note french waiters won't pass you the bill till you ask for it, they won't disturb your meal

S'il vous plaît - "please", formal ending at the end of questions/requests etc.

Saignant - medium-rare for beef (don't bother with well-done, some restaurants won't serve you well done)
À point - slightly more cooked than medium-rare but not really medium.

*note French saignant (medium-rare) can be a bit rare-r than the British/American style.


Sorry for long post but some final tips to enjoy Paris (and avoid the "rude' French stereotype)

1. Always start with Bonjour even if you want to ask the sales staff where is the mayonnaise stand for e.g. (Bonjour acknowledges them as a human), if you don't they could downright ignore you or be ruder

2. address guys as Monsieur (including waiters), women as Madame

3. At the end of a transaction e.g. after you buy a bread at a bakery - say "merci, au revoir" or "merci, bon journée" it's part of the French politesse.

4. tack "s'il vous plaît" at the end of your requests e.g. when ordering to be more polite. The french are very formal.

5. ** In a restaurant, if you want water, don't ask for it cause they will bring you evian/sparkling and charge you for it. Instead ask for "une carafe d'eau" (a jug of (tap) water) it's free and yes it's potable.


FINAL one - in French there are some words called "faux amis" - false friends which look like English words but don't mean the same.

E.g. demander in French means to ask - in English it's more 'ruder' like ordering/demanding something.

For food wise these are some that may look like English but they are not.

The menu in English is called "Carte" in French. The french have a "menu" but that just refers to the fixed lunch/dinner specials.

Entrée in French is the appetizer NOT the main meal (unlike US), their mains are called "plat principal"

fun note: preservatif in French = condoms not preservatives in food

 

[Uramasa]

Thank you for the wonderful tips, SniperMarksman.
Very informative indeed, since we are going to visit different countries with different culture than Singapore, it's best not to make wrong impression to the locals.

Do you think 4 days is sufficient to roam around Paris (to the certain extend not to rush)?

One of thing that I will buy on each city is their "city tour pass" since it offers places to go without thinking too much on where to visit (at least for starters).

 

[SniperMarksman]

Thank you for the wonderful tips, SniperMarksman.
Very informative indeed, since we are going to visit different countries with different culture than Singapore, it's best not to make wrong impression to the locals.

Do you think 4 days is sufficient to roam around Paris (to the certain extend not to rush)?

One of thing that I will buy on each city is their "city tour pass" since it offers places to go without thinking too much on where to visit (at least for starters).

4 days I will say is good enough to get some main attractions. But if you don't want it to be too rushed, you would have to leave some out. e.g. Versailles is really quite grand but it's a day trip (to properly explore it so uses up 1 full day) so I didn't go but instead went to like 3/4 different places in Paris.

If you are doing shopping also then that would be 1 day. But 2 days for the sights should be okay - main ones like Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de triomphe, Notre-dame - they are quite near each other also so walking to them is okay.

Yeah the "city tour pass" for France is the Paris Museum Pass. I highlighted "museum" because there's also a Paris Pass, that comes with some free travel card but the price you pay is a lot more expensive. It's not worth imo. What you can do instead is maybe buy a Paris Museum Pass for 2 days, as for travelling on the metro (their subway), you can buy from a counter - a "carnet" which is a stack of 10 tickets, so more worth it especially if you're going in a group.


Just take note: If you're going soon, it's winter now so daylight hours are shorter, so you might want to plan your visits around the timing. The opening hours might change too

On bright side Paris has a winter sale from 11 Jan to around mid February i think,

Also more importantly,
always keep your valuables in your front pockets - there are a number of pickpockets in Paris & they love tourists. If you have a backpack don't put anything valuable inside it, if it's like a sling/handbag then keep it close to you.

also if you take the metro, don't use your phone or valuables until the train starts moving. One common tactic for the thieves is they wait till the door is about to close then they run and snatch your phone out of your hand and escape out of the train - then the doors close so you can't chase.

Oh and if you see some young children asking you to sign some donation - ignore them, keep walking - it's a scam + as they distract you their friends will try and pickpocket you.

For a comparison:
I spent 4 days (well 3.5 actually cause I reached in afternoon on first day, and last day i left early morning for an afternoon flight).

I visited:
-Sacre Coeur
- arc de triomphe
- pantheon
- eiffel tower
- louvre
- notre-dame de paris
- pantheon
- les invalides
- centre pompidou (a museum)

all these and didn't take the public transport once - walked everywhere. So i guess it's do-able.

Just note the Louvre if you go early even, it could take you at least 3 hours to briefly explore the place, it's massive. Also if you want to go up the Eiffel Tower, there's always a queue there too.

on a 2 day paris museum pass - so the entry fees totaled was more than the museum pass so it was worth it.

https://www.parispass.com/

But look at the Museum Pass not the Paris Pass . Don't buy online too you can always buy it when you reach - the major train stations have it

 

[Uramasa]

Hi SniperMarksman,
Apologies for the delayed response was occupied with work.

I did a comparison between Paris pass and Paris museum pass:
Paris pass 3 days $159 EURO
Paris museum pass 4 days $62 EURO

I don't think Paris pass is worth, so costly! omg! and buy the transport ticket separately when needed, I think this is work able or best is to talk a walk around, enjoying the scenery.
Paris Visit pass transport: 3 days (zone 1-3) $28.50 EURO
Paris Visit pass transport: 3 days (zone 1-5) $57.45 EURO
(don't know how they jack up until so expensive for Paris Pass).

Just happen to see most the cultural sites closed on Monday and Tuesday, gotta plan this carefully otherwise going to waste one day Museum pass day.

Do you happen to know what kind of food do you eat around Paris?
Not that I'm picky but if eating bread for 4-5 days then I most probably will be camping for their wine lol

Any experience on Paris Disneyland? worth to visit?

 

[SniperMarksman]

Hi SniperMarksman,
Apologies for the delayed response was occupied with work.

I did a comparison between Paris pass and Paris museum pass:
Paris pass 3 days $159 EURO
Paris museum pass 4 days $62 EURO

I don't think Paris pass is worth, so costly! omg! and buy the transport ticket separately when needed, I think this is work able or best is to talk a walk around, enjoying the scenery.
Paris Visit pass transport: 3 days (zone 1-3) $28.50 EURO
Paris Visit pass transport: 3 days (zone 1-5) $57.45 EURO
(don't know how they jack up until so expensive for Paris Pass).

Just happen to see most the cultural sites closed on Monday and Tuesday, gotta plan this carefully otherwise going to waste one day Museum pass day.

Do you happen to know what kind of food do you eat around Paris?
Not that I'm picky but if eating bread for 4-5 days then I most probably will be camping for their wine lol

Any experience on Paris Disneyland? worth to visit?

No worries! I'm not that prompt with replies sometimes too

Yes Paris Pass is not worth at all. The museum pass is more worth it. The transport ticket they jack up + it's sort of like a 'concession' in that I think you can take unlimited rides. But it's not worth at all because the main attractions are actually all quite near one another, or if not at most 15 - 20 min walk away in nice cool weather. So no point having unlimited rides.

The only one that's far is Sacre-Coeur but then as suggested you can buy the carnet of 10 (one-time use) tickets instead. Which if let's say is a group of 2/3 then the cost can be split amongst you. So it's even cheaper

Also the museum pass, be careful not to make any mistake when writing down your name and all (once you buy it). Because the moment u write it down, name, as well as date i think it gets activated. If any mistake or write the date wrongly, it could annul the museum pass and end up 'wasting' one.
Of course if you really want to see if it's worth you can make a list of where you want to visit , look at their entrance fees & compare with the price for e.g. a 4 day museum pass to see if it's worth it.


Food wise,
In Paris they have crêpes, which are like pancakes - sort of, as well as various bakeries - boulangeries where if you buy some of their bread in the morning it's very tasty. Don't worry though their bread is really quite amazing. After eating it you can't eat any other form of 'baguette' anymore.

For breakfast, they have bread (at the boulangeries) , freshly made
- the standard 'baguette'
- croissants
- some other puffs/tartes

Or if you go to the bistros (as per lunch & dinner)
- you can get some 'breakfast' set sort like orange juice, yoghurt, coffee, croissant

Lunch & dinner,
normally you can eat at their bistros which are like small more modest restaurants (e.g. think of it as like Thai Express vs the atas ones at MBS etc.) But even though it's a modest restaurant, the service is actually very 'formal' in that it's usually a 3 course meal (2 if you order their lunch/dinner special). So it's a bit of 'fine dining'.

Then they will only serve you the next course after you finish the first course. They really appreciate meal time so don't expect the bill to come unless you ask for it but don't ask too early also as they may 'scold' you for rushing through the food


They'll serve typical restaurant fare -
duck breast,
beef filet (expensive),
chicken,
mussels with fries (very delicious but your hands will get dirty) are the typical main dishes.

for starters you have -
salads, onion soup, foie gras etc.

1 thing to note is the portions might not be huge, but if you are really hungry at night or midway through you can pop by their supermarket and buy some snacks or even like chicken. The french don't really snack a lot though & you'll never see them snacking and walking. Their food is all done seated down.


Disneyland

For this I personally didn't go because it didn't really appeal to me but if you have kids or if you/your wife are interested in seeing it then you could consider. However take note that like Versailles, Disneyland & also the airport CDG are outside of the paris 'city' centre. They are in like the 'outskirts' sort of so the tickets i mentioned earlier (the carnet of 10) cannot be used because they are mainly for within paris city.

Instead you must get another type of ticket. But that also means if you want to visit, take note it might take awhile since it's further out so travelling time is longer.

They have different rail services - RER & Metro that can be a bit confusing but this website is quite good & explains it quite well.

http://parisbytrain.com/paris-metro/#tickets-passes

For disneyland they also have an article on it

http://parisbytrain.com/rer-train-paris-to-euro-disney/

 

[jarvis]

Instead of doing 4 countries and making a loop, I'd probably go instead on a route between Paris and Rome (probably south then east). But that's me and we all have our own preferences - it's your holiday so at the end of the day, you decide what you want to do.

what I would do is after Paris, take the TGV to Avignon, spend say 2 days there, get a car and another 2 days in Provence (e.g. Aix was nice, or if you want something a bit more posh, Cannes was excellent, or you can also explore the small little towns in the Luberon region like Gourdes, Roussillon, etc, depending on where you want to base yourself) or if you're more adventurous, just get a luggage locker at the train station and head out to explore for the day before heading back to get the bags and rent a car - stay in the countryside where it's a lot cheaper and nicer. After those 4 days, drive east and spend a day at Piedmont (e.g. near Alba) to break the trip and enjoy the food (one of my fav restaurants, La Ciau, is at a small mountain town called Trieso), then drive to Tuscany for 4 more days after that. With those 4 days, you can easily explore the small little medieval towns like Siena, San Gimignano, Leccio (the Outlet Mall) or Space (Montevarchi) etc as well as day trip(s) into Florence (or alternatively return the car early in Florence and stay 1 night before taking the train to Rome). when in Rome, do visit the Vatican - if you can, visit early on 2 different mornings as the queues build up so by the time you are done with [the basilica / the museum] the other will have long queues.

Things I like about the countryside - the people are nicer, the food and wine are great, and things are generally cheaper. You get much nicer digs at reasonable prices and you get to kick back and relax a bit.

That way you also get some countryside in and not just big city - a bit of a mix of the two. to me, 2 weeks of city touring will get boring after a while - museum / cathedral fatigue sets in. but that's me and I'm quite bored of the big cities (doesn't help that I've already been on previous trips) and prefer the country-side. Ignore the ramblings if you have no issues with doing big city holidays or just want it as a bit of a taster of the different countries / cities.

 

[SniperMarksman]

very good advice Jarvis

I might consider doing that too. As for TS, seeing that it's his first trip to Europe maybe he'd want to do the big cities. But very informative & helpful. Will personally KIV for my subsequent stay there

 

[Uramasa]

Hi SniperMarksman,

Nice to hear that, always heard that Paris is very renowned for their bread.
Time to try their local food, if anything goes wrong then can always to buy snacks at supermarket and have it at hotel.
They are also known for their wine, maybe can find a good dessert wine in Paris.

I guess nothing to worry about food in here.

One thing for sure their train transportation is kinda huge, need to sort out the itinerary in order to have a better visibility on which zone it belongs to.
Fallback plan which is to buy the Paris Visite pass or carnet tickets.

I'm not really a fans of Disney characters, just wondering whether this place is a must to go for, since when you hear the word about Disneyland, have sort of feeling wooh! it's Disney! you know... where the magic happens (maybe for kids) .

Too many place need to visit and yet so limited time to explore them all. Probably I'll just leave it to my wife to plan .

 

[Uramasa]

Instead of doing 4 countries and making a loop, I'd probably go instead on a route between Paris and Rome (probably south then east). But that's me and we all have our own preferences - it's your holiday so at the end of the day, you decide what you want to do.

what I would do is after Paris, take the TGV to Avignon, spend say 2 days there, get a car and another 2 days in Provence (e.g. Aix was nice, or if you want something a bit more posh, Cannes was excellent, or you can also explore the small little towns in the Luberon region like Gourdes, Roussillon, etc, depending on where you want to base yourself) or if you're more adventurous, just get a luggage locker at the train station and head out to explore for the day before heading back to get the bags and rent a car - stay in the countryside where it's a lot cheaper and nicer. After those 4 days, drive east and spend a day at Piedmont (e.g. near Alba) to break the trip and enjoy the food (one of my fav restaurants, La Ciau, is at a small mountain town called Trieso), then drive to Tuscany for 4 more days after that. With those 4 days, you can easily explore the small little medieval towns like Siena, San Gimignano, Leccio (the Outlet Mall) or Space (Montevarchi) etc as well as day trip(s) into Florence (or alternatively return the car early in Florence and stay 1 night before taking the train to Rome). when in Rome, do visit the Vatican - if you can, visit early on 2 different mornings as the queues build up so by the time you are done with [the basilica / the museum] the other will have long queues.

Things I like about the countryside - the people are nicer, the food and wine are great, and things are generally cheaper. You get much nicer digs at reasonable prices and you get to kick back and relax a bit.

That way you also get some countryside in and not just big city - a bit of a mix of the two. to me, 2 weeks of city touring will get boring after a while - museum / cathedral fatigue sets in. but that's me and I'm quite bored of the big cities (doesn't help that I've already been on previous trips) and prefer the country-side. Ignore the ramblings if you have no issues with doing big city holidays or just want it as a bit of a taster of the different countries / cities.

Nice insight, Jarvis.
I wouldn't mind driving out to countryside but since this is my first trip to Europe, I guess I'll pass this one until I'm somehow familiar with the road, and for safety reason as well.

Another option which is there a public transport that can take us to countryside? I don't mind to spend one to two days at the beach/mountain area to look at the beautiful scenery and drink wine. Feeling awesome, man!

One good thing about countryside is you got to meet with the real local people, thus you got to know their culture better than you encounter in city as city area is catered mostly for tourist.

 

[SniperMarksman]

Hi SniperMarksman,

Nice to hear that, always heard that Paris is very renowned for their bread.
Time to try their local food, if anything goes wrong then can always to buy snacks at supermarket and have it at hotel.
They are also known for their wine, maybe can find a good dessert wine in Paris.

I guess nothing to worry about food in here.

Yep Food is not a problem at all. If all else fails, just go to their supermarket - Monoprix or Carrefour. Monorpix I think is like our Cold Storage here - a bit more 'chic' & upscale.

For a rough gauge, if you are looking at lunch/dinner sets in the bistros (normally appetizer + main or main + dessert), it is around 15 euros and above for Lunch & 21 euros and above for dinner or in that range. [If add more premium food then might need to top up e.g. dinner is 21 but if you want your appetizer to be foie gras than might need to top up that kind]

So if you see a 15 euro for Dinner then it's too good to be true means the food is not that good or I ate at one before & really was not good. Realized it when I ordered duck but the old lady (looks family-run) didn't ask for the doneness of the meat.

Food's only the problem if you are vegetarian since not all restaurants may have vegetarian friendly options & the waiters are not too keen on 'customizing food'.

One thing for sure their train transportation is kinda huge, need to sort out the itinerary in order to have a better visibility on which zone it belongs to.
Fallback plan which is to buy the Paris Visite pass or carnet tickets.

I'm not really a fans of Disney characters, just wondering whether this place is a must to go for, since when you hear the word about Disneyland, have sort of feeling wooh! it's Disney! you know... where the magic happens (maybe for kids) .

Too many place need to visit and yet so limited time to explore them all. Probably I'll just leave it to my wife to plan .

Yep, just a rough overview, within paris city, the carnet should be okay (i think they are zones 1) & they are served by the metro

The french RER, are essentially trains that go further out to the 'outskirts' , but they also stop within the city just select few. (think of them like the 'express' SBS buses that only stop at certain stops)

Haha that's true, but since it's 4 days depending on what you want to do can plan accordingly. If you/your wife wants to go Versailles then can take Disneyland out cause they both each are almost a full day trip

Is shopping in the list, if it is then Just lump it together with the arc de triomphe / eiffel tower since the shopping district - Champs Elysées is there.

 

[SniperMarksman]

Nice insight, Jarvis.
I wouldn't mind driving out to countryside but since this is my first trip to Europe, I guess I'll pass this one until I'm somehow familiar with the road, and for safety reason as well.

Another option which is there a public transport that can take us to countryside? I don't mind to spend one to two days at the beach/mountain area to look at the beautiful scenery and drink wine. Feeling awesome, man!

One good thing about countryside is you got to meet with the real local people, thus you got to know their culture better than you encounter in city as city area is catered mostly for tourist.

In case Jarvis doesn't reply yet,

for transport to go to countryside, the French take their TGVs (Train à Grande Vitesse) - high-speed trains. The French have some key stations and depending which part of France you are going, the trains leave from different stations.

These are 'public transports' but they are premium ones - the bullet trains. You can go by the slower regional trains but it might take you 1 full day or 16/17 hours with lots of connections

For example, if you want to go to Nice, the train will depart from Paris Gare de Lyon -> Nice a direct train will take about 6 hours, if you need to change it will take longer.

& these are premium services so tickets are cheaper the earlier you buy - they open 3 months before but if you are going in summer they open even earlier sometimes with special deals also but like airplanes - cheap but it is not flexible or refundable etc.

Nice is pretty touristy though & rich

But since you only have 4 days & it's your first trip, I would suggest you to spend it in Paris. Just explore Paris or walk around with your wife - it's quite nice (be careful of dog poop though on the sidewalk). Take your time, enjoy the sights, do (a lot) of shopping.

Have you decided when you are going ?

 

[jarvis]

I would usually stay in the countryside - e.g. in a vineyard or castle or something like that (in Italy, where I'm a lot more familiar with, google for agriturismo to see the type of places). So not even in the secondary towns itself. It then only makes sense if you drive (parking is free at these places). You wake up in the morning, look out of the window and all you see is rolling hills / vineyards.... If you don't drive then staying in these "sua teng" places is not a viable option. There have been times when the nearest "town" was a B road with a Y junction, 1 restaurant and maybe 5 houses - the restaurant was brilliant for "mama's cooking" type of food.

You can still do the secondary towns by train, but that will mean you're going to be doing the bigger ones. For example, a southern route will be Paris to Lyon (about 2 hours by TGV), Lyon to Avignon (about 1 hour by TGV), Avignon to Aix (local trains), Aix to Nice (local trains or buses), Nice to Florence (this is a longer train ride and depending on the places in between and your number of days, whether you want to break the journey up), Florence to Rome. You'd need to explore it a bit more to play with where / what you want to do. For example, if you have extra days, you could consider Cinque Terre before Florence.

Caveat being that I've not been travelling by train in Europe for quite a while so you'd have to do your own research. Also depends on time of year / weather, etc.

Also, between Nice and Cannes, if you have the budget for it, Cannes is a much nicer place. If you do go to Nice, I think the Russian Orthodox Church is worth a little side visit. It's just not something you'd expect to find in France and it's a bit of a break from the cathedrals.

As for driving in western Europe, it's dead easy especially in the era of the GPS / google maps especially when you're just talking about country-side driving. The main concerns is speed limits (use cruise control / speed limit function on the car) when driving thru small towns go as low as 30kmh and parking when you visit old small towns that are very touristy. I won't recommend driving within the big cities (apart from picking up / returning the car) because there's usually jams, one-way streets and terribly expensive parking.

 

[Uramasa]

In case Jarvis doesn't reply yet,

for transport to go to countryside, the French take their TGVs (Train à Grande Vitesse) - high-speed trains. The French have some key stations and depending which part of France you are going, the trains leave from different stations.

These are 'public transports' but they are premium ones - the bullet trains. You can go by the slower regional trains but it might take you 1 full day or 16/17 hours with lots of connections

For example, if you want to go to Nice, the train will depart from Paris Gare de Lyon -> Nice a direct train will take about 6 hours, if you need to change it will take longer.

& these are premium services so tickets are cheaper the earlier you buy - they open 3 months before but if you are going in summer they open even earlier sometimes with special deals also but like airplanes - cheap but it is not flexible or refundable etc.

Nice is pretty touristy though & rich

But since you only have 4 days & it's your first trip, I would suggest you to spend it in Paris. Just explore Paris or walk around with your wife - it's quite nice (be careful of dog poop though on the sidewalk). Take your time, enjoy the sights, do (a lot) of shopping.

Have you decided when you are going ?

When I hear about Nice, I remember the recent terrorist attack .
If the trip to countryside is going to take close to 1 full day then I don't think it's worth to go by taking public transport, maybe next trip with more knowledge of Europe via rented car.

One thing for sure is I've booked my flight ticket:
SG to Paris on 30 April 2017
Rome to SG on 19 May 2017

Taking advantages of 2 public holiday in May, saving some annual leave. Anything in between is still work in progress .

At this present moment my route is Paris - Amsterdam - Rome.
Dropped Germany on the list since I would find it kinda rush to go all out there.
Well, I kinda prefer free and easy buffer in more free time in between, beside this is a holiday, man! no need to rush like the way SG works .

Yep Food is not a problem at all. If all else fails, just go to their supermarket - Monoprix or Carrefour. Monorpix I think is like our Cold Storage here - a bit more 'chic' & upscale.

For a rough gauge, if you are looking at lunch/dinner sets in the bistros (normally appetizer + main or main + dessert), it is around 15 euros and above for Lunch & 21 euros and above for dinner or in that range. [If add more premium food then might need to top up e.g. dinner is 21 but if you want your appetizer to be foie gras than might need to top up that kind]

So if you see a 15 euro for Dinner then it's too good to be true means the food is not that good or I ate at one before & really was not good. Realized it when I ordered duck but the old lady (looks family-run) didn't ask for the doneness of the meat.

Food's only the problem if you are vegetarian since not all restaurants may have vegetarian friendly options & the waiters are not too keen on 'customizing food'.

Btw I just wondering any fast food in France? e.g. McD, KFC
Just for a quick bite to recharge energy then continue our journey.

15++ EUR for lunch set and 21++ EUR for dinner set is almost equivalent to set meal in SG, perhaps the one that they serve in Paris has a better quality unlike in SG, just anyhow cook.

Beside, we are not aiming to dine in those Michelin stars restaurant lol
Save the budget on another things.

Doing some research on Paris now, luckily nowadays most of the things are written/published in internet lol

 

[SniperMarksman]

When I hear about Nice, I remember the recent terrorist attack .
If the trip to countryside is going to take close to 1 full day then I don't think it's worth to go by taking public transport, maybe next trip with more knowledge of Europe via rented car.

One thing for sure is I've booked my flight ticket:
SG to Paris on 30 April 2017
Rome to SG on 19 May 2017

Taking advantages of 2 public holiday in May, saving some annual leave. Anything in between is still work in progress .

At this present moment my route is Paris - Amsterdam - Rome.
Dropped Germany on the list since I would find it kinda rush to go all out there.
Well, I kinda prefer free and easy buffer in more free time in between, beside this is a holiday, man! no need to rush like the way SG works .

Awesome, means that you will be there during spring season - perfect temperature and sunlight hours are just nice too.

Yeah true, no point rushing for too many places. Like you said, free & easy, take some time strolling and soaking in the city. Can adjust accordingly also . If you want to take the trains to other cities then you should book early - e.g. Paris - Amsterdam they use Thalys etc.

This website is quite good for train travels within Europe (across countries)
http://www.seat61.com/

Btw I just wondering any fast food in France? e.g. McD, KFC
Just for a quick bite to recharge energy then continue our journey.

15++ EUR for lunch set and 21++ EUR for dinner set is almost equivalent to set meal in SG, perhaps the one that they serve in Paris has a better quality unlike in SG, just anyhow cook.

Beside, we are not aiming to dine in those Michelin stars restaurant lol
Save the budget on another things.

Doing some research on Paris now, luckily nowadays most of the things are written/published in internet lol

Oh definitely, they have fast food! KFC, is not that common though but they have. The most common is McD or as the French call it "MacDo". But take note even their MacDo doesn't feel like fast food, got more restauranty feel. but it's still fast food, so quick bite works & because of the French law on the meat etc. needing to be of high quality, they are all locally sourced so the meat actually tastes better.

Just don't expect McSpicy - the French don't really use chilli or spicy stuff.

Yep food in general in Paris has way better quality. Even fastfood. Plus it's more fine dining concept so your appetizer first then only when you've both finished then they'll clear your plates etc.

read up on some common Parisian scams - to keep yourself aware
http://parisbytrain.com/tag/paris-scams/

MacDonald's articles:
http://www.businessinsider.sg/mcdon...america-2015-4/?r=US&IR=T#JLRdslerPq56Yz5p.97

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...cdonalds-in-france-doesnt-feel-like-fast-food

 

[alpc]

Hmmm... Title say UK trip, but the itinerary is France, Netherlands, Germany and Italy???

Ok, perhaps it's just me, but if it is a UK trip, then I rather make sure I travel enough in UK, so that next time I will just skip UK and go somewhere else.

 

[SniperMarksman]

Hmmm... Title say UK trip, but the itinerary is France, Netherlands, Germany and Italy???

Ok, perhaps it's just me, but if it is a UK trip, then I rather make sure I travel enough in UK, so that next time I will just skip UK and go somewhere else.

maybe TS was thinking about Europe (Schengen) & UK then "freudian slip" came out UK.

That's true also, UK by itself can be a very long trip

 

[jarvis]

the mcdonalds in Europe is generally rubbish especially when compared to Singapore. Why do you think the Europeans (adults) always show disdain when you mention macs?

Personally, I think the food in Paris is over rated - but then I didn't think very much of Paris (or France generally - I very much prefer Italy and Spain to France as a holiday destination).

So from AMS you'd fly to Rome? If you've got extra days, consider flying into Florence instead and then spend a couple of days there before taking the train over to Rome.

In Rome, if you're looking for cheap eats, just go for pizza by weight type of places. it's usually quite cheap and I've had some very good ones. Be prepared to walk and walk and walk.... the public transport is crap and taxis are prohibitively priced.

Don't worry too much about scams. Be aware of your surroundings. If people come up to you to ask anything in English, pretend to be from china and don't understand English - they're either trying to sell you something or otherwise scam you because no one in genuine need for help will be approaching someone who obviously looks like a foreigner.

 

[guitar123]

Pickpockets

Be very careful of pick pockets and petty crime. They have Organised crime syndicates targeting tourists, especially in summer.