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Post by jinxie on Sept 18, 2015 23:12:16 GMT
I'm wondering if anyone has done European Impressions with Trafalgar (Cost Saver), or something similar. We have booked our tour but would like a little advice on the optionals. There of course several of them and would appreciate opinions. Are there any "must do's"? We did all of them on our tour of The Best of Italy and Sicily in 2012 but would like to cut back a bit this time as we are going back to England for a week after this tour. Thanks in advance.
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Post by Oz-T on Sept 20, 2015 3:59:07 GMT
Hi Jinxie, Without having done this specific tour I have been to many of the destinations and will try to guide you as best as I can.
As this is a 15 day tour, you are going to cover quite a bit of territory in those two weeks and you won't get enough time to explore some places as much as you should. However, we all have to make compromises regarding time and cost, so this tour should still be a very rewarding one that you'll enjoy.
The drive to Dover is on a good motorway. You'll see the Kent countryside, albeit from a busy multi-lane road. The white cliffs will be on your left as you head to the ferry and you should be able to spot Dover Castle atop the hill. We drove through Belgium last year and you'll probably retrace some of our route through Antwerp and up into The Netherlands. Again, it's mainly massive motorways.
There will only be a short time to see Amsterdam in the afternoon/evening, but grab that opportunity as it's a fascinating city and easy to walk around the canals. Due to the time constraints, I would certainly take the Amsterdam Discovery and Canal Cruise option.
In Vienna, we went to the Mozart/Strauss Viennese Concert at the Palais Auersperg - very enjoyable. The Habsburg palace of Schönbrunn is an absolute must, so don't miss that optional.
If you've already done something like the two optionals in Venice you'll probably skip them. If you want to do just one, I'd go for Discover the Magic of Venice. In Rome, if you haven't already seen it, the best optional would probably be the Vatican Museum tour. In Florence, the Renaissance Treasures optional would be excellent if you haven't already visited them.
We've been to Paris many times and always seen everything by ourselves instead of with a guided tour. All four optionals are great, depending on your interests. We consider Moulin Rouge to be overpriced, but something you should do once in your life. It's a magnificent show.
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Post by jinxie on Sept 20, 2015 23:01:38 GMT
Thank you for your response. You have offered some excellent advice. It's going to be quite whirlwind tour but I'm sure we will enjoy it. This time in Italy we will have more free time since we had done all of the optionals, therefore we save quite a bit there and can do some exploring. We are going to London a few days early and then after the tour we are heading back to England. I haven't been there for 20 years and my husband has never been so it will be very exciting. We plan on spending another week traveling on our own. Right now the plan is to do a couple of day trips to Bath, Stonehenge, etc. We are in the process of planning on where we would like to go in England. I would also love to see a bit of Wales again. My family was from Leeds so we will make a stop there. We will go to a few places on our way to Scotland and then fly home to Canada at the end of July. It will be a busy month.
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