We are getting married in September but don't have the time to take a trip until December over Christmas leave. We recently started thinking about going to somewhere in Europe with the top options being Paris, London, or possibly Ireland. We know it will be cold, but we aren't really beach people so I think we would be okay! I was wondering if anyone had advice about how short of a trip is too short? Right now we have ten days (including travel) so really eight days and I just don't know if that is worth the expense of the trip? TIA.
Re: How short of a trip is too short? Europe
Just keep in mind that most museums and attractions will be closed Xmas Eve, Xmas, and the day after. So, you will want to plan around that to make sure you aren't in one city for those exact three days and miss everything!
Other than that, 8 days is surely fine as long as you don't have significant travel time between cities (like amsterdam to barcelona.) You'll be fine getting between Paris and London and even Ireland, though I'd probably want too spend 3-4 nights at each, so that may limit you to only two stops.
I have nothing to add except for Joey saying "London, baby!"
You could absolutely do Paris and London in 10 days (especially if you're coming from the East Coast). Split your time in each, try to sleep on the plane, and take the high speed train between them. get a ticket where you fly into one and out of the other to maximize time. Buy a couple of guidebooks and research to make sure you will have enough time to see your biggest priority sights.
i went to London and Paris with my mom in November a few years ago. We did 2 full weeks. I could have used more time in both places, but i knew i'd probably go back some day! We were fortunate in London to have beautiful weather aside from one day (seriously we had sunny and 60+ degrees for part of it). It drizzled most of the time we were in Paris but it was still beautiful. and we spent a lot of time indoors in museums, so the weather didn't really matter much.
Some sights are a bit of a letdown in the winter...for example, the gardens of most of the palaces/chateaux aren't at their full potential (and in the garden at Versailles in November, the statues were even covered up to protect them from the cold/rain!), and we didn't have much of a view from the top of the Eifffel Tower. But we still had a great time. You could adjust your itinerary to avoid some of the outdoor stuff if you think it might be a letdown in the winter. You should have some great street markets to check out in December...there are holiday markets in many large European cities. I'd love to see one of those some day.
If you don't mind a long-ish day tour, you can see Stonehenge from London (we did this as a bus tour that also visited Bath) or yu can take the train to Brussels for a day from Paris.
I had one more question that is regarding budget. I know it's hard to say for sure because everyone travels differently, but we are having a hard time setting a budget to start planning with. Assuming we each end up paying $1,300 for our flights (which is what it is looking like, I don't know if that is high or not?), stay at a decent hotel and nothing too fancy, and visit a few nice restaurants, does anyone have an idea of how much we should be thinking? I feel like I'm not thinking of all the little expensese that can add up!
Flights around Christmas are likely to be pricey. Probably no way around that unless you have some FFmiles you can use.
If you rent apartments, or hotels with a kitchenette in them, and can have some of your meals there (which is what we did on the London part of our trip for breakfast and dinner most days) it will save you some money on food at least. but honestly, i assume $200/day/person (including hotel, exclusing flights). I usually aim for hotels or apartments that sleep two people for about $200/night. And that leavees money for public transportation, shopping, etc.
A lot of attractions in London are free (just about all museums are) and you can look into the Paris Museum Pass if you go there for a decent discount (NOT the Paris Pass. that one is kind of a rip off). Museums are not free in Paris, and most people feel that the Museum Pass is worth it. There is also a London Pass that we did get, but that one isn't beneficial to everyone...i'd look at the site and add up the cost of the places you want to go before buying it to determine if it makes sense for you. it did for us. but it all depends on your itinerary.
I thought of you and the Christmas Market cruise @joanE2012! I need something to look forward to, so we starting looking at the river cruises again. I think we're going to do something similar but by land next year. I deserve it!!