Summer 2024 TRIP REPORT -
Back this month from a month-long holiday in Italy, France, Belgium & Switzerland … happy to share about some of the beautiful places I visited and pass on a few travel tips. Hoping you find inspiration and fuel for your own European adventure!
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Flying over the Italian Alps .. TIP: use the flight tracker map to see your location (plus, offline google maps sometimes will show your location even on a plane) - from the window seat you may see some very cool places from the sky!
A trip to Europe from the USA will begin with a long-haul flight. This summer I saved time & money flying on Canadian airline, AirTransat, from Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) to Rome Fiumicino (FCO).
FLIGHT BOOKING TIPS
consider alternative airports (I suggest no more than a 4 hour driving radius) to find less expensive fares and nonstop options, especially if you live nearest to an big international hub where there is little competition
PACKING TIPS
know the dimensions & weight limits for the airline & airfare class you booked - even so, be prepared for surprises. My carry on bag this time was not fitting in the sizer even though it meets the published dimensions (even with measuring the handle & wheels). I was lucky that the agent had already asked me to check the bag for free, avoiding the hefty checked bag fee at the airport.
I always print off a “luggage itinerary” with my accommodation & contact details listed for the whole trip to place inside my luggage on the off chance it could help the airline return a delayed bag to me. Also as a precaution, it could be helpful to take a picture of your bag and the contents of your bag.
Pack a small toiletry bag with a toothbrush/paste, hand sanitizer, face wipes, loiton, lip balm and face powder can help you freshen up during or after a long flight
PARKING
Around Toronto Pearson there are options to park “off property” for very good prices, especially for a long term stay (I parked for a whole month). I used Skyway Park this time, parking in the lot less than 10 minutes from the airport and riding the shuttle to the terminal. There are several companies that offer this type of service.
AIRPORT TIPS
pack snacks or a meal (sandwiches work very well) to avoid paying a high airport prices and/or standing in long lines (you can bring food through security but no liquids (at this time) including things like peanut butter
bring an empty water bottle to fill on the air-side (after security) - Toronto has water bottle filling stations while Rome FCO has drinking water in the restrooms
Read the airport website - I learned about a NEW service available at Toronto Pearson called YYZ Express. I signed up 72 hours in advance of my departure time to secure entry to the “fast track” line for the security checkpoint. I picked a time when I expected to arrive & entered within 15 minutes of the time selected to get through security - there was no line at all.
ON A LONG-HAUL FLIGHT
There are many travel tips you can find to help make a long-haul flight more comfortable and/or fight jet lag. You can choose what works for you. Here are a few that I like:
I generally start any movie right away then after the meal service, I take melatonin, put on an eye mask and pop in my earbuds to listen to music so that I have every chance to get as much sleep as possible. Even if sleep doesn’t come, relaxing and resting as much as possible can be helpful.
NEW in Rome - Area Sacra di Largo Argentina is open for visits!
My favorite city ROME!! - and first stop on this trip. As a very popular destination, Rome often is a centerpiece for any trip to Italy!
I have visited Rome 13 times before this year’s trip - always I find more to explore and places that draw me back like an old friend. Rome never disappoints if you know how to beat the heat and the big crowds… I found many new things to discover. Here are some highlights of this year’s trip:
The Sacred Area of Largo Argentina - this is a NEW opening of the Roman ruins that lay beneath the street level. These ruins have been one of my favorite places since my first visit in 2009. Up until recently, you could only view from the street looking down or from the cat sanctuary that is below the street on one side. This year, I visited the newly-opened exhibit area that allowed me to wander through the ruins on walkways and visit exhibits. I was not able to purchase online tickets (the site would not take my payment method) but it did not matter since tickets were available to purchase at the ticket office when the site opened. Very easy. Highly suggested.
At the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, I joined the NEW Papal Basilica Dome Panoramic Tour. I bought my ticket online to reserve my place on this small guided tour that goes to the terrace and then the rooftop of the basilica. The tour was very good and the views are amazing! The basilica itself is also fantastic so go early to visit the interior as well. High recommend (book online in advance).
Paola A Trastevere Bed & Breakfast - this charming little B&B is located on the main street in Trastevere near bus, tram and taxi transportation options. Plus, you can walk easily from here to many places in the historic centre. I choose to stay here for my 3rd time because of the location but also the cute, comfortable rooms and delicious breakfast. This accommodation is only one of the many in Rome that are great choices.
Caffe Doria Roma - For a special occasion, I booked a table for Aperitivo at this cocktail lounge inside the courtyard of the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj on Via del Corso. Check it out for a lovely experience!
Hey Guey - There are many rooftop bars in Rome. This one is at the fancy Chapter Roma hotel and serves Mexican food and drink. Very fun and fantastic views!
Likewise, there are even more choice when it comes to eating out. Try to look for local, non-touristy locations (avoid places near the main attractions, those with guy out front hawking for customers or places with menus translated into many language or with pictures of dishes).
Di Vita Experience - one of my favorite things to do is a food experience with a real local. You get to sample so many tastes of the local dishes and learn about the culture & food - it’s also very fun! I love the Di Vita Experience in a small group with a personalized culinary experience. https://divitaexperience.com/
Favorite morning ritual in Paris - baguette from the corner bakery!
The second stop on this trip was France.
I visited many places including Beauvais, Paris, Versailles, the Loire Valley, Normandy, Dunkirk, Disneyland Paris, Grenoble and Nice on the Cote d’Azur. Covering a lot of ground in a few weeks required several train rides and 12 days of rental car road trips.
If you have questions about traveling in France, contact me.
Here are some pictures to show some very cool places that I recommend considering for a France itinerary:
Beauvais France - the cathedrale from 1225 AD has the highest Gothic choir in the world. As you can see in this photo, there is construction going on.... it's an amazing structure in a cute town with some interesting half-timbered buildings. Beauvais is an alternative entry point to Paris. It's airport is about an hour to Paris (by bus or from the town by train).
The Palace of Versaille Gardens - I traveled by bus from nearby Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines train station to spend the whole day exploring the palace and vast gardens at Versailles. Returning by Uber was easy and quick. I discovered a very nice B&B Hotel (a chain of hotels that I saw in many other locations as well) next to the train station in the town of Montigny-le-Bretonneux.
Behind the wheel of my car hire, I drove from Versailles to the Loire Valley. I rented an apartment in the city of Tours which makes a good home base for visiting the chateaux, small towns and wineries. Tours is also a very interesting city with many restaurants. Highlights are Vouvray, so many wine tastings in the Loire Valley, Amboise and Royal Chateau of Amboise, the tiny village of Sache, and the Abbaye Royale du Fontevraud.
It was Bastille Day when I was in Tours. I was planning on seeing the fireworks that are usually fired off the island in the city. However, I found out that this year a huge drone show was planned instead at a big park outside of town. After looking into the transport logistics to get to/from with probable crowds and late at night, I decided that watching the special TV broadcast of the Bastille Day festivities wrapped up with the Olympic torch relay and a concern at Hotel de Ville in Paris on the French channel in my apartment was a better option. It was a fantastic show and super fireworks at the Eiffel Tower!
With a rental car, there is flexibility and freedom. I had planned to drive from the Loire Valley to the Normandy coast stopping in Le Mans for lunch. Based on my mood and my husband’s interests, I changed our plans to skip past the town of Le Mans and stop at the Caen Memorial Museum instead. Google Maps is your friend!
He loved the museum while I found it interesting enough. What I did learn is that this museum is a good introduction to a visit to Normandy. A couple of hours here and then it was a very short drive into the countryside to a very tiny town on the coast, Ver-Sur-Mer, where we spent three nights in a lovely B & B called Le Mas Normand. I highly suggest considering this place as a home base if you have a rental car for a visit to Normandy (if you don’t have a rental car, I suggest looking at the nearby beautiful town of Bayeux).
A few TIPS from Normandy:
Renting a car gives you the opportunity to explore at your own pace and discover places you may otherwise miss. We loved going to the new British Memorial in Ver-Sur-Mer at sunset to see the Standing with Giants installation. While some of the roads are very small, driving is pretty easy and the roads are not crowded. Parking also was easy to find.
In Bayeux, consider the 3 in 1 ticket a the Bayeux Tapestry Museum (this museum is closing for an extended period of time soon so check online for opening information). This combo ticket includes both the Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy and the Museum of Art & History of Bayeux. Both of these little museums are very interesting and not crowded. We enjoyed both for a very small upcharge.
All around Normandy there are farms that make the delicious Calvados, a brandy made from apples. Stop for a tasting or to buy some to take home!
ROAD TRIP to Belgium
Driving to Normandy to Bruges Belgium is an all day affair. To break up the long drive, I stopped at two locations to see both the seaside town of Etretat and Dunkirk near the France-Belgium border.
A few TIPS from a short stay in Belgium:
I stayed in a very welcoming & cute guesthouse about 10 minutes outside of Bruges. With a car, it was nice to have a peaceful place to return to after a busy day in a busy town (Bruges is very popular and gets busy, especially in the afternoon). Very quickly outside of Bruges, you are in the countryside. Our guesthouse was next door to a few farms.
Parking outside of the walls in Bruges is easy to find. Your accommodation host can give you tips or check for parking on Google Maps!
There are many things to see & do in Bruges. It is a fun place to explore - I found many fun things to do spontaneously, even the silly frietmuseum (which I don’t recommend unless you want a little respite from serious sight-seeing - especially skip this one on a first visit to Bruges).
We booked a timed-entry to the church museum to see Micheangelo’s Madonna & Child sculpture. While it was not busy (only 2 other people there in the morning), I would still book online if you want to see this masterpiece.
A boat ride on the canals looks touristy (it is!) but it is very fun and beautiful. Plus, after walking all day, a ride around the canals is quite welcome. If one company looks like they have a very long line, look around to the ones nearby. They may have no line!
A Disney Break in France
Discoveryland @ Disneyland Paris
For Disney fans, visiting Disneyland Paris is definately something you might want to consider including in your Europe holiday, especially if you are traveling with children (or the young at heart!).
One day @ Disneyland Paris is enough to see & do plenty in both parks, Disneyland Park (like Magic Kingdom) and Walt Disney Studios.
Here are a few TIPS:
Where to stay - if you want to splurge, staying at a Disney property is a nice choice. There are perks (early entry into the parks) and you can walk to the parks easily within 15-20 minutes from most of the hotels/resorts. If you have a car, the nearby Davy Crockett Ranch is also an option. Other choices in the area are plentiful, ranging from hotels to apartment rentals. Getting to the park from the surrounding area is easy either by bus, train or car. The bus station, train station and car park are adjacent to the park entrance.
The 2 parks at Disneyland Paris are next to each other. You simply walk from one to the other within minutes. Disney Village is also a very short walk from the park entrances.
Expect to pass through airport-like security to get into the entrance area for both the parks and Disney Village. In the morning the line is a bit longer. After the opening hours of the parks, the line is much shorter or non-existent.
You can reach Disneyland Paris from Paris city centre in under an hour on an RER train making a day at the parks a do-able day trip. (The opposite journey for a day trip into Paris is also easy).
Disney World fans will find some attractions are the same but even those (ex. It’s a Small World, Haunted Mansion) have differences that make the experience new and fun. There are also attractions that will be totally new because they don’t exist in other parks.
Road trip to the French Alps
Home Base - Grenoble, France
@ Paris CDG airport, we picked up our 2 adult children. This is what luggage looks like for 4 people in a mid-size SUV (minus one delayed suitcase that did not make it to Paris) ... You may spot the fan that we bought to combat the summer heat. TIP - if it's too hot b/c of poor or no AC combined with a heat wave, don't hestitate to buy a fan (ours was about 20 euro at a Carrefour in France). We "donated" it to our last accommodation... money well-spent!
Stopping for lunch is a good idea on a road trip in France. There are many rest areas with services including pretty good cafes for some snacks and drinks. You can easily fill up the gas tank here too! However, when driving over 5 hours I like to stop in a little town and have a small visit with lunch in a local restaurant. With passengers in the car who can look up information on google maps, we find out that there are good restaurant options in a small town called Auxerre that is very close to the highway. Discovering a small hidden gem is always a treat - a park along a pretty river, a delicious lunch on a patio overlooking the river and a square with a fountain, walking through small streets with medieval buildings and visiting the cathedrale that sits on the hill overlooking the whole town. A couple hours of rest in this way makes a long road trip a memorable and pleasant experience!
Grenoble, France
I learned from our 3-night stay in Grenoble, a town nestled in between mountains in the French Alps that this area is well-worth a place on any itinerary in France. The beautiful scenery only adds to the charm of this town. There are so many things to see & do in this region. Sound interesting… consider including this area on your next trip to France!
Route Napolean to the Cote d’Azur
Home Based - Nice, France
The roads from Grenoble down through the mountains to the Meditterean Sea is a beautiful drive. In the summer, the traffic around Nice was heavy but not preventing travel to our destination. Dropping off a rental car at the Nice airport was a good choice … easy to find the parking garage with car rental returns, easy drop off at Europcar, short walk to the tram station to catch transport to our accommodation (Taxis are also readily available).
On our way to Nice, we enjoyed lunch in the town of Saint Paul de Vence. The first 2 photos below are views from this small village high up in the hills.
Nice, France
On the Cote d’Azur, Nice makes a good home base to explore the area. It is well-connected by train to other towns on the coast. However, we choose to stay in Nice for our 3-night stay. There is plenty to see & do right here in town. We also were here to experience the Paris 2024 Olympics - the USA vs. Zambia women’s football game was held here in the stadium north of Nice. Very fun game!
ACCOMMODATION TIP - consider staying close to the beach south of city centre. We enjoyed our apartment that was located by a tram stop to reach the city centre, stadium and airport very easily AND within a one-block walking distance to the beach. Easy to take a swim morning, noon and night! Also plenty of grocery stores, bakeries, and restaurants here and easily within reach in city centre.
TRANSPORTATION TIP - buying a ticket for the tram or buses is simple with the ticket machine at the tram stops. You can get a day pass or single tickets easily to make getting around town a breeze!
Final Week in Italy & Switzerland
Bidding farewell to our adult children who travel on to Ireland, we travel for another week by train to Genoa Italy, to Lugano, Switzerland, a stop in Milano and back to Rome & Lido di Ostia, Italy before our month-long vacation comes to an end. This week was a typical week of 100 degree F heat wave … the theme to this weather is “take it easy” and enjoy the slower pace.
TIP for longer vacations: Build in some “down time” & flexibility into your itinerary. Take time to relax and just spend time to enjoy the places you are visiting at a slower pace.
Adjust your itinerary to match your mood and also change up your plans if the weather doesn’t cooperate (ex. I had planned a day trip to Monaco by train from Nice. Since it was very hot and quite frankly we needed some rest, we chose to stay in Nice and explore in the morning and in the evenings, taking time to nap and stay indoors during the mid-day high heat.)
Choose your locations at the end of your trip to give you opportunities to relax. We had a hotel by a lake with a beautiful pool in Swizterland. When the temps were unexpectedly at 100 degrees F, we enjoyed time in the afternoon by the pool for aperitivo hour instead of our planned hike up a mountain. Be willing and happy to pivot to make your experience happy and enjoyable.
Splurge a little bit at the end of your trip for special or more luxury accommodations. Deals can be found to make this a bit more affordable. Choose a place by the sea or witth a pool. Maybe a spa day sounds good to you. You could stay just one night in a fancy hotel. Some comfort and relaxation to finish a long trip can be helpful as you prepare for a long travel day on your journey home.
Back to Europe on a return trip? Was there a favorite accommodation or hotel that you loved in the past? Consider going there again… I love the little boutique hotel, Hotel Sirenetta in Lido di Ostia. I stay here either at the start or end of a holiday in Europe when I am flying in or out of Rome FCO airport, which is almost every year (by design). It’s on the sea and a very short distance from the airport. Close enough for dinner in Rome but across from the beach! Find a place you love? Take note to return again next time!
Thanks for reading this long trip report of my month of exploring and researching some great places in Europe while enjoying some holiday time with my family.
Contact Me to talk about your dreams for traveling in Europe. Let’s start with a FREE mini-travel coaching session. I am looking forward to helping you with all of your questions and ideas to begin building your vacation!
