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-   -   Travelling to Europe. Need advice (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/56810-travelling-europe-need-advice-9.html)

Not sure of Belgium visa, but its definitely difficult (in terms of documentation) to get an visa from Italy consulate.


Right, so you can actually prepare an itenery and show that you are entering the EU through Belgium, and Belgium consulate will provide you visa.

Btw, what's your plan in Italy? :)

And July-August will be comparitively higher for all tickets/hotels etc since that is the vacation time in here.

I recently completed a vacation in Europe during September last week/October. We made all travel arrangements by ourselves. Visited Belgium, France and Swiss. 14 days trip.

Overall, Its an awesome highly memorable trip.

If you folks need any help in travel bookings, I can share my experience.

What's the best time of the year to vacation in London, Paris and Italy? I am looking for good weather (absolutely not cold, not even a little cold - weather where you can wear just a t-shirt and move around), no rains. Heat shouldn't be unbearable.

The vacation is going to be fairly short - 7-8 days totally. How do I distribute this among the different places & where do I start & where do I end? Any suggestions?

I want to go to the touristy places, not to any of unknown places.

The absolute impossibility of predicting that with any certainty at all is one of the reasons that I have not been back there for four years now! :eek:

I think that's only time enough to justice to one city. On the other hand, the channel-tunnel train puts Paris at just a few hours away from London.

Another thing (correct me if I'm wrong, as an EU citizen I don't have to worry about it) is visas. Italy and France belong to the Schengen group, but UK does not, so you need two visas to cover those three countries. Tedious and expensive for a trip of just a week.

~

Which month gives the best probability?
Will have a travel agent do the visas etc.

Want to do a quick first trip where I will touch the major stuff like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Champs Elysees, Leaning Tower of Pisa, etc
Will do other detailed trips later based on what I like.

June end is good time. You can roam around in T shirts with not to much of rush there. 7-8 days is bit less.

I would suggest that you arrive in London, then Paris, Milan, Venice, Florence (only if you want to see Tower of Pisa), Rome and back. Can skip places based on your liking.

When you go to London you can try out the Red Bus Tour where you can buy a pass which costs 15 or 20 quid per person and they show you around all the tourist places like Buckingham palace, madame tussauds (entry fee extra), London eye, oxford street, regent street, knightsbridge, etc. You can get off the bus at any point of time and again catch another from any designated bus stop.

The pass is valid for 1 day IIRC but I think you can get them for 2 days too.

For the visa I recommend applying on your own. Just log on to the UK Border Agency website and fill up the visa form which is around 13 pages long. Take an appointment and visit the centre at Vile Parle East or any other branch. (There's one at Grant Road I think).

In the interview they'll ask basic stuff like your DOB etc. Easy enough and not worth taking the help of an agent.

Also, if you want to visit Paris, then take the visa for entire Europe and it takes just a few hours from London by train. That's the mistake I made in 2012 during my UK trip. I took only UK visa and hence missed out on visiting Paris.

EDIT- Climate is unpredictable to an extent. I went in May-June 2012 and in the beginning we felt too cold, then it was rainy for some days, them the weather was normal (could roam around in regular clothes), then again rainy. But still I'd say May-June is a good time

Going to do the full trip (including flights, trains, hotels etc) using somebody like SOTC. So let them do the visas also.

Ok. I guess than starting somewhere around June 20th would be the best probability for good weather in all of London, Paris, Rome, Venice.

I reached Paris on morning of June 23, last year. It was only in Paris where we used sweat shirts. Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome were pleasant at around 22 degrees. The forecast from accuweather was fairly accurate which helped alot in planning the trip. I suggest you check upto 3 weather sites for better idea on weather conditions.

Further, Visa for London takes time and you must start the process NOW. Shenghen Visa for us took just 10 days.

How much time does London visa take?

Officially 15 working days, but I have seen people waiting for more than a month. They say the visa approval time may vary from person to person.

UK visa may take about 10 days from submission at VFS counter, if personal interview at the UK consulate is not required. Interview is generally waived for people who have been to the UK earlier. Of course, it all depends on the opinion of the consulate. If an interview at the consulate is required, you need to add 15-20 more days to the whole process depending on the mutually convenient interview date.

If you get the UK visa, then obtaining a schengen visa thereafter is easier.

July and August is part of summer in Europe and schools have summer vacations during these months up until first week of September. Expect heavy air traffic and crowded hotels/tourist places during this period. You can beat it if you complete your travel before third week of June.

Was talking to a travel agent. He said that instead of taking a train from London to Paris & then flying to Italy, I should fly from London to Italy & then fly back from Italy to Paris. He said that costwise it won't make much of difference. What do people think?

Do you mean entire Europe including UK? If so, then I do not think there is such a thing. UK is still separate to Schengen for visas.