4/28/10-5/17/10
The first leg of our flight lands in Iceland on 4/28 at roughly 7am. We only have an hour of layover before we take off again for our first stop: Amsterdam.
We will be in Amsterdam until 5/2. We are hoping to include a day trip to Rotterdam and the Keukenhof Tulip Gardens during our stay. We also will be staying during the national party time of 4/29 (queens night) and 4/30 (queens day).
Our hotel for this stay is the
Eden Hotel Amsterdam
Cost for a double room for 4/28-5/2 = $904.22.
We picked Eden Hotel Amsterdam for its picturesque location off of a Canal, the convenient street name it is on (Amstel), and its closeness to the city centre. For the price, there was no better option to be in the middle of the Amsterdam Action.
On 5/2 we will be heading off to the great German city of Berlin. We will be in Berlin until 5/5/10.
Our hotel for this stay is the
Melia Berlin
Cost for a double room for 5/2-5/5 = $375.75.
Again, we chose Melia for its location. It is merely a short walk from Berlin's largest and most important train station, (Berlin HBF), and it is a relatively short distance to all of the main sites in Berlin. Most (but not all) of the sites we wanted to see in Berlin are on the West, so we chose a westward leaning hotel. I believe we paid a little more for this hotel, but again: location location location. Most people realize their financial budgets, but you also have to realize you are on a time budget with trips like these as well.
Next, we will be heading off to the beautiful treasure of Czech's Prague. We will be in this easternmost city of our trip from 5/5-5/7.
Our hotel for this stay is the wonderfully named
Hotel Rott
Cost for a double room for 5/5-5/7 = $241.00.
Hotel Rott is conveniently located around the corner from Prague's famous Astronomical Clock. It also a few blocks down from Charles Bridge, which leads up the Prague Castle (the church-like structure featered in the hotel picture above). Also, it now sits upon the new location of the Hard Rock Cafe-Prague. We are a tad farther out from the train station here, but again as you will see with all of these, we chose the hotel in the center of the action. The less amount of time you spend walking to a sight, the more time you have to see it! Besides, taxis and trams and busses are so efficient in all of Europe, that a trip to the train station while father out is not inconvenient at all.
The next major city after Prague is the Bavarian city of Munich. We are hoping for a trip to see the fairytale-esque Neuschwanstein Castle, a couple hours away in the deep Alp-ridden south of Germany. We are also hoping to spend a lot of time at the traditional beer gardens! We will be here from 5/7-5/9.
Our hotel for this stay is the:
Le Meridien Munich
Cost of a double room for 5/7-5/9 = 294.72.
This time, the convenience of Le Meridien Munich is its proximity to the train station. This is nice due to the fact that the largest portion of our stay will (hopefully) be spent catching a train to and from Neuschwanstein. Luckily as well, it is also central to main sites and downtown areas of Munich.
Next we are sticking with the Alps theme and hopping a ride into Bern, Switzerland from 5/9-5/11. Bern is the capital city of Switzerland. It also has chocolate, bears!, and a convenient closeness to the Matterhorn-hugging Alpine village of Zermatt.
Our hotel for this stay is the appropriately named:
Hotel Bern
Cost of a double room from 5/9-5/11 = $446.17
As you can see by comparing the price of this short stay to our other short stays, Switzerland is not a cheap vacation. In fact, Switzerland is considered to be the founding country of modern-day tourism, appealing to the rich British as a relaxing and adventurous place to stay. To this day Switzerland is a very popular tourist destination for people from around the world. It is also important to note that Switzerland is *not* on the Euro. Anyway, with Switzerland you have to be willing to cast aside your hope of finding a cheap but still decent place to sleep. So here, we "splurged" for location, yet again. Hotel Bern is right in the heart of the city.
After Bern we head off the classically romantic Paris. Here we have opted for a slightly longer stay, from 5/11-5/16. We are hoping to spend one of these extra days on a trip to Bayuex, the closest city to Normandy Beach.
Our hotel for this stay is the:
Novotel Paris Les Halles
Cost for a double room for 5/11-5/15 = $980.70
The biggest problem with Paris is the cost of hotels. You can get yourself in a real trap here, paying out big bucks to stay in the equivalent of somebody's attic if you are not careful. Yes- it would be a place to lay your head, but a big thing with being on vacation is being comfortable and feeling safe, right? Another huge complaint you will hear about Paris (tho it seems to apply to Europe in general) is the general smallness of the rooms. This is where Novotel Paris Les Halles comes in. We saved money by choosing a hotel *away* from the Eiffel Tower. Instead, our hotel is closer to the Latin Quarter, the Louvre, and is a stones-throw away from Notre Dame Cathedral. The hotel is a newer structure, with a newly renovated entryway, so the rooms are more spacious than you will find in older hotels. Here, what you sacrifice in charm you will gain in comfort.
After good ol' "Pair-ee" we are hopping a train up to the EU Capital of Brussels. This is the shortest stay of our trip, 5/15-5/16, but we will have time to do the 2 things I know I want to do here: Drink Beer and Eat Chocolate!
Our hotel for this stay is another:
Le Meridien Brussels
Cost of a double room for 5/15-5/16 = $156.58
Le Meridien makes beautiful hotels. Brussels is also a very cheap place to find luxury accomdations. We are only staying one night. Needless to say, we decided to go with luxury, and again prime location. It is nearby the Grand Plais, the main square in Brussels.
Last, we will be ending our trip full circle with another night in Amsterdam, again at the Eden Hotel Amsterdam.
Cost for double room for 5/16-5/17= $133.87
We choose the same hotel, because it really is a great hotel in a great location for a great price. It will also be something familiar that we can find quickly and easily to save time to see the city and mainland Europe for one last day.
Finally, on 5/17 we will be leaving Europe and again flying home via Iceland. This time we will have a 3 hour layover, so hopefully we will be able to see the city.
Overall total cost for hotel rooms, includes tax = $3533.01
We used Hotels.com for all of our accomodation booking needs.
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