I and my wife 40 yrs old wants to go on europe tour ?? Which is better, conducted or independent , we are veg

Question

I and my wife 40 yrs old wants to go on europe tour ?? what problems are there in conducted and independent tours , we are pure veg and from India . Which is much better ?? vWe have 10-12 days to spend , which cities of Euorpe we should spent more time ?? .....Awaiting reply soon as we have to go in Ist week oj July 2008 ...Any experiance please share with me ....thanks a lot ....Rahul

Answer 1

I've heard the conducted tours are very rushed; people are driven to the big tourist attractions, jump off the bus, snap a few photos and get back on the bus. Vegetarian food will be a problem on the conducted tours too, I'd guess.

Answer 2

I live in Paris and have visited a lot of Europe, I would never recomend a guided tour, they are very quik about everithyng and you do not have the time to realy get to like a place.

Any where you go there are tourist help informations about what to do in a city, and traveling is realy cofortable, because the trains go evrywhere.

I would recomend, Pargue, Paris, Valencia, Amsterdam, Rome and Geneva.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

Did you look for an Indian tour operator who is used to cater for vegetarian customers?

If you had a little longer I would advice you to do the tour by yourself, but in just 10 days you will not see a lot, unless you organize it very carefully.

In most of Europe all restaurants have a vegetarian option, but mostly only just one or two dishes, so you will be restricted in your choose. There are vegetarian restaurants in many of the bigger towns, and quite a few in the smaller towns too, but finding them is not always easy.

So if there is a tour organized for people of your religion (if that is the reason you are vegetarian) that may make life easier.

If you book with a general tour company, inform them that you require vegetarian food. (Or if you also do not use dairy products like milk and cheese, and other animal products like eggs vegan) so they know that it is important for you.

If you do choose to travel on your own, get a good restaurant guide for vegetarian travelers.

I know the Lonely planet guidebooks do mention vegetarian restaurants in most towns.

Here is a link to a site with restaurant reviews, by the country, vegetarian:

http://www.veggieheaven.com/europe/

I found this book on Amazon UK, but you can try to order it from home too:

Vegetarian Europe: Over 300 Vegetarian Restaurants (Vegetarian Travel Guides)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/image...

I am sure there is more like that available, and you will need it when traveling just the two of you or even when traveling with a general travel company. (So you can have some choose for dinner every now and again.)

If you stay in hostels, (they do have double rooms too, but you should book ahead,) you can cook your own food, from things you bought in supermarket or weekly markets, it will take more time, but you can cater for what you normally would eat.

If you stay in hotels you will not have the chance to do your own cooking.

Answer 4

We went on our own without a tour (for 5 weeks) we had only planned a few things before going, a lot of walking and carrying our baggage (back packs), but a wonderful experience, the train system is fantastic you can jump on a train or tram and go almost anywhere and do what you like - fantastic.....

But if you only have 10-12 days I think a tour would be much better and less time wasted planning and buying train tickets and finding accommodation; you will probably see more on a tour and all the planning will be done for you. But it may be a little rushed at times.

The only other way is to pick 2 big cities - like Paris, Vienna, or Venice, Prague and stay there for a few days each so you can soak up the atmosphere instead of being rushed through on a bus tour.

It just depends on what type of holiday you want - to see as much as you can, or relax and take in the European experience slowly.

Whatever you decide - have a great holiday!