2 weeks in Europe

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by Table 5

One thing I would also recommend against is only doing big cities. Sometimes the coolest stuff (and food!) is in the countryside or small towns. It's one of the reason's I prefer to drive over flying (and to some extent the train)... you get to see a lot of the cool stuff in between the big ticket spots. The people tend to be much nicer too.

Keep in mind though, if you're driving in Europe, you better know how to drive a stick.

Yes, I can't recommend this enough. Yeah it's cheap enough to fly within Europe, but say you did London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Barcelona, Lisbon, Athens and Istanbul all in two weeks. Is it doable? Yes. That's 1 or two days in each city, but really, what are you seeing? You're seeing the inside of each airport, your hotel and a couple of the big tourist attractions and that's it. Pretty quickly, all the large European cities start to look the same. If you want to check out the big cities, do only two for example and see everything in between. Take your time, stop along the way and stay a night. My thinking was if the train ride was to be longer than 4 hours, I would just stay the night at the closest city and try to see what it's like there. That's how the Dresden, Brno and Salzburg portions of my trip came about. For the Dresden to Prague portion of the trip, I really wish I had driven instead though because I was pretty much standing up the whole time staring out my window in awe of how beautiful it was.

[core_upt]

If I only had two weeks in Europe....

Iceland for 2 days
fly to Berlin for 3 days
Drive to Dresden for a day
train to Prague for 2 days
Fly to Barcelona for 3 days
Fly to Paris for 3 days
fly home from Paris

You could easily sub an Italian city for Barcelona.

Iceland is the nicest country I've ever seen (out of about 30 or so). Most amazing scenery. Don't pass it up, plus you can fly there quite cheap on iceland air.

Berlin is a great world city and a major part of modern history. Really cool city, very artsy but not pretentious (like Paris), and great food. Plus it's very cheap for a western european country.

Prague is worth seeing for a taste of Eastern Europe, and the city is very well preserved architecturally. It's cheap and there is no shortage of fun to be had in terms of bars and drinking. Just be wary as there are plenty of tourist ripoffs too. If you can, go to Krakow instead of Prague - less tourists, less ripoffs, plenty of sights to see.

Barcelona or another Spanish or Italian city would be good to see for a taste of Southern Europe. It feels very different than the north or West in every way. Lisbon is a nice city, though it's out of the way.

Paris is a bit of a must see. I was very skeptical on how nice it could be and figured it was over-hyped. I was very much wrong. It's a beautiful city in every way, but don't spend your time camped out waiting for museums. Wander the parks, sip coffee and watch people go by, eat great food. It's the quintessential European experience.

For fly vs train, I used a 6 hour rule. If you could train in under 6 hours, take a train (or bus). Airports are typically an hour or more from the city centre, so a one hours flight is a minimum 4 hour trip (1 hour to airport, arrive hour before flight, 1 hour flight, one more hour to new city). Plus, if you have a large pack and have to check your bags, those cheap flights get pricey quickly. Trains are easy and direct and scenic. Driving in Western Europe is great, especially Germany. Car rental is cheap too. Don't bother trying to drive in Eastern or Southern Europe unless you want to experience chaos like no other!

Lastly - accommodations. Don't assume hosteling is cheaper. When I went with my wife we found that you could usually find well rated budget hotel for less than a hostel. These would be cleaner, quieter and more private than most hostels. Hostels are only cheap if you want to stay in a dorm with a bunch of other people, but if you want a private room + private bathroom, budget hotels are less money. i used booking.com for a lot of hotel bookings. Another great alternative is airbnb.com which allows you to book rooms or full houses/apartments direct from locals. Had great luck using this and you can often stay in less toursity places with great local flavour.

Good luck planning and have a great time!

[Northendzone]

what about dance central in stuttgart - great place to catch a kraftwerk tribute band.

my vote for places to vist would include places with WWII historical sites

[KOgear]

I like cor_upt's itinerary. You get a little taste of everything. Althought I've never been to iceland myself.

Berlin (3)/Prague (2) - Loads of history and culture. Plus awesome german beer, so good and large.
Barcelona (3) - Beach, party, siestas, cool architecture.
Paris (3) - Just so much to see and do it's pretty awesome. It has lots of amazing places to chill, museums if you're into it. I was skeptical as well, but the effiel tower is pretty sick.

I will add London (1), just cause it's easy to fly into and you can do the major attractions in one day if needed. But that's 12 full days and 2 days for travelling. Even if you're flying it might still cost you a quarter to half a day.

Lot's of european cities have free walking tours, which give you a very good overview of the town and some history. I would recommend these the first day you go as you will cover alot and you can go back and spend more time at the places you like.

[troutman]

Greece - 3 days in Athens, 10 days taking ferries around the Cyclades - Santorini, Naxos, Paros, Ios, Folegandros.

[undercoverbrother]

It has been mentioned here earlier, but Budapest is a must.

Some of the sexiest females in Europe (next to the Serbs). When I was there (93) it was cheap and welcoming, got a ride from one bar to another by the cops.

[BOSSY]

Just did two weeks over there exactly a year ago... Would recommend Nice in France big time.... Amazing beaches, places to eat things to see and very quick car or bus to many other places...

[bluejays]

I did 3 weeks in Europe through Contiki this past September. I did the European Vista (look it up). Overall, it was an interesting experience. Great sites, interesting people but the downsides were a bit of a miss. Europe is expensive all in all, and you'll see money flying out of your pocket like a drunken sailor, without doing all that much. Secondly, on the Contiki, the Aussies can be a hit or miss. Mine were cool and all, but the first week they stuck to Aussies exclusively unless you were a girl. The few CDN's and American's were bunched together. So the group can be a hit or miss. As well, through Contiki, I'd highly, highly recommend doing a slow paced tour. With the regular paced one, we stayed a day or 2 in one place than moved to another country/city, where were were in a bus anywhere between 3-10 hours on the bus between cities. It would be nice if you could sleep, but you really couldn't as they make you get off the bus every 2 hours or so for breaks so the driver doesn't sleep. It can get annoying if you want to have a good rest. With the slow paced tour, your saving wasted days by not travelling so much (more bang for buck). Because I took a hotel tour, the partying was not as much, which I was really looking forward to. They have organized "big nights" where the group would go out, but aside from that, it was more chill at the hotel lobby and have a beer with your travellers, than go off to sleep from the long day. I'd recommend the Contiki, but 2 weeks would be the tops I'd go for just incase you end up with a not-so-great group. Through Contiki, their hotels are often in the outskirts, so going to the city can be quite expensive. Like someone mentioned, London-Paris-Rome is the 3 sites which are a great start with Prague a nice one too (Paris and Nice were my favorite). Amsterdam was pretty good as well. The hostel tours I've heard can be more fun, so enjoy!

[CaptainCrunch]

You must go visit Club Vandersexxe

Remember if the pleasure gets to be too much they provide you with a safe word.

[Nammer403]

Went last summer to
London--> Paris-->Amsterdam--> Barcelona ---> Pamplona --> London

Amsterdam and Barcelona was my favourite...and I learned do not fly to Gatwick, fly to Heathrow even if its a bit more.

[Redliner]

GO to Paris. I'd say if there's one major city in Europe that is an absolute must-see, it's Paris. Just be warned - if you try to drive there you are taking your life in your hands - but it's definitely worth a visit.

That said, I am also an advocate of the rural approach. Visiting less-known areas gives a much deeper sense of the local culture as you are more immersed in daily routines and "real-life" situations - and the people tend to be much more friendly. One of my favourite places is the Dordogne region in south-central France, although you do need a car to get the most out of it. Use Sarlat-la-Caneda as a base and there are literally hundreds of things to see within an hours' drive. The whole region feels like you've stepped through a time warp into the dark ages, but it's only a couple hours away from Bordeaux (which is a fantastic city) if you want some urban flavour.

If you're sticking to the major cities then rail travel is definitely the way to go. The stations are usually smack in the middle of town with easy access to transit options, and you see so much from the train without having to worry about crashing your car or getting lost.

[troutman]

^^^
J'aime Sarlat!

[Roughneck]

My piece of advice is to just try and pick 3 cities. I've done the two week trips, a month long trip a 3 month long trip and a 6 month long trip and the advantages of the last two was that I spent more time in cities and got to love them more. I find trying to get in as much as possible in a short amount of time means you're commuting more than you are traveling (if that makes any sense).


And then a lot depends on what you're looking to do. Are you a history buff? If so, what kind. London-Amsterdam-Paris would be great as you have three classic Euro destinations and en route can see the WWI and II landmarks along the way. Even if you're not a history buff this would be a pretty sweet trip.

If art and architecture is your thing then you don't need to go too far from Paris and Rome to be overwhelmed by it. Throw in London and you've got a pretty standard and fool-proof European trip. There's stuff for everybody to like in those three cities day and night.

Three of my favourite cities: Berlin-Prague-Budapest
-Budapest is great. A 'laid back' kind of city that has a pretty dark history but seems to be really coming along in the new world. Prague lives up to the hype whether you want to party or take in some unique history and pretty cool architecture all around. A short day trip to the Sedelec Ossuary would give you some pictures to remember. If you're even remotely interested in 20th century history, Berlin is just fantastic. If you like Prussian history it is fantastic. If you're into post-modern, deconstructed, minimalist German electro-techno-dubstep-steampunk, it is fantastic.

Party loop: Munich-Prague-Krakow
-If you like to occasionally interrupt your drinking with some traveling, you can't go wrong here. Just be wary of Australians.

Balkan adventure: Dubrovnik-Ljubljana-Sarajevo
-As great as these places are, they are hard to do on a short time frame, especially if you want to hit up some other regions within two weeks as well. Their train system is pretty slow (where there are trains at all) so you're basically losing a full day when you want to travel. But the people are incredibly nice, the scenery is fantastic (whether it is geographic or physical) and you would never want to leave Dubrovnik after seeing that sunset.

Hittin' Up the Habsburgs: Vienna-Budapest-Prague
-You could partake in the pomp and class of a Viennese opera, see the solemn and self-depricating horrors of the Budapest Terror museum and then hit up a pretty wild rave in Prague. Not many places offer such a wide variety of options as this former superpower.

Mediterranean: Barcelona-Rome-Athens
-Simply driving from Barcelona to Rome would be a pretty good trip with all the great places in France along the way. But I'd suggest flying. Wasn't the biggest fan of Barcelona (in part because I fell for Ryanair's "Barcelona" destination) but you'll love the weather, enjoy the food, and wonder why all the people who live in such nice places seem so mad all the time.

Benelux + Paris:
-You can probably skip Luxembourg but Holland and Belgium have enough to keep you occupied for ten days leaving a few to enjoy Paris and everything it has to offer.



But in short, there is no right or best trip so you can't really go wrong unless you stretch yourself out too thin. Better to do too much in too few cities than do too little in too many cities.

[devo22]

Some places I can recommend, mainly places that have not mentioned yet or are not that famous:

Salzburg (Austria)
This is where I live and work, so anything I say is biased. But seriously, it's beautiful

Innsbruck or Graz (Austria)
Pretty similar in size to Salzburg. They all offer a lot of culture if you're into that.

České Budějovice (Czech Republic)
Small city, but extremely beautiful. Was only there for a day a few years ago, want to go there again. Czech Republic is beautiful in general, Prague and Brno are great too. They are all in driving distance too - Prague-Brno-České Budějovice-Salzburg-Munich.

Nice or Cannes (France)
So beautiful that it's almost cheesy, but can be pricey.

But really, there are so many great places. Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Barcelona and Rome are all beautiful cities. I have also enjoyed all my trips to England ... that could because of the football, though I have yet to go to Sweden/Finland/Norway (plan to do that soon), so I can't say anything about them.

[skudr248]

since your going in May.. kinda limits alot of places you can go see, just book through hostelworld, and easyjet.com and your good to go, I just lived in Nice, France on a study abroad program and it was the tits, definetly check that out, Cannes, Saint Tropez, Ibiza, Barcelona, Rome, Athens, Crete, Many places in Croatia and the list goes on, try to stay in the Southern tip of Europe, definetly alot more funner during the time your there

[skudr248]

oh and try not to rent cars in europe like others say about driving, it's scary lol, I rented my car in Monaco and drove up to Milan (oh by the way never go there it's the worst city I have ever been to) and it was easily the scariest drive of my life heading home to Nice going 200km/h down mountain highways because that was considered normal.. yeah right, I felt like taking about 1000 xanex after I got home