Going To Europe

[Crazy Flamer]

So in ealry September. I'm headed off to Europe for three weeks. So far, every travel agent tells me its cheapest to fly into London, so that's what I'm doing. I also have some friends there that I can stay with for a few days.

But where to go from there? There are so many places to see and I only have 3 weeks. I thought I would spend a few days in London, the make my way to Admsterdam (puff, puff, give) for a few days to check out the... "culture."

From there I would want to go to Spain then maybe a stop in Paris before heading back to London.

So that's four places in three weeks. Is that feasible? I probably won't travel anywhere in the UK besides London and I will only spend a few days in Amsterdam. After that, I was thinking of picking one or two places in Spain to go to, then to Paris.

I'm not HUGE on seeing the typical tourist attractions, but there are a few places I would love to see. Do you think I can do it all in 3 weeks, or should I cut something out?

Also, whats the best way to get around Europe. I'm not going to too many places, so would it be more beneficial to just fly everywhere and see if I can get cheap airfare or should I buy a Eurail pass?

I know a lot of people here are fairly well traveled, so I appriciate all the advice you can give me. Thanks guys!

[Sylvanfan]

Well Eurail is a pretty quick and efficient way to get around Europe. You might be best off to try something like the Chunnel train from London to Paris (not part of Eurail, probably costs around 200 Euros one way, but theres better people to answer that question than me) and than get a Eurail flex pass with like 7 days travel in a 28 day period. That is likely the quickest way around if you want to avoid flying. If you're willing to do a night train you can basically go from Amsterdam to Madrid overnight and not really lose a day of your vacation. I went 10 years ago for 2 months and had the Eurail unlimited flex pass, and it was the best money I ever spent.

[JiriHrdina]

Ultimately you need to decide for yourself if you want a trip where you sprint around Europe - trying to hit as many spots as you can and see as much stuff in 3 weeks as is humanly possible...or...take your team and really absorb the cities you visit. Exploring, meeting people and such.

Both are valid ways to spend 3 weeks in Europe. I prefer the latter but everyone is different.

[kermitology]

If you ever have the opportunity, Prague is a wonderful city

and that makes 5000 posts.. God I'm almost as much of a nerd as KevanGuy

[icarus]

Get a Eurail pass. Airfares can be cheap--but only really if you are flying Ryanair or Easyjet to/from the UK/Ireland. There are other discount airlines on the continent, but you'd be better off taking the train I think.

Three weeks... hmm. I think regardless of where you go in Europe you will have a great time. I spent about 10 days in Scandinavia a few weeks ago and I absolutely loved it. I highly recommend going there if you can, even if you can just get to Copenhagen. But Sweden and Norway are equally worth visiting in summertime. Everything you've heard about the Scandinavian girls has been an understatement! So that's my main suggestion.

(Regarding your time frame, I did Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen in about 9 or 10 days and it was a good amount of time for each city. Of course I could have/would have liked to have stayed longer in each of those places but if you want to get the most of your trip budget about 2 or 3 full days for each big city, and maybe 1 for smaller places. But of course it all depends on travel times, how much travel you want and how much you want to explore in one place).

Paris, yes you should go there. Love it. Amsterdam is great, but you're already planning to go there. Geneva is a great city that to me feels like a European Kelowna, what with the lake and the mountains (although it is expensive). Germany is always fun, especially Berlin and Munich. Rome is great too... it has a similar feel to Paris, what with beautiful architecture and sites of interest all over the place but also big city hustle and bustle. Greece is worth visiting too but that might be out of your way.

I can't really comment on Spain/Portugal or Eastern Europe because I haven't been to those places (yet). I'm sure they are fantastic also... everything in Europe is. Just be prepared for the high prices everywhere (except maybe in the East).

[icarus]

Originally posted by Sylvanfan@Jul 19 2005, 10:36 PM
I went 10 years ago for 2 months and had the Eurail unlimited flex pass, and it was the best money I ever spent.

An Australian friend of mine who was also just in Europe had an unlimited Eurail pass. With still a month to go before returning home she calculated that she had managed to accumulate 68 train rides, 2 cruises, 5 bus rides and 2 ferries on it over a four month span. I think she got her money's worth.

[peter12]

Take a flight on RyanAir to Dublin to a few days, you won't regret it. A couple of years ago, I went on a trip all over Europe for about 3 months; I went from Yerevan, Armenia to Edinburgh, Scotland... and the most beautiful city I visited was Dublin.

[Phanuthier]

In short, off the top of my head, Rome, Venezia, Prague, Paris are all must-see's IMO. (I included Prague cause god its cheap there.) Being a real outdoors kind of person, Switzerland is my favourite and a must-see, but I can see why people might avoid it ($$$). Don't be afraid to shy away from smaller towns as well - personally, I found Southern France to be better then their star city Paris.

Watch out for the expensive countries (ie. Belgium) cause they'll really chew a hole in your pants (wallet and otherwise).

Spend a couple bucks on a travel book for Europe. It's worth it. I personally travelled with Rick Steve's book, and that book saved me 100 times what I spent. Good city profiles, hints, sites and its cretiques, recommended places to eat (usually places near sites, not lord-knows-on-the-other-side-of-town) where to stay ect

Most of all... advice from any traveller I'm sure, try and live like the locals when your there.

(I could write a billion pages on Europe, but its past my bed time :baby: )

[Sylvanfan]

Originally posted by icarus+Jul 19 2005, 11:52 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (icarus @ Jul 19 2005, 11:52 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Sylvanfan@Jul 19 2005, 10:36 PM
I went 10 years ago for 2 months and had the Eurail unlimited flex pass, and it was the best money I ever spent.

An Australian friend of mine who was also just in Europe had an unlimited Eurail pass. With still a month to go before returning home she calculated that she had managed to accumulate 68 train rides, 2 cruises, 5 bus rides and 2 ferries on it over a four month span. I think she got her money's worth. [/b][/quote]
Yeah, I didn't quite accumulate that much. But I know I got a lot of miles out of mine. I couldn't believe how many options there were for trains though. I mean you could be in any city, and find a train to anywhere. I took a Contiki tour 5 years ago, and after having tried to get around Europe by coach and deal with the regulations that are involved with that, I definitely thing trains are the best way to go. Also being able to set your own schedule was also something that I've always found to be priceless. I mean nothing against Contiki as they do get you into decent accomodation for a good price but I'd never do another organized tour again.

[Nilson_26]

I just spent five weeks in Europe, and I did 12 cities in that time span because we were trying to cram in all these places we wanted to see. It was good, but it felt a little rushed. If I were to do it again I would do less cities in more time.

I had the 30 day youth pass, which worked out well because of the amount of traveling I crammed in, but it isn't necessarily the best way to go, depending on how much travel you are doing. Also, they don't feel the need to mention on their website that you are likely to get hit up for another 4 to 30 euros to reserve on many of the routes, so factor that extra $$ into your budget.

I used the Let's Go! Western Europe book, which also touched on places like the Czech Rep. and Sweden. It was pretty helpful in picking things out.

A little about the places I went:

Amsterdam, awesome, really easy to get around. I spent the most time here of every city. I did a bike tour, (Yellow Bike Tours) which was really cool.

Clearly the Red Light District is a must see, (not for anything sketchy, I'm a chick, lol) it's pretty funny to people watch there. You will likely be invited to purchase some cocaine from some creepy men, just to give you the heads up.

Also, there is a church-turned-club there called The Paradiso which hosts a ton of live acts of many genres. I saw Garbage there, and it was a really good venue.

Brussels was alright, a very pretty city, but not terribly exciting. We accidentally ended up in their Red Light District, which resembled the T&C more so than it's infamous Dutch counterpart...

Paris was gross, IMO. I was not impressed at all. The whole place smells like urine. It was the only city I went to that I didn't like at all.

Munich was really freaking cold when I was there, so we spent a lot of time inside, but it looked interesting enough to warrant a return visit at some point. Also, I dunno if you are doing the hostel thing at all, but there is a really neat little place there called The Tent, literally a giant tent full of bunk beds, but it was really cool and super cheap (11 euros/night, including a token worth 2 euros for breakfast.)

Rome was really beautiful, go see the Coliseum at night. I'm not really very religious, but we went to the Sistine Chapel just because it's something I thought would be great to see.

I went to Bologna, but we were only really staying there to attend a music festival in Imola, so I didn't see much, but it seemed like a pretty nice place.

Venice was also pretty good. In the Let's Go! guide book it says you should take the canal bus at night for a cheap sight-seeing trip... don't. You can't really see anything and you will just end up on the wrong side of the canal looking for a night route bus and panicking because you are going to miss your stupid 11:45 pm curfew at the hostel and sleep on the steps again. Okay, maybe that won't happen to you...

Other travelers I met told me Florence and Verona are the places to go in Italy, I heard a ton of good things about them.

I spent a little time in Zurich, but didn't really get to see much, but it's another city that I would like to visit again.

Vienna was also good. You can take the metro out to this sort of "island" where there are a ton of places to grab a cheap drink and enjoy the sunshine. And the best playground I have ever seen in my life, but sadly I'm just a little too old to be climbing around with 8 year olds, at least according to people who aren't me...

Prague was awesome, really nice city. And super cheap. Apparently the changing of the guards is a really big deal there, we wandered obliviously into the giant crowd of people waiting for it, but didn't stick around to see it. There are some nice parks to walk around in.

Berlin was basically everything it's hyped up to be. Fun, tons of pub crawls to go on. The East Side Gallery is free, and really cool to see. Our hostel was just off a gay pride parade route right where they threw the afterparty, that was... interesting. :P

And finally Stockholm, which was expensive but really beautiful. We stayed in a hostel that used to be a prison. They also offer hotel type accommodations. It was kinda cool. And if you were pained by the absence of the Drop of Fear at the Stampede this year, there is an amusement park in Durgarden that has an even better one. Admission is free if you have one of the 3 day metro passes as well. Also free with that pass was admission to the TV tower, which gives you a pretty cool view of the city.

Other than Amsterdam, which you've clearly got covered, I would highly recommend Berlin, Prague and Stockholm of the places I've been to. And oh my god that is a long post.

[icarus]

Originally posted by Nilson_26@Jul 20 2005, 07:17 AM
Paris was gross, IMO. I was not impressed at all. The whole place smells like urine. It was the only city I went to that I didn't like at all.

Most people love Paris but some hate it. I've spent about 10 days there and have never found it to smell like urine, so I still love it. One of my favourite places in Europe.

If you want to know what pee smells like, and I'm sure you do, go to Hamburg.

[Table 5]

I think Paris is the one of the most overated cities I've ever been to. Nilson is right, it smells like p*ss, is dirty, the people are condesending ###### bags, there are not that many places around at night to have a drink other than overpriced restaurants, and its almost impossible to find good beef in that city. Even the women themselves aren't that great.....its definitely no Prague in that regard.

The only good thing about Paris is the art and architecture.

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally posted by Table 5@Jul 20 2005, 03:52 PM
I think Paris is the one of the most overated cities I've ever been to. Nilson is right, it smells like p*ss, is dirty, the people are condesending ###### bags, there are not that many places around at night to have a drink other than overpriced restaurants, and its almost impossible to find good beef in that city. Even the women themselves aren't that great.....its definitely no Prague in that regard.

The only good thing about Paris is the art and architecture.

I second that. Paris is nothing special, really. Definitelly overrated. Subway in Paris is the most disgusting place you can imagine. It smells like p*ss for a reason.

As for Prague, I think you can say its a smaller, prettier, cheaper, more safe, less crowded version of London. I love Prague, its a great place to visit and a great place to live in.

[Table 5]

I think Eastern Europe is the way to go if people want to see cities that arent quite as homogonized. In reality most western european cities meld together into one....apart from the major attractions, most of them are farily similar.

Places like Ljublana, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest still have a little bit of grit and character to them from the past regime, which makes the more interesting imo. They are all amazingly rich and historic cities, but day to day are not quite yet overun by the corporate blandness machine (although some are getting pretty damn close).

If you are in Vienna, you might want to hop the border into Bratislava as well. Now this is a city that ive always thought was butt ugly, but having been there last summer, I must say the inner city has been restored really well and hast become pretty charming. And if you havent seen communist style communities, its good for any westerner to check out (you know, as opposed to visiting ANOTHER museum or cathedral).

[BlackEleven]

I've been to Europe more times that I can count and done a lot of travelling there (I used to live in Norway). I think the best places to go depend on what you like. Since its your first time you probably want to take in the sights. London, Paris, Rome, Florence, and Venice are good for this. If you're into the party/nightclub scene good places to go are Barelona, Amsterdamn, Ibiza (an island that is nothing but nightclubs), and some of the Greek Islands like Mykanos. I, personally, like to relax, eat good food, meet cool people, see a couple of sights, that sort of thing. Cities that I had a great time in were Istanbul, Prague, Dublin, Lisbon, Naxos (the Greek Island). The food was amazing all throughout Greece -- probably my favourite place in Europe for food.

With 3 weeks you obviously have to pay some attention to geography and can't wander around to all the different corner of Europe but something like London, Paris, Barcelona, Nice/Monte Carlo, Rome, Venice, Munich, Amsterdam is feasible if you don't mind staying 2-3 days in each city and travelling over night (if you travel overnight pay the extra 20 euros for a sleeper car, trust me). It may feel a bit rushed though, but you'll get to see a lot. For a slower pace, don't be afraid to stop at the small cities and towns along the way. Although, there isn't as much to do, you'll get to see a few things that are "off the beaten path" and get a better idea of how people in the country actually live. I had a great time staying in small towns all over Germany.

[Incogneto]

I got back on Saturday from a 12 week tour of Europe. Here is where I went, and how I would rate them, 1 being terrible, 10 being a can't miss.

1. London - 7.5. Very Expensive, but you will never run out of things to do
2. Prague - 9. One of my favorite cities. I got drunk for $7 Cdn.
3. Czesky Krumlov - 8. Nice, quiet place.
4. Salzberg - 8. One of the nicest cities on the planet
5. Innsbruck - 5. Quiet. Nah!
6. Munich - 8. Great City. Great Atmosphere. Great Beer.
7. Zurich - 6. Nice to see, but expensive.
8. Paris - 7. Great sites. 2 days is enough. Not as dirty as I expected.
9. Nice - 7. Nice itself would be a 4, but Monaco, and Cannes are truly unique.
10. Cinquo Terra - 9.5. Absolutly amazing experience.
11. Rome - 2. WORST PLACE ON EARTH. The sites are amazing, but it isn't worth it with that city!
12. Ancona - 1. Don't bother.
13-18. Croatia - 10!!!!!! DO NOT MISS CROATIA! Bol, Croatia is Heaven on Earth, Dubrovnik is one of the nicest cities in Europe. Lonely Planet predicts that Croatia will be the #1 travel destination in 5 years. Zegrab is not worth it. Stick to the Dalmation Coast.
19. Mostar, Bosnia - 3. V. Interesting, but not 'comfortable'.
20. Sarajevo - 6.5. Truly a unique city. Young, Vibrant, and still recovering.
21. Siofuk, Hungary. If you want Night life, this is your place.
22. Budapest - 8. Like Prague, but a little more expensive, and less busy.
23. Bratislava - 6. Quiet. Cool. Only stayed there to take daytrips to....
24. Vienna - VERY Beautiful. Expensive, but wow, I was shocked with its beauty.
25. Krakow - 10. DO NOT MISS KRAKOW, AND DO IT NOW! 5 years from now, it will be like Prague is now...BUSY! Right now, Hottest chicks, coolest sights, and EVERYONE should have to see Auschwitz.
26. Wroclaw - 4. Spend more time in Krakow.
27. Berlin - 7. Big, New City. Spend more time in Krakow.
28. Hamburg - 5. SKIP!
29. Glasgow - 4. City. Shopping. Nothing Special.
30. Edinbrough - 10. DO NOT MISS!!! City Blew me away!!!! Sights are amazing, and St. Andrews was a dream come true.
31. Scotish Highlands - 8. Took a 3 day tour to the Isle of Sky. Very cool!!

These are just my $0.02. I am a true tourist, and love travelling. if you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.

[Neeper]

Oh my lord!! I thought Paris was one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen in my life. And I have been to a lot of places. I didn't smell any p*ss there. If you want stinky, go to Venice, the whole city smells like sewage (cause it is). But you know what? I didn't give a rat's ass. I was in Venice Italy. The smell was easily ignored when you take a look around where you actually are.

I saw 10 countries in 18 days. But I honestly think where ever you go, you're gonna love it.

I would love to go back to Amsterdam one day again. I just didn't get to do enough of it, or least, I really don't remember . Italy is beautiful. Austria was awesome, Switzerland was cool, France was great! I almost never NOT have a good time when I am travelling armed with my Nikon.

[Crazy Flamer]

Originally posted by icarus+Jul 19 2005, 11:52 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (icarus @ Jul 19 2005, 11:52 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Sylvanfan@Jul 19 2005, 10:36 PM
I went 10 years ago for 2 months and had the Eurail unlimited flex pass, and it was the best money I ever spent.

An Australian friend of mine who was also just in Europe had an unlimited Eurail pass. With still a month to go before returning home she calculated that she had managed to accumulate 68 train rides, 2 cruises, 5 bus rides and 2 ferries on it over a four month span. I think she got her money's worth. [/b][/quote]
So A Eurail pass will get me onto farries, busses as well as trains?

[Crazy Flamer]

Some more question. So I gether it would be better to bring a backpack instead of a siutcase if I'm going to be traveling arounds lots. Also, can anyone recommend any hostels, or places with cheap hotels?

[icarus]

Originally posted by Crazy Flamer@Jul 20 2005, 07:11 PM
So A Eurail pass will get me onto farries, busses as well as trains?

I don't know that's just what she had written in her blog. I can ask her when she logs on.