European destinations

U

ucla bruin

New member
Trying to decide on a trip to Europe and would like some input. I'm sure there are a lot of worldly travelers out there so any insight would be appreciated.

Tentatively London -> Paris -> Amsterdam but would love to see Italy too. Some friends are telling me that Italy should really be a trip on its own because of its many interesting cities and islands. Maybe Italy can be toured with Greece next time? Or thinking about London -> Paris -> Italy.......hm....
 
I think you will miss out on a lot if your trip only takes you to capitol cities.  If you are going to Britain, you should also get out to see Stonehenge, the Cotswolds, and get up to Edinburgh.  In France, Paris is wonderful, but there is much else to see, e.g., Mont St. Michel and the Riviera.

You can easily spend a month in Italy without getting bored.  Just the middle 2/3 includes the Amalfi coast area (stay here <http://www.tramontodoro.it/>), Rome and the Vatican, Florence and Tuscany, and Venice.
 
Ms. Soylent Red and I rented a house in Switzerland back in the early 1990's. (well before Soylent Yellow and new Soylent Blue!)  It was relatively cheap, but more important: centrally located. We were on the train at 8:00, sitting down at Munich's Octoberfest by 3:00, and back at home the same day. You can get to Northern Italy, Austria, France, etc. A great expense saved by having a personal residence available rather than hotel hopping.

My .02c
 
About 7 days or so, give or take a day.

Thanks for the replies. I'm planning to see Stonehenge but will look into more outside cities. I agree, they some times have more characters and culture of the main capitol. Hopefully I can squeeze them in!
 
I would try to keep it to as few countries as possible so you can really explore and enjoy the places you go to.

We did one of those bus tours that went to England, France, Switzerland, Italy and a few others (more days were spend in Italy) but it was hectic. When we go back, we are going to concentrate on Italy and France. Maybe do a Spain/France one and then an Italy/Greece one the next time.

If it's the first time for you going to Europe, you can't go wrong wherever you go... it's amazing how old and historical everything is... you're looking at stuff that's been there before the US was even discovered (and here I am being picky about houses built within the last decade).
 
With only 7 days, I would recommend you limit your trip to one country.  Of course, you have to pick which one.  France would be a good choice.  You could easily spend 4 days in Paris and still want more time there.  You could then spend the other 3 days seeing other parts of France.  7 days is not enough for Italy.  It might be enough for Britain.  You could spend 3 days in London, 2 days in the Costwolds, and 2 days in Edinburgh.  My wife and I actually like Edinburgh more than London.
 
I spent a couple of years overseas. My "home" city was Vienna, Austria, but got to see all over and much more in depth than the usual bus-museum-hotel-restaurant-pub tour. I second the motion of taking it one country at a time, and probably even just one specific area at a time.  There's simply too much to see and do.
Suggestions (and places I'd love to get back to someday soon):
Austria
Hungary
Chech Republic
Croatia
England
Switzerland
Germany
Poland
Netherlands
Italy
Greek Isles
Spain
Portugal

I know that doesn't really narrow too much down for you, but each has its own charm.
Good luck,
-IR2
 
Although, if you are flying into England, since France is "next door"... that would be my pick to visit within your 7-day timeframe.
 
If I only had 7 days (and even if I had more), I'd leave the tasks of arrangement of accommodations and transportation to someone else in order to focus on a seeing and doing... Take a 7-day Mediterranean Cruise. You can hit up France, Spain, three ports in Italy, etc. You said 7 days give or take so you could also consider a 10 or 11 day cruise. Then you'd throw Corsica and Malta into the mix. Of course, you're not getting to London this way unless you go British Isles instead, but you mentioned some western areas of the Mediterranean so that's why I brought it up.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
French: "Zees IR2 ees do-eeng us a huge fav-ore... we don't want anymore Amereeeecanz here unless zey are Hollywood act-ores."
Click to expand...

The French taunted me relentlessly.  :p

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7zbWNznbs[/youtube]
 
Hehe. Thanks for all the suggestions. It will mainly be a food and photos tour. Hopefully I'll have some pics to share when I return.
 
ucla bruin said:
Hehe. Thanks for all the suggestions. It will mainly be a food and photos tour. Hopefully I'll have some pics to share when I return.
Click to expand...
If you want some authentic Polish food just let me know, my grandma still cooks up a storm. 
 
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