Next Year I am going to take a trip to Europe and I'm jsut starting to flesh it out now. The trip will be at least a month possibly up to three. So far I plan on hitting London, Amsterdam, Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome, Madrid, and at least one more city. I'm thinking maybe Prague. Any city recommendations or anything tips would be great.
Posted Aug 17, 2009, 2:33 PM UTC
A friend of mine visited Prague and really loved it, I suggest you go there too.
Also, no love for Germany? Well I think it's pretty boring to be honest, but that's probably because I live here so maybe you want to think about it.
Berlin is the cultural capital of Europe. A trip to Europe is incomplete without seeing Berlin. I can't wait to go there next month. I also hope to see Barcelona, Edinburgh, and London.
I'm seriously considering making a trip to Russia too - I can't decide which would be better, Moscow or St. Petersburg.
No question St. Petersburg.
Why no question? I do like to party and I hear Moscow has some of the best parties in the world but I'm also sort of a fan of Russian culture and there's a lot I'd like to see in St Petersburg.
For me St Petersburg had a better vibe, can't really explain it, maybe Moscow was just a bit too big...
Prague and Munich are two of the most awesome and underrated cities in Europe. Berlin is also great so much to see and do.
Definitely, definitely go to Berlin. Wonderful city with TONS of things to see. My favorite city in Europe.
Other great cities not on your list, Barcelona (much nicer than Madrid) and Munich.
Agreed. If I had the choice, I'd go to Berlin, Barcelona or Munich again before I went to Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome or Madrid.
I think both Paris and Madrid are highly overrated.
Rome is nice though? At least if you like art or history. I agree on Barcelona, Munich and Berlin.
Don't understand what people have against Madrid, lived there for a couple of years and I think it's great. maybe not too much touristy stuff, but the food and the party are great
I highly recommend Prague. Of every city I have ever visited, it was my favorite. If you go, here are a couple of sites/things that are off a little the beaten path. Everything you can find in guide books:
The Lennon Wall - a large wall behind the Maltese embassy where graffiti artists from all over the world have been coming to add their own Beatles tributes and/or political messages since the 80's. It's continuously changing as old layers are covered up.
Žižkov Television Tower - Built by the Communists to block radio signals from the West, it has now been turned into a tourist destination with 3 observation decks and a restaurant over looking the city. It's kind of on the outskirts of town and many Czechs still consider it to be an eyesore, but I was the second best view of the city (after Prague Castle, which you should definitely try to see) and there's a popular music venue nearby if you want to stay for a show, although the name of the place escapes me now.
Rock Therapy: Yellow Submarine - I can't find a link for this unfortunately and I'm not sure if it's still around. I got the impression that Czechs really love The Beatles. This show was composed of black lights and giant puppets, all set to Yellow Submarine. Really bizarre, but pretty entertaining.
Go to Murano in Venice to see the Glass Works. Walk. Walk. Walk.
Go to Rome to see Vatican City. Spend a day there. Run, do not walk, and see everything you've ever read about in history class. Drink with the locals, they are the nicest people I've met in Europe. See the Catacombs just outside Rome.
Go to Naples to see Pompeii. Go to Brandi to have the Pizza. You will wait three hours during dinner time. It is worth it.
Go to Paris and try to speak French first. Go to the top of Notre Dame and see the cathedral next door. Have lunch at a Cafe. Drink the wine. Eat the cheese. See the Eiffel Tower light up at night. Walk the Champs Elysee. Go to Monmartre district at night and go to the bars. Spend at least a day at the Louvre. At least. Run to the big things immediately after opening (Make a bee line for the Mona Lisa, you'll see everything else on the way). Then spend the rest of the day getting your mind blown.
In London, take the open top tours, they're kitchy, but do it. Wake up early to see the changing of the guard. Spend time in Picadilly Circus. Find some locals and get fish and chips where the blue collar people eat. Don't go to Chelsea. Go to Trafalgar Square and rest your feet in the fountains. Pub crawl.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I went there five years ago and of all the things I remember the fondest, it was the Pizza at Brandi.
I can confirm the suggestion about the Louvre. I waited too long to go by the Mona Lisa and couldn't actually see it due to the crowd.
Of course seeing the Code of Hamurabi and the other ancient artifacts was more impressive to me.
The craziest part about Hammurabi's code is that there's never anyone looking at it. I've been to the Louvre twice, and each time I get to the room there's never been anyone else there. People walk by and wonder why there's some tall American geeking out over a stone penis.
That was what I noticed too.. the entire area full of hugely significant ancient works is deserted.
You might think about focusing on a few key cities/regions and leaving some others for a later trip. Staying only a day or so in some places doesn't even scratch the surface; you get to know an area by staying at least 3-4 days. Keep in mind that travel between cities will eat up a good chunk of your time.
I really liked the Rick Steves' Europe books, especially for the museums (you might also check out his tours, just for the cities/order they hit). I used the library/internet to get walking tours of cities I planned to visit, since I'm a bit of a history dork. Doing one of those the first day in a new city gave a sense of the city's layout and history. I also liked Steves' for their packing (light) and hotel recommendations (call early; his picks fill up).
Are you going on your own, or with others? If you're going on your own, you might look at bus only tours; they take care of the logistics, but you're on your own when you get to a city (not hand-held the whole time).
Agreed -- I used Rick Steves mainly for a recent trip to York and it was terrific.
everybody always goes to Amsterdam, but you should really try Utrecht, Haarlem or Leiden. At least as beautiful and not so crowded with tourists.
oh wait...
I'd say go to Prague. I've been there twice before and while it is very touristy it's a very beautiful and lively city.
If you're willing to go a bit further east, Budapest is another great place to go. A similar feel to Prague (or at least that's how I felt) but not as crowded. The public baths there are a great place to spend a hang-over day.
I've not been there myself but I've heard good things about Lake Bled in Slovenia. Some friends of mine were inter-railing last year. They went through Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Budapest and finished in Lake Bled. According to them Lake Bled was the highlight of the trip.
My favorite cities in Europe are Florence and Krakow.
I know, wtf, Poland? But it is a great historic town (it avoided most of the WWII devastation that leveled Warsaw and most German cities) with friendly people and its relatively cheap.
Prague is nice too, but you have to avoid their tourist season. They get flooded by heavy drinking Brits who just ruin the town.
I went to Prague for school a couple years ago, and the only drunken assholes I saw was a group of Germans throwing empty beer bottles in the subway station.
The city is really beautiful to walk around in, especially in the parks and behind the embassy area.
Here's some pictures i took while there:
Some awesome graffiti i caught before getting shitfaced one night
Looking out over part of the city, and the radio tower mentiond above
Really quick and dirty panorama of Wenceslas square, where the velvet revolution took place
*edit: Also, 80c for .5l beer if you know where to look. Awesome food from street vendors and everything is cheap!
Well, in all fairness, I was there during World Cup 2002 over a weekend when England had a game.
That doorway signifies the residence of a Bishop (or possibly higher, I'm not too familiar with Catholic titles in Latin).
Sweet! Thanks, I could only figure out the really obvious words.
I've been to London and Berlin, and I can recommend them both.
Skip Venice, it very overrated. You'll visit the main cities, but try to find out which of the smaller ones are worthy, everyone who travels to Europe will see Amsterdam and Prague, but give yourself time and see Krakow, Normandy, Zagreb, Tuscany, the Alps...
I loved Cardiff -- if you can go to Cardiff instead of London, I highly recommend it. London is so crowded, you can hardly get anything done. Cardiff's a bit more laid back, and very scenic. People are very nice as well.
And have you ever thought about going to Morocco? It's not Europe, but it's so close, it might be a nice alternative.
I've been to quite a few cities all around Europe.The cities you have selected so far, with the exception of Madrid in my opinion, are definitely worth a visit.
Being very selective, here are some other favorites:
Vienna, Berlin, Bergen, Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Marseilles, and Barcelona.
Skip Madrid and go to the small city Ronda in Southern Spain.
Enjoy!
Reykjavik, are you serious? Haha. Hardly a feasible destination on a euro-trip.
I WAS going to follow in the footsteps of those who are warning you against London, but that's cos I live just down the road, and I've become jaded.
I do remember, however, the joy with which I used to greet the opportunity to go to London for the day with my dad, because we'd have SO much fun.
Go and eat in one of those funny little restaurants in the backstreets of Chinatown. You need to find one with ducks hung in the window, which looks like you're eating in someone's kitchen. The food was always really good. Go to Hamleys - I can't believe that the first time I visited it was only this Easter with my girls. Go to the Science Museum - and while you're in South Kensington, you might as well pop into the Natural History and V&A museums. The V&A has a great Café.
See if you can book a ticket on the London Eye, and view London from above.
If you're going to be in England in July, come and visit Farnborough, where we have an air-show every 2 years - and I live just across the road from it!
If you're going to be in the UK for any length of time, try Edinburgh. You can get a cheap bus from Victoria which will drive you through the night, and deposit you in the middle of Edinburgh the next morning. Now there's a truly beautiful city. Go to Hanover Street, and try to find the bar I used to drink in, who's name escapes me at this time - hell, how many can there be?
I can really recommend Paris, but I've only been there once, so apart from the Musée D'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower, I can't be more specific.
Have fun, and set up a journey blog, so you can update us all on what you're doing, every day!
A month isn't enough time to see all of that. Pick a city and/or country and stick to it.
I'm Norwegian, and have traveled some, but not extremely much in Europe. But let's see; it really depends on how much money you have, and what type of things you want to see and do. If you want to go to cities, the places you have listed are nice. Haven't been to Venice and Madrid myself, even though I lived in Italy for a year, but the other places are great.
I like London a lot. Go to pubs, drink great beer, eat fish 'n' chips, go to the National Museum, which is free, if I remember correctly, go to Camden market, go to the place I think is called something like brick lane or something (perhaps some londoners can help me?). I'm not really that familiar with London, but have had a great time every time I've gone.
Paris; Louvre is really great. Champs-Élysées is worth walking, as goonusrex said, Monmartre and the area around Moulin Rouge is nice. I guess goonusrex said many of the things in Paris already.
Southern France, Provence, is beautiful and interresting, but it is easier to have a car to get around in the countryside. Great in the summer.
In Italy I'd go to Cinque Terre, but I've heard there can be a LOT of tourists. I went in March, and it was getting a bit hotter in the air, and a lot of flowers were blooming.
Tuscany is also great, and visiting Luca, Pisa, Florence, Siena and other cities is easy by train, which is cheap. But I always wanted to rent a car and travel the countryside in Tuscany, or in all of Italy.
I was in Rome for 2 hours, so I can't say a lot about that place, but from what I've heard, it is a lot of things to see there, and all within walking distance.
I have to go home, but I can write some more later on.
A couple of extra notes:
London Museums are generally free - the Tate Modern is impressive. Also visit the Southbank near the Eye for lots of street entertainment, Covent Garden is nice also - Trafalga Square is worth visiting (usually something on) and Leicester Square is where all the premieres are held.
Paris - the Sacre Coeur (Monmartre again) is the best view - except of course for the Eiffel tower which is worth going up. The Louvre could take you a whole day.
It's a few years since I've been to Paris; but many of their national institutions are, or were, free on Sundays. It's worth doing the bum-work on the PC to check how the calendar might impact on the itinerary.
Okay, home now, so let's see. Florence: If you like museums, I'd go to Academia, where the original David is located. It's not too big, and pretty interesting art mostly. I also liked Bargello, where they have a lot of marble sculptures. Uffizi was less interesting to me, as it was too heavy on the religious art, i.e. 200 versions of Madonna with the child.
Go up in the dome of the Duomo, where the view is fantastic, and go to the market, and the food-market, which is right besides. Ponte vecchio and Piazza San Michelangiolo are also on the list of places to see, as well as Boboli gardens in nice weather.
In Pisa, I'd see the leaning tower and not spend much time on the rest of the city.
If you are going north in Italy, Bergamo is nice, and you can fly with Ryanair to a lot of places from that airport as well.
Budapest is a nice city worth spending more time in than I did, and Prague is a cheap and beautiful city as well. That's really all I know in eastern europe.
Münich is fun, and if you can I'm sure that during Oktoberfest it is even better. Berlin is one of the best cities in Europe, and perhaps too few people are aware of that. I'd go there again if I was doing a trip. Some years since I went there, so I don't have any specific tips, but I'm sure someone else have some.
Further north, Copenhagen is a good city to spend a few days in, and Stockholm is supposedly great as well. Never been, so I can't really say.
I Norway, I would go for the nature. If you like hiking or skiing, there are lots of places to go, and a lot of cabins/hotels to stay at in the mountains. You can go to the fjords, especially Geirangerfjorden and Hardanger, but also most of Sognefjorden, and all the other fjord-like places. They are not very accessible by anything other than car, or perhaps bike, if you don't mind going up and downhill a lot.
Further north, Lofoten is very very pretty, but has the same problems with accessibility. If you have money Hurtigruten is a very scenic trip along the coast, but is expensive, and you better not get sea sick too easily.
Norwegian towns, such as Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim are nice, and have quite a bit of history, but compared to other European cities they are quite small.
That's all I'll write. Not sure whether it was what you were looking for, but, if you have further questions, I'll answer if I can.
Do you budget a lot for travel? I want to travel myself (American) but I it seems frighteningly expensive.
also you do not have the manathome account? ;)
Heh, I have another account at home, but not manathome.
I don't save up any money to travel, even though I should. But I went interrailing one time, and that was when I saw many of the cities I have mentioned above. And since I lived in Italy, I saw more of that country than I would have if still living in Norway.
But traveling in Europe can be quite affordable, if you do some planing. Ryanair, easyjet and other cheap airlines make longer trips faster and not all that expensive, especially if you only have cabin luggage. And either booking hotels at hotels.com or similar sites, or living at hostels makes it a lot cheaper as well.
I'll definitely be saving up. I figure I may as well see as much as possible when I finally get over there! Thanks for the suggestions because making my money stretch will be important. Especially as it is the still weak US dollar. ;)
All the cities you suggested are great. I would also recommend Copenhagen (Denmark). Try to chill (also) off the beaten track. Use train and stop at some idyllic town somewhere in middle Europe. Also if you go North there are cheap ferries between Sweden, Finland and Estonia. Alps (Switzerland) are also a sight to behold, you might wanna travel through there on your way to Italy. I don't know your budget but please remember, Europe is quite expensive (especially capitals). Good cheap places would be Prague and Krakow. General rule: the further East (and southeast) you go the cheaper the prices.
I just got back from Paris, Barcelona, and Istanbul.
Barcelona is a must -- what a beautiful city!
Paris has wonderful museums, and is worth going to once in your life, but I honestly think Barcelona's more beautiful. Of course, Musee D'Orsay is my favorite museum in the world, and Paris is worth the trip just for that.
Istanbul is one of the most fun cities I've been to. Seeing Topkapi palace, Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque are definitely worth the time. Oh, and it's relatively cheap compared to the other major European cities.
In Paris, eat at the ethnic restaurants - they're usually better, and Parisian food is a bit overrated outside of the Michelin star restaurants.
I was in Prague for 4 days last week. Awesome. Go there. It's filled up with Americans, Brits and Australians. But it isn't cheap as it used to be a couple years ago. I recommend you visit this place. It is about one hour from Prague and worth seeing even though it is really small.
I'm going in the spring. Thanks for the post!
I plan to go to Berlin, Vienna, Prague, (+ bratislava) & Paris the black forest (baden-baden area of Germany).
I've been there a few times and can recommend Berlin, Vienna and Prague. I have wishes to go to rome or athens.
Schedule in a week to relax in the Alps. Best hiking in the world.
I'm not so sure about the Alps, it's certainly not for me, but "Schedule in a week to relax..." is spot on. A month is a long time without rest and reflection and could easily end up turning into an "If it's Wednesday then it must be Prague" National Lampoon.
What part of the Alps do you recommend hiking in?
Depends whether you'd like to do day hikes and then come back to your hotel, or whether you like more intense cross-country hiking of 70 or 80 miles.
If you'd like to do easier, I'd suggest Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which has some great trails where you take a gondola to the top and then hike back down. Grindelwald in Switzerland is also magnificent.
If you want to do some serious hiking, the Chamonix-to-Zermatt walking haute route is probably the grandaddy of alpine trails, starting at Mont Blanc in France and ending near the Matterhorn in Switzerland.
I went up Faulhorn on the 3rd of July years ago. Got a late start and my girlfriend at the time had a panic attack 3/4 of the way to the lodge at the top as it started to get dark. As we approached the ridge, two mountainy sort of goats stood silhouetted against the night sky and then disappeared. When we arrived, the staff was getting ready to close up, but made us bratwurst and a beer and we went to bed in the crowded bunks.
We woke the next day to celebrate the 4th under the Swiss flag. We took our time getting down and ate wild strawberries and listened to the cowbells and then jumped on a train to Prague.
I highly recommend it.
Interlaken Switzerland has a decent amount hostels that can set you up on hiking trips, canyoning, and helicopter sky diving relatively cheap. It also might be the most gorgeous place on earth.
Thanks. I hope I can make it there.
If you do, check out Funny Farm, an amazing hostel with the best owners in the world. On a scale of 1-10 I would rate that place around 32.
If you are going to the Alps, I highly recommend a canyoning adventure. I have done this a couple of times in the French and Swiss Alps and it is still one of the most fun things I've ever done.
If you're unfamiliar, it is a combination hiking/swimming/cliffjumping/rapelling adventure down a mountain river in very cold water (head to toe wetsuits are required). If you are adventurous and like to do something out of the ordinary and a little dangerous and crazy (depending on the river you choose) then this is a great activity.
If you do a bit of research, I'm sure you can find some good companies in the places you go. Interlaken, Switzerland, the extreme sports capital of Europe, has several companies that take groups on canyoning adventures. Interlaken is a gorgeous and great place to spend some time in the Alps, look into it.