I want to go to Europe this summer, have never before planned a trip there. Advice?

In My Humble Opinion
21

Think about how long you may stay in each area, as travel costs between cities (especially between countries) can add up. If you think you might stay in a city for a few days we had good luck in western europe with http://venere.com/ to find cheap alternatives (the apartments we rented were cheaper than the hotels).

I’ve been over four times to various countries. Money belts which tuck into the front of your pants/shorts at the belt line always worked for us. We used pre-paid phone cards rather than cell phones, but you can text or video chat on a smart phone via Wi-Fi (leave the cellular radios off unless you really need it). I enjoyed Germany (mainly Bavaria) the most - plenty of museams and culture, and very friendly people. Plus, you can count the trains to run like clockwork. Cost-wise I felt it was reasonable, though not as cheap as other places. You could probably visit Spain on a dime now. The UK was most expensive simply due to exchange rates. France was pricy but if you want museums you can get a museum pass (at least in Paris) which gets you great discounts. I’ve seen some great deals in Budget Travel magazine for airfare packages, so that might be worth a look.

I find Rick Steve’s books to be very good in explaining pros/cons of each area, what to expect, travel tips, etc. However, if you stay or eat at the places he recommends you’ll likely be with a number of other Americans carrying Rick Steve’s books :slight_smile:

22

We are now planning my wife’s trip for this summer. We have found that a lot of prices rise when it gets closer to the time, and the spaces fill up. For example, I have already booked ferry crossings of the Baltic, from Lithuania to Sweden and then Sweden to Germany, in June, and the two fares combined are only 71 euros. Also, a Lot Airlines flight across Poland from Szczecin to Warsaw, only $48-us. Also booked a room in Warsaw, at about 1/3 of the price that a comparable accommodation would cost in Germany. Domestic flights can often be surprisingly cheap – one airline is now offering $55-us from Stuttgart to Berlin.

Turkish airlines is now offering very competitive fares to Europe, with flight changes in Istanbul. She will have 22-hour stopovers in Istanbul in both directions, and the airline pays for the hotel.

23

Istanbul is pretty awesome. Lots to see and do, easy to navigate, incredibly friendly people, a number of convenient day trips (if you do want a day or two away from teh city). And it’s a beautiful place with amazing people.

You will look like a tourist. Just don’t be obnoxious while looking like a tourist.

A report just came out that buying tickets 8-10 weeks in advance tends to be best for Europe.

24

A destination that really deserves some attention is Pugliain Southern Italy. Not too expensive (the crisis hit hard there), lots of art, museums, churches, castles (how about Castel del Monte?), interesting little towns (how about Alberobello?), mountains (the Gargano range), beaches - and therefore any kind of sea activities.

You could rent a holiday house there; a friend of mine is from there and told me many inhabitants have holiday houses that they rent to tourists. It’s cheaper than hotels. From there you could rent a car and travel all over the place.

25

How long do you have? The recommendations are different if you’re coming for a week or for three months. Ten days or less I’d stay in one place; longer, I’d either have several stops or look for a place with tons of things to do/places to visit nearby.

You’ve already been here so this won’t be news, but it bears repeating: remember that even though our distances are much smaller than the US’s, travel times don’t scale well. Trains have already been mentioned: often, a touristy-interesting location can be visited using commuter trains or other public transportation from whichever the nearest city happens to be.

Re. printing boarding passes. In much of Europe you can find locutorios (that’s the Spanish word, I don’t remember the English one), places where you can call abroad, use a computer or print something (from the computer or a pendrive) cheaply. Look for places with lots of different foreign flags in the décor, perhaps a bit of a grocery part but it’s not a grocer’s and there are desks / wooden cabins.
If you decide to include Barcelona, PM me.

26

Thanks everyone for the info! I’m taking it all to heart. I’m going to try to meet with my traveling buddy this next weekend, see what sounds good to her.

Awesome, I’m definitely bookmarking that. Thanks!

While I’d love to go for three months, it’s more like around 10 days, 14 days at most. So I’m mainly planning on either one city and maybe the surrounding area, or two cities.

I would love to visit Barcelona, I’ll definitely let you know if I do, thanks!

27

I hate to be the naysayer, but we have a friend who has an apartment in Berlin and an apartment in Istanbul. He spends about 6 months in each location. His comment recently was that Istanbul is a bit less stable of late - so take that for what it is worth.

You really could go anywhere - even the big expensive cities - as long as you do a bit of research. There are great, CHEAP hostels/pensions in every city, lots of places to eat cheaply, and using public transportation is usually excellent and cheap as well. So if you have always wanted to see London or Berlin or Paris or Rome - go for it!

I have mentioned it before but don’t know if it still works; when I was there ages ago, you could buy a one-way train ticket from say, Amsterdam to Rome, and get off the train as often as you wished during a specific time frame. This gives you the luxury of looking out the window and just getting off the train for a day or two in some cool village, and then getting back on the train a few days later and continuing on with the trip.

Taking longer train trips at night saves on one night of hostel/pension and lets you sleep in comfort. Check in to see what a “sleeper” costs for that leg of the trip - might be cheap enough to splurge and get a real night’s sleep.

People always over pack. They do sell cheap t-shirts and short there, so if you need extra clothes or whatever, you can buy them along the way - don’t take six pairs of jeans and 10 shirts etc. Of course, VERY comfortable shoes as you are going to be walking a lot - so don’t even think of buying new shoes the day before you go.

I would suggest NOT planning the trip all that much. Simply buy the cheapest round trip ticket to anywhere in Europe - London or Amsterdam or even somewhere in Spain or Italy or Luxembourg - then just “wing it”. You will met tons of people along the way and they will have great tips about cool places to visit, great, cheap lodgings, festivals happening next week, great inexpensive places to eat and hang out.

If you guys are like me, you will find yourself hanging out a day or two with some people from Sweden or Germany or wherever, and then next day a few Australians, and a few days later with some cool folks from New Zealand - that is half the fun, meeting the other people traveling around as well.

Some of best places you will visit/stay are small towns/villages you have probably never heard of - but just “happened” across.

You are going to have a blast - please keep us posted during/after the trip!

28

Another possibility, if you’re into it, is couchsurfing. I’m not active myself, but I have lots of friends who host, and stay with other surfers when they travel. As DMark says, when you’re travelling, you often end up meeting and talking to other travellers. I often aim to meet locals, who may have a better handle on hidden gems in the area. Confident people might just strike up a conversation on the bus. Or, the couchsurfing website, as well as trying to line up accommodation for free or cheap, also introduces locals to travellers.

Similarly, if you don’t mind some filthy European staying at your place, you could look at a housing swap. A friend swears by a little startup called Casa Versa. It’s still fairly new, so there’s not a lot of choices yet, but something/somewhere might strike your fancy.

29

For a first time visitor to Europe, with limited time, one could spend a few days each in Italy, Austria and Croatia/Slovenia, and get exposure to all three of Europe’s main cultural/linguistic zones. See Vienna, Venice, and the Adriatic coast.

30

Were I in your shoes, I’d fly into one of the big airline hub cities such as Munich, Amsterdam, Paris, or Rome. Spend a few days enjoying the arrival city, then take a train to somewhere nearby for a few days then back for the trip home. Note in the following itineraries I’m suggesting taking trains between cities. During the summer the autobahns/autoroutes/autostradas are packed and traffic jams are likely to delay your travel by bus and car. I’m also not suggesting air travel within Europe because the time to get from the city center where most touristy things are to the airport can be extensive, and if you’re flying Ryanair or other budget airlines, the airport may be much farther away, negating any travel time savings. Another train advantage: you’ll arrived relaxed and ready to go.

Sample itinerary: fly into Munich, get a hotel near the main train station, spend two or three days exploring in the old town by foot and local train/bus services, maybe hit Neuschwanstein if seeing the inspiration for The Magic Kingdom is your thing. Take a train (about an hour) to Salzburg for four or five days, using a Salzburg Pass for the sights. Lots of museums, lots of history, friendly people (except the waiters they import from Grouchville for the busiest part of the year), The Sound of Music. Take a bus out to the salt mines or The Eagle’s Nest if they’re on your bucket list. Alternative: take a train to Ljubljana, Slovenia, about 6 hours, for a few days, day trip to Lake Bled, day trip to a waterfall. Back to Munich for a day or two, return home.

Sample itinerary 2: fly into Amsterdam. Spend a few days exploring, taking a hop-on hop-off bus tour the first day to get familiar with where everything is. Use local buses for the rest of the time, eat an overpriced “pancake.” (side note: food is expensive in Amsterdam even at the grocery store, the fruit and veggies are disappointing.) Take a train to Paris for the bulk of your stay. Plan the train travel during the middle of the day as trains from Amsterdam tend to be four hours long and why not be out of the hot sun during the heat of the day? Return to Amsterdam a day or two before you fly out to pick up all the marijuana-themed souvenirs you’ll ever need, return home.

Sample itinerary 3: fly into Rome. Spend three days exploring Rome, staying near the central train station: all local transport ends up there, which is handy as the Rome Pass covers all local transport for three days. Almost all tourist sites are within a 45 minute walk from Rome Termini station, though with the Rome Pass you can use the public transport. The hotel clerk will tell you which to take. Take a train to Venice for a couple days unless you’re really smitten with Venice. Train is about four hours. Alternative: take a train to Florence (90 minutes) for a day or two, then onto Venice (2 hours) for a day or two. Alternative: take a train to Rimini to see the ocean, get passports stamped in San Marino. Return to Rome for remainder of trip. Day trips to Pompeii/Naples and other places from Rome. Return home.

Planning tip: Do not expect everything to be open on Sundays, especially in Germany and Austria. Research opening times for the “must see” places.

Additional planning tip: If squatting is a problem, consider skipping Italy as many bar/restaurant public bathrooms are, ahem, porcelain holes in the ground.

31

True, but when you’re a local, if you get pickpocketted or whatever, it’s no big problem. Call your spouse, go home right away, take a little cash, call your bank to cancel credit cards , etc…It’s hassle, but not a problem.
When you’re travelling, it can be a big problem that can really ruin your trip. And you could even go hungry for a day or more if you have no spare cash.

So , yeah, don’t get stressed…but do be sensible. Keep cash and one credit card in a pocket for easy use…(you don’t want to start undressing every time you need to pay for something!) But keep the rest of your documents and one more credit card hidden in a money belt around your waist-and under your shirt.
So don’t worry to much, but be careful.
If you stay cheap at old quaint hotels, you may have shared bathrooms, and rooms that don’t lock securely.
If you go really, really cheap (but fun!) at youth hostels, you may have a room shared with strangers.
If so, you have to be even more careful.

32

Yeah, that’s a nice theory. But thieves disproportionate target tourists since they are unlikely to file a police report (do you want to spend your vacation filling out paperwork in a police station) and are almost certainly not going to press charges. Up to a point, you can rob tourists with confidence that there will be no consequences.

Not to say that people going to Europe should be paranoid. But dealing with a theft on vacation really sucks, and a few simple measures can provide a lot of protection.

33

No one’s really mentioned this but a couple countries have a tradition of going on vacation en masse in high summer, particularly August. If it is at all possible for you do so, do not schedule European travel in August. The weather’s uncomfortable, the sites are crowded, and everyone is charging the maximum possible price for anything. Travel in June or the first week of July is usually preferable in my experience.

34

Maybe try Berlin. It’s meant to be cheaper than many other major European cities, but it’s still culturally and historically hugely significant. Or perhaps Italy - there are so many great places in this single country. Avoid Venice if you’re on a budget, though.

35

You’ll look like a tourist if you have a camera and a bag of some kind for snacks, water, jackets, etc… there’s no getting around that.

However, you won’t look like an American tourist if you don’t wear stereotypically American stuff. I usually wear jeans, some kind of non-tennis shoe, and usually a relatively nondescript shirt and jacket. No fanny packs, no baseball caps, no tennis shoes, and no shorts generally speaking.

For some reason, I’m taken to be a German or sometimes a British guy if I’m in continental Europe- I’d think my relatively robust girth would give me away as an American, but apparently not, because people talk to me like I’m a local in the UK, and come up to me speaking German in other parts of Europe.

36

Just don’t go to Pamplona in the second week of July if what you’re looking for is peace and quiet :wink:

37

Thanks again for the tips everyone!

Yeah, thanks for this tip, one of my friends pointed this out to me too. I had forgotten, at my old job I would sometimes talk to people at our sister company in France and it would be just about impossible to get hold of anyone in August. Now the plan is to go in June.

Looking at deals on Travelzoo lead me to European Destinations, from which I found an itinerary of $1,729.23 per person in June, for flights to Vienna, 4 nights in a decent hotel, train ticket to Budapest, 4 nights there, and the flight home. This sounds just about perfect for me, though I’m not buying anything yet. Partly since as I’ve read from one of the links here, it’s best to buy tickets 53 days in advance for Europe, and partly because there’s just so many things to choose from.

38

Great destinations. Vienna is wonderful, then three or so hours on the train you’re in Budapest. While in Vienna you must stop by the Hotel Sacher (pronounced “sack-air”) for a slice of its eponymous torte. If the cafe is too busy you can buy a small torte in the shop and enjoy it at your leisure.

For the best experience in Vienna, take a hotel near a bus stop or train station. The public transport system is excellent. Buy a Vienna Card for local travel and discounts on restaurants, museums, and entertainment. Not bad for under 20 euros! Budapest has a similar card with better discounts for about 40 bucks.

I hope you get this package. You’ll have an incredible time! Keep asking question, we’ll have answers!

39

I am not the biggest fan of Vienna. I have been there twice and found it to be one of the slowest paced cities I have ever visited. Granted, I was young and looking for the “action and nightlife” at the time. I joked that it would be the perfect place to visit when I was 87 years old - about the median age of the people you saw on the streets and in the parks.

However, as a first time tourist, this might not be such a bad idea. You can get around easily, there certainly are tons of touristy things to do - castles/palaces/museums/restaurants/churches etc. The Grinzing area is chock full of great wine patios where you can go from one to another and sample the different wines…nice to hang out and meet other tourists and sit outside. Pleasant way to spend a summer evening.

40

I thought I’d update my thread. We bought tickets to Madrid, flying in on June 11, flying out on June 19. We’ll definitely spend a few nights in Madrid, and a few nights in Barcelona. I’m starting to do more research about what specifically to do and where to go in Spain, and looking for hotels. Someone told me that a day trip to Toledo is worth it, has anyone been to Toledo?