peppermintpatty
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by peppermintpatty on Aug 21, 2014 13:51:05 GMT
We are planning to take my kids to Europe after dd graduates high school. DD will be 17 and DS will be 13. I have been to Italy and Switzerland so we are tentatively planning the following places but I need LOTS of suggestions and recommendations on things to see/maybe better cities to visit, etc. We are planning 2 weeks.
Spain - flying into Barcelona
France (Paris)
Germany
Austria (the last country is up in the air as of now but DD is a violinist and I think she would really appreciate visiting Austria plus I have heard it is gorgeous). Flying out of the last country
As for countries to visit, again not Italy. We aren't really interested in England. We are planning to go in June or July.
My parents have been all over Europe many, many times and I have relatives in just about every European country but I would like to have other suggestions. I have never been to any of these countries. We plan on staying in the same accommodations for the entire time in that country so we want to pick one major city that has a lot to do.
Tell me the good, the bad, the can't miss.
ETA: One of my bachelor's degrees is in Landscape Architecture so I have a love of gardens so if you have any suggestions on that, please share.
I have also taken out some information because I did not ask for advice on my length of stay, I am asking for information on things to see.
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Post by annabella on Aug 21, 2014 14:01:55 GMT
I prefer to visit one country at a time to really get a sense for the country. When you do a multi-country trip you're doing a lot of traveling between countries and not seeing the smaller towns.
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BarbaraUK
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Post by BarbaraUK on Aug 21, 2014 14:02:56 GMT
If you go to Vienna during your Austrian visit, there are such a lot of things to see there - I love going to Schonbrunn Palace, it's really worth a visit. It's on the list on the right hand side of this link, along with lots more places to visit also!!  Vienna
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Post by Darcy Collins on Aug 21, 2014 14:03:32 GMT
I think 3-4 days per country is is just way, way too little. You will spend the vast majority of your time in Europe packing, unpacking and at airports or train stations. If you have two weeks, I would seriously advocate picking two countries and spending a bit more time there. I've also found that my kids appreciate a bit of down time - if you're rushing to see the sites in 4 different countries you're going to have a very different experience than if you build in a little time to let the kids pick some activities that can be as low key as sitting under the Eiffel Tower and having a picnic and then reading a book and people watching.
As an aside we loved Austria - we visited Salzburg and Vienna. We combined that with the Bavaria region in Germany. It is absolutely one of the the most beautiful areas we've been to (particularly if you like mountains).
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peppermintpatty
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by peppermintpatty on Aug 21, 2014 14:05:13 GMT
We are driving, not flying or taking the train.
Most of the information I see online suggest 3-4 days per location at a minimum. I did all of Italy (north and south) in 2+ weeks. A lot of those were a few hour stops to see yet another Madonna and Child at some museum. I didn't plan that trip, it was with my parents.
We are not held hard and fast to any length of time in any one place, this is a first attempt.
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julieb
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Post by julieb on Aug 21, 2014 14:14:41 GMT
Now that's just crazy.  We were just in Madrid, Interlaken (Switzerland), Amalfi Coast and Rome. We did it in two weeks. However, we either flew (Madrid to Zurich) or took the train (Interlaken to Sorrento). Madrid was great. We went to Segovia and Toledo on day trips. Beautiful. We have been to Salzburg. Don't miss the Sound of Music Tour. Cheesy, but fun. We have used Europeandestinations.com 4 times and have had great success with their accommodations and flights. I would say that if you decide to use the train, we bought a 5 day pass. It would have been the same amount, except we would have been in 2nd class, if we had bought the days individually after paying the ridiculous reservation fees. |
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Post by gar on Aug 21, 2014 14:29:47 GMT
Sweden is a beautiful country as is Croatia.....less obvious choices can be good  |
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peppermintpatty
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by peppermintpatty on Aug 21, 2014 14:33:32 GMT
As I said, my family has traveled many, many times to Europe and they have all said that the train is an unreliable resource because they are prone to having strikes, problems. They have all had their travel interrupted for a day or so because of these issues. One sister, drove and they highly recommended it because you could take your time and stop if necessary.
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Post by annabella on Aug 21, 2014 14:38:19 GMT
We are driving, not flying or taking the train. Most of the information I see online suggest 3-4 days per location at a minimum. I did all of Italy (north and south) in 2+ weeks. A lot of those were a few hour stops to see yet another Madonna and Child at some museum. I didn't plan that trip, it was with my parents. Two weeks in Italy or any one European country is the perfect length of time. For major cities you need 2 days to really see everything at a comfortable pace. If you want to waste vacation time driving between countries go for it, I just like to be efficient in my time on vacation. I went to Spain last summer and spent 2 weeks doing this itinerary with a tour bus. It took one day to drive from one point to the next and the number in the black box says how many nights we stayed there. As you can see we had interesting stops along the way.  |
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BarbaraUK
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Post by BarbaraUK on Aug 21, 2014 14:57:59 GMT
We are driving, not flying or taking the train. Most of the information I see online suggest 3-4 days per location at a minimum. I did all of Italy (north and south) in 2+ weeks. A lot of those were a few hour stops to see yet another Madonna and Child at some museum. I didn't plan that trip, it was with my parents. We are not held hard and fast to any length of time in any one place, this is a first attempt. Just thought I would add that we would say that your planned trip is definitely doable, and with time to enjoy the sights, if you are driving and want to see a bit of Europe rather than be tied to one country. It would be a great trip for the kids! We regularly travel Europe by car or train - and friends drive between the UK and homes in Spain, Italy or Germany very regularly. The driving time between here and Spain is usually less than 24 hours total and the distance involved (just under 1,500 miles I think) isn't much less than you would be planning on doing as a whole. As a bonus you will be seeing a lot of Europe just by driving! Three or four days per location is plenty good enough to see enough of notable interest in each particular place. If I remember correctly, driving between Madrid, Spain and Paris, France took approximately 11 hours. After that it's a comparatively short hop to Germany. Remember to add your distance to travel between countries in kilometres for Europe though when planning your route otherwise road signs won't make any sense.  |
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back to *pea*ality
Pearl Clutcher
Not my circus, not my monkeys ~refugee pea #59
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Jun 25, 2014 19:51:11 GMT
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Post by back to *pea*ality on Aug 21, 2014 14:58:34 GMT
I use Fodor's travel guides to help plan my trip itinerary. They share lots of great tips which have saved us a lot of time when traveling. We've ordered tickets and made dining reservations and done things we might not have been able to if we waited to make arrangements when we arrived.
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Deleted
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Oct 10, 2024 2:28:00 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2014 15:12:12 GMT
OK if this was me and these are only suggestions. I would fly from Spain to Paris and pick up the car there. Barcelona to Paris is one heck of a drive and would take valuable time up from elsewhere. From Paris,drive through the French countryside, you can then either drive directly over the border to Germany or you can cross into Belgium and then into Germany.
From Germany I would drive into the Czech Republic ( beautiful architecture there) and through to the border with Austria, calling into Vienna and Salzburg on the way.Drive through the Tyrol to southern Germany ( the Black Forrest area) and back into France or back into France via the south of Switzerland.
You'll be covering a heck of a lot of mileage but you'll be going round in a circle rather than doubling back on yourself if you follow my logic.
Work out your best route first and the milage from A to B and see if you are happy with the amount of driving. Then Google each country's tourist site and work out what you would like to see/experience in each country.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Aug 21, 2014 15:18:54 GMT
I'm not at all against driving in theory, we've done it on several of our trips. We drove around Bavaria and Austria, have driven in Italy many times. We also rented a car when we left Paris to visit the South of France. But some of those distances are really far - it's going to take you all day to drive between Barcelona and Paris - or two if you actually want to stop and see anything in between. It's a similar haul between Paris and Munich it would be shorter to northern Germany, but than it's a long, long drive down to Austria.
Now this might be great for your family - I certainly appreciate that different families have a love affair with their vehicle that I've never quite understood. I also know many people see Europe as a chance to check off as many boxes of sites possible. I'm just throwing out my perspective - particularly as someone who's traveled a fair amount with my kids. My kids are fabulous travelers, and have a great attitude about being flexible when traveling. But we have definitely noticed that we all have a whole lot more fun when we slow down a bit.
Have you thought about skirting the Mediterranean? Start in Barcelona, hit the South of France and then Austria? You could fly out of Munich? It would shorten the drive time between the stops quite a bit.
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wellway
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Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Aug 21, 2014 15:33:34 GMT
This site might help with driving in Europe. eg it is compulsory to carry a breathalyser in France etc. It's aimed at UK drivers but if you are hiring a car, you could use the list to ensure the hire company are giving you the correct items for each country. This site will also highlight unique driving laws in each country. shop.theaa.com/store/advice-on-driving-in-europeA GPS is invaluable, again some countries ban the use of warning systems for speed traps and that feature should be disabled. We have just returned from Europe. Our journey took us through three countries, it was fairly painless but we did find that having a couple of detailed maps as back up was useful as it meant we weren't completely reliant on tech. Northern Spain and the Picos de Europas is lovely, different from the normal image of Spain. Very green. |
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PaperAngel
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Post by PaperAngel on Aug 21, 2014 15:52:24 GMT
For a first trip, especially only two weeks, to Europe, perhaps you should limit the scope to one or two neighboring countries. I suggest the Iberian Peninsula; both Portugal & Spain are beautiful, diverse, & delicious! HTH & your dd enjoys her senior year...
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Post by Darcy Collins on Aug 21, 2014 16:01:50 GMT
You're not new to the peas, you don't really think people are going to stop commenting on overall itinerary just because you changed the OP?   Good luck with that! BTW if you're into landscape architecture - hit Villandry - totally amazing. Now I'll also say, that is why my initial advice was to slow down - you could spend several days in the Loire Valley which has some amazing, amazing gardens. But that's hard to do when you're trying to hit all of Western Europe in two weeks. |
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Post by Jockscrap on Aug 21, 2014 16:15:02 GMT
What month of the year are you planning on going?
I wouldn't miss Scotland off a European tour, but I may be ever so slightly biased!
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scrapperdee
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Post by scrapperdee on Aug 21, 2014 16:17:14 GMT
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Post by jennyap on Aug 21, 2014 16:20:50 GMT
You're not new to the peas, you don't really think people are going to stop commenting on overall itinerary just because you changed the OP? Good luck with that! BTW if you're into landscape architecture - hit Villandry - totally amazing. Now I'll also say, that is why my initial advice was to slow down - you could spend several days in the Loire Valley which has some amazing, amazing gardens. But that's hard to do when you're trying to hit all of Western Europe in two weeks. Ditto that - well I've not visited the Loire yet, but we did spend some time in the Dordogne last year, including the gardens of Marqueyssac and L'Eyrignac. Each quite different, both wonderful. In Austria, I really enjoyed Salzburg. If you're going to Vienna, consider heading over to Bratislava in Slovakia - very pretty and a little different. From there, you're relatively close to Budapest too (haven't made it there yet but I hear it's stunning). You could even do it as a boat trip from Bratislava on the Danube -check timetables, not sure if a day trip is possible, but I'm pretty sure you could do it with a single nights stay. We enjoyed Cologne (Köln) in Germany. You should also bear in mind that if you're hiring a car and dropping off in a different county than pick-up, you're likely to be hit with a hefty international one-way fee on top of the rental price (I've heard figures over $500 quoted, although shopping around would hopefully bring that down). |
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Post by cadoodlebug on Aug 21, 2014 16:21:56 GMT
When we were in Europe in 2003 with the Ambassadors of Music program with DS, one of our favorite places was the walled city of Rothenburg, Germany.
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Post by ahiller on Aug 21, 2014 16:47:37 GMT
We did London, Paris, Venice and Rome in 2 weeks, plus a day trip to Monte Carlo. It can be done and be done well, I might add. While you certainly aren't going to be able to go and see and do everything that a country or city has to offer in 3-4 days, you CAN get a good sense of it. I think the biggest key is to be organized ahead of time and have a rough plan of attack before you go. That definitely helped us. I would pick the one or 2 places you most definitely want to visit and then see what other 2 cities are feasible to get to without wasting a ton of travel time. You might consider some overnight train trips as well to get between places. If you do go to Paris and end up at Versailles and don't want/plan to spend the day there, then I have 4 words for you: rent a golf cart. Seriously, it saved us soooo much time especially because we wanted to get all the way back to the "country estate". It would have taken us forever to walk there. With the golf carts, we could stop where we wanted and then hop back in and zip off to the next place. Awesome. |
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Post by juliet on Aug 21, 2014 16:52:02 GMT
That's a lot to do in two weeks!
Personally, I wouldn't do that. I would choose two countries instead of city hopping and just seeing a glimpse of each country. But if you are planning only to see Paris and Barcelona in France/Spain (and nothing else) and then travel to Austria or Germany, I think you could do it.
I think Dotty's trip sounds the best and covers most of what you want to see.
Something to keep in mind is that in July most of western Europe has summer vacation too. Since Dutch people (and Belgians, Germans, and French too) also drive to their holiday destinations, the roads tend to be super busy. My best friend drove around Paris a few weeks ago, and the peripherique around Paris took her a couple of hours, and that was only Paris! Then she had another 1000 km to drive. So if you have the option to go in June, I would certainly recommend that.
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Post by shanniebananie on Aug 21, 2014 17:06:24 GMT
If you want to drive and see all those countries, have you considered taking a bus tour? I have taken 3 Trafalger tours in Europe and highly recommend them! It is so nice to have someone else do the driving and have a tour guide take you to the front of the line at all the attractions to maximize your time in each country. So worth it!!
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Post by Darcy Collins on Aug 21, 2014 17:11:02 GMT
We did London, Paris, Venice and Rome in 2 weeks, plus a day trip to Monte Carlo. It can be done and be done well, I might add. While you certainly aren't going to be able to go and see and do everything that a country or city has to offer in 3-4 days, you CAN get a good sense of it. I think the biggest key is to be organized ahead of time and have a rough plan of attack before you go. That definitely helped us. I would pick the one or 2 places you most definitely want to visit and then see what other 2 cities are feasible to get to without wasting a ton of travel time. You might consider some overnight train trips as well to get between places. If you do go to Paris and end up at Versailles and don't want/plan to spend the day there, then I have 4 words for you: rent a golf cart. Seriously, it saved us soooo much time especially because we wanted to get all the way back to the "country estate". It would have taken us forever to walk there. With the golf carts, we could stop where we wanted and then hop back in and zip off to the next place. Awesome. But see I think that itinerary is much more doable than the OP. London and Paris may be in different countries, but they're very close. You did have one really long hop (which one could fly or as you mention take an over night train). Venice and Rome are moderately far apart - but on the whole you concentrated on two main areas and hit two places within them. For two weeks, that's okay. |
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Post by mirabelleswalker on Aug 21, 2014 17:18:41 GMT
I am another person who likes to explore one place in depth rather than travel every other day to a new place. The last time we were in Europe we spent two weeks in Spain--one week in Barcelona (not NEARLY enough time for me) and one week in Bilbao and San Sebastian.
If you don't want to spend a lot of time driving, I highly recommend Vueling Airline from Barcelona. We decided to fly to Bilbao at the last minute and I bought the tickets on Expedia. It was about the same price as the train and took an hour v. 12 hours. Barcelona is a hub, so you have a lot of options flying out from there.
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Post by annabella on Aug 21, 2014 17:19:43 GMT
Now that you've edited your OP because the majority disagreed with you on a practicality measure, let me address this point, your question is very broad. There's tons of things to see in Europe. You have to pick what interests you. You already said you don't want to see Italy, I've been there 3 times and don't get tired of it and think it's an important focal point to introduce someone to Europe with, so this is really something only you can decide.
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Post by tuva42 on Aug 21, 2014 17:39:06 GMT
We loved Salzburg in Austria and Munich, Hohenzollern, Tubingen, and Heidelberg all in Germany.
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lesley
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Post by lesley on Aug 21, 2014 17:48:41 GMT
We've travelled a lot around Europe, and prefer the train over driving any day. The European rail network is excellent, especially from one major city to another, and if you check out different passes, very affordable. Strikes are not that common, except for in France - the French are always striking. . Plus, there's no way I would drive around Paris, or Rome, or the long long trips between Spain and most other places in Western Europe. Driving around some cities takes a long time. You would waste so much time that, tbh, in a 2-week trip, you wouldn't have. JMHO. Vienna is quite far to the east, so if you were set on going there, I would add in Budapest which is gorgeous, or go north to Prague (stunning city) and the beautiful spa town of Karlovy Vary (its German name is Karlsbad.) Bavaria is lovely, and you can take a day trip from Munich to the famous castle of Neuschwannstein. (The one that the Disney castle is based on.) I would also highly recommend Dubrovnik in Croatia. One of my favourite cities ever. |
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wellway
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Post by wellway on Aug 21, 2014 18:21:23 GMT
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chickenb00
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Post by chickenb00 on Aug 21, 2014 18:40:20 GMT
Another vote for Heidelberg, Germany. I lived there for about 6 years. It's a beautiful city with a lot to do and see. If you go in the summer you have to see the castle lightings. There used to be a military presence there, but they closed down the base last year.
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