Hi OzFam
I've booked 3 weeks in Europe for end of year school holidays. As I have never been to Europe before, I am struggling to come up with an exciting itinerary to make the most of the trip.
If you have been before, what were some sights or things you did that you would recommend?
FYI I've travelled in Asia (seen enough religious sites for a lifetime) and am mostly looking at the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Completely open to suggestions though.
Yeah, well that was our opinion, but we were two 30yo guys on a romantic boys trip without our wives… so haha, yeah…
Milan doesn't have much to see, comparatively. More of a business city. Unless you want to see The Last Supper (need to book this at least a month in advance for 15 mins of contemplation) and it's old cemetery is full of beautiful over the top monuments. I personally loved Italy the most out of the countries traveled: went from Rome, Pompei, Florence, San Marino (it's own country), Venice to Milan. Must see is Rome and the Vatican (WOW).
Really loved Scotland (the highlands are amazing).
But shame for traveling in Winter though. Was in France for winter and it was just miserably cold and dreary. I refuse to go back during this time unless forced to. Unfortunately, you'll miss all the beautiful colours of Summer. London was still wet in Summer and scotland was like Australian winter in Summer. So I'd imagine winter would be worse.
I'd suggest if you are not a fan of the cold (I'm talking negative temps), then stick to Southern Europe this trip and come back to do mid and north another.
No matter what. Have fun on your trip! Europe is beautiful.
if ya take the missus and can avoid Milan your credit card will thank you!
Verona might be an alternative. More lovers on the river than Paris. Arena is well worth a visit. Then Romeo and Julia. Rest assure that the Italians claim all for themselves and tell you nothing about where Shakespeare came from.
Shakespeare probably remarketed (successfully) a folk tale that may or may not have happened that had been doing the rounds. What's more implausible is that Verona claims to have the actual balcony and tomb. Successful marketing there too.
@greenpossum: It is a tourist magnet, a big arena and a marble street (mall) leading to either the Piazza della Erbe or the alley to the statue of Julia, her bronce figure gets plenty of rubbing. Leave a note in the hallway for your secret lover!
Rome never ever gets to 50 degrees
I'm sorry, was low 40's, still hot.
Thanks for keeping me honest, i guess?
Other than that your itinerary is excellent.
Club vandersex. Features on such movies as eurotrip lol.
apparently a real club? drinking in europe seems expensive enough
Drinking in Europen is expensive? Lol. You are from Australia, right?
10 bucks for a bottle of Jaegermeister in Luxembourg!
whaaaaat!?
Drinking in Europe is cheap as chips! Unless your in one of the big clubs in Ibiza.
good to hear!
This thread is golden !!!
Do you mind me asking what budget should i be planning if i had to plan a Europe trip for 3 weeks and clocking most of the above suggested places ?
Cheers
It depends, naturally.
Here's a set of almost current examples, which suggests about $100-$150/day for mid-range, not including the plane fare.
https://www.travelmoneyoz.com/blog/destination-essentials/ho…
yea as greenpossum said, $150 a day would be reasonable for food, tickets and short bus trips. Add in flights and accommodation and anything you want to buy and you should have a pretty fair figure
Santorini - OIA
Italy - Rome (Vatican)
Barcelona - TAPAS!!!!!
Greece would be awesome but it might have to wait until next time. Definitely going to eat tapas in Spain!
granada is the best place for tapas. free with every drink!
Just be sure to skip Venice. Rubbish destination.
Thanks for the confirmation. Was told that previously
nah..venice is amazing. stay in an apartment on the canals, vist st marks square , doge's palace..magical. You'll be avoiding the crush of crowds by going in winter.
-1 for Venice too.
It's alright for a day trip if you really want to tick it off the list.
St Mark's square can be interesting, but you can also end up paying 9 euro for a coffee if you want to sit outside and watch everyone.
You may also legitimately see a HUGE seagull attack a pigeon, so be prepared for that.
The men would suggest to skip Venice but the missus always insists on going.
Venice should only be a day trip event. I giggle whenever I see someone drag a huge luggage on and off the water taxi. Moving around that place is so much hassle.
St Mark's square is overrated. The churches and museums are not even on par with others in different parts of Italy. But you can take some beautiful pictures there.
I agree. The only reason I could think of to do more than a day is if you want to head out to other islands to see the glass making, or maybe if you really really want to see the Vitruvian man, I imagine that would take a full day as it's only shown on the rare occasion.
We also weren't much of a fan of Venice. Our main mistake was spending too long there. If you do go to Venice don't spend more than 1-2 nights there. It's a tourist trap but some people seem to love it.
Why that? Went to Venice twice and loved it!
Great buildings / museums, lovely city, I quite liked it!
I second this. Worth a day trip only.
I'd cross Pisa off that list.
Overrated IMO.
Go to Almalfi/Positano instead.
Yes if you do stop there, plan on just taking the standard tourist photo and grab some maccas and go.
Red Light District in Amsterdam is a must. Some hookers there are absolutely stunning and the setting allows to inspect before you try. Drugs are in abundance, I wouldn't recommend though.
Just throwing it out there, Andorra is pretty cool for a drive through
it is nano! Sells booze and fags. Likely to have snow as it has altitude. Drove up there to make a tick on the bucket list. Cool traffic lights without the usual hood.
cool. love my microstates
Italy - Cinque Terre
A must visit. One of the beautiful places on earth. If I had to retire I'd live in Riomaggiore or Vernazza and eat fresh seafood everyday. The hike between the towns is amazing.
Spain - San Sebastian
The food, the people, the lifestyle. I love this city. Also close to Pamplona for authentic food or running with the bulls ;)
Monaco
Here's something to depart from the usual destinations. Dress and up and enjoy the city with the rich and famous. The cars, the wealth, the glitz is breathtaking. Plenty to see and do besides gambling as well.
We went to Monte Carlo for a night. WOW… the money in that place. The cars, super yachts, famous restaurants from scenes in movies. Well worth a look.
Knowing you the pooret person in a country makes no feel a bit down tho:)
thanks for the great suggestions!
Not sure what others have said or asked, but how long is a piece of string?
You can ask what we think you should see, but what I want to see is not what you want to see.
What type of traveller are you?
What do you like to see?
Are you a foody/drinker?
How are you getting around?
How long are you in each city?
I want to know what you saw that you really liked. Can't guarantee I'll like it but I'm likely to like it.
All good mate. Just have to ask. Below is what my wide and I just did for a our honeymoon.
Munich, Used as a Hub so just did day tours and walked around. Church/Cathedrals all around, can't stop looking at them.
Tours - Berchtesgaden & Eagle's Nest, Neuschwanstein castle
Food - Augustiner Am Dom, Hofbräuhaus am Platzl
Marienplatz & St Peters allow you go up and get views over the city. St peters has a 299 step climb inside the spire and is very narrow.
St Peters also has the devils footprint inside.
Scotland - Arrived in edinburgh, drove to Dufftown via Aberdeen, then to inverness. Got bus from Inverness to Glasgow, then bus to Edinburgh. Glasgow for us was terible, miserable and just scummy. We only went there for Glasgow school of arts as thats where my wife studied
Tours(Whisky) - Cragganmore, Glenlivet, Glenfiddirch. Glenlivet wasn't that good, felt too commercial
Tours - Loch Ness, Glencoe and the Highlands Small Group Day Trip from Glasgow, Edinburgh Castle
Croatia - Arrived in Dubrovnik, bus to Old town, bus to Makarska, drive to Split
Old Town - Stayed inside the walls with Air BnB, best location and great owners
Tours - Just walked the wall, just pay on the spot.
Food - Eat outside the walls, the price drops dramatically
Makarska - No need for tours, just walked everywhere and spent time at the beach. Best sunsets you could see in the world, every night is different. Drove to Žepče (Bosnia and Herzegovina) for a night. Unless you know this place, it's not something I would recommend to anyone just to do. Driving through Bosnia has some wonderful sights and great roads. I was given some weird looks though 100kg+ guy with big beard, doesn't go down to well. If you know the history then you'll know why. ahaha
Split - Only had couple hours so went to the wharf and did walk around the markets.
Spain (Barcelona) - Stayed in shitty hotels/backpackers wish we had spent a bit more for accomodation. Only really visited la sagrada familia and was there for half a day and still wasn't enough to take it all in. You have to enter during specific times. Visited Gaudi Park and Casa Batlló. Visited La Boqueria Markets in Las Ramblas.
I went to Europe for 6 weeks in Nov/Dec last year, hitting up a few of the Countries you're looking at.
There is so much to do in a lot of the places that 3 weeks will definitely feel rushed.
Depending on what you like to do, you might get more out of some places that others wouldn't.
I was about to write massive paragraphs, but I don't think you'd get too much out of it. So just a quick $0.02
Netherlands is good for a few days -
Amsterdam - Coffee shops and cafe's are different, cyclists have right of way and they'll do damage, Skinny alley has the best girls, Book in for the Anne Frank house before you go.
Germany has so much going on -
Berlin is great for modern history - Take a walking tour for WW2 and Cold war era things, Checkpoint Charlie is complete BS, Don't buy pieces of the wall (they're all fake).
Munich was a good stop, but I didn't feel like it needed more than a day and a half - The main drag has a few really interesting places, and of course there is a heap of hidden places if you're looking hard enough, the Hofbrauhaus has a lot of history tied to it and some great beer.
Italy is a mixture of really cool and eh -
I loved Florence - there is a ridiculous amount of amazing things there, there is a combined ticket to climb the Duomo and Campanile. If you don't mind heights and want a great view, do both of them. There are 2 big museums that have some very famous artwork. Piazza della Signoria has the fake statue of David, but also some great sculptures near it. (Perseus is quite stunning).
Milan - Unless you're going to the last supper (buy tickets in advance, they sell out and get scalped) or you really like shopping, it's a pretty easy place to avoid.
Venice - A day trip at most, honestly it's expensive and so heavily tourist oriented. There are some interesting things, but you can do enough to be happy in a day.
In Winter it gets quite cold, and there is not much cover. You may also see a pigeon get attacked by giant seagulls in St Marks Square.
Pisa - Do it on the way to somewhere else. Climb the tower if you want (in winter there shouldn't be much of a wait), get some food, take the silly picutre, then leave.
Rome - There is a stupid amount of things going on in Rome. Take a few days there to really appreciate what you're looking at. Be mindful of people, plenty of pick pockets are out at the main attractions.
France - I only got to visit Paris, which is another place with so many things to see and do. Enjoy the food, all of the monuments. The Champs Elysees also has a fair few pick pockets, so keep your wits about you. If you want to go to the Cabaret, the Moulin Rouge has the most expensive, but also the best.
I'm sure that you could spend a week in Paris, and still not see everything you want to.
I also really enjoyed Prague, Budapest and Krakow. But with only 3 weeks, you probably won't get to go much further east.
I'm so glad to not be the only one who thought Checkpoint Charlie was BS.
It's a complete fallacy. The actual checkpoint was further up the road, it's just a few German guys in a US uniforms charging people for photos.
Complete with a Maccas and KFC right across from it.
oh.. I just looked at some old photos and looks to be actual location?
Have to go back and do some more googling.
My dad and I thought it was the biggest let down of our sites through Berlin.
Yeah, Checkpoint Charlie was an actual point where you could cross from East to West, it was the closest point that the Cold War came to actually having a proper fight due to a diplomat being searched.
Oh I know that, but just looking at some photos it looked to be the exact location… Have to recheck these photos
Hahaha skinny ally has the best girls…. so things haven't changed!
I remember walking around with my mate (I had a gf so I was only window shopping) and he took FOREVER to hurry up and choose one. I reckon we back tracked to that ally about 3 times that night before he chose.
I'd say Germany isn't all just about Berlin at all!
Dresden is quite a nice city with so many old and great buildings and really close by the Elbsandsteingebirge.
I'd agree that Munich has a great vibe and is a great city as well, but not sure if it's worth the stay in your short itinerary.
Hamburg definitely is nice as well (Harbour with beach, the Landungsbrücken as a Harbour area)!
And there's more places for nature (Schwarzwald or close to Freiburg) even though probably more impressive in other parts of Europe (the alps in Austria or Switzerland).
My two cents as a German.
Venice
Milan
Zurich
Jungfraujoch
A hot Euro chick?
(Others Eurotrip has lied to me :P lol)
If you can, fly Qantas First Class (to London and back).
Regards,
Drunk On The Good Life
I did it about 5 years ago and my favs were.
Berlin - night life and history. Try to get into Berghain if you dare and like partying.
Lauterbrunnen - Didn't do Zurich, went here instead. You can get to the top of Jungfraujoch here. We hired mountain bikes, took them up on the gondolas and rode down the mountain. Honestly soooooo much fun. You'll see plenty of wingsuit people jumping from the cliffs to.
Ibiza - Obvious reasons.
Prague - So so cheap.
We also drove from Berlin to Krakow, Poland. What a mission. Hungover as, wouldn't recommend that again.
But Krakow, OMG. If you're a single man and like good looking women go here. I would say THE most beautiful girls across Europe, barely any ugly ones.
Oh… and there was only one place I couldn't stand and that was Rome. Hated it.
Rude and sleazy AF, which was a shame because there was so much to see.
Yeah Rome is somewhere I won't go back to unless free.
Once you tick the boxes (Colosseum, Vatican, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and all the touristy places), that's it.
If you're going to Nederlands -
Probably the most beautiful garden in the world-
http://keukenhof.nl/en/
Definitely worth seeing just keep in mind this place is only open 6 weeks a year.
Please don't try to cram many cities in 3 weeks.
Check out the website www.viator.com. (there's a phone app). You can search in any city for tours that are anywhere from a few hours to a few days long, tickets to skip the queue at main attractions, etc.
I used it in Europe to book the odd little short tour but more often than not simply looked up what the most popular tours and attractions were in a particular city and just took myself there.
Switzerland. Travel by train from Zurich to Geneva or vice versa. Stay in some towns on the way, like Luzern or Interlaken, and get on the mountains.
In Dec/Jan we flew in to Prague, then train to Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Swiss Alps, Paris and then flew out of London.
We can go to Germany, Italy, Spain and northern Europe next time.
I loved Prague. Old and beautiful, and beer. Budapest was even cheaper. Highlight was the outdoor heated pools on a -3 day. The Glacier Express train in Switzerland was worth doing, and Paris and London are outstanding for museums and galleries, but hotels and restaurants make Australia look reasonable. Definitely recommend central Europe for history and value.
Europe is incredibly dense with experiences and things to see and do. In 3 weeks you will barely scratch the surface. By all means take advice from here, but I suggest that you do some research and do and see some things that appeal to you. Attraction wise and for bang-for-buck a good starting point may be the 'big 3' of Paris, London and Rome.
But again what appeals to you? There is unlimited historical and religious sites throughout. The Mediterranean to the south will be nice for a beach holiday, or the alps for snow and mountains. Amsterdam/Prague/Berlin/lots of others for partying. Lots of options for attractions, music, food, castles, museums, beer, WW2, cruises. Disneyland Paris might be the highlight of your trip or not appeal to you at all.
Personally I'd suggest Berlin (probably the most important city of the 20th century?), Krakow (surprising highlight) and Rome including the Vatican (I'm not religious).
3 weeks -> Amsterdam 2 days(?)-> Berlin (3-4 days)-> krakow (2 days) -> Prague (2 days) -> somewhere through the middle ie Austria/Southern Germany/Switzerland Northern Italy include any of Munich, Vienna, Venice, Neuschwanstein, Innsbruck, Switzerland, Mountains-> Florence (2 days) -> Rome (4 days) -> Paris.
Could skip others to get to Greece or Spain but it can be a little out of the way if going by train. Same with Scandinavia.
Bang anyone and everyone you can, also don't forget to get loud and drunk and tell everyone your most racists jokes. Aldo remind everyone every 10mins you're from Australia and it shit all over what they have :)
not going to bali
How much do you want to see and do? Do you really like changing hotels many times and travelling between places not doing anything? Do you really need to cram everything in or will you go back again to Europe?
Suggest you make a list of your MUST SEES and try not to cram too much in. Big cities have so much to do, you can stay there for weeks. Think about what you REALLY want to see and do, don't let other people tell you…
Just to add to the discussion, consider alot of the cities out in the East too. Kiev (including Chernobyl) is very interesting, same with the big sites in Poland. Then of course you have Dubrovnik for that quintessential GoT experience.
would love to go to eastern europe. probably not ideal for a first timer in europe, though
One tip is get a Taxi, sometimes it is worth it. Saves some tiring and tortuous public transport way to go from A to B or return to hotel after a long tiring day. We used taxi to return from Vatican to our hotel in Rome and from Eiffel tower at late night to Hotel in Paris.
Milan not worth the trip you reckon? Thanks so much for your help!