Eurotrip

[Jack Brickman]

Hey guys...me and a few of my college buddies are in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Europe, probably in June. I'm just curious which of you guys have been there and, if you have, what advice you could offer me on which countries were most worth visiting.

Right now, our list includes:
London
Amsterdam
Germany (any major city, really)
Brussels
Prague
Budapest
Vienna
Rome (or another major city in Italy)

However, as I said, we're still just starting discussions for this and I wouldn't mind hearing from some people close to my own age (I'm 30) and get their thoughts.

 

[MoGottiFor3]

Visit Croatia too if you like beaches and hot women.

 

[BimboColesHair]

Since you're going in the summer, go to Stockholm...been all over Sweden, awesome place.

 

[gourimoko]

Hey guys...me and a few of my college buddies are in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Europe, probably in June. I'm just curious which of you guys have been there and, if you have, what advice you could offer me on which countries were most worth visiting.

Right now, our list includes:
London
Amsterdam
Germany (any major city, really)
Brussels
Prague
Budapest
Vienna
Rome (or another major city in Italy)

However, as I said, we're still just starting discussions for this and I wouldn't mind hearing from some people close to my own age (I'm 30) and get their thoughts.

Are you single?

If not, my advice is that France and Germany are beautiful. I've been to both, 30 days a piece.. Great places... Great scenery. The Germans were far nicer and much more hospitable in general, but France had substantially better food and much better sightseeing.

If you're single, spend more time in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe. Like Budapest, Vienna, Rome, all that sounds great. If it weren't for the Russians, Kiev would be on my list as well.

Either way, I would not spend much time in London... and I'm going there next year. Just my two cents.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Are you single?

If not, my advice is that France and Germany are beautiful. I've been to both, 30 days a piece.. Great places... Great scenery. The Germans were far nicer and much more hospitable in general, but France had substantially better food and much better sightseeing.

If you're single, spend more time in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe. Like Budapest, Vienna, Rome, all that sounds great. If it weren't for the Russians, Kiev would be on my list as well.

Either way, I would not spend much time in London... and I'm going there next year. Just my two cents.

I am currently single, and thanks for the advice.

I don't think we plan on spending a lot of time in London. I think it's just a place we all want to see. I'd imagine we'd spend a night there before moving on to Brussels/Amsterdam.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Since you're going in the summer, go to Stockholm...been all over Sweden, awesome place.

I'd love to hit up Sweden but I don't think it will work out given how out of the way it is. At least compared to all the other places we want to visit. I feel the same about the UK and Italy. I want to see both, but each is kind of its own trip. We might hit up Rome at the end of this trip, but I just don't see us having time to hit most of the UK (outside of London, which we'll probably fly into) and Italy, let alone Sweden.

@MoGottiFor3 any particular parts of Croatia you recommend that I can look up? Any suggestions are appreciated since Croatia is definitely in the path of countries we could potentially visit on this trip.

Also, thanks to all you guys for any suggestions you can give me.

 

[Sumac13]

How long will you be traveling? And how will you be traveling? If by train, then you might want to look at the routes and see if you can follow a path where you won't have to zigzag around too much and waste a day(s) of traveling.

Perhaps consider Barcelona, Spain. Or Madrid. Great food and wine and people.

Prague is one of my favorite cities. Large ex-pat community if you are into that. You can get by with English well enough, if that is a concern. It can be crazy with tourists, especially in the summer. You won't get a genuine Czech experience, unless you wander away form Old Town and the immediately surrounding areas. But, I took an apartment out in one of the neighborhoods were the locals lived. More of a subdued experience, but I got to know some of the locals. I dug them. Felt like I found people sharing my own vibe.

Plenty of places in Germany. What interests you most? Cologne. Munich. Bonn.

Kiev is safe. The currency is junk. Might be a gloomy mood there. As Gourimoko said, the conflict in the east and with Russia is a downer. Perhaps consider visiting Leviv in eastern part and tie in with a trip to Warsaw. Odessa is fun in the summer, too.

Edited: Fixed the slew of sloppy typos.

 

[Jack Brickman]

How long will you be traveling? And how will you be traveling? If by train, then you might wan to look at the routes and see if you can follow a path where you won't have to zigzag around too much and waste day of traveling.

I read the rest of your post as well, but just to answer this bit, we'll be traveling from two to three weeks (probably closer to two, but not sure yet). We'll likely use the train for as much of the trip as we can.

 

[shukle]

Live in Brussels, have travelled through most of Europe, except for Scandinavia.

2 or 3 weeks is not much. I'd advise to concentrate on one region and not jump around to much. You'll save days and money.

Best nature, sights is any Mediterranean country. France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Croatia and Slovenia are to me the most beautiful countries. Corsica (Mediterranean island) is the most beautiful place on earth, or close to it.

For party and fun I'd say Barcelona, Berlin, Bristol, Brussels, Amsterdam and Prague.

Southern and Eastern Europe is where it's at.
Consider buying a euro train pass. Unlimited train across Europe for a month for about 400 bucks.

 

[natedagg]

If you don't incorporate Barcelona into your plans, you have failed. Let's review a typical night there (from my experience there in 2005):
-Dinner from 10-11:30. Paella and drinks. Lots of drinks.
-Bar scene from 11:30-2AM.
-Club scene from 2-6ish.

It's just that kind of place. Lots of hazy, great experiences there. Great place especially if you are single.

I visited a ton of places but was traveling with my girlfriend-cum-wife, so most of my trip won't help. If I were you, I would be looking for places to get wild, which is a bit different than what we went for. I like the Croatia idea, and I like the consolidated trip (not trying to see to many places). If possible, plan around flexibility, although that sounds like an oxymoron. I just know that we had our flight into Paris and flight out of London 8 weeks later, an idea of where we wanted to go, and a train pass to travel. That worked out nicely, as we were able to ad lib and stay in our favorite place, Procida (an island in Italy) for like 5 days because we weren't tied to leave.

We also really enjoyed Amsterdam. We kind of "missed" on Prague - I had the feeling that it could have been really dope but we just didn't hit it right or the stars didn't align. So let's get back to the fundamentals here:

-Find a calendar of events for what the heck is going on in some countries. Maybe plan a day for a special event (concert?). We saw the Gypsie Kings live in Amsterdam, for example. It was incredible.

-Try to hit Barcelona, unless you really are an allergic-to-clubs guy. Maybe go there anyway. Topless beaches, bitches. Look into Ibiza as well (we didn't go).

-Make sure you have some sort of method to protect your passport/wallet. It's unlikely to be a problem but would be a huge buzz kill if you ran into anything standing in the way of your spontaneity.

-Read websites and get a book on Europe. Planning sucks in general, but planning for a trip like this is a real pleasure.

-Take and post a few pictures!

 

[Adam]

I would concur with barcelona having a great party scene. There are just places you bump into that are great clubs no matter what your tastes.

Budapest and Prague are great cities are surprisingly hot in the summer, just beware there is a cottage industry in extorting groups of drunk men in both countries (huge stag scene)

Berlin is great and very friendly if you avoid the punks, the wife say koln and munich are great too.

If you are going to london my one tip would be its actually pretty small and you can walk most places between the palace etc..

When in italy its pretty easy to train between rome pisa and florence, stay away from florence if its smelly season

 

[melecoaze]

Florence > Rome imo.

Germany has some really beautiful places near Munich and the coolest castle I've seen in Europe (Neuschwanstein).

Don't really need to say much about London, except that shit is very expensive there, and Brussels was the best place to drink beer imo, great people.

I'd certainly recommend France though. Paris is amazing, if you like beaches Nice is great, and I loved Normandy and the WW2 stuff there. Loire Valley has some amazing castles as well.

Most beautiful country is Austria tho. Didn't stay there, but what I've seen from the car is enough. Stunning.

 

[natedagg]

LIGHT BULB: figure out most epicest futbol event possible and go to a game. Riots. Booze. Hilarity. I am jealous just thinking about it.

 

[Scholar]

LIGHT BULB: figure out most epicest futbol event possible and go to a game. Riots. Booze. Hilarity. I am jealous just thinking about it.

Yep, get that authentic experience. Be sure to bring along some of the locals...


Maybe some music for your trip...


Not sure you should do the driving yourself...


Things aren't always how you imagine them...


Definitely visit Barcelona...


But, whatever you do, be very very careful what you get yourself into, and always, always remember your safe word.

 

[TJ Detweiler]

Strasbourg, France if you're looking for architectural beauty. Basically an entire city full of tudor architecture with a giant ass 1100s church in the middle of the city.

Annecy, France. One of the most naturally beautiful places i've been. Comparable to going to Disneyland while you are a kid, except nobody is trying to sell you anything, and it is 100x more beautiful. Some town out of a damn storybook, and if you walk a bit you hit a crystal clear lake with a mountain range, and a nude beach (for the full Euro experience.)