Hey everyone,
I'm planing on going on a holiday trip to Europe around mid way through the year and was curious what are the best destinations (your recommended places to go in that destinations) and the best things to do (attractions) in those destinations.
Things I enjoy to do: Outdoor activities, hiking, sightseeing, festivals, local attractions, seeing new cultures from around Europe and other things.
Thanks,
Eitan
[ Edit: Edited on 10-Feb-2019, at 21:17 by eitan tzin ]
... sorry, but this is a travel forum, not a free travel agency. People here volunteer their time to help others, we will happily help with details but we will not plan your entire trip.
"Europe" consists of 47 (fourty-seven) independent countries with 100,000's of places to visit. We know neither you nor your interests, travel style, budget etc. etc. There is no "best" that appeals to everyone. Please do some research first, decide what you want and where you want to go, and then return with more detailed questions.
Hi Eitan, it sounds like you're in the enviable position of having a free agenda and perhaps it's precisely because Europe is relatively big and certainly vastly diverse that you are open enough to just put it out there. I don't see how it could be misinterpreted as looking for someone to plan your trip?
So I'll contribute this: Should you decided to visit London, I'll happily spend a day or two showing you around any of the world class museums and galleries we have here, and suggest a few things worth doing that I would not be up for (such as the London Eye - the bug wheel which takes up to 45 minutes to go round and offers amaing views of London - if the whether is not terrible; I've been on it a few times already though and because it's not cheap I only go on it when family visit).
I've never been to the Tower of London, though, despite living here more than 25 years) and will be visiting that at some point this year. My main thing, though, is museums, and The British Museum, National Gallery and Natural History Museum are all world class AND free (donations if you wish but in no way are you pressured to give, so if you're on a budget...). There are plenty that people often miss, including the Joan Soane museum, which is small but unlike anything most people have ever seen (google it) and the Imperial War Museum, which is very moving; not least because the word Imperial in its name implies glory, but far from it. In fact the award winning permenant holocaust exhibit is known for leaving people either in tears (me every time I visit) or too shocked/angry/depressed by man's inhumanity to man.
I could write a vast ammount about London alone, but the rest of the UK has some amazing places to see also - depends if you're into history and culture, but for me these are the main reasons I travel - just to meet the people and experience as closely as a tourist can, how people live day to day.
I've literally just joined this site - to offer some advice on travel in India, where I've just spend a month over Christmas - so I'm going to get on with that then on with my day; which involves some more travel plans.
I won't make many specific suggestions but just name a few places because if you really have no idea where to begin then even if you have no interest in the places I mention, that will at least give you the start of an agenda.
Europe is vastly diverse, though, so it might be worth focusing on just a few countries - chosen according to your budget, perhaps - or accept that you're not going to get to see much of anywhere if you're moving fast, because if you try to pack too much into too short a time you'll probably just wind up too exahuasted half way through. Remember that even though you have the convenient fact that so many places use the Euro, so you won't need to keep changing currencies, nearly every time you cross a boarder you'll be dealing with new languages and ways of doing things, but it's your trip and you might speak 29 languages for all I know.
Personally I tend to stick to one or two places a week (one if it's major city; but that said the first time I went to Amsterdam three days was plenty, the first time I went to Paris six days was far from enough, and even though I went to Agra just to see theTaj Mahal and could have been in and out in one day, I spent four days there mainly just beacuse I love walking around Indian cities; although it is also immesnely stressful with the endless hassle that I just decided to chill).
So Paris and Amsterdam are two of my favrourite places in Europe, and you'll hear about the more famous places everywhere (such as the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam the infamous Koffee shops and the red light district, but it's worth jumping on a -fairly cheap - train and visitng somewhere like Lyden or Haarlem for a day; not much in Haarlem but it's pretty and it's cool to have been there given how different it is to the place named after it in NY,
But in Paris, wilst Notre Dame catherdeal gets mentioned all the time, for some reason Sacre Couer does not, yet it's astounding (if you've seen the movie Amelie, it's the place where she has to run up all those steps); and if you're at all bookish, seek out the Shakspeare bookshop - very near Notre Dame...
Amsterdam is a great city for walking; very small but utterly beautiful, and whilst it's built on canals, it's very different to the canals Stockholm is built around, which are mostly sea inlets, but it's another favourite European capital of mine and should you go, I enthusiatically recommend the Vasamuseet (a vast museum built around a prize warship - the Vasa - that sank with minutes of launch in about 1648 and which was salvaged about fifty years ago).
Other than that, I'll simply say that if you go to Spain there are countless places to see, but if you're there in the summer, the Soouth East is often neglected but get inland and visit the mountains and the plains (some of which were used to film Clint Eastwood's more famous spaghetti westerns) and it's a differebt world to the beaches of the south west, crammed with lobster red Brits getting drunk and obnoxious on the very cheap booze. I've spent a fair bit of time in the south east of Spain as two good friends have houses there, but I usally only spend a few days on the south cost - usually in Marbella old town, which is stunningly typical old Spain - before taking a a ferry to Morocco, because it's easy and cheap and a week in Morocco is always a refrehsing change from Europe.
Whatever you do and wherever you go, happy travels.
I'm off to India again at least once this year but probably twice, and a few other places (I'm lucky that my work means I can work from anywhere that I can get online two or three times a week) and I often go at very short notice when a stupidly cheap deal appears - I just saw a return flght to Barbados for less than £300 and I'm sorely tempted) so no guarantee I'll even be in London should you choose to come here, but let my know if you decide to and you want someone to show you around the cultural stuff, or just someone to hang our with the first day you're here to help you avoid the rip offs that catch at least half of tourists.
Could I also take you up, on showing me around London. I found your reply wonderful and very useful. I have never been to London but would love to visit. I also just joined this site, I have been looking for awhile now for a site like this. I would really like to travel with you some time in the near future. I'm looking for someone to take a cruise with me from Santiago (San Antonio), Chile through the panama canal to Miami on March 16, 2019. It's pretty cheap $542 us but it has taxes too. for 16 days.
Brian
Hi Brian and welcome to the forum. It’s quite likely that your invitation for the cruise will get missed by any potential companions, buried here in this thread, you'd probably maximise your chances by posting it as a new thread.
The backpacking the major European cities first then heading to the seaside. Croatia, Monte negro.