3rd Europe Trip

[Goliath]

So it's a bit early because I won't be buying anything for another 3 or 4 months, but I'm definitely going to Europe again this coming summer, and I'm bored so thought I'd start planning now.

Where I've been:

London - 20 days
Edinburgh - 3 days
Brussels - 3 days
Paris - 5 days
Amsterdam - 3 days
Rome - 5 Days
Florence - 5 Days
Verona - 3 Days
Venice - 3 Days
Salzburg - 3 Days
Vienna - 4 Days
Prague - 4 Days

Posting a map like I did last time, with a trail of where I'm wanting to go next. The problem with this course is that it's way too long, and would probably be pretty annoying to do by rail, like I did from Rome - Prague. Plus there's the whole water issue with Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Give me some ideas. Where should somebody go for there third Europe trip, after seeing the places I've already seen, and for a 30 day trip?

[Grooverider]

You're just seeing more of the same in my opinion (I've been everywhere you've been, except Verona, and all the places you've listed that you'd like to go to).

I would do this:

French Rivera ->> Cut straight across to eastern europe to Slovenia ->> Zagreb ->> Split (Also in Croatia) ->> Sofia ->> Finish in Istanbul.

Mix and match Eastern Europe. But start in the South of France, for a bit of smooth before the middling rough.

[Zanoan]

Originally Posted by Goliath

Plus there's the whole water issue with Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

What do you mean?

[Utne^_^]

If you want to visit Scandinavia, there's no water issue really. There's bridges between Jutland, Funen and Zealand(The peninsula and 2 major islands).
And from Copenhagen there's a bridge to Malmö in Sweden.

So that shouldn't stop you from enjoying Scandinavia. Plus the trains are easy to use, at least in Denmark.

[Lambourne]

+1 for Istanbul.

I went there for the first time earlier this year and I liked it a lot. It's an interesting mix of cultures, I read up on its history before I went which added a lot to the experience because everything made a lot more sense.
The main attractions (Haga Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace) are pretty damn busy but still worth seeing. There are plenty of other things to see though, some of which were just about empty.

Public transport in the city is cheap and pretty good, packed though.

Since it's not EU you will need a separate visa, but you can just buy it at the airport as you arrive (think it was €10 or so)

[Burkex]

Just curious how much will a 60 day trip to Europe cost you? It is a place I still want to travel too very badly.

[Adam12]

That depends on what you want to do, how you want to move, and what kind of places you want to stay. If you wan't to camp (not bad for spring or summer), you can get lots for ~2euros a night, up to 500/night for a nice hotel and everything in between. Hostels are hit and miss, and in some cities aren't even that cheap.

Need more info to give you a better answer...how much luxury can you do without, how much moving between cities do you want to do, etc.

[Grooverider]

I travelled Europe this year from around June -> July. I spent roughly.. 8000 dollars in the month.

It could be done cheaper but I'm too old and work to hard to stay in shit holes so your mileage may vary (I did the hostel thing around Europe when I was 18). My hotels averaged about 150 dollars a night. Consider that I was paying for my girlfriend too.

[Goliath]

Originally Posted by Burkex

Just curious how much will a 60 day trip to Europe cost you? It is a place I still want to travel too very badly.

I've traveled Europe the past two summers for 30 days each. Last summer it cost $4000 (better exchange rate), and the summer before that it was $5000 (was in London a lot and at the time it was 2.00/1.00 GBP/USD. Not sure how the last poster spent $8,000, must have lived really lavishly. Because both times I lived very nicely (private studio first trip and then 4 star hotels every city second trip, all over Italy).

Edit: Oh, he paid for girlfriend too, so that was kind of stupid to say $8,000. Makes sense then, like I said, $4,000-$5,000 for 30 days. So around $7000-9000 for 60 (cheaper rates if you stay longer, etc).

[Jysin-DW]

Last year with my ex, we picked up a rental car in London and got documents for taking it through Europe. We basically did the scenic routes and stayed off major motorways wherever possible. We started in London, drove down to Folkstone drove it straight onto the train which took us through the Chunnel to Calais France. Then basically did a part wine / part sightseeing tour. Calais to the Roen area, down to Cognac (Hennessey / Remey Martin tours were cool), then down to Bordeaux for a few days drinking and sightseeing.

From Bordeaux we drove to San Sebastian Spain for a night, then to the Rioja area (wine) for a few days. After that we headed to Barcellona and up the coast for a small Mediterranean seaside B&B.

After leaving spain, it was back into the South of France along the Med. Did a quick drive through Marseille, and ended up doubling our intended stay in St. Tropez (fucking nice place, but you will blow through $ like water). Then off to Cannes for part of a day, which wasnt all that exciting to be honest. Then spent part of a day in Nice and another day in Monaco.

We kind of blew through the Eastern tip of Italy and drove straight to Mont Blanc for some hiking. Stayed in a skii resort village called Chamonix, and that place was pretty damn scenic and amazing. Ended up staying 2 extra days there for hiking and just relaxing. Definitely reccommend.

After Mont Blanc we drove through Geneva and aroun Lake Geneva itself sightseeing into Switzerland. After that, finally coming back into France again for a final time visiting the Burgundy wine region, then up through Dijon.

The last thing we visited was the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, which was pretty breathtaking. The cemetaries at Normandy always get the glory, but its actually this cemetary that has the largest number of American dead in Europe totalling around 15,000. The crazy thing, walking around all the cemetary was that you realize most of those people all died within ~3 month period during WW I. Pretty crazy.

Leaving there, we headed back up to Calais and back through to England and drove up to London to finish up the trip. It was pretty incredible and I highly recommend the driving trip. I purposefully rented a convertible, which happened to be a VW EOS with a little 2L turbo. It was very very enjoyable car to drive through the rural countryside, as well as having enough "oomph" getting through the mountainous Mt. Blanc area. Convertible top is a must have...

Just do yourself a favor and get off the beaten path once in a while. We visited quite a few of the larger tourist destinations, but having the freedom of the car allowed us to stay at quite a few rural B&Bs. Best choice we ever made and it was extremely memorable and enjoyable.

[Grooverider]

Originally Posted by Goliath

I've traveled Europe the past two summers for 30 days each. Last summer it cost $4000 (better exchange rate), and the summer before that it was $5000 (was in London a lot and at the time it was 2.00/1.00 GBP/USD. Not sure how the last poster spent $8,000, must have lived really lavishly. Because both times I lived very nicely (private studio first trip and then 4 star hotels every city second trip, all over Italy).

Edit: Oh, he paid for girlfriend too, so that was kind of stupid to say $8,000. Makes sense then, like I said, $4,000-$5,000 for 30 days. So around $7000-9000 for 60 (cheaper rates if you stay longer, etc).

I don't think you can survive in Western Europe for 4000 dollars for 30 days whilst staying in hotels. My girlfriend added very little to my cost, which would have been about the same without her there.

[Goliath]

Originally Posted by Grooverider

I don't think you can survive in Western Europe for 4000 dollars for 30 days whilst staying in hotels. My girlfriend added very little to my cost, which would have been about the same without her there.

Did you eat at restaurants? I bought/buy from grocery stores and McDonalds. We ate at two bomb restaurants and Italy, but that was it.

[chu]

I do agree that you're seeing more of the same there and are spread too thing. You basically have 3 trips there:

1) Scandinavia + baltic and Russia (St. Petersburg + Moscow)
2) Souther France, Iberia + Morocco
3) Balkans, Greece and Turkey


Pick one imo.

[Goliath]

I really don't know if I agree that I'll be seeing the same thing. People said that about my 2nd trip (Italy/Austria/Czech Republic) from my 1st trip (England, Scotland, Belgium, The Netherlands, France) and I didn't feel like it was repetitive. Gothic building X to me is different enough to enjoy than Gothic building Y. I'm not going to do Turkey, I've already decided I'm saving Turkey for later time in life. I'd do Asia, but if I did I'd have to go solo, and I want a companion.

[fucker]

Hey Goliath, how your trip to italy have been? have my messages helped you?