TTMA- Europe

[pinkcat]

Good Morning GKU!

DH and I decided last night that we'd like to plan a trip to Europe in the spring. For fun, I was looking up potential trips yesterday. I realized it's not quite as expensive as I thought and it was something that we can probably make work if we are careful about other areas over the next few months. We don't want to take more than a week off work, so we are planning on leaving on a Friday evening and returning the following Sunday.
Between us we have been to Paris, Lisbon, and Barcelona while in college, but we aren't opposed at all to returning to those cities.

With 8 days, what would you do in Europe? Where would you go?! Any recommendations on travel, hotels that you loved, etc?

[spicysalmonroll]

I get a lady hard on from travel talk
I've been to 26 countries and 5 continents and I can't wait to see more! So last March we did London & Iceland. Iceland Air has a free stopover so believe it or not it was cheaper to fly to both countries than just 1! (from Boston) We did 4 days in each and it was amazing, we loved every second.

Our hotel in London was the St. James Court by Taj- very fancy. A little too fancy, as the lobby was always men in business suits and we'd come walking through in our jeans and Nikes lol. But the location was killer- a 5 minute walk to Buckingham Palace and 5 minutes walk to Westminster Abbey and the tube. March was awesome because it was plenty warm (high 60's) with no crowds or lines.

Our hotel in Reykjavik was the Hotel Reykjavik Centrum which was so quaint and adorable and great location. Close to all the shops and buses downtown. And of course the Blue Lagoon geothermal spas were the best thing EVER.

I also love Greece but you'd want to spend your whole time there, half in Athens and half on the islands and the islands really are better in summer.

We are looking to go to the Azores in spring. It's a Portugeuse island that looks incredible and it's still relatively cheap and unknown vacation spot. My friend just went for her honeymoon. I saw direct flights from Boston only 5 hours for around $500.

[pinkcat]

spicysalmonroll, 26 countries is amazing!! I hope I can see that many someday Thank you for all of the advice.

starbuck27, Italy and Greece were at the top of our list- thank you for the suggestions! DH really wants to see Pompeii, I'm glad to hear it is worth it.

[requiressnacks]

Good morning! I haven't travelled a lot in Europe, but I did do a cruise from Athens to Venice. It was 14 days long and we stopped at a bunch of places in the Greek Islands (Santorini and Corfu were amazing!), Croatia, Ephesus Turkey and a few stops in Italy (shout out to Venice!). I loved being able to see a lot in a short amount of time. I can't wait to go back and spend more time in Italy....someday.

[notagoddess]

Oooh travel porn!

I spent a week in Seville as a teenager and I absolutely loved it.

[ohinvrtedworld]

My expertise in European travel is in a somewhat uncommon area, but I wanted to put it out there...

... Croatia is fantastic. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been. There are amazing turquoise beaches, medieval towns that are to die for, and the Plitvice Lakes national park which is a UNESCO heritage site. Great food and it's pretty cheap for us to travel to. Split & Dubrovnik are musts.

I also loved Bosnia & Hercegovina. Sarajevo is incredible. There's an older area of the city that has a really medieval Turkish vibe, and then parts of the city built during the Austrian era with more of that architecture. Some great coffee, hookah, and bazaar shopping. We also white water rafted and went to Mostar, which is gorgeous and another UNESCO site.

They don't get NEARLY enough attention in the European travel world so I love telling people how much I love the Balkans!

[ohinvrtedworld]

If I could go somewhere right now, though, I'd love to go to Germany & Austria. Castles and beer? Yes please!

[mrsjene]

Oh man. I haven't had enough coffee to go into extreme detail but...

Greece - The islands are amazing. You really don't need more than like three days in Athens.

Germany - LOVED Munich. We went during Oktoberfest and it was unbelievable. Really clean city and nice people.

Italy - Rome was very cosmopolitan and just so many beautiful things to see everywhere. Florence is super romantic. Want to go back and do more of southern Italy.

Portugal - Lisbon is a fantastic walking city and cheaper than most other European cities. I want to go back and go to Algarve.

Azores - I've only been to one island, but it was beautiful.

Spain - I loved Seville.

[joy]

Oh god. I can't do this. It would really depend on my mood and time of year.

Can I throw a recommendation of stopping over in Iceland?! I think me and emilie could cover a lot of must-dos!

My husband and I have wanted to take a trip to Rome, Assisi and then the Amalfi Coast.

My sister went on a Mediterrean cruise that left from Rome's port (not in Rome proper) and went to Athens, Sicily, Turkey, and Crete? Something like that.

I've been to London, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Belgium, and parts of Switzerland. I'll happily tell you what I remember from there.

Ireland rocks, by the way. Dublin is a fun place! Go kiss the Blarney Stone!

[requiressnacks]

Oct 13, 2015 8:55:38 GMT -5 ohinvrtedworld said:

My expertise in European travel is in a somewhat uncommon area, but I wanted to put it out there...

... Croatia is fantastic. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been. There are amazing turquoise beaches, medieval towns that are to die for, and the Plitvice Lakes national park which is a UNESCO heritage site. Great food and it's pretty cheap for us to travel to. Split & Dubrovnik are musts.

I also loved Bosnia & Hercegovina. Sarajevo is incredible. There's an older area of the city that has a really medieval Turkish vibe, and then parts of the city built during the Austrian era with more of that architecture. Some great coffee, hookah, and bazaar shopping. We also white water rafted and went to Mostar, which is gorgeous and another UNESCO site.

They don't get NEARLY enough attention in the European travel world so I love telling people how much I love the Balkans!

I loved Split too!  That was one of my favorite stops.  And I loved that they weren't on the Euro - my dollar went a lot further back then.

[jags8]

Exciting!!

Paris is cool and all, cuz I mean, it's Paris. But I really recommend exploring other areas of France. St. Malo in the north, Monet's home and garden in Giverny, Nice and Cannes in the South...there's so much more to France than just Paris.

I really want to visit Prague someday, since that's where my ancestors came from.

[Deleted]

My DH and I loved belgium when we went 4 years ago. We went for a week in Brussels during the Christmas market season. we were able to take a bus tour to Bruges and Ghent for a day trip. It was an amazing trip.
We stayed in an area very close to the markets in a budget hotel that included a continental buffet breakfast. There was no need for a fancy hotel, since there was so much to see and do in the area.

[pinkcat]

Such great advice in this thread! I don't know how we'll ever make a decision.

jags8 I absolutely adore Nice- it was probably my favorite part of France last time I was there! I thought the cemetery there was so amazing, too.

joy Your pictures of Iceland a few months ago were beautiful- I have definitely given that some thought! If we decide on Italy I would love to do the Amalfi Coast, that's always been a dream location of mine.

ohinvrtedworld I have heard so many nice things about Croatia! I think we will have to put that on our list for serious consideration.

mrsjene Munich during Oktoberfest is DH's #1 travel goal. So cool that you got to go!

pippacricket Riding on a gondola is definitely a wishlist item of mine too. I'm glad you got to do that!

requiressnacks, How was Santorini? The pictures I see online always look stunning.

[ohinvrtedworld]

Oct 13, 2015 9:28:19 GMT -5 pinkcat said:

Such great advice in this thread! I don't know how we'll ever make a decision.

I feel like the only way to make a decision is to decide that you'll take more trips in your lifetime to go to the rest of the places Otherwise it'd be paralyzing.

[requiressnacks]

pinkcat, Santorini is amazing. Truly stunning. A "must see"

here are a couple pics I took. I mean, seriously?! It looks like a painting.

[onesweetworld]

Oct 13, 2015 9:08:06 GMT -5 requiressnacks said:

Oct 13, 2015 8:55:38 GMT -5 ohinvrtedworld said:

My expertise in European travel is in a somewhat uncommon area, but I wanted to put it out there...

... Croatia is fantastic. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been. There are amazing turquoise beaches, medieval towns that are to die for, and the Plitvice Lakes national park which is a UNESCO heritage site. Great food and it's pretty cheap for us to travel to. Split & Dubrovnik are musts.

I also loved Bosnia & Hercegovina. Sarajevo is incredible. There's an older area of the city that has a really medieval Turkish vibe, and then parts of the city built during the Austrian era with more of that architecture. Some great coffee, hookah, and bazaar shopping. We also white water rafted and went to Mostar, which is gorgeous and another UNESCO site.

They don't get NEARLY enough attention in the European travel world so I love telling people how much I love the Balkans!

I loved Split too!  That was one of my favorite stops.  And I loved that they weren't on the Euro - my dollar went a lot further back then.

Split was fantastic!! I also loved Kotor, Montenegro.

If you can do it, I highly recommend a Mediterranean cruise. Yes you only have one day in most ports but it's a fantastic way to sample the cities and see where you want to go back to.

MH is stuck on the Caribbean now, I can't convince him to do the flights to Europe yet.

Also, once you narrow down what you want I'm happy to provide hotel and sightseeing recommendations.

[ohinvrtedworld]

Oct 13, 2015 9:32:46 GMT -5 onesweetworld said:

Oct 13, 2015 9:08:06 GMT -5 requiressnacks said:

I loved Split too!  That was one of my favorite stops.  And I loved that they weren't on the Euro - my dollar went a lot further back then.

Split was fantastic!! I also loved Kotor, Montenegro.

If you can do it, I highly recommend a Mediterranean cruise. Yes you only have one day in most ports but it's a fantastic way to sample the cities and see where you want to go back to.

MH is stuck on the Caribbean now, I can't convince him to do the flights to Europe yet.

Also, once you narrow down what you want I'm happy to provide hotel and sightseeing recommendations.

Omggg that sounds wonderful. I'd love to go back and go to Serbia and Slovenia, my in-laws are part Slovene so I am trying to make it a family trip  

Ugh this thread is giving me major travel feels, and we are in no position to go anywhere anytime soon. Maybe we need to start saving for Christmas time in Germany

[pinkcat]

Absolutely beautiful requiressnacks!!!

Thanks, onesweetworld! Hopefully you can convince your DH that a flight to Europe is worth it

[onesweetworld]

pinkcat what month are you thinking for your trip?

Also, what are you and YH interested in?

[pinkcat]

Oct 13, 2015 9:41:03 GMT -5 onesweetworld said:

pinkcat what month are you thinking for your trip?

Also, what are you and YH interested in?

We are thinking April or May, but would be open to March as well.

When we travel I typically like to settle down in 1 or 2 cities so that we can really get to "know" the area and not waste too much time on travel days, so I am hoping we can figure out a plan for 1 or 2 cities and spend 4 days or so in each.

We both like museums, architecture, wine, food, and shopping- so any city with those would make us happy! I also love warm weather/beaches so something like Nice/Amalfi Coast would be very appealing for a few days.

[swivelchair5]

Lurking, but +1 for Iceland! DH and I went 2 winters ago and I think there is nowhere like it in the world. We rented a car and spent 4 days there, checking out some of the world's most amazing waterfalls, glaciers, and geysers, and hugging Icelandic horses.
Here is DH with a waterfall:


PS: I have no idea why this is sideways. Sorry for making you tilt your head.

[pinkcat]

That's beautiful swivelchair5!!

[icedtea]

Exciting!

H and I went to Italy in March--we did Rome and Florence. Rome was nice, but I really wish we spent more time in Florence (we had four nights there). Next time I think we'll just stick to the Tuscany area and bask in the wine, weather, history, and gorgeousness.

We're going to Switzerland in April--we'll be doing Lucerne, Lausanne, and Neuchatel. I've been a couple times, but H has never gone. I have a friend and her family there, super excited to see them again. Switzerland is wonderful and it's fun to travel around, since each area is so different.

I didn't love the three weeks I spent in the Netherlands years ago, but I went in January and the weather was unpleasant. Amsterdam was fun, though.

I love London, and H is a huge fan of Scotland and Spain. I've always really wanted to go to Greece.

Clearly what this thread shows is that, no matter what you pick, you'll have an amazing time :-)

[babycowbell]

Fun!

Amsterdam is awesome, also Munich, I loved the food and beer. Ireland is beautiful, but not great food in my opinion. The Azores off the coast of Portugal are amazing for food, hiking, wine, and more affordable than a lot of Europe. There are direct flights there out of Boston so pretty quick too!

[spicysalmonroll]

requiressnacks, Yesssssss Santorini was probably my top 3 places I've ever been.

mrsjene, Which island in Azores did you go? I'm hoping for Ponta Delgada (think that's the capital city but I could be wrong)

pinkcat, earlier spring will be cheapest.

swivelchair5, I really want to go back to Iceland in summer. We went everything was covered in snow. It was amazing to see but I'd love to also see it in summer. We went at peak northern lights time and never saw any so that was sad but what can ya do?!

[JustJudy]

I just went to Greece this year and it was amazing - even with the "crisis" going on. We stopped in Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, and Corfu.

Italy is so close it would be great to do both countries if you can. I could stay in Italy for weeks at a time though

[swivelchair5]

Oct 13, 2015 10:15:37 GMT -5 spicysalmonroll said:

*snip*

swivelchair5, I really want to go back to Iceland in summer. We went everything was covered in snow. It was amazing to see but I'd love to also see it in summer. We went at peak northern lights time and never saw any so that was sad but what can ya do?!

I feel like Iceland is a completely different vacation in winter vs. summer.  Iceland in the summer is on our list.  I want to see the waterfalls that are inaccessible in the winter, and travel around the ring road.

We saw the Northern lights on our very last chance.  We set our alarm for 1 AM on our last night there, it went off and I told DH I was too tired to look.  He convinced me I would regret not taking the last chance.  We walked out of our hotel in the middle of downtown Reykjavik, and the entire sky was lit up.  It was so amazing! 

[pinkcat]

Thanks starbuck27! Adding that to the list...it looks amazing.

[emilie]

coming into this late but joy tagged me sooo... throwing in another vote for using an Icelandair stopover. Icelandair goes to so many cities in Europe and you get a FREE stopover for up to a week in Iceland. H and I did this last summer on our way to mainland Europe and I would absolutely recommend it. We were there when it was light out all day (amazing!) and in our short 3 days there we drove hundreds of miles, saw geysers, glaciers, black volcanic beaches, unbelievable scenery, and half a dozen crazy waterfalls. If you get a 4x4 you can go to puffin preserves and go offroading. We did so much in just a few days. We also had one of the most unbelievable meals I've ever put in my face in Reykjavik.

Icelandair is cheap, especially from the East Coast and especially if you book early (I am west coast based, but I think when we booked around this time of year for a June trip we got a one way from Denver to France with a stopover in Reykjavik for something crazy like $400).

So many choices... have fun planning!