Eurotrip Recommendations

[Rowan]

So I'm thinking of going interrailing for about 3 weeks or so round Europe, and I don't really have much of a plan as of yet, so I'm just going to generally ask about any places in Europe you've been to, would recommend and why etc... In terms of what I'd like to do, there really isn't anything specific I'm going for, just a nice variety I guess

I really want to go to Prague since my grandma grew up there, and it would be nice to see whereabouts she's from. Istanbul really appeals as well, but it is quite far out so might not be the most practical. Probably would like to go somewhere in Germany too.

Also use this thread to talk about own euro experiences too

 

[Cresselia~~]

I've been to France, Belgium, Italy, UK, Vatican, The Netherlands and probably more than that.

I personally find Paris and Rome overrated. Paris is actually quite dirty, and I wished they could clean their streets and buildings more.
Smaller villages in France and Italy provided a much better experience to me.
I absolutely adore Florence and Milan.

Scenary in The Netherlands are wonderful. The fish they sell on the coasts were delicious too. I ate some raw herring with raw onions and that was one of my favorite raw fish.

I've lived in the UK for slightly more than 5 years, so I can tell you more about UK than other countries.

York-- this was where I lived. This place is very pretty. Nearly all the buildings look very historical, and are actually more than 500 years old. The carvings on any buildings are gorgeous. York Minster is a large cathedral like Catholic building that looks very lavish.
Georgian house is a museum that exhibits stuff from the Georgian period. Actual artifacts. Plus the building was really built during the Georgian period.
There's also this Castle that surrounds York that was built during the Roman period.
And there's a Viking museum.
You get to brag to people "I've visited New York AND the Old York, as in the original York." after you visited York.

Cardiff and Swansea-- do pay a visit to places in Wales. It's fun to see road signs that have Welsh on them, because Welsh doesn't feel like a real language whilst it really is a real language. Cardiff University has a very pretty campus. University of Swansea has a lovely beach near it.

 

[The Avalanches]

Gonna keep my eye on this thread, hoping I can knock Europe off my list some time in the next 18 months.

Would be super nice to go to Germany, definitely, but I'd love to see what people have to say -- really don't know a whole hell of a lot about the place.

Also, Euro Trip (2004) is the most underrated comedy movie of all time.

 

[Adeleine]

Been to London, Paris, Munich, Vienna, and Bratislava (Slovakia) so far (in that order). Rather tough to decide but Munich was probably my favorite of the group. Im hitting Helsinki (Finland) and Talinn (Estonia) somewhat soon and am super hyped, as you can possibly guess from my avi lol. I've heard Prague is top tier and Istanbul is fucking awesome, although the practicality concerns for the latter are significant.
They might not have all the Lourves and whatnot, and therefore may not be the places to spend too many nights, but places like Bratislava and Old Town Riga in Latvia show you a different and definitely worth seeing side of Europe.
If you want an adventure, try Russia and hope Putin doesn't randomly close the borders, or Sarajevo if you're really insane.

 

[Lolk]

I studied abroad in Prague last semester, and I absolutely loved it! You can definitely hit all of the main touristy spots in one weekend (Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, John Lennon Wall, Old Town Square, etc) but if you want to spend more time there I can recommend some cool spots, restaurants, and bars.

If you are there on a Saturday, I definitely recommend going to the black market. It's about 10 acres of stolen stuff, ranging from electronics to clothes to weapons at dirt cheap prices. My friend lost her phone in a club and found it on sale at the market the next day lol. There are a lot of cool antiques and historical memorabilia dating back over 100 years. You can find coasters from the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games with swastikas still on them, for example.

One of my favorite experiences abroad was spending spring break hiking in the Bavarian Alps near Munich. I went by myself, and it was truly a transforming experience. I also visited Vienna, Krakow, and Budapest, so if you are curious about any of those cities just hmu.

 

[destinyunknown]

Going to the Benelux is definitely worth it, there are many interesting cities there, Antwerp, Brussels, Bruges, Amsterdam are all worth paying a visit and are close to each other. If you go to Prague, you should definitely consider visiting Germany (either Berlin or the Bavaria. Munich is great) since it's pretty close.

As for other countries, Austria is also worth visiting (mainly Vienna, but also Salzburg), and Switzerland has some interesting cities like Geneve, but keep in mind Switzerland is ridiculously expensive in comparison to the rest of Europe.

 

[Bughouse]

Amsterdam is my favorite city in the world and I was even there with my parents, not alone and partaking in its more... adult... pursuits. Paris is also a great city to be a tourist in. As are Prague, Vienna, Budapest, etc... That's where you probably should spend most of your time just because of how compact it is and so you cut out a lot of travel time. But if you do have time to get out of northern/central europe and get all the way down to Spain, there is a LOT of cool stuff to see, but do not expect people to speak good english whatsoever, even in the major cities.

Things to do in Amsterdam (aside from whatever sex and drugs stuff you want lol):

Rijksmuseum, duh - also this is where the famous I Amsterdam sign is if you needed convincing
Anne Frank House, duh
Rembrandt Museum
Oude Kerk, old church building in what is now the red light district
Stedelijk and Van Gogh Museums, if you like modern art, otherwise you can skip both tbh
Vondelpark
If you have time and you like art, get out to the Hague to go to the Mauritshuis, which has the world's largest collection of Vermeer paintings
Condomerie!! Also there is a dessert place (Dolce and Gelato) right around the corner from it that I loved
BoomChicago for a fun nightlife thing for a night when maybe you don't want to go out but you also don't want to sleep early


Things to do in Paris:

Louvre, duh
Eiffel Tower, duh (I recommend walking up, actually, if you are in shape. The lines for the elevators are stupid long and the walk up is cool.)
Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle (do not skip Sainte Chapelle, which is basically next door. Many tourists don't know about it, but it is beautiful.)
Walk the Champs-Elysees, between the Orangerie (go inside - has Monet's Water Lillies paintings) and Arc de Triomphe
Montmartre and Sacre-Coeur
d'Orsay and Pompidou Center, if you like modern art, otherwise you can skip both tbh
Pantheon (yes there's something called the Pantheon in Paris - Voltaire and Marie Curie and some other cool people are buried here)
Rodin Museum if you like sculpture
Paris Catacombs
If you have time, get out to Versailles. The gardens are fantastic. Was my favorite part of my trip to the Paris area. This takes up most of a day though.
Alternatively, get out to the Rouen or Chartres cathedrals.
If you're like me, you'll be sick of eating Continental European food, so go get Japanese or Chinese food in the 9th Arondissement by the opera house.

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

A few of my favourites, in no particular order: Tallinn, Berlin, Amsterdam, Budapest, Rome.

I don't even remember doing anything in particular in Tallinn, but the old town is a beautiful place to just explore for a while. Bughouse has already covered Amsterdam better than I could. Rome (including the Vatican) is good for ancient things and extravagant churches. I've not yet been anywhere else in Italy, so I couldn't tell you if there's anywhere better to go. Not sure what to say about Berlin and Budapest, except that they've both seen a lot of history, and it's left a lot to see in both of them.

My favourite thing I've seen in Europe is probably the Sagrada Familia, so that alone could make a quick stop in Barcelona worthwhile if that's the part of Europe you're in.

Obligatory plug for Freiburg im Breisgau because it's where I lived when I studied abroad for a year. Can recommend beer.

Hard to believe we're helping you narrow it down much.

 

[Rowan]

Hard to believe we're helping you narrow it down much.

no, there are so many places it's so hard to actually decide where to go etc..

Cresselia~~ I'm from England, so I'm obviously not going to travel round UK it as part of my trip but thanks for the suggestions regardless

Lolk I'm actually considering every city you mentioned, a couple of my friends went to krakow and said it was amazing. Would you recommend Budapest? again a friend has been there and recommends it, but I haven't really got an idea of what is there to warrant a visit

Bughouse, my last 2 holidays were actually Paris and Amsterdam haha! Paris was alright, there was lots to do there, but it didn't wow me in the same way that Amsterdam did, I loved everything about Amsterdam it was just a great atmosphere, which I felt was kind of lacking in Paris

TheTiksiBranch Riga does look nice to be fair but, like istanbul, seems a bit far out, bratislava I'm considering though

DestinyUnknown as I said I've been to amsterdam before, and my sister has just got a job for the EU, working in brussels so I'll manage to get free accomodation there in a few months so I'll probs leave it from this trip. Bruges looks incredibly pretty though, I might consider that

e: croatia looks really nice too, anyone been there and would recommend anything?

 

[Lolk]

Budapest is cool. They are known for their bathhouses, and I definitely recommend trying one. They also have these bars called ruin bars, which are buildings destroyed during WWII bombings and turned into cool bars. I really enjoyed my trip because I took one of those free walking tours. I had never taken one in any other city i visited, but I should have. I learned so much about he city's history and were to spend my three days. If you see them in any other cities you visit, I recommend that that's the first thing you do when you get there. Budapest also has several palaces and the parliament building along the Danube River, which offers many pretty views.

Prague, Krakow, and Budapest have a very similar central-European architectural setup. Krakow and Budapest were damaged heavily in WWII, so a lot of there city doesn't feel as authentic as Prague, architecture-wise, because they have newer buildings. That being said, if you visit just one of those cities, you will get the overall picture. The food is pretty much the same between each city as well. Many different areas of Europe, especially down South, offer completely different experiences, so depending on how much you like Central Europe, you might want to just pick one city so you can get the most of your trip.

 

[DHR-107]

Tagging MikeAU as he did a massive trip around Europe last year and visited lots of places.

I can't say I've done a lot of Europe, but I've been to southern Germany and Switzerland which was fantastic. If you're near Mulhouse and you're into cars PLEASE go to the Schlumpf collection there. It's amazing. Cars of everything you can imagine there. I also spent some time in Basel, which was really interesting to see the contrast for the Swiss architecture compared to the German.

 

[Grey Knight]

I'd say that southern Greece or Spain are far superior in terms of accommodation and climate, unless you are not into that beach chillin, party hard mood cant see why you wouldnt think about those first, case you going solo but still an outgoing person you will most-likely end up meeting new people due to the sheer amount of tourist of various nationalities and the random highly approachable groups of hippies/back packers.

I dont know how well connected through the rail-system those countries are but last time i checked interail passes worked for ferries too, so you can cruise through the greek islands or even hop over to italy and continue your trip through rails into the European mainland.

 

[Bedschibaer]

I am not a huge fan of doing sightseeing and all the stuff you find in literally every tour guide and most of the city trips I did so far where all the activities boiled down to your standard tourist stuff with crowds of people everywhere ended up pretty dull, boring and "standardized". The best hint I can give you is to have an insider, a local who can show you around the actually interesting places that aren't polished up tourist magnets. Imo you never really experience local culture if you just do sightseeing and go to overpriced restaurants just because they are "iconic".

Most cities offer amazing events that are hard to find for the average tourist. I'm actually discovering alot in Vienna still, despite being a local for 4 years now. I'm talking about historically relevant places, food and coffee culture and of course the nightlife and various events. You either need a good, recent tour guide or actually get involved into the scene beforehand to experience a city to its fullest. Again, having a local doing it for you is the best that can happen to you. Keep in mind that that's just my opinion and I hate overly touristic places.

In Austria Vienna just flat out has the most possibilities and it's the go-to place for tourists. Hiking in the Alps or maybe doing a roadtrip through lower Austria (Marchfeld) are highly recommended. In the Czech Republic you should also stop by in Czeske Budejovice and visit the traditional brewery. They have tours and all that stuff where you can get drunk and have a nice time in various etablissements in the city. Most beautiful german city gotta be Passau. Interesting history, unique geographical features and the most beautiful alleyways I have ever seen. If you want to check out Prague, those are all sorta near and should be connected directly by train (apart from Passau I think).

I like the idea of Istanbul tbh. Appareantly it's a great city for shopping. Actually getting there might not be very practical, but it leads you to the balkans which is an underrated region for tourism, but there is tons of potential. The nightlife is great and incredibly cheap in most eastern european cities, so that is definitely worth it, if you are into that sort of stuff.

 

[MikeAU]

Rowan you'll love it. I had a blast. Although, Australia is very small and isolated -- so maybe the bar was set too low? ANyway, i can't cover off everything I did here otherwise it will take hours -- but I did Dubai, London, Paris, Nice, Rome, Florence, Venice, Lucerne, Zurich, Munich, Berlin & Amsterdam.

If you're interested in any of those places -- let me know and i'll give you all the info/recommendations/etc I can :)

 

[Rowan]

So I've been narrowing it down and was thinking this kind of route:

UK -> Bruges -> Berlin -> Prague -> Budapest -> Salzburg -> Bled -> Pula -> Venice -> Zurich or Geneva -> Home

Would get a 10 days travel within 1 month pass which basically limits me to 9 places to visit.

I'm not sure about Switzerland, Zurich or Geneva? Don't really know what either has to offer so any advice on those two would be good. Although what DestinyUnknown said about price is putting me off a bit, apparently more expensive than London. Switzerland just seems the logical place to go between Venice and London.

but yeah any extra info on anywhere I've mentioned, what to do etc would be great, or advice in general for travelling alone.

 

[scene]

Are you going to be alone the whole time? If you're with some mates, there's a risk of being bored to tears in Zurich or Geneva. Every city has something worth seeing, but I'd prioritise other places - Switzerland's fine, but like Belgium it's quite bland unless you're up in the Alps or something. Krakow is a very fun city and I'd highly recommend it, great nightlife and culture. Istanbul is an incredible experience but a bit out of the way - I'd save it for another time and spend longer there. Personally, I'd put Venice in the same boat (pardon the pun). It's a neat place, but you'll get so much more out of it if you take a girlfriend later on in life and spend a little more time there. Up to you really, if you're keen to get a taste of it I'm not trying to put you off. I haven't been to Amsterdam, but I know a couple of people over there at the moment and they can't recommend it enough. Killer student city. Also quick shoutout to Dublin, because if you've never been it's a total blast and it's small enough to not need to spend much time here. Probably something you could tack on the end of your trip more than anything, but consider!

 

[Rugi]

Dont have much experience in europe but personally I enjoy all the smaller little towns of Spain. My personal favourite is Cuenca (not just because it inspired the location of one of my favourite animes)

I also agree that Paris overrated. I don't think I've ever been in a place with more people openly trying to scam you.

If your feeling really hipster and want to go somewhere out of the way Iceland is incredible.

Hide

Besides isnt it nice to get off the European continent every now and then

Also Iceland has a penis museum. Just thought I'd let you know.

 

[Bughouse]

Dont have much experience in europe but personally I enjoy all the smaller little towns of Spain. My personal favourite is Cuenca (not just because it inspired the location of one of my favourite animes)

Are you sure it wasn't inspire by Ronda instead?

 

[Rugi]

Are you sure it wasn't inspire by Ronda instead?

Sure

 

[Bughouse]

Oh cool haha. That's pretty obvious. I just was surprised to see how similar Cuenca looked to Ronda. I've only been to the latter.

 

[Rowan]

So I went and now I'm back - just gonna leave a mini review of the cities I visited here...

Bruges - Kinda nice and quaint, but also not too much going on. People from America seemed to be awed by how pretty and quaint it was, but I've been to English towns which are prettier in my opinion - I guess cobbled streets aren't a thing in America. I think the main reason I'd revisit Belgium is they have the nicest beer in the whole of Europe (At least 4 cities I visited claimed this, but Belgian beer is just next level shit)

Berlin - Berlin is absolutely incredible, there is so much going on, so much to do whatever you're interested in and felt like a really welcoming city, everyone was super friendly. It's somewhere I'd definitely consider moving to. I feel like a week wouldn't have been enough time there, let alone 3 days.

Prague - Okay, I think Prague is kinda overrated. So many people I met say it's there favourite city, but to be honest I don't get the hype. Yeah, it's nice but idk, maybe I didn't hit the right places.

Budapest - Budapest was one of my favourites, it felt like a really cool place, and there's loads to do in the day and the night. Some of the coolest clubs I've been to were there. I met someone who was from there actually, and he said it's changed a lot even in the past 5 years. Seems to be a happening place and if anyone else is considering doing a euro-trip, one of the first places I'd recommend

Munich - I didn't stay here long and was kind of tired so I didn't do a lot in Munich. I was in a really cool hostel so basically used it as like a rest stop after the previous cities. But as for the city itself, it's not that interesting. It doesn't seem like the best spot for tourists, seems more like somewhere which would be nice to live. but as I said, I didn't explore too much

Bled - Bled was beautiful. Had a really nice time swimming in the lake, it was so relaxing. Stunning views as well. Coming from the flattest region of a pretty flat country, I'd never seen mountains like it before - I showed a couple of Canadians my pictures though and they weren't impressed at all, just said it looked like Canada and it was nothing new to them haha.

Lake Bled

Pula - Pula was nice, it was nice to be by the sea, but there aren't a lot of great beaches. If you're gonna do Croatia, Split and Dubrovnik are probably better choices, but it would have been a really long train ride for me. Pula was pretty enough and there was still quite a lot to do though, I did have a really good time here

Venice - Venice was the most beautiful city I visited. I think it's because there's no cars about. I met my sister here which was nice after about 3 weeks without seeing a familiar face. If you like seafood you have to go to Venice it's so damn good. Also the best coffee ever, though I think that's an Italian thing in general than just Venice. Venice is just such a unique place that you have to go. It's kinda surreal everything being on boats.

Amsterdam - ended up here to meet some friends. I've been there before, but the city just has a great atmosphere. Bought these legal highs which were meant to be like MDMA, but tbh just gave me a bit more energy than usual, if you're into shit like that, just get the real thing. Amsterdam is definitely one of the friendliest cities I've been to

Now I'm back in England :(

thanks anyone in this thread who gave me recommendations :)