European Travel in Aug-Sept

choose cities that are close together by train .
you want to avoid spending much time in airports or travelling long distances by rail - or car .

we spent 3 weeks in vienna in 2001 - there was so much to see and do - we could have used another month .

do you have any particular interest ?
( if you are interested in diverse art , you can't go wrong with vienna imo .
btw have you worked out a travel budget ? i'd say $200 a day per person minimum PLUS travel costs ) .

hamburg being my hometown - waaaay back - i must give it a brief nod - but not comparable to vienna at all .

I have been to Manchester, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Rome, Paris, Nice, Nantes - all are worth a visit (and the others will be visited in the nearer future. (I could add a few more. )

for a three minute preview of vienna watch :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUmYRlr3ONg&feature=related

As you probably know, I have a screaming italy bias, but even I wouldn't pick Aug-early Sept to go in if I could help it (I've been in late Feb, March, April, October), not only because of the weather, but because of the tourist clumps.

I'd probably look at Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich (oh, pick four..). I haven't been to them, but would like to check them out.

I might even just do three of them, for more sanity, agreeing with hamburgboy that a place like Vienna could take up all of your time by itself. You're young and you will probably check out Europe many times in the coming years. Good time to go, Euro wise, it seems.

God damn, I had no idea I was going to Europe this year, better get the passport in order.

Cycloptichorn

No time ... still uploading my some hundred photos from my last there, a bit more than a week ago

(Do you think that she is still lurking? )

Playing with the list -


Manchester
Copenhagen
Hamburg
Berlin
Frankfurt
Munich
Zurich
Vienna
Belgrade
Venice
Rome
Milan
Athens
Paris
Nice
Marseille
Nantes
Barcelona


Paris, Nice, Marseilles, Nantes

Athens, Belgrade, Venice or Vienna

adding - Barcelona, Sevilla, Granada, Lisbon

Roma, Milano, (one stop like Parma or Ravenna or), Siena, Florence

I've a bias against the usual thing of seeing Rome, Florence, Venice. All tourist cities, only Rome being my favorite forever (the others are other a2kers favorites). There are so many italys - I'd break it up with stepping off the trains at some smaller choices.

I suppose I feel that way about the other choices on your list too.

Get Rudy Maxa 'Smart Travel' tips from the library. Rick Steeves also doesit. For the back packers get Pilot Guides (Globe Trekkers) travel DVDs. Check ou the cities before hand.

If you're going to Germany, be sure to visit the old West Germany cities too. We were there before the Wall came down so I only have experience in those cities. Some of my favorites were Cologne (the cathedral is a must see), Bonn, Heidelberg (the university is a must see), take a boat down the Rhine, visit the Black Forest region, ride a train up to the Alps (the hang gliders are a must see).


When I took BBB to Europe in the early '80's, we went on a flower and gardens tour for three weeks, visiting England, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and France. Transportation was mostly tour bus, and ferry boats and a lot of walking. We got to see many of the tourist attractions such as castles, museums, cathedrals, universities, shopping meccas, bakeries and restaurants, and many gardens. It started in England and looped around through the German and Swiss Alps, on to Paris and back over to England via the Dover ferry. It was fast paced, but we saw and experienced a lot of Western Europe. It was a way to get a good taste of Europe to narrow down the countries we wanted to return to for a more thorough visit when the opportunity presented itself.

from vienna one-day trips to salzburg , budapest , bratislava - and many interesting smaller places within austria - can be arranged easily - just bring money ... ...

plenty of money .

Some of the others believe it now too, because they trusted her

Cycloptichorn

Oh well, all those believers ...

Actually, you can do all Europe in one week by bus. At least, I've seen a lot of buses with American tourist doing this ...

Thsi is wonderful input everyone. Keep it coming! I like the info Osso gave about the time of the year in regards to Italy. Any more info like that from anyone else?

A
R
Time of year

You would need to rent cars if you want to see the coutry side. Use the internet to book car rentals.

an old joke over here about a couple doing a one week bustour of europe .

wife - looking at travel brochure : " dear , tomorrow we will be visiting brussels " .
hubby : " oh , so today must be tuesday " .

how about a theme?

cities on water

cities with musical history (pick a genre)

cities (X artist) was influenced by - follow their artistic trail

cities with significant battles in X war

cities with canals

cities with religious significance of some sort

(I know - this is a bit how I do my football picks - but sometimes it works out)

how about avoiding The Cities entirely? stay in a village on an island in a country where you don't speak the language for the entire two weeks

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If I had my personal druthers, I'd probably plan a trip along the Baltic coast - for the landscape and light - and because I'm very curious about how those countries/communities are doing since the fall of The Wall.

I also kind of miss the midnight sun and I've always wanted to experience it in Europe.

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edit: using your original list, and my personal druthers, I'd probably end up with Copenhagen as a starting point.