Travelling into Europe

[Minty]

First things first, this isn't the usual request for stag do locations!

 

My wife and I are looking to go travelling round Europe by rail at some point in the next year or two before we start a family and so I wondered what places you guys would recommend? We're open to any and all suggestions, we haven't got a specific itinerary in mind as yet and although we have a few places we do want to go, I know there must be tonnes more that we don't even know about yet.

 

Food, culture, history, the natural environment are all things we're interested in... not so much religion or related stuff.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Jonnyboy]

The best whores are in Amsterdam but there are many in Germany too!

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

First things first, this isn't the usual request for stag do locations!

 

My wife and I are looking to go travelling round Europe by rail at some point in the next year or two before we start a family and so I wondered what places you guys would recommend? We're open to any and all suggestions, we haven't got a specific itinerary in mind as yet and although we have a few places we do want to go, I know there must be tonnes more that we don't even know about yet.

 

Food, culture, history, the natural environment are all things we're interested in... not so much religion or related stuff.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Stockholm is nice.

[dune]

Spain is great if you like the tapas culture with historic buildings thrown in. Don't know much about the trains though as I drive.

[mcjwills]

Vienna is a great city with great historic buildings and good food & drink to boot.

[Minty]

Spain is great if you like the tapas culture with historic buildings thrown in. Don't know much about the trains though as I drive.

Don't worry, you make the suggestions, we'll work out the Interail route!

 

Keep 'em coming.

[ooh it's a corner]

Wowzers, that's a question and a half.

 

Almost by default you'll work north to south (just down to the logic that says you dont want to go hurlting past/through Paris, only to come back at a later stage).

 

There's two big questions for me (subject to how long you are going for). Question one is how much to you want to see Spain/Portugal versus Holland/Denmark/Baltic states, versus France/Italy/Austria/Switzerland or Eastern Europe?

And question two is what's the budget?

 

If the budget is tight, it can force the issue of always trying to use night trains, and avoid capital city stopovers, coz the accommodation is more expensive.

 

Make yourself (each) a list of things that you've always wanted to see (Mona Lisa, Leaning Tower of Pisa etc), then put them into an A list, B list and possibly C list. Ultimately if you have a time schedule, you will lose something off the list because you enjoy somewhere, or want to stay and watch the parade tomorrow, etc.

 

If I were doing on a train, it would only be cities for me - the network and frequency slows you down if you want to see the scenery, imagine trying to get a train to Lulworth Cove in this country.

 

But in terms of itinerary, howsabout Brussels, Bruges, Amsterdam, Cologne, Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, Ostrava, Katowice, Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Munich, Milan, Venice, Rome, Florence, Nice, Perpignan, Barcelona, Biaritz, Paris, home.

 

That's 23 targets, if I assume you're going for 4 weeks, that's almost a new place every day. Some of them, Katowice for example, might just be to witness the camp, and therefore not an entire day, but equally, if you only have 1 day for Paris, what are going to see? Mona Lisa, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Moulin Rouge, shopping, cafe culture?

 

There's one thing I've always enjoyed when travelling, and that's the idea that says - I can go there, because I will never have the opportunity or desire to go there again. So if you find youself wondering what all the fuss is about the 13th century vineyard, go and have a look, you'll probably never get a second chance. By the same token, going somewhere for the first time is an experience. If you've already been to Rome, do you want to take 2 days out to go there again?

 

To say I'm envious is a little understated, but the kids will keep me entertained by the pool this summer, wherever the pool may be....

[dune]

I use Isango to book excursions and entry to attractions before I go and have no problems. Used them to book a guided tour of the alhambra including pick up from the hotel.

 

http://www.isango.com/spain-tours/granada-tours/alhambra-palace-tour_14660

[dubai_phil]

Bruges

Amsterdam

Munich

Barcelona

Seville

Granada

Vienna

Prague

Krakow

Berlin

Copenhagen

 

of those, Vienna & Krakow would be top of the list

[buctootim]

Stockholm well worth a visit and also the archipelago nearby (1000s of small islands) is great to spend some quiet time in a rented house messing about in boats. http://www.visitsweden.com/Regions--Cities/Stockholm/Stockholms-Archipelago/

 

Cinque Terra in Liguria Italy is beautiful. Five villages (hence the name) surrounded by steep cliffs and pretty cut off from the rest of Italy until about 50 years ago. Good food. World heritage site. Stay in Portovenere and catch the regular jump on jump off ferry to the villages. Stayed in Hotel Genio

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g194862-d1391469-Reviews-Hotel_Genio-Portovenere_Italian_Riviera.html

http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=826

 

Collioure in France (artists colony) is worth a visit if passing through maybe on the way to Barcelona or the pyrenees, small though so not worth special trip.

 

If visiting Florence / Tuscany have stayed here. Loved it. Working wine and olive oil fattoria (lovely lovely pomino wine). They have rooms in the main house with lovely meals or apartments.

http://www.petrognano.com/english/home.htm

 

Stayed here in Varenna at Lake Como. Fantastic views across the lake. Anywhere on lake Como is good.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g187837-d244518-Reviews-Hotel_Villa_Cipressi-Varenna_Lake_Como_Lombardy.html

 

 

Both my kids were conceived whilst travelling round Europe, beware the sun, wine and relaxation!

Edited 30 January, 2012 by buctootim

[Minty]

Wowzers' date=' that's a question and a half.[/quote']

Yeah, sorry, but thanks for the reply! We're not planning anything in too much detail just yet, this is more a scoping exercise to see what might be possible. Budget hasn't been agreed either yet because there are too many other variables at this point, but ignoring all that, it's just good to hear what people might recommend.

[um pahars]

I presume you've come across the Seat61 site on the interweb??? By far the best place for train info.

 

Did a very good north-south route travelling from the Estonia all the way down to Serbia. Obviously flew to Talinn and out of Belgrade, but the trains in between were interesting to say the least.

 

Have travelled the more obvious routes through France, the Alps down to Rome which is good and also did Belgium to Poland, but both those were almost a it too easy and touristy!!!!

[ART]

Belgium id to be avoided at the moment. Constant strikes and they intend to bring the rail to a complete standstill in and out of Belgium. A really worrying situation for travellers over the coming months.

Not so certain on rail travel at all, far better to use low cost and hire a car on arrival. The whole Mediterranean coastline from southern Italy, thru France and down to Spain and across to Portugal back up to the west coast of France makes a really fabulous trek. Can even be down on bicyle or have you given that up since your married?

[dune]

Agree with ART about the rail idea. It sounds a lot of hassle when hiring a car is cheap if you shop around and take out excess insurance independantly (I have annual cover through http://www.insurance4carhire.com/index.asp?subrefID=&curID=1&langID=1&refID=100 and if you ring them up and tell them where you've had a quote for 39 quid they will charge 37 quid instead of 49 ). Parking at hotels is the issue though, but with research this issue can be sorted. With train travel you are always gonna be dictated to by a timetable and sat about on platforms and then you'll need taxis from the station to the hotel or you'll have to lug your cases around, wheras when you drive you can set off when you want and enjoy the drive and stop off and take some photo's and pull into small restaurants for a meal en route etc. The roads in Spain are dream with hardly traffic on them so unlike here it's relaxing driving and part of the holiday.

[Lighthouse]

Been to Riga, Parnu and Tallinn. All were very good in different ways, but Tallinn really stuck in my mind as being the nicest. There are a lot of cultural sites around the central square. Everything is very clean, the people are friendly and there are some good bars and restaurants around.

 

Without having done it myself, I'd say a route of Stockholm - Tallinn (on the ferry) - Riga - Poland would be a decent start to rail trip. Perhaps from Riga to Warsaw, then down to Krakow.

[ericofarabia]

Been to Riga, Parnu and Tallinn. All were very good in different ways, but Tallinn really stuck in my mind as being the nicest. There are a lot of cultural sites around the central square. Everything is very clean, the people are friendly and there are some good bars and restaurants around.

 

Without having done it myself, I'd say a route of Stockholm - Tallinn (on the ferry) - Riga - Poland would be a decent start to rail trip. Perhaps from Riga to Warsaw, then down to Krakow.

 

Good tip - avoiding the low cost airlines where ever possible

[Minsk]

Berlin - Warsaw - Vienna - Prague - Kiev are all fantastic cities.

 

Trains in this part of the world are inexpensive, and sleepers are good.

 

I caught a train from Vilnius to Minsk last Sunday (3 hour journey) and it cost about the same as Eastleigh-Southampton.

 

Minsk-Kiev (10 hour sleeper) last year cost about the same as Soutampton-London Waterloo.

[Doctoroncall]

Edinburgh, Paris, Prague, Krakow and Strasbourg are some of the places I've been to and would go again, however, much depends on when you want to visit the cities/regions as there will be festivals going on that make it special. Never been to Italy but heard Lake Como and Florence are great and if you go to Venice, go out of season!

[Guest Dark Sotonic Mills]

We did a 6,000 mile, 13 country tour of Europe the year before last, but by car not train (there were six of us). The top places we visited were Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania. Ljubljana at the three bridges at night is just fantastic. Romanian Transylvania and the Bulgarian Black Sea coast are also out of this world.

[benjii]

I've been to loads of places in Europe by rail Minty and there are always plenty of things to see and do and a range of accommodation options. Rail travel is generally reliable and almost always relatively cheap. Some of the routes can seem quite slow though (particularly in some of the Eastern countries and watch out for catching stopping services instead of the intercity routes!) but if you're not in a rush it's always nice to watch the world go by.

 

I think the best advice you have had is to sit down and decide on a shortlist of "must do" things. Otherwise it will be hard to know where to start. From my own experience those "must do" things might be Auschwitz (so Krakow would be on your itinerary, for example), Rome (incredible place), Venice, Berlin... Budapest is great too. So is Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Lisbon, Zagreb, Dubrovnik... seriously, there are loads! The Slovenian Lakes, the Swiss mountains, the French countryside, Bavaria... etc....!

 

Once you have your shortlist then decide how long you want to spend at each place and your other stop offs should take care of themselves. One tip would be not to try to cram too many stops in as, although the travelling itself can be fun, it's always a bit galling if you leave somewhere with the feeling that you would have like to stay an extra day or two.

 

Another option, if you are planning on flying into Europe, is to look for a cheap outward flight on a suitable date and a cheap inward flight from somewhere else and make sure that the ends meet in the time you have available!

 

Europe is an amazing continent with such a variety of attitudes to life and climates that you can cram so much into a fairly short trip. I would always try to mix it up a bit so you have a few of the main cities, a few smaller places and some time by the beach. Go in September for example and it might be 10C and raining at one end of your trip and wall-to-wall sunshine and 30C at the other.

[Minty]

Thanks all, we will start compiling a list of 'must do' and 'would like to do' and go from there. We're still at least a year away from doing this so no hurry.

 

And thanks Um, Seat61 was the website I was trying to think of last night when we were talking about it, and all I could think of was Passenger 51!!!

[dune]

We did a 6,000 mile, 13 country tour of Europe the year before last, but by car not train (there were six of us). The top places we visited were Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania. Ljubljana at the three bridges at night is just fantastic. Romanian Transylvania and the Bulgarian Black Sea coast are also out of this world.

 

I envy you that, I wish I could afford to do that.

[Jillyanne]

Barcelona

Athens

Paris

Anywhere in Iceland

Norway

Dubrovnic

Avoid Vigo

[stkev7]

I done the whole inter-rail thing back in 2008:

 

Reykjavik - flew there obviously

Stockholm - flew from Iceland and then the inter-rail started

Oslo

Copenhagen

Berlin

Warsaw

Krakow

Budapest

Bratislava

Vienna

Prague

Munich

Ljubljana

Zagreb

Sarajevo

Budva - no rail so bus there

Belgrade - train from Bar in Montenegro

Venice

Milan

Florence (including Pisa & Bologna)

Rome - then flew

Vilnius

Riga

Tallinn

Helsinki

 

One of the best summers of my life.

[svetigpung]

Copenhagen - Stockholm - Riga or Tallin - Krakow

 

mixture of cities , old and new , and some fantastic countryside and coast inbetween.

[Nexstar]

Did an 18-30s coach tour round Europe in the summer, visiting:

 

Rome - Really great place, so much stuff to see on every street corner. I found myself walking everywhere, which probably wasn't ideal in the 35+ heat! Can be quite expensive, looking slightly off the beaten track for food (And I only mean slightly) can save a lot of money.

 

Verona (Day) - Pleasant to walk around with a small gladiator arena and the Romeo and Juliet balcony, which was a tourist hotspot like no other. Quite a few shops, particularly fashion ones to look around, if that's your kind of thing. A day was probably enough.

 

Venice - Good fun to walk around, you are guaranteed to get lost. Plenty of great views and famous attractions to look at. The gondola ride is a must, even if it is like bees to honey with tourists. 2 Days should be enough to not find yourself rushing around.

 

Vienna - Not being into art or classical music I didn't really expect to find much to do in Vienna. However, it turned out to be a fantastic place! A group of us hired bikes from our hostel near the centre, cycled across the city (On a Sunday, so it was quiet) and parked up along the Danube River. There were some small pontoons you could walk out to and sunbath/paddle as there is an area of the river cleaned so that it is much safer for people to swim, and plenty did. After that we grabbed some lunch and headed off to a big amusement park, with a pay as you ride scheme. Then had to quickly cycle back into town where we caught our coach to go a short trip to the Schnaps Museum, which I believe is only for large-ish groups booking in advance, but well worth seeing if you can get in. In the evening we headed to a backpackers bar full of all sorts of people crossing paths, with some interesting drinks on the menu. With my ramblings I guess you can tell I enjoyed it! Plenty of concert halls and museums though if that's your thing.

 

Bratislava (Day) - And when I say day stop I literally mean we stopped there for about an hour as a break. Could really comment too much, but it looked nice and this was the point of the trip where things started to get considerably cheaper.

 

Budapest - Really cheap, beer was little over a Euro for a pint. Some great sites in Budapest and loads to see. Definitely recommend it and would suggest a minimum of two days here.

 

Krakow - In terms of the town itself I didn't find there was a whole lot to see besides the castle and the main square. Some decent market stalls to have a look around. Making a trip to the Salt Mines is a must, they were fantastic and about £15 per person for a couple of hour tour around this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The nightlife in Krakow was fantastic, couldn't praise it enough really. A huge amount of restaurants in the main square and so many bars and clubs down little back streets. Lizard King and Frantic were particular highlights.

 

Prague - Lots to see and do depending on what you fancy. The nightlife is also great here. I found there were loads of Brits though, almost all of whom seemed to be on stag do's.

Dresden (Day) - I'm quite in to WW2 and currently studying for a history degree, but don't bother. Honestly. Being a Sunday with everything shut may have clouded my opinion, but it was a lot of buildings that had been bombed and rebuilt.

 

Berlin - Brilliant. Loved the place and was gutted we only had 2 days there. SO much to see and do, during the day and at night. Could easily have spent 4/5 days there. A real must.

 

Amsterdam - During the day there's about enough to keep you interested for at most 2 days, and that's at a push. Going around on a bicycle in a good way to see the city, but besides that it has very little to offer. However, at night it all sorts of comes alive (as you may imagine). An endless supply of bars, clubs and coffee shops. Had two fantastic nights out there, during the day not so much.

 

Bruges (Day) - Saw it for about two hours, so again I'm not the best person to ask. VERY expensive it seemed and for me the only half-decent thing was seeing where that buy from In Bruges was thrown off! My views of Belgium is that it is only good for driving through.

 

Home - Went out 16 nights on the run and had the best 3 weeks of my life, no question.