European Holiday Suggestions

Hi there!

My husband and I are going to Europe from Perth, Australia in May this year for a 6 week holiday. We are visiting my family for the first 2 weeks or so in the UK (Scotland and London) and are then heading over to the continent to Nice (Monaco F1), Paris, Munich, Switzerland (via train), Italy (Modena, Naples (Pompeii) and Rome), Kotor Montenegro, Athens and Santorini.

We both find ancient/medieval history really interesting so will likely geek out on all the museums etc, but I was looking for any other suggestions for places to visit/things to do and any interesting events that anyone knows are happening in late may early June in the above countries/cities? Hubby is into cars (hence spending a small fortune on F1 tickets!), so will be visiting both Ferrari museums in Modena and the BMW museum in Munich.

Any other suggestions would be great! Thanks :)

@free_spirit: If the car hobby is a major factor, then there are Porsche and Mercedes-Benz museums in Stuttgart. The city is on the route to Munich if you're going from Paris by train. Make sure to beat the crowds and head to the Louvre in Paris very early in the morning. Monaco can get extremely hot, humid and stifling in the summer (around GP time) and the city itself is predictably expensive. Make sure to buy refreshments and bring appropriate clothes from Nice. The whole Adriatic coast between Italy and Montenegro is full of very beautiful and interesting historic cities. If you have a bit of extra time, I'd take trains and buses from Rome to Venice and cities like Trieste, Rovinj, Pula, Zadar, Sibenik and Dubrovnik.

In Modena I would highly recommend a tour called 'Italian Food Day experiences', I'll find the exact link later. Alessandro who runs it is the most high energy person I've ever met and that your was outstanding.

http://italiandays.it/

Seriously. It's the best.

If you can see fit to sneak in a day trip to Florence (especially if you love Medieval/Renaissance history) or even spend 1 or 2 nights there from Modena to Rome then you'd love it.

Plenty of Rome recommendations - do the usual Colosseum, Roman Forum, MUST visit the Capitoline Muesum, see the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon (Rome is very walkable in the Historic Centre though Colosseum to Piazza del Popolo is a fair walk), Vatican City.

I would recommend Giolliti (a gelateria, one of the best in the city) which is near Italian Parliament (Colonna Marcus Aurelius is right nearby) and the Pantheon. Via Del Corso is the main shopping district if you're into that. There is a great glove shop (seriously) near the Spanish Steps. Try to eat where there's not necessarily a tourist english menu, some of those places are okay, but the great ones are the proper Italian places.

Be careful with taxis, especially from the Centro Termini - some of the cabbies will try to rip you off. Also if this is your first Europe trip expect to encounter a lot of street merchants in most major European cities that approach tourists with their crap knock off goods and can generally pester you. Watch for pickpockets in Paris, especially on the Metro train line that runs to Notre Dame (I had two girls approach me and ask me the time, one about 14, one about 8. The 14 year old tried to distract me while the 8 year old tried to pick my pocket - didn't work, but the attempt was made). Also watch for (sorry if this is offensive) gypsies, especially in Paris and Naples (from my experience) trying to run some scams (one I watched in Paris near the Louver was a woman with a bunch of fake steel rings, rolling them near tourists and calling the tourists over claiming she found their ring. She would ask for a reward and most tourists would either give a reward, or instinctively reach for where their wallets were - this allowed the young child she was with to 'bump' into them in the crowds near the Louvre). While this might sound off putting and make you worried, you don't need to be. I've felt safer in most foreign cities than I do walking around Sydney at night to be honest, (though I suppose in Sydney I'm more worried about being rolled for my wallet than straight up pick pocketed). It's just good to be vigilant.

Naples is pretty shady and not the best place (I hated it personally), but Pompeii is a great site to visit.

If you like medieval history you'll love Bruges. It is a great examle of a hanseatic city. Also it's not that far from Ghent which has a nice medieval city center as well. You could do them both in one day but if you're interested in history you could spend an entire weekend easely.

Hello! If you're going to be around Pomeii I'd spend a night or two somewhere along the Amalfi coast. Positano is the tourist favourite but somewhere a little quieter like Minori is cheaper and just a beautiful.

If you're going to be here in Summer and like your medieval history I'd definitely make sure you hit Croatia. Split or Dubrovnik, both are gorgeous.

@bdead: Bruges is a good shout and an easy day-trip from Paris. An hour or two by train and you'll be in Brussels for lunch, another short train-trip and you'll be in Bruges in the afternoon.

Despite being from Europe (Sweden) I've not traveled that much on the continent. I did however like the technical museum in Prague. It had a lot of old cars as well as a lot of other things. I loved that city and would go back.

Thank you so much for all the great suggestions! I have been to the UK twice when I was a teenager with family, but never been to Europe proper, so wonderful to get some advice.

@dudeglove@captain_insano For those that have been to or heard about Naples (or any other city for that matter); is it any worse than SE Asian city for street hawkers/dirtiness? We have traveled to China, Thailand, Bali and big cities in the US so have seen our share of filthy streets. I am more worries about personal safety and getting mugged, but plan not to look too touristy so hopefully should avoid that.

@captain_insano I will definitely look into the food tour - I was looking at these for Naples and Paris as well, so great to have such a glowing recommendation for one.

We decided to go to Kotor in Montenegro rather than visit the Amalfi coast as it is much cheaper and the scenery looks to be amazing. It looks to be fairly easy to get to the Amalfi coast from Naples/Rome so might make a day trip to the beaches/towns if we have time.

I will definitely look into Bruges, we are not too enthused about Paris and have heard it is a bit overrated, so thanks for the recommendations!

@isomeri Although my other half would probably love to visit more car attractions, I don't think I could do anymore! I am taking him to the opera in Paris though, so i think his 3 days is balanced by 3 hours of culture! ;) We are expecting Monaco to be pricey and will definitely try and get all out supplies from Nice before we head out for race day.

Thanks again :)

Don't expect Paris to be the romantic wonderland that's depicted in movies and advertisements. It's quite a dirty city with more rats and roaches than I've seen in most European capitals. There are parts of town to be avoided after sunset. The locals can be extremely rude.

All that being said, it's still one of my favorite places on this continent. The food is obviously outstanding. You can find interesting cultural attractions or events on every street, and not just the classical French stuff you'd expect. And when you do find the right street and the right street-side cafe, you certainly can kindle some of that Parisian magic that's so often described in literature or cinema.

Just make sure to learn as much French as you can before hand. You'll get much better service if you at least give it a try.

Oh and one more thing worth mentioning. Be prepared to see a lot of refugees around hubs of travel like Rome, Paris, Munich, railway stations in general and especially in the Balkans and Greece. I'm not saying to be scared of these people, quite the opposite. But the huge numbers of people moving into and around Europe, especially during peak summer months, can affect things like train and ferry schedules.

Paris was odd for us. We had 4 nights there and hated Paris, but we really liked everything we did in Paris. Did a Seine river night dinner cruise, Musee D'Orsay, Louvre, Musee D'Armee, Rodin Gardens, Versailles, Montmartre. All of those things were fantastic but Paris itself was meh. Paris at night didn't feel 'safe'. Nothing happened but it felt kind of sketchy - now I sound like a wuss, but I'm just describing the vibe I got. We stayed up near the Opera so maybe we should have stayed in the Latin Quarter for a more Parisienne feel. That said, I'm glad I can tick Paris off the list. I would visit Paris again by maybe as an overnight trip from London. For me, Itay wows me, I love Rome and Florence, Florence really blew my socks off. A mate of mine who I would consider a bit more blokey than I also loved Florence e which really surprised me.

Yeah, I can't understate how mind blowing that food tour from Bologna was. I'm pretty sure they can pick up from Modena as well, all in the same region.

Re: Naples. I haven't actually stayed in Naples, only passed through and we were in the touristy/docks area (actually, if you do have time, take a day to go out to Capri), it just felt really dirty and really dodgy. Not in a SE Asia street hawker type of way (I've been to Thailand and prefer that to Naples). Again though, this was an early travel thing for me so I was more impressionable. I love, love Italy. But Naples, che schifo. That said, you'll be busy - Pompeii is a whole day. You could take a day to go out to Capri which is touristy but amazing. I've never been but if you're still after ancient stuff you could go to Herculaneum (Ercolano) which is a smaller but better preserved site than Pompeii, buried in the same event in AD 79.

If you're interested in medieval stuff you really want to include Florence in your travel. When goin to Rome from northern Italy it's already on the way, and the train from Florence to Rome only takes 1h and 31'. I would tell you to visit the Uffizi Gallery there since it's full of renaissance masterpieces but if you don't have time just a quick visit to the most historic parts of town it's really worth it.

Also, food: as @captain_insano told you food in Emilia-Romagna, the region of Modena, it's really good (i would put it almost on par for best with Piemonte, the region of Turin, which beats it only slightly for the wine), so take advantage of that. In Naples you want to eat in one of the historic pizzerias, since the city it's the birthplace of pizza and it's one of their prides (even Bakalar from the beastcast was impressed). In case you somehow decide to visit Venice (and you should :) ), consider doing a tour of bacari, their typical venetian osteria where you can snack on some food, drink some wine and then move to the next one while touring the city.

edit: if you want to visit a town slightly less touristy than Venice in the same area you might want to take a look at Verona, it's quite beautiful. Especially if you like opera, the arena there is one of the most famous of the historic ones.

Last time I was in Paris (2 years ago now! I proposed to my wife!) I stayed in the Latin Quarter, and aside from being a really good location to walk around Paris from, I wouldn't recommend it. At night it mostly felt like an area of a university town where they put all the shitty clubs (which it sort of is?). At best it is like the worst parts of Amsterdam. I'm sure if you can get to see the "real" latin quarter it's better, but I am always sceptical of the idea of a real latin quarter.

More generally, I have to agree with people who say Paris is not the romantic place people might want. Like London, it's long past it's picaresque phase, and is very much a living, working city. This takes some of the shine off for us tourists, I think! It's also one of the worst cities for tourist traps I've ever been to, and there's very little respite from it. I would also say that it's not worth trying to fit more than two or three things into a day. The queues for all the stuff you want to see are gargantuan past about 10am. Not my idea of a good time, tbh.

My only specific advice would be to go to This restaurant if you get a chance. It's hands down one of the best fine dining experiences I've had - and actually really good value for Paris as well, where the restaurant prices get absurd long before the quality really justifies it, in my opinion.

@isomeri@thomasnash I've never really been into the 'romance' of France etc (i'm just not that type of gal) so am not expecting that type of vibe when we go there. I have un petit peu of french, so should be able to figure out how to say the basic greetings, introduce myself, count to 10, and then ask if they speak english which should hopefully be able to make an impression!! :) I am hoping to avoid the peak peak summery crowds by going during late may and June, but we are still expecting their to be lines/crowds.

@cagliostro88@captain_insano Ok, Florence provisionally added to the list of places to visit. Sounds interesting!

I am getting excited for all the amazing food!!!

Anyone have recommendations for Athens? We've heard its a bit overrated and the only things to see are the Acropolis etc?

@free_spirit: it's been ten years since i've been in Athens but yeah, the city itself is not that amazing beyond the acropolis (and quite a bit dirty, at least at the time), from a tourist perspective the islands is where Greece shines. For ancient greek ruins the two spots i would consider visit in mainland Greece are Mycenae and Delphi

@free_spirit: hey duder! How is going your travel with your husband? I'm curious, give us some updates!

@Cagliostro88 Hey yourself duder :)! We are currently in London after 10 days visiting my family in Scotland. Had a lovely time driving around and seeing the highlands. Just arrived in London today. Recent terror attack in manchester has made me more jumpy about travel, especially as they have guards armed with machine guns at major transport hubs etc today. Good to see security though. But we are still excited, hubby is looking forward to F1! :)

When you visit Switzerland, you should visit a nice chocolate factory :)

@isomeri, @bdead: holy crap, I was gonna say that, but it feels a bit out of the way. But definatly do it. Belgiums is fantastic. Bruges is great, there's also Namur which I discovered on my way to Bruges and it's great. But yeah. Bruge, Ghent, Brussels and Namur are great places to visit, though Brussel has a more distinct capital vibe, but it's on the way to Germany/France.

If you go to Namur in Belgium, then Bitche in France might not be that interesting, but I think it probably sees less visitors. They both have medieval citadels.

Luxembourg is also a very interesting place.

Where I personally have visited multiple times is Strasbourg. I go up the cathedral every time I go there.

Konstanz is also a pretty cool place with ferries and a lake. Zurich is great, but it's so effing expensive. Not sure if I can recommend it.

Can't say I recommend Stuttgart, the traffic is just terrible here. I live here. Tübingen is probably much nicer to visit, but if you're coming from Strasbourg it's hard to top. Heidelberg might be a great stop if you're coming from Belgium though, but it is out of the way if you're going to Munich.

TL;DR Belgium is definitely recommended. I was before spring began and was floored how nice it was.

*Update*

We are a little over halfway through the trip. Had our first, and hopefully last, major delay/diversion of the trip on route to Nice to see the F1. Due to the British Airways cluster fuck IT failure our flight was cancelled which forced us to miss the F1 (very expensive tickets) and forfeit 2 days accomodation. On top of that BA lost our bags and I only got mine 2 days ago, 8 days later. We spent a day shopping while we were stuck in Manchester to get clothes. However, saw the memorial to the recent attack there which put everything into perspective for us.

We then went to Paris and really enjoyed our stay in our airbnb. Didnt have much expectations for Paris so i think we were pleasantly surprised. We then spent 5 days in Munich visiting WWII historic stuff like the Eagles Nest and Dachau concentration camp which was heavy AF, but super important to see and recognise what happened. Also visited BMW museum and Welt as well as numerous beer gardens and the English Gardens (largest city garden in the world).

We are now in Switzerland, quickly burning through our cash -everything is so expensive! Views alone are worth it - AMAZING. I have been a total nerd and listening to the music from Elder Scrolls whilst admiring the view from our Airbnb -its epic. ;P my husband has been watching Dota 2 tournies hahah.

If you want to see some of our photos my instagram profile is @jessicalynli. Its private so ill have to add you.

Yeah, everything I've heard about Switzerland relates to the expense of the place. Sorry you got caught out with the BA glitch and missed out on Monaco. I can't imagine that being a good race but, as an occasion, it would've been spectacular.

Luxembourg is a beautiful little place. awesome mountains, cool castles.