Tips on Europe travel…

Looking to go to Europe next fall. Any hints on ways to save money or places to go? Want see Germany, Netherlands and Swiss Alps for sure.

My Tip
Don’t enter the wrong PIN # 3 times at an ATM!Not good

Josh,
Who are you going with? Netherlands – Amsterdam is an obvious must see. Check out the coffee shops and the red lite district. Even if you are just window shopping, it is pretty interesting.

I spent a fare amount of time in Paris for work in the past. Tons of really famous sites to see (Louve, Arch de Triumph, Eifle Tower, lots of museums, Palace of Versielles, sorry for the spelling). I’m not a fan of the Frenchies, but their are tons of sites to see.

London – quite a few sites, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back there.

I backpacked all over Europe for 3 months while I was in college, so about 10 years ago.

Not sure if your a luggage or backpack person or going with family or what but if you can do the backpack deal, thats how I’d go again.

By backpack, I’m talking North Face, internal frame, expandable, mountaineering type backpack. Selectively choose the items you’ll bring with and you can live over there for quite awhile off your back. It really makes getting around easier.

You have a few specific areas you want to see so do a little research on the rail passes available and the timeframe you’ll be there. I had an unlimited Eurail pass for the entire time I was there so I could get on and off trains to wherever as I pleased. Only problem was if I wanted a seat, or wanted a bed in a sleeper car. We learned quick that you had to make reservations or you may be standing in an aisle or even between train cars. And lets just say it was a bit difficult to communicate with some of the tellers at train stations, a bit difficult may be an understatement honestly.

From the Cities here, you’d more than likely fly into Amsterdam. That was a Northwest/KLM hub so I’m not sure what has changed since Delta took over Northwest. Yes… Amsterdam is worth 3-4 days of your time. Who would have thought the mushrooms in the cooler weren’t to put on your salad.

I had a few favorite areas and the Scandinavian countries were one of them. Stockholm, Sweden & Helsinki, Finland were awesome!! I’m a Minnesota guy and these countries felt like home to me. It was obvious why a lot of Scandinavians settled here as the landscape was realy similar, felt like home to them I’m sure.

Other area I really, really enjoyed was where you are talking about- Germany, Alps, etc. Not sure if “Bavaria” is the term but it covers a part of that area. Definitely see Berlin & Munich when in Germany. I didn’t spend much time in Switzerland but did spend time in Vienna, Austria which was really cool! If you make it that far to the east, Prague is where you have to go. Prague is AWESOME!! I also made it over to Budapest, Hungary which was another one of my “have to get back to” destinations.

Spain (Barcelona) and Italy (take your pick – Rome, Florence, Venice) are well worth your time as well.

Guess if you could do a couple week long trip from Amsterdam to Prague and back via spots in Germany and Austria, that would be perfect in my opinion.

We spent 13 glorious days in Switzerland a couple of years ago. We hooked up with a tour for the first half. The tour worked for us because it took in the exact areas we wanted to see and allowed us to get our feet wet learning the train system. We also had the Swiss rail pass and all boat, bus, and rail were included. We took full advantage of it.

We didn’t buy much for souvenirs. A Swiss army knife costs less here then over there. We had as many picnic type meals as we could. I didn’t care for much of the cuisine so sticking to the staples via the market worked for us. If you for instance like peanut butter bring a couple jars from home. We saved a ton of money just by doing this. I also brought the legal limit of rum with. The prices for their liquor was nuts. Nightly I topped the day’s activities off with a few toasts. Much more enjoyable knowing it was way over half off the cost theirs. My only problem was ice. Europe drinks things without ice. Me, not so much. My tip ……keep an eye open for a McDonalds. They cater to the Americans and ice was usually free.

My only other comment was the trains. The rail system was fabulous. Learning the schedules and the inter-workings took a little while. Once mastered it was great. However I couldn’t wait to get home and get back into my own car. One other thing that I didn’t realize going into the trip was the diversity of people we would encounter. Manners are something we are light years ahead on. Pushing and shoving seemed to be prevalent. Common courtesies seemed to be non-existent.

Anyway I am getting off track. I certainly would go back. I wish you a very good trip and don’t forget the camera. I think we ended up with about 2000 pictures by the time we arrived back home.

WS

i really had a blast on my class trip to europe. we did a concentration camp (dachau) in germany. salzburg was so-so. we also visited lucerne, switzerland.

but i enjoyed italy the most. we hit venice, rome and florence. soo much history and stuff you wouldnt see anywhere else in those 3 cities, it was awesome. if you have the time and ability, i’d definitely recommend italy..

Southern Germany. Do it! Bavaria is a beautiful part of Europe. We stayed in Garmisch-Partenkirschen and it was beautiful. The Alps were right in our backyard. The inn we stayed at was called the Gung’l Stuben in Granau, very nice accomodations. I would also like to see Prague, but we never made it to the Czech Republic. Have fun!!