Finally, France. After that endless journey from Australia - 33 hours from home airport to Zurich, then train west. My itinerary : May/June 2024: flight in and out of Zurich Besancon 7N Avignon 9N La Tour-de-Peilz (Vevey) 2N Meiringen 11N Winterthur 1N I’ve visited so little of France, having only been to (and loved) Alsace, trav... Read More

I'm looking for a place for our family to visit in Europe for Christmas through New Years. We are not interested in skiing, and it looks like many Christmas markets will be closed by the time we arrive. Most of us have been to Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, London, Scotland, and Rome/Florence/Venice. Given that many places a... Read More

Hi all, I need some fresh ideas for our summer '25 trip. My now 16 year-old son and I will be outside of Berlin in July for a sporting event that ends on July 20th. We will have from July 21st to August 4th (departure date) to travel with my husband and other son. I have promised my older son that we would visit the motor valley in Italy, so w... Read More

Sicily has been at the top of our travel wish list for several decades, but it always seemed to get bumped for something else, or put on the back burner for when we had “enough” time. Due to work, pets at home, and other factors, we cannot travel for much more than two weeks at a time—but last year, we decided to make Sicily a priority for 2024.... Read More

I was considering. a trip to Berlin in mid July ( thx for your input), but the thought of changing flights turned me to another( direct flight) destination. I have visited Amsterdam many times over the years, the last was a short stay about 7/8 years ago. During my previous visits to the city I made day trips to Haarlem, Hague, Brussels, Bruges ..... Read More

Live from Madrid....it's Sunday morning live!! (sorry about that!!) I'm a very short time into my stay and am already SO happy! Yes, American Airlines has misplaced my suitcase, so was withering with cold in a long-sleeved t-shirt but all is great now that I am seated in the nearly empty Car One of the splashy new Scarlet IRYO train, bound for C... Read More

Hello everyone, we are planning a ~12 days trip in late September to Italy and would really like some advice and suggestions! Some quick facts: [list] [*]Never been to Europe [*]10-14 days, starting from mid/late September [*]Flying from US east coast (NC) [*]3 adults + 2 kids (ages 4 and 7) [*]Not a huge history/art buff [*]Don't speak I... Read More

Our trip will start with a week of trekking in the Engadin region of Switzerland, then three weeks later, we meeting friends in Lisbon, Portugal. We thought maybe two weeks in Spain and then 5-6 days in Portugal before meeting our friends. Here is our dilemma… Northern Spain, Basque area, Atlantic costal route. Or Costa Brava. This would most li... Read More

Debating Where To Go This Summer I recently got 2 weeks of vacation due to switching jobs and I have flexibility to either take it any 2 week timeframe between early ish June and mid July. So one example is leaving Saturday June 15th and coming back July 1st, which means 14 full days in Europe. I'm in my mid 20s and just looking to relax afte... Read More

Thanks to many of you for your excellent guidance/reports/posts on the areas of Spain we are visiting in July. A special thanks to [utag=169187]mikelg[/utag], [utag=171967]Maribel[/utag], [utag=170246]MFNYC[/utag], Maribel, [utag=523521]KarenWoo[/utag], [utag=168707]ekscrunchy[/utag] and [utag=215631]Micheal[/utag]. Your input really helped us shap... Read More

I haven't seen very many trip reports from travellers to the Azores so I am posting mine. We are a couple of Vancouverites in our late 60s and reasonably fit. We loved the Azores. We travelled in April and May, definitely shoulder season, knowing that we could expect all sorts of weather, and we got it! Sata Airlines, the airline of the Azores,... Read More

Could I get help with my itinerary? Two weeks flying in and out of Tokyo in August with my wife and 19-year old daughter. [list] [*]Tokyo (4 nights) – Aug 8, 9, 10, 11 [list] [*]3 days Tokyo [*]1 day trip - Hokone [/list] [*]Kyoto (4 nights) – Aug 12, 13, 14, 15 [list] [*]2 days Kyoto [*]Day Trip - Nara [*]Day Trip - Osaka (Spend the da... Read More

September 2025 is an age away, but I'm looking ahead to 2025 as I need to do a bit of juggling with work and a family reunion overseas. We'd like to try to do about three weeks in Spain and one week in Italy from early Sept to early October. This would be our third trip to Italy and our first to Spain. Mainly heading back to Italy for the food a... Read More

My daughter and SIL are in the very early stages of planning a month or so in Italy in the summer of 2025 in a couple of different locations; one of which would be a town with a beach that would be easily accessible for travelling with a 3 1/2 year old and a baby who would be approximately 9 months old at that time. It would need to be relatively f... Read More

Hello, I'lll be in Istanbul for a couple of days. Where can I feel the history and the authenticity of the city? Read More

Hello, Our family (2a,2c) is planning our first trip to Europe from mid September to early October. After some research I think this will be best for us: London - 4 nights paris - 5 nights agvinon - 2 nights nice - 2 nights Vienna -2 nights grindelwald - 3 nights lucern or Zurich - 2 nights (then fly out late back to Australia) I initially planned... Read More

Still cannot decide on my summer plans. I've enjoyed northern visits the last few years (Iceland in 2022, Denmark and Sweden in 2023) and so I'd like to keep that trend going. Maybe Maine, then? If you did a road trip to Maine from DC, where would you stay overnight on that drive to break it up a bit? Doesn't have to be half and half but I'd like... Read More

Thoughts on this itinerary and best things to do? Ideally, would like to have time to do: London: Touristy things and also maybe a day trip somewhere. Paris: Museums, Eiffel, Cafes, day trip? Alps: Scenery and hiking Florence/Tuscany: Museums, food, explore tuscany Rome: Colosseum, Vatican, touristy stuff, food, day trip? Day 1 Arrive Lo... Read More

Hola! I’ve been to many places in Europe but not Spain and I think this is the year to correct this. I plan to go in October or November when it’s cooling down temperature and crowd wise. I’d love feedback on my draft itinerary. I love cathedrals and old architecture, whether it be castles or any other interesting structures. I can’t take more... Read More

Hello I'm leaving the US tomorrow and flying to Zurich where I'll be renting a car from Hertz. We'll be driving through France, Switzerland and Germany. After researching countries requiring International Drivers Permits I thought I wouldn't need one. Now I'm seeing various opinions about this. I know its probably a good idea if I have to deal wit... Read More

Hi I have been to Barcelona previously. My husband bought plane tickets to Madrid roundtrip to plan for my 60th birthday. Since I love to plan, this is part of my gift! So far, I have night 1 in Madrid. We have an 8 hour coach flight and it is probably best to relax in a nice hotel for one night. I have 3 nights in Seville, 2 nights Granada, 1 n... Read More

This is a prior thread about the proposed trip, which we are now in the midst of: https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/a-week-in-galicia-may-1719969/ I will attempt to keep this short and willl be happy to elaborate if anyone wants more details. Background: I have been to Galicia for very short stays, twice before. Both were more than 1... Read More

Central Asia. Where exactly is it? How is it defined? Well, it depends... The most widely accepted definition of the region incorporates the five former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. More expansive definitions incorporate some or all of Afghanistan, East Turkestan,... Read More

Some of these questions are going to be so stupid, but I haven't been to France in a couple of decades. I posted before, but I'm hoping being a bit more specific will help, because I really need to book flights, etc. I'm doing a photo workshop in Normandy (Cabourg is the base) in mid-September for 6 nights. I arrive two nights before and have a hot... Read More

Make way - another American wanting to see it all in 2 weeks. This is our first and likely only trip from Texas to Europe with 14 and 16 y/o non history loving teens. We want to make it fun but show them what they can’t see here. We’ve eliminated several places already this is what we are left with. would love advice on what to cut/add and logist... Read More