JeffHill

Myself and 2 male friends, all 25 years old, are planning a 2 week trip to Europe at the end of June-July. Our areas of interest are: Amsterdam, Ibiza (~Spain), Paris, Germany (where?), and Italy (Rome, Venice). London, from what I've heard, may be too pricy but isn't out of the question. Only one of us has been to Europe before, and it was limited to the UK.

That's a lot of places and a relatively short amount of time. We'll have to narrow it down quite a bit, but not sure where to begin... Amsterdam is definite, and possibly Ibiza as well. From some of the other posts I read, it seems like 3-4 destinations is about the max we should aim for to not be stuck traveling most of the time. Also, is train from Amsterdam to southern Europe quick enough, or should we really fly?

We plan on going to party and have fun. We'll probably see some of the touristy places, but our trip is more about drinking and night life; site-seeing is secondary.

Can anyone give suggestions regarding places to go to for fun in Amsterdam, Ibiza, and the other locations listed?

Much appreciated!

Jeff

JeffHill

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nbujic

Amsterdam and Ibiza seem like a good places to party. If you are going to Spain ( Ibiza) you may wish to see some more of that country, Barcelona for example.
You may wish to stay in Amsterdam 3-4 days take a train from Amsterdam to Paris ( about 5 hours) another 3-4 days, and fly to Barcelona and spend the rest of the time in Spain.\Or fly from Amsterdam to Lomdon and from there fly to Spain,
Many young people like Berlin, I
don' know much about it.

baybee510

Hey Jeff,

I just got back from visiting Holland and am the same age as you. When we were in Amsterdam my bf and I went to Rain. Not sure what type of scene you're into but if you like the trendy scene then Rain is really nice. http://www.rain-amsterdam.com/

Jimmy Woo is also popular with the young hip people. We didn't actually get a chance to go but my bf (who is dutch and lives there) says it's the place to go. www.jimmywoo.com

Also, if you want to go to a less touristy area and maybe actually meet some Dutch, I would recommend taking a train to Scheveningen. It's by the sea and has a long boulevard of bars/clubs/lounges/restaurants filled with young people. Crazy pianos is a popular place. They have live performers there that take song requests from the audience (yeah sounds kinda tacky but believe me it was packed and loud when we went and it was Wednesday).

BF and I also drove over to Germany where we went to Duesseldorf and Heidelberg. Both places have a lot of nightlife for people our age and we had a lot of fun. Let me know if you have any more questions.

JeffHill

Thank you both. It has been a 10 year goal to go to Europe for a few weeks and I want it to go as well as possible.

I definitely appreciate all input!

Kate_W

Ibiza is part of Spain but it's not really Spain. It's just a giant, suntan lotion soaked party hole. But it sounds like that's partly what you want.

If you're interested in night life, the other location to consider is Berlin. Very, very interesting city and their clubs continue all night long and every night of the week. (When my husband and I were there a few years ago, our schedule was such that the only night we had to go out to a club was a Monday night. We asked our waiter for a recommendation, prefacing it with the comment "We realise that not much will be happening on a Monday". He laughed and said "It's Berlin. The clubs are full every night of the week, at least after 2 am."

Madrid and Barcelona are great party cities. I remember leaving for the airport in Madrid very early on a weekday (about 6:30 am) and seeing a lot of people on the street, who clearly were on their way home from being out all night in clubs.

JeffHill

Also, I've heard it's fairly common for many Europeans to know English... but will we have trouble communicating in any of those places in particular? We only know Spanish and Farsi in our little group, and my Spanish is horrible now.

Kate_W

Well, it's always a good idea to be courteous and learn a few basic phrases in the language of the countries you'll be visiting. That said, most of the Dutch and German people you meet will probably speak better English than you do.

I found that in Spain, it was somewhat less common for people working in the tourist industry (i.e. hotels, train station ticket booths, restaurants in popular tourist areas) to be conversant in English than in Paris or Italy, for example. So it's a good thing you speak some Spanish, even if it's rusty.

Also, if you'd like to be able to speak to locals (other than those working in hotels and restaurants) in Italy and France, it could be worth learning a little more of the language. You might get luckier ... (In the Netherlands and Germany, you should be able to get lucky in English.)

I really like the Rough Guide phrasebooks. They're very small (about 3" by 4" by 1/2&quot, they have a good introductory section that explains the basic grammatical concepts and system of pronunciation and then the dictionary section shows you the pronunciation (highlighted in a different colour, so it's easy to read). I think it was my Rough Guide Italian phrasebook that offered the translations for "Yes, I would like to go for a ride on your vespa."

Ida101

Travel by train takes rather long, apart from that Ibize is an island, so sooner or later you have to take a ship or plane.
have a look at the dutch discount airline www.transavia.nl, they fly to many europeans cities etc., (also to Ibiza...)
Probably the easiest and convenient way to travel around.

suze

Definitely include Amsterdam. And for Germany, Berlin would fit what you seek. Venice is a place for nightlife or partying particularly in my experience.

For two weeks, I would pick 3 places max. Sure you can take the trains around, just depends on exactly how far you are talking when you say "southern Europe" and how much time you have. If you mean Amsterdam all the way to say Rome, I would fly. You mean Amsterdam to Paris, the train is OK. That said, you can find out length of train trips by using online resources and schedules.

Pausanias

Italy is not really a party destination. The Italians consider public drunkeness a disgrace (not that plenty of tourists don't disgrace themselves nightly).

W9London

There are lots of discount airline flights between London and Ibiza. From Paris, Vueling should be starting Ibiza flights from late June. Air Berlin and Germanwings fly between Berlin-Ibiza. Amsterdam-Ibiza service is less frequent on Martinair.
Don't bother with Venice if sight-seeing is of secondary importance.
Another city to consider is Prague (cheap beer, popular stag weekend destination).

travel_buzzing

If you want to pick 4/5 destinations, book flights between all these places to save your travel time. trains are fun but you only have 2 weeks. vueling.com have amazingly cheap flights everywhere at the minute (about 20-30 euro each way). or ryanair.com or easyjet, but ryanair is a bitch to get from its not-so-central airports and could cost more in transfers anyway.
Not in any particular order, but rather when the flights are cheap, go to:
London 2 days (hit the weekend better party for your money)
Paris 3 days
Amsterdam 3 days
BERLIN in germany 4 days
then come to Barcelona which is the coolest city in Europe BTW, 3/4 days.
From here, fly to Ibiza for 2 days as it is also very expensive to be there but an experience. BCN-Ibiza flights still cheap but book quick!

Also for Amsterdam, paris and Barcelona you can book apartments instead of hostels or whatever in the other cities, to save a bit of money. Namely www.way2stay.com, which have vacation apartments in the above 3. If you self-cater you can save all your eat-out money (especially in Paris) for going out and its really nice to have your own pad to kick back in.
An example for each:
BCN:
http://www.way2stay.com/Barcelona-ap...en-52-1457.htm
AMS:
http://www.way2stay.com/Amsterdam-ap...en-67-1583.htm
PAR:
http://www.way2stay.com/Paris-apartm...n-109-1118.htm

This website also has good area guides and a beach guide for Barcelona.
N.b Barcelona'a hotting up for the summer, every night is pretty much party, however the greatest invention here over the summer is the huge beach party every sunday night on Marbella beach. Thousands out on the beach, djs on a very long hot stretch of sand.
I put a brief overview on good going out in Barcelona on igougo.com, called Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona, if you want to read.

Be smart and get your inter-europe flights sorted out asap and plan everything else around it. I have lots pointers for clubs in the other cities, but this reply’s getting too long..

travel_buzzing

i cant count. revised: LND 2 days, PAR 2 Days, AMS 3 days, BER 2 days BCN 3 days, IBZ 2 days..

amyva

Barcelona! Amsterdam is really fun, but know your limit. I also enjoyed Paris night life when I studied abroad there 5 years ago. Maybe save Italy for a more romantic occasion.