heartofthesouth

My fiance and I will be traveling to Europe in the beginning of December of 2009....I plan in advance... We will be spending a little over 2 weeks including travel time. One week will be spent in Rome. I have been there and my fiance has not. We are still trying to figure out where to spend the first week of our vacation though. We're in our late 20's and are not really interested in sleepy little villages. We love people watching and the main thing we are looking for in a vacation spot is photography potential. We are both huge in to photography...I also love history and love seeing ancient sites...not really in to modern buildings...to me they are an eye sore. We love the snow and honestly it would not hurt my feelings at all if we were staying somewhere with snow...christmas markets would be nice....and seeing that we are a young couple we prefer not to have to sell one of our kidneys to be able to go on this vacation Some of the places we are considering is Paris, Vienna and Prague. Let me know of any suggestions on places you might have...or if you have been to either of these citys let me know your opinion on them. Thanks in advance!

roadwarrior2008

Hi "Heart of the South"...

We just went through a similar selection process. We had over 30 cities in our original list. We narrowed it down to Athens, Greece and Spain. We are actually going to Spain because we do not have two weeks. Otherwise, it probably would have been Greece. My recommendation would be Greece as you will never run out of things to take a picture of or things to do.

LSky

Paris or Prague would be perfect.

LSky

Sorry hit post too soon.

I've been to all 3 of the ones you mentioned.

The first time in Prague- 10 days. It's a beautiful city and a photographers dream.
Paris the same.
Vienna is okay. I liked it but I wouldn't want to go back again and again.

Why no interest in Venice? It's charming and close to Rome. The rest of Italy is beautiful as well.

heartofthesouth

We honestly just wanted to see another country instead of only Italy. This will be my second trip to Italy so for one of the weeks I wanted to see a different country...different languages

*roadwarrior...I thought Greece was quite pricey...A lot of my friends are actually from there and said it will brake the bank trying to visit. I would love to one day go there but with the prices of everything right now I don't think we would be able to afford it.

*LSKY...I have actually heard several people say the same things about Vienna...they liked it but wouldn't go back...they said it was very pretty but just didnt have the "wow" factor.

I was also thinking about Budapest....any other suggestions on different places to travel?????

heartofthesouth

also if you suggest a city can you suggest things to see and or places to eat?

KayF

If photography is high on your list, I'd choose Prague over Budapest. Prague is very attractive, lots of photo opportunities!

Prague is also a lot smaller than Paris which would make it easier to get around and see everything you are keen on.

What about Salzburg which seems to be very popular at Christmas, the scenery would be wonderful if there is snow. You could get a train there from Rome if you don't want to fly.

Kay

heartofthesouth

I was actually just talking to someone else off the boards about Salzburg and Rothenburg....Those seem to strike me a lot better than Paris...I guess now I am starting to change my mind thinking back to how tired I was after my Rome trip last year....

I'm thinking that I should probably do Rome the first 8 days then go to somewhere a little more lazy to relax after the hectic trip in Italy...Maybe somewhere like Rothenburg and take side trips from there...any suggestions?

pittpurple

I would still encourage you to go to Prague - it's been one of my favourite cities we've seen in Europe, we came home with over 1200 pictures! I think it would be gorgeous in the winter - we were there in summer. My husband and I are in our late 20's also and found Prague incredibly affordable and easy to get around. In the winter, it's probably much less crowded also.

LSky

If you want to relax a trip down the Romantic Road in Germany is the way to go. It includes Rothenburg od der Tauber. We did this in the winter and it was lovely.

Love Budapest!

PalenQ

Paris and Rome and you can take the Artesia overnight train to go between them - get a private double compartment - some good wine, etc. and let the romance begin. (Careful though - a friend of mine said his son was conceived on a Venice-Paris overnight train!) Saves a hotel cost and you arrive bright and early in the center of Paris. www.trenitalia.com has great advance online prices if you jump on them early enough as these night trains are often sold out IME - in the U.S. www.raileurope.com sells these tickets and does have some cheaper advance tickets (including sleeper and train fare all in one) so if you cannot get trenitalia.com to work (a common complaint on Fodor's) then look at U.S. sights. I always recommend www.budgeteuropetravel.com for any RailEurope product as you can talk to who IME are helpful and experts by phone - RE charges +10% to talk to anyone on the phone and then they are often just folks who take orders. But try trenitalia.com for the cheapest and folks like Ira and TimS and other Italian rail gurus are always lurking around to help out with the site if you post frustrations!

rickmav

It may not be something you thought about, but what about Ireland? Amazing photo opportunities and only a Ryanair flight away from Italy. And the contrast between the two places would be interesting. You wouldn't have to focus on 'sleepy little villages' if you didn't want to, the cities, ocean, countryside, crumbling ruins, etc. would fill a few photo albums.

heartofthesouth

For some strange reason and I know I will probably be stoned for saying this but I never really got in to Ireland or Scotland. Some of the countries that I have always thought about visiting are Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland...we were also thinking about Prague or St. Petersburg Russia seeing that my family is originally from Russia it would kind of be neat to see our mother land...not really sure if I want to go to Russia on the honeymoon though...might wait till our next trip lol.

lucy_d

heartofthesouth, based on your age and interests, here's another vote for Prague! (I have always, however, wanted to visit Salzburg at Christmas.)

Prague is wonderful, especially if photography is an interest. Also, it's a great destination not attached to the euro. (Not sure when their currency will change.)

I'm sure you'll have a great trip whatever you decide.

heartofthesouth

Prague has always been one of the top spots while we have been trying to plan our trip and doing research. Has anyone made the side trip to Karlovy Vary (SP?). Salzburg is also another choice for us....I am a Christmas fanatic and heard it is quite beautiful there. Rothenburg is coming in as a close third.

bozama

I vote first for Paris ( but I enjoy museums) and then for Prague.
It would also be a fantasy to go to Switzerland and enjoy a lovely little car free village called Wengen, but it would be high season and not cheap.. so nevermind that !

I would never choose Athens in December, Athens is rather drab at best of times, but in winter,, yikes, cold.

Lily9

Wouldn`t you want to visit Tallin, Estonia? It is my hometown and here is one of the most beautiful Old Towns in Europe. You can read more for example here: http://www.visitestonia.com and http://www.all-about-estonia.com

GSteed

Museums and churches and picture taking are for the mature (older)traveller. Try,Zakopane in Poland. Base in Krakow. Visit Wadowice. You are a year out...find out where young people go and what they do. Learn where the early skiing is. Slovakia is another choice.

afterall

True, Europe is generally expensive. But there are ways of reducing the cost.

If you are in your late 20s surely you haven't already settled into the 4 or 5 star groove? How sad would that be? There are ways and means of travelling cheaply for a week (of course if it's your honeymoon you will want some luxury somewhere!!).

I would also have suggested Venice as that rates close to the top of my list of places to see before you die. But then you're not thinking of falling off your perch just yet and it seems to be more important to go to a different country.

Paris, Vienna, Prague - all wonderful.

But where are you flying into and out of?

Nikki

I don't know whether Greece would be right for your purposes at that time of year, but I am not sure why your friends told you it was overly expensive. In my (extremely limited) experience, it was less expensive in Greece than in Italy.

I do think Spain is worth considering. I loved Barcelona and Madrid.

I think your idea of experiencing two different cultures is a good one, and with the availability of inexpensive flights within Europe you should be able to arrange to fly open jaws into one city and back from another one with a budget flight between the two.