miz

What is the closest European city to the Eastern USA - the Mid-Atlantic? What would be the closest city to get to from the Washington, DC area?

Budman

Shannon, Ireland?

MikeT

Reykjavik, Iceland or Lisbon, Portugal or Dublin, Ireland?

It's not like you are walking, so why does it have to be the closest?

miz

Qestion was: It's not like you are walking, so why does it have to be the closest?

Answer: Beacuse I only have 5 days off at New Years and do not want to spend a majority of the time getting there & getting back & and then only have a short period of time to enjoy the location. I have to leave the AM of the 1st day as I cannot leave the night before as I am working too late.
I am able to travel Dec 29-Jan 2nd and looking for somewhere to go.

Also looking for location that is safe for a female travelling alone.

rosieg

Saint-Pierre and Miquelon !! French territory off the coast of Newfoundland.

valtor

The most western point of Europe mainland is Cabo da Roca, near Lisbon.

JeanneB

If you're relating it to lower airfares, probably London or Dublin. If this year is like the past, watch the next few weeks for sales to London.

Gavin

Using a string on a globe my selection of closest European cities to DC are: Reykjavik, Dublin, Glasgow, London and Lisbon in order of increasing distance.

St. Pierre and Miquelon are politically part of France but geographicaly part of North America...but good one anyway.

wasleys

Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Reykjavik is on the North American Plate, not the Eurasian Plate.
;-)
Michael

Heimdall

I love these questions - Shannon used to be where airlines stopped for refueling when crossing the Atlantic, being the first landfall on the European continent. Play around with this website: http://www.etn.nl/distanc4.htm. Shannon isn't included, unfortunately, but Dublin is closer to Washington, I believe, than any other European city in the index, bar Reykajvik.

Heimdall

...which according to wasleys isn't even in Europe. I doubt many Icelanders would consider themselves North Americans, though.

NeoPatrick

Of course, Iceland is a European country. What else? Which "plate" it sits on has little or nothing to do with which continent it is part of.

nbujic

You don't want to go to Newfoundland or Iceland in the winter!

London is fun and safe .

nytraveler

If you have a look at the travel times and number of flights you will see that unless you're going to Central or Eastern europe the time difference to get to many cities is not that great. (For instance getting to Shannon or Dubline is essentially the same - and London is only about 20 minutes longer.)

And you really need to consider the number of flights and when they leave. If a city has only one flight per day that leaves at 10pm you're better with a city that is 30 minutes further but has a flight leaving at 6pm.

If you want a morning flight you will be quite limited - since by far the vast majority of flights leave in the evening. I would stat by looking for morning flights - and would assume that London and Paris would have one - and many other cities might not.

janisj

Miz: If you &quot;<i>do not want to spend a majority of the time getting there &amp; getting back</i>, then the &quot;Closest European city&quot; is not what you need. What you are actually looking for are the cities w/ the most/shortest non-stop flights, best airfares, etc.

Many of the nearest cities like in Portugal or NW France would take a LOT longer to get to since you would have to make connections enroute.

Some cities w/ masses of non-stop flights include London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Manchester etc.

All of those would be safe for a female traveling solo. But probably London, Paris or A'dam would have the best combination of things to see, quick flights, and low airfares.

Musicteacher

It looks like London would be your best choice. United has a flight from Dulles to Heathrow at 9:46 arriving at 22:00. Bear in mind there are very few daytime flights to Europe.

I don't know how late you have to work, but you could also get a 9:47 p.m. flight the night before also on United arriving at Heathrow at 10:00 the next morning.

Cimbrone

I'd just like to echo those who are telling you you're asking the wrong question. If you're going to fly to Europe, the bulk of the trip is transatlantic making the difference in travel time between Shannon, London, Paris or even Vienna pretty much negligable. What you want is a non-stop flight that leaves in the a.m. (And even stopping to change planes isn't that big a deal.) Try to find one of these and go to whatever place excites you. What's the point of going to, say, Shannon if the thought doesn't put a great big smile on your face?

W9London

If flying out of Washington DC, it looks it would make most sense if you choose a destination served by non-stop flights via UA. Cities to the best of my knowledge include London, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Brussels, Paris, Vienna. So long as you stick to W.European cities, flight time won't make much difference.

ira

Hi M,

&gt;&gt;...why does it have to be the closest?

Answer: Beacuse I only have 5 days off at New Years and do not want to spend a majority of the time getting there &amp; getting back....&lt;

Ummmmmm. In this age of jet travel, the difference is only about 1 - 2 hr.

You would lose more time getting to Dulles than whether you arrive in Dublin or Amsterdam.

JeanneB

The only morning flights I know of are NYC area to London.

Could you fly/train to NYC Thurs night to catch an early morning flight to London? Virgin leaves JFK at 7:35am Fri, arrives LHR at 7:15pm. Or there's an 8:20am flight from Newark, arriving London around 8pm.

Travelocity and Site59.com both have packages for JFK - London. I don't know the hotels; the prices look good for your dates. The flights that come up are overnight flights, though.