My friend and I are spending two months in Europe this April and May. Naturally, we want to go everywhere but realize that two months is hardly enough time to see everything and we would much rather get to fully explore a few areas than spend a few days in all of them. That being said, I am wondering which cities and countries you guys would recommend seeing (based on location, weather, things to do, as well as personal opinions), for how long, what order to see them, and which method of travel is preferable (trains, planes, automobiles).
Below, I have included a list of the countries we most want to visit in order of importance (with the first being the most desirable and the last being the least desirable). However, we understand this list will probably shrink and change dramatically due to our limited amount of time. As for what kind of stuff we like to do: neither one of us is all that interested in sightseeing - while I would like to visit a few museums, I am far more more interested in seeing beautiful scenery, beaches, architecture, interacting with people from other cultures, etc. Thanks so much for any input you might have!!
Hungary (my friend has family there so this is top priority)
Italy
France (probably just Lyons and maybe Nice where I have friends - both my friend and I have already spent a lot of time in France and have seen much of it)
Germany (spent a few months there already but will probably inevitably go through there at some point)
England
Greece
Spain
Ireland
Czech Republic
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Doing France Italy Hungary in May go a lot
Flying Econo the long legs skyscanner.net cheap
training like a local the short legs
we are flying into Paris easyjet.com to Venice
wizzair.com BGY to BUD 1 week in each place...
Great Hotels from $100/nt priceline.com bidding
betterbidding.com and hotwore.com
eurocheapo.com seat61.com trains and weather2travel.com
We always insuremytrip.com... Might do something like that
Base in 4 cities and train around from there...south first
North when weather warms...
Good luck!
On the face of it, "south first North when weather warms..." sounds like good advice, but not necessarily. Since you expressed an interest in beaches, you may want to save the south for last when the weather warms up enough for swimming and sunbathing. April is a bit too early for beaches in the south of France, Greece, or Spain.
A lot of the answers to your questions depend on where exactly in those countries you want to go, which is really hard for others to figure out for you. For example, Rome might fit your architecture interest, but maybe you hate big cities, so Rome has no interest for you. By "England," do you mainly mean London, or are you just as or more interested in the lakes or Cornwall or...
If you haven't done so, my first suggestion is to rework your list to cities or areas rather than entire countries. That will make it easier for people to advise you on how long you should spend where. My must-see list might be totally different than yours, but to get you started: If you're interested in scenery, southwest Ireland would be high on my list, specifically around Dingle. Really amazing. You might also check out the lake districts in either Italy or England, the Amalfi Coast, the Dolomites, the Cotswolds, and the Greek islands. I haven't been to all those places, but they've attracted my interest based mostly on the scenery, so you might be interested in checking them out as well.
One thing to look out for in your time frame is what will be open. I was in Bellagio on Italy's Lake Como in mid-May of this year, and it was very quiet. If we'd been in April I imagine it would have been pretty dead. That might suit you fine, but it might also limit what restaurants, hotels and attractions will be open. Just a heads up.
Hi traveleore,
Congratulations on this trip. You will have a great time. First things first: this is way too broad of an itinerary for us to be able to help you this early in your planning. I highly recommend you get guidebooks for each of these areas, then have both of you go through them and make notes as to which areas interest you. Get out a large Europe map and plot your course from area to area. It sounds pretty basic but you really need to do this in order to come back here with more specific questions. Once you narrow it down a bit we can begin to help you.
Happy planning, Michele